Author Overview: Pauline Dunn

Pauline Dunn is the name used by two sisters: Dawn Dunn and Pauline Hartzell.  They wrote three horror novels, two of which (Crawling Dark and Demonic Color) were pulled from circulation due to allegations they plagiarized Dean Koontz' Phantoms.  Dawn continued writing short stories under that name through the 90s.

Demonic Color 1990

Flesh Stealer 1990

Crawling Dark 1991

Author Overview: Robert Tralins

For 40 years, Robert Tralins has jumped on every writing bandwagon from sex manuals to techno-thrillers.

50s sleaze
Corporal Glory (1953)

Selling non-fiction
How to be a Power Closer in Selling (1960)
Dynamic Selling (1961)

Science Fiction
The Cosmozoids (1966)
Android Armageddon (1974)

Sexploitation
Naked Hills (1961)
Primitive Orgy (1961)
4 Nude Queens (1962)
Hired Nympo (1962)
Jazz Me Baby! (1962) as Karl Kelly
Law of Lust (1962)
Seduction Salon (1962)
Barechested Beauty (1963)
Pleasure was my Business (1963)
Bizarre Cravings (1964)
Squaresville Drag (1965)
Lust Candidate (1967)
Sex Variations in Voyeurism (1967) as Sean O'Shea
Take Me Out in Trade (1967) as Cynthia Sydney
21 Abnormal Sex Cases (1967)
Cairo Madam (1968)
Cuban Madam (1969)
The Sexual Fetish (1969)

The Miss from S.I.S. series
The Miss from S.I.S. (1966)
The Chic Chick Spy (1966)
The Ring-a-ding UFOs (1967)

Valentine Flynn series (as Sean O'Shea)
What A Way To Go! (1966)
Win With Sin (1967)
The Nymph Island Affair (1967)
Invasion Of The Nymphomaniacs (1967)
Operation Boudoir (1967)
The Topless Kitties (1968)

Frankenstein Horror Series
Ghoul Lovers (1972)
Dragon's Teeth (1973) as Keith Miles

Unexplained
Strange Events Beyond Human Understanding (1966)
Clairvoyant Strangers (1968)
Children of the Supernatural (1969)
ESP Forewarning - Astounding Messages From Beyond (1969)
Weird People of the Unknown (1969)
Clairvoyance in Women (1970)
The Hidden Spectre (1970)
Supernatural Strangers (1970)
Clairvoyant Women (1972)
Supernatural Warnings (1974)
Buried Alive (1977)
Psychic Women (1977)
Life After Death: The Usher File (1978)

Slavesploitation
Black Pirate (1968)
Black Brute aka Black Stud (1969)
Runaway Slave aka Rampage (1969)
Slave King (1970)
Slaves Revenge (1974)
Black Roots (1977)
Panther John (1980)
Chains (1981)

Techno-thrillers
Flight Signals (1990)
Singal: Intruder (1991)
Signal: Blackbird (1992)
Deadshot (1993)

Author Overview: Christopher J. Priest

Christopher J. Priest is the most criminally overlooked author of our time.  He's best known for his work in comics, where he thrives in writing characters who have covered all the angles and are five moves ahead of everyone else.  He wrote the definitive run of Black Panther - much of the movie depended on his version, and it could have benefited from his skilled plotting.  More recently he's worked on Deathstroke.

Some writers struggle with writing smart characters, especially superhumanly smart ones: Reed Richards, Tony Stark, Sherlock Holmes.  The author doesn't have to be as smart, but they have to be able to fake it.  Priest writes the smartest characters, and there's a level of research evident that he put in the work.

Priest has done a little (far too little) prose work, which gives him even more room to show his stuff.

2005 saw the three part series Green Lantern: Sleepers which I haven't been able to pick up yet.

He began publishing prose work in 2014.  Thankfully he includes the name James Priest in these titles on Amazon - pulling prose novels out of an author's comic work can be a nightmare.

In 2014 he published Zion: A Love Story, which is probably more crime than romance.

2015 saw the beginning of 1999.  The idea is to have several interwoven stories in the style of comics and pulp fiction, published in ongoing installments.  Unfortunately, this came out in the era where it was more profitable to sell novels a chapter at a time on Kindle Unlimited, since you got paid by the title, not by the page.  I don't think that's what Priest was trying to do here, but I think the nondescript title and the fact that it was divided into chapters might have kept this from getting the attention it deserved.  Unfortunately, the series ended in 2016.

2015 also saw his crime noir novel Dual: A Love Story, with a prequel 50Seven Seconds.  I've read the prequel, and while there's not much love so far, it's shaping up to be one of the best crime pieces I've seen.

Priest has a lot else going on.  He continues to write comics.  He made music as Hollis Stone in the 80s (including a punk jam with Larry Hama!) and is an ordained Baptist minister.  The world needs more prose fiction from him - 1999 and Dual have $0.99 entry points and are currently free on Kindle Unlimited.  Let's give the man some sales so he has a reason to come back.

Author Overview: Sidney Williams

Sidney Williams came in at the tail end of the horror paperback boom, writing several titles for Pinnacle.  As the adult market dried up and the young adult books grew, he published more titles under the name Michael August for Zebra, two in the Scream series.  All of his titles are currently available in ebook, and he has resumed writing horror fiction.  Find him at https://sidisalive.com/

Azarius (1989): In the small town of Ainsley, Louisiana, a terrible evil has been let loose--a deadly force that has already brutally murdered a priest and is now moving in on a young victim.

Night Brothers (1989): The drought-stricken Louisiana town of Bristol Springs was turning into a living grave. Little by little its desperate citizens were watching their dreams die. But the terrible blight was bringing something else to life--a deadly horror far worse than any earthly bane. A vampire as old as time with powers greater than mere legend, she summoned the beasts of the night to serve her foul will. Fierce, relentless, they made humans their unnatural prey, leaving them helpless victims of her endless blood-thirst...

Blood Hunter (1990): Legends abound about hideous creatures who live in the swamps near Aimsley, Louisiana. They’ve picked up the name Mormo, and they are said to be terrifying. but Jag Walker and Debra Blane discover the creatures are at the root of a larger conspiracy as they begin a search for her missing brother. As they unravel ancient secrets and modern evil, they find they must confront a nightmare.

Gnelfs (1991): What seem to be nightmares about Heaven's favorite cartoon characters soon lead Gab to a stranger paranormal conspiracy focused on revenge. She's faced with a living nightmare in which friends die and dangerous sorcery is at work.

When Darkness Falls (1992): Unconcerned by the series of wolf attacks that have terrorized the community, a teacher takes a job in Petittville and meets Charlie, a shy misfit who believes the wolf attacks are part of an ancient legend.

Deadly Delivery (1993, as Michael August): As summer approaches, Derek Cliver and his friends join a mail-order club that allows them to create their own monsters and "dispose" of their enemies, but The Terror Club turns frighteningly real.

New Year's Evil (1994, as Michael August): Determined to correct the behavior of Bran Hatten, the school bully, Tess Ryan and her friends at Penbrook High ask Charisse Bienville, rumored to be a witch, to help--and are shocked when bad things start happening.

The Gift (as Michael August): When you're down in the dumps, there's no better pick-me-up than a surprise present. That's why Veronica Mallory's father has just bought her a dollhouse that looks incredibly life-like. At first, Veronica is thrilled with the ancient treasure . . . until it starts having a violent effect on anyone who comes near.

Author Overview: John Byrne

John Byrne is mainly known for his comic work, as artist/writer on legendary runs of X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Superman, as well as for being an occasionally bigoted loudmouth.

He also made a brief foray into the world of horror prose fiction:

1988: Fear Book - featuring a haunted mail order catalog

1991: Nocturne in Hotter Blood: More Tales of Erotic Horror

1992: Hide in Plain Sight in Shock Rock

1992: Whipping Boy

Author Overview: Michael Blodgett

I first became aware of Michael Blodgett through a Vault of Evil post which extols the virtues of The Hero and the Terror, which was later made into a movie with Chuck Norris:

Blodgett wrote two other books, Captain Blood and The White Raven.  Continuing a theme this month, I was startled seeing this author's photograph:

Blodgett is of course Lance Rocke from Beyond the Valley of the Dolls

And King Alex X of Tourembourg from Electra Woman and Dyna Girl

He also co-wrote the screenplays to Rent-A-Cop, Turner & Hooch, and Run.

Author Overview: Brett Halsey

I saw over at James Reasoner's blog a new western novel by actor Brett Halsey.  The name was a bit hazy, but I recognized the face.  His filmography listed plenty of eurospy and eurowestern titles so I know I'd seen him plenty of times, but I had a particular movie in my mind when I saw him.  Took me a while to remember he's "Big Stupid" from the MST3K version of The Girl in Lover's Lane:



I checked out his titles on Amazon and they appear to be sleaze epics, either historical or mirroring phases of his career (soap operas, Italian film making, etc), so I'll definitely be checking those out.

K.W. Jeter

K.W. Jeter is best known for coining the term Steampunk, and being compared favorably, or unfavorably, to Philip K. Dick.

His career began with a couple of novels for Laser Books: Seeklight (1975) and The Dreamfields (1976).

His steampunk works began with an H.G. Wells continuation Morlock Night (1979), and continued with his Infernal Devices series beginning in 1987.

His cyberpunk novels include Dr. Adder (1984), The Glass Hammer (1985), Death Arms (1987), Farewell Horizontal (1989), Madlands (1991), and Noir (1998)

His horror novels began with Soul Eater (1983), and continued with Dark Seeker (1987), Mantis (1987), In the Land of the Dead (1989), The Night Man (1990), Wolf Flow (1992), and Kingdom of Shadows (2011).

Jeter also wrote media tie-ins through much of the 90s for franchises such as Blade Runner, Alien Nation, Star Trek, and Star Wars.  His most recent series is his self-published Kim Oh hit-woman books, some in ebook, some not.

Jeter has been releasing his back catalog in ebook, though it's a bit hard to navigate on Amazon with the stock photo covers and multiple short stories mixed in.  The links above are to the Kindle versions - sadly, most of his horror hasn't been reprinted.

Author Overview - John Russo

John Russo, as you will be reminded on the cover of every book listed below, is the author of Night of the Living Dead, which he kind of was, and he's milking that for everything it's worth.  In addition to his fiction, he's written non-fiction, scripts, comics, and been involved in multiple film projects.

His fiction, at least what I've read, has an emphasis on character studies which sometimes drags on to padding, occasional meandering storylines, and some sleazy elements.  He manages more creepiness than thrills.

Recently he's been making his work available for ebook at reasonable prices.  About half of the below are available on Kindle Unlimited as well.

1974: Night of the Living Dead
1977: Return of the Living Dead
1979: Majorettes
1980: Midnight - my review
1981: Limb to Limb - my review
1982: Bloodsisters
1982: Black Cat
1983: The Awakening
1985: Day Care - updated and enhanced as The Academy
1985: Return of the Living Dead (Novelization version)
1986: Inhuman
1987:Voodoo Dawn
1988: Living Things
1995: Hell's Creation
2011: Channel 666 in The Big Book of Bizarro Horror Collection
2013: Escape from the Living Dead (novelization of the comic)
2013: Murder, Mayhem, Mystery (short stories)
2014: Dealey Plaza
2014?: The Booby Hatch - movie originally from 1976