Those who grew up watching atomic-era monster movies on UHF — and really, isn’t that about all of us? — will find good vibes radiating from Permuted Press’ latest anthology, MONSTROUS: 20 TALES OF GIANT CREATURE TERROR, edited by Ryan C. Thomas. Reminiscent of DAIKAIJU!: GIANT MONSTER TALES, it’s understandably uneven, but the good outweighs the bad.
D.L. Snell gets the proceedings off to a creepy-crawly start with “Present Tense, Future Imperfect,” in which a man — following a tragic auto accident — occasionally blacks out and is able to see the future. Said future is riddled with enormous bugs, including a particularly nasty spider. Once he discovers the cause, he makes a chilling choice to try and prevent it from ever happening.
No stranger to big monsters, MEG franchise owner Steve Alten contributes “Lost in Time.” It’s one of maybe two stories not original to this collection, having been recycled from the pulp mag OUT OF THE GUTTER #2, but it remains a great story on its second read. (Alten also provides the book’s introduction, and it’s brand-new, obviously.)
Randy Chandler examines “Cooties,” being a euphemism for a most extreme case of pubic crabs. That’s gross, but at least gross because the plot demands it, unlike a couple of other stories that throw in elements of gross for the sake of being gross; “When he shit, it came out as a chalky, white paste that burned his ass,” writes Paul Stuart, which has nothing to do with anything, and ditto for Cody Goodfellow with “The Prime Minister deliciously lost control of his bowels. The hermetically-sealed astronaut diapers under his impeccable Brooks Brothers suit contained the deluge, but cradled it close to his chafed, shameful buttocks.”
Roughly a quarter of the stories carry a military theme, and I liked it when the titles didn’t automatically give away what kind of creature will rear its ugly head — whether crabs, a tiger, maggots, lake monsters (fish and otherwise), locusts, a vampire — so there’s some element of surprise.
A couple of enterprising authors don’t take the theme so literally, moving away from the animal kingdom. For example, Steven L. Shrewbury contributes “Attack of the 500-Foot Porn Star,” which answers the question of how one copes with an 80-foot erection. Better yet — in fact, the best of the 20 tales — is “Whatever Became of Randy” by James A. Moore. I can’t tell you its source of menace without spoiling the surprise, but it’s a damned good one, and awfully imaginative. —Rod Lott
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Reminds me of the good old days, back when Amazing and Fantastic would have giant creatures on the cover every month. And when Super Science Fiction did a series of “Special Monster Issues.” I think Robert Silverberg might have written an entire issue of those.