Lost Book Gem: "Off Season" - Jack Ketchum (1980)


"They're running up behind you and they're coming all about.
Can't go east 'cos you gotta go south."
--> Queen <--

Horror stories about friends heading off to cabins for some rest-&-rec only to meet up with nasty strangers has been done...ten times ten.

So anybody attempting to write another one had better know how to bring it. And hard!

But it was 1980 when Jack Ketchum delivered this gut-wrenching page-turner. And even after some forced editing...."Off Season"...still received a huge backlash for its gore and violence. So much so, Ballantine Books withdrew their support after the novel's first printing.

Jack Ketchum...a real nice guy.

Thirty years later, this controversial gorefest still maintains cult status. It has since been reissued in Ketchum's original unedited version ...and that's really the way to go.

"Off Season" is a fast, disturbingly fun novel about surviving in an extremely twisted situation.

Veteran readers of the genre might not flinch too much...but they'll still be rewarded with a few tasty Jack Ketchum surprises and possibly a palpitating heart-dance or two.

Grab your reading glasses, babies.

"Ogre Battle" - Queen / Queen II (1974)


"Now once upon a time an old man told me a fable
When the piper is gone and the soup is cold on your table
And if the black crow flies to find a new destination...that is the sign.
Come tonight
Come to the ogre sight
Come to the ogre battle fight.

 He gives a great big cry and he can swallow up the ocean
With a mighty tongue he catches flies, the palm of his hand incredible size.
One great big eye has a focus in your direction
Now the battle is on...Yeah yeah yeah!
Come tonight
Come to the ogre sight
Come to the ogre battle fight.

 The ogre men are still inside
The two-way mirror mountain
Gotta keep down right out of sight
You can't see in but they can see out
"Keep a look out!"
The ogre men are coming out
From the two-way mirror mountain
They're running up behind you and they're coming all about
Can't go east 'cos you gotta go south.

 Ogre-men are going home
The great big fight is over
Bugle blow that trumpet cry
Ogre battle lives for ever more.
You can come along
You can come along
Come to ogre battle."

Good Stuff!

Casey Chambers
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