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"There's no law, no law anymore - I wanna steal from the rich and give to the poor."
~The Ramones~

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"There's no law, no law anymore - I wanna steal from the rich and give to the poor."
~The Ramones~

What's funny is that RIGHT TO LIFE, the bonus novella in Old Flames, is actually longer than the title story.

That is funny...I wonder how that decision came about. Better sounding title?

Jack Ketchum rules!

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Jen (aka "Sassy Devil")
http://www.SassyDevil.com/
http://www.Pretty-Scary.net/
http://www.myspace.com/jennifehr

I read Right To Life awhile ago and was not impressed. I remember having a long discussion about it with another member talking about its origins as well as the story itself.

Ketchum seldom does anything for me. Red was fantastic, Off Season (was that the first one?) was pretty good, but other than that I really don't see what all the fuss is about on his writing. Even The Girl Next Door seemed a bit of a let down for me. Maybe I'm just expecting too much from the man.

Tt

Well, Right To Life was 1998 and Old Flames is new.

I'm almost finished and it's pure Ketchum. I don't think any fans will be let down-as usual.

Coffin County looks killer; can't wait to start that. The cover art for it is freaky: a fog shrouded graveyard with bodies hanging from the trees above it. I'm there.

TT, Off Season was first. Red is a classic by anyone's standards.

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"There's no law, no law anymore - I wanna steal from the rich and give to the poor."
~The Ramones~

Ketchum's books have never looked very interesting to me. I read Off Season(it was the original edited edition) and thought it was okay, not much of a plot to it.
The Girl Next Door is supposed to be about someone being tortured from beginning to end and not only didn't it sound interesting, but I'm sure I couldn't have read it if I had to.
The others just don't look interesting, but I may read Red because so many people here like it.

I loved his collection Peacebale Kingdom though. I also liked his story in Triage.

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Well, there have been a couple of flipper babies...yeah.

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Reading:

The Spartacus War - Barry Strauss
Slow Death - Jim Fielder
The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire - Edward Gibbon

Finished Old Flames last night and really dug it.

And the ending, man, was that ever depressing.

I'll have to hit B&N tomorrow to see if they have both Ketchum and Braunbeck.

Glad you're back, Sassy!

Thad

I plan to avoid Ketchum because I enjoy a different style of horror. I prefer the more old fashioned type. I don't like the extream, bloody, torture kind. I like the old haunted house, dream-like atmosphere kind of tale. I'm not saying they all have to be haunted house stories (although I have trouble resisting those), but I like the supernatural to be an unquestioned presence in the ones I read.

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http://vintagehorror.com/home/author/matt

I was going to pick Ramsey Campbell but he isn't from America. I guess James Herbert isn't either, so I'll go with Dan Simmons. It's wierd because I am an American but most of my favorite writers are British. Go figure.

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http://vintagehorror.com/home/author/matt

I dig the heck outa Ketchum... some are better than others, but haven't really come across one I didn't like.

I'm right at the end of Old Flames and I will go on record saying that it is classic Ketchum: if the book had no name on it, you'd still know it was the mad genius known as Jack Ketchum.

Leisure is getting awesome at sticking bonus material in there too; Right To Life after Old Flames and Gary Braunbeck's Coffin County has two stories after Coffing County also. You have to flip through the pages to find them in the Braunbeck, it's like Leisure forgot to mention it on the back of the book or something? Or they could have just been thinking it would be a cool surprise when you get to the end of Coffin County. Either way it kicks ass.

They picked two killer authors for June, that's for sure.

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"There's no law, no law anymore - I wanna steal from the rich and give to the poor."
~The Ramones~

Ketchum is not scary!

He may stir the senses, he may shock you, he may gross you out... bit he is not scary!!!

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Reading:

The Spartacus War - Barry Strauss
Slow Death - Jim Fielder
The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire - Edward Gibbon

_________________
"There's no law, no law anymore - I wanna steal from the rich and give to the poor."
~The Ramones~

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Reading:

The Spartacus War - Barry Strauss
Slow Death - Jim Fielder
The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire - Edward Gibbon

I found Off Season to be very scary for the first 100-or-so pages, as the tension was building, and as soon as the window broke, it was great action and amazing gore but not all that horrifying. The Lost was a lot scarier because of how vivid and life-like Ray Pye was.

CannibalsOnCannabis is the coolest name I've seen on here!

Jack sucked me right in on Off Season. It made me realize that Jack is a mad genius.

Now, do cannibals get better cannabis than the rest of us? And once they're stoned do they not crave human flesh anymore?

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"There's no law, no law anymore - I wanna steal from the rich and give to the poor."
~The Ramones~

I really enjoy Jack Ketchum. His stuff is scary in the real world kinda way. You know what's gonna happen, you don't want it to, but there is nothing you can do to stop it. He gets into characters heads and takes you for one hell of a ride.

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"There's no law, no law anymore - I wanna steal from the rich and give to the poor."
~The Ramones~

I did what you suggested...and it still isn't clear.

I wrote: "From the conversation between Matthew and Dora I'm a little unclear about whether Dora got away with murdering Jim, et al or if she was only charged with running over the kids on the bikes. Can you clear up please?"

Jack responded: "Murder one, no. Murder two, yes."