Knuckle Supper

REVIEW
Knuckle Supper (hardcover)
Author: Drew Stepek
Publisher: Alphar/$25.72
Date of Publication: 2010
Reviewed by James J. Gormley (member, National Book Critics Circle)

The other day I was telling Drew Stepek, fellow HWA member and the author of a new vampire book, Knuckle Supper, that despite the fact that his vampire-canon-busting novel is one of the most disgusting, unrelentingly violent and horrifying horror works I have ever read, the over-the-top violence and gore are not gratuititous.

Without giving away the story (which I won't), the leader of a group of heroin-addicted vampires, RJ, has the normal abnormalcy of his own chaotic, blood-and-drug-hazed existence challenged when he reluctantly takes in a 12-year-old runaway girl, Bait Jenkins.

When a drug deal goes south and RJ's gang, The Knucklers, winds up with an unexpected windfall, it isn't long before rival gangs (from Rastas to transvestite prostitutes to argyle-wearing preppies) start taking revenge and jockeying for the pole position in the vampire-run L.A. drug trade.

And to make matters worse, seemingly pulling the strings behind the L.A. vamps is a group of breakaway religious fanatics called The Cloth and a wannabe nun and psychopath nicknamed The Habit, who not only seem to know everything about where R.J. and his junkie gangster allies and rivals actually come from but who want to pull the plug on their twisted experiment.

In the book, R.J. says: "I don't know why we're alive or what purpose we have besides delivering misery and death, I can tell you one thing though; there is something human in us all."

And true enough to R.J.'s revelation, while various types of exploitation form the lives or the backgrounds of almost all of the players in this bloodfest, Stepek is masterful in enabling us to actually feel sorrow and empathy for a few of the characters (not only R.J. and Bait) and to see the human in the monsters and the monster in the humans.

With gangs reminiscent of the crews in Walter Hill's 1979 film, The Warriors, there are intentional and unintentional homages to a range of movies and horrific classics from A Clockwork Orange to Trainspotting.

Knuckle Supper is a game changer, to be sure, and this has got to be one of the most original vampire works ever created; with it, Stepek turns the entire vampire mythos on its head and fully slays the almost-dead,angst-ridden, sparkly vampire once and for all.

Bravo, Drew, bravissimo!

Horror Writers Association Celebrates 2009 Stoker Winners!

At long last, the anticipation is over.

The Horror Writers Association has announced the winners of the 2009 Bram Stoker Awards at its annual Stoker Banquet held tonight as part of the World Horror Convention in Brighton, UK.

 

Eight new bronze haunted-house statuettes were handed over to the writers responsible for creating superior works of horror last year.

This year’s winners are:

Superior Achievement in a NOVEL:

AUDREY’S DOOR by Sarah Langan (Harper)

Superior Achievement in a FIRST NOVEL

DAMNABLE by Hank Schwaeble (Jove)

Superior Achievement in LONG FICTION

THE LUCID DREAMING by Lisa Morton (Bad Moon Books)

Superior Achievement in SHORT FICTION

“In the Porches of My Ears” by Norman Prentiss (POSTSCRIPTS #18)

Superior Achievement in an ANTHOLOGY

HE IS LEGEND edited by Christopher Conlon (Gauntlet Press)

Superior Achievement in a COLLECTION

A TASTE OF TENDERLOIN by Gene O’Neill (Apex Book Company)

Superior Achievement in NONFICTION

WRITERS WORKSHOP OF HORROR by Michael Knost (Woodland Press)

Superior Achievement in POETRY

CHIMERIC MACHINES by Lucy A. Snyder (Creative Guy Publishing)

 

Works can be recommended by any member of the HWA. Members with Active status then vote works in a preliminary ballot. From there the field is narrowed to the final ballot and Active members choose the winners from that. The award is named for Bram Stoker, best known as the author of Dracula. The trophy, which resembles a miniature haunted house, was designed by author Harlan Ellison and sculptor Steven Kirk.

 

HWA also presented its annual Lifetime Achievement Awards and its Specialty Press Award. Brian Lumley was on hand to accept his Lifetime Achievement Award, while fellow winner William F. Nolan offered a video acceptance. The Specialty Press Award went to Ray Russell and Rosalie Parker of Tartarus Press.

 

The Silver Hammer Award, for outstanding service to HWA, was voted by the organization’s board of trustees to Kathryn Ptacek. The President’s Richard Laymon Service Award was given to Vince A. Liaguno.

 

Lisa Morton, who organized this year’s presentation in conjunction with the World Horror Convention, commented on the historic nature of the 2010 event:

“This was the first time we’ve presented the Stoker Awards outside of the North American continent, and I hope it serves to continue to expand HWA’s presence and membership outside of the U.S. and Canada. We’re committed to serving the entire world of horror.”

 

For more information, visit http://www.horror.org/
###

More information on the Horror Writers Association is at http://www.horror.org More information on this year’s Stoker Award nominees (including photos) is available at
http://www.lisamorton.com/hwa/sto2010/stokers10.htm

The 2009 Bram Stoker Award Finalists

By James J. Gormley

The Horror Writers Association (HWA) celebrates the 2009 Bram Stoker Award finalists by honoring superior achievement in the following categories: Novel; First Novel; Long Fiction; Short Fiction; Anthology; Collection; Nonfiction; Poetry Collection; Lifetime Achievement; Specialty Press and others. Please visit: http://www.lisamorton.com/hwa/sto2010/stokers10.htm

WELCOME TO VAMPIRE BOOKS NAVIGATOR!

Greetings fellow authors, vampirophiles, vampire book bibliophiles, librarians, publishers, authors' representatives and publicists, book buyers and distributors, and all those whose interest, passion or business (maybe all three) includes vampire books!

Why would one even want help navigating the choppy (sometimes bloody) waters of books that fall in the sub-genre of vampire books?

One reason: because vampire books are legion and it helps to find reviews that sort the wheat from the chaff, or, er, the blood from the guts.

Since the books reviewed here are all worthwhile vampire books, choosing any (or all) of them, as time goes by, will make our wallets and vampire-loving hearts happy since we won't be misled into buying books that, ahem, suck!

Starting with two of the greatest vampire novels of all time --- Dracula and I Am Legend --- we will cover a wide range of vampire tales, from the classics to books that are just plain fun to read, including, not necessarily in this order:

• Stephen King's Salem's Lot;
• Anne Rice's Interview With The Vampire;
  
• Whitley Strieber's The Hunger;
• Kim Newman's Anno Dracula;
• Laurell K. Hamilton's Guilty Pleasures;
• P.N. Elrod's I, Strahd;
• E.E. Knight's Way of the Wolf;
• Kim Harrison's Every Which Way But Dead;
• David Wellington's Vampire Zero;
• Chloe Neill's Some Girls Bite;
• Celis T. Rono's That Which Bites;

... and many more!

Who's James Gormley and why should we trust him?

Well, I am a published author, a former book editor, a member of the National Book Critics Circle and I was horror book reviewer for Publishers Weekly from 1993 through 1998. I have been a member of the Horror Writers Association and helped develop the writers' guidebook, Writing Horror, with Mort Castle for Writers Digest Books. I am also a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA).

So there you have it--we're off to a bloody good start!
Authors, publishers, authors' publicists and representatives: please put me on your lists of reviewers to whom advance or first-off copies of books and requests for comment are sent.
Please mail advance and/or review copies to:
James J. Gormley
Vampire Books Navigator
c/o PCE, Inc.
377 Park Avenue South
6th Floor
New York, NY 10016

Thanks!
James J. Gormley