NOW, GET OFF MY LAWN!
Creepy kids have been trampling our front lawns since, well, forever. They've been an essential ingredient in horror practically since its inception, even occupying their own special niche in the 1970s, 80s and 90s, horror's paperback heyday.
For this Halloween posting, subtitled "THE BALEFUL STARE," I decided to start with Hector Garrido's cover art on the science-fiction novel The Anything Box by Zenna Henderson, even though it's not very baleful---more like a picture of pure innocence. Anyhow, I think it's a masterpiece of portraiture, and possibly Garrido's most memorable paperback cover from among the hundreds he produced. So I stuck it in here just because. Avon published this reprint in 1977. The Argentinian born Hector Garrido, who famously painted about half of all the G.I. Joe merchandising art between 1982 and 1994, passed away in 2020 at age 92, but thankfully for all of us he left behind an illustrative legacy that will always be noted for its mood inducing excellence.
"Don't open The Anything Box unless you're prepared for the unexpected: The Grunder, a thing of horror which, if defeated, restores love... The Noise-Eater, created by a child out of his fevered imagination, gobbles up anything-- or anyone-- that makes a sound... The Coveti, residents of an alien world poisoned by the intrusion of the stranger from Earth... The Beast Hill, an ordinary mound of earth, except that its grass resembles fur, and-- doesn't it move?"
Now that's a baleful stare! Charles Moll, one of publishing's most distinctive and stylish illustrators, produced the cover art on Theodus Carroll's horror novel Evil Is A Quiet Word. Warner published this paperback in 1975. Moll also did the stepback art underneath (note the die-cast keyhole across the title font), a duplicate of the cover but with added text: Evil Is A Quiet Word---A novel that murmurs oh so softly of unspeakable horror. I read Carroll's novel so long ago that the only memory I have of it now is that I thought it was very very good.
Theodus Catherine Carroll (b. 1928- ) wrote three books for children in addition to her one adult novel: Firsts Under the Wire: The World's Fastest Horses 1900-1950 (1978), The Mystery of the Body Clocks (1979), and The Lost Christmas Star (1979). She was a senior book editor before she started working as the editor of Catalog Product News in 1988. She's also been a speaker and workshop/seminar conductor on writing for children.
"They stand in the shadows, and they speak only to Clarissa. Two children from the past who share this strange house with a lonely child of today. They tell her teir secrets softly so that no one else can hear-- robbing her of her innocence, capturing her friendship slyly, introducing her to the unspeakable insidiously. No loud noises, no screaming... except in the night."
Long Dark Night of the Soul should have been titled Long Dark Night of the Stare. It was published in paperback by Pocket in 1978. The cover artist is unknown. The author, Susan Marvin, was born Marilyn Sylvia Wasserman in Columbus, Georgia. She began her writing career producing softcore erotica paperback novels for Midwood-Tower Publications in the early 1960s, though it wasn't long before she moved out and into the mainstream, where she published scores of novels across several genres; contemporary, romance, gothic, suspense and historical-- all under a plethora of pen-names: Alison Lord, Jeffrey Lord, Susan Marino, Julie Marvin, Richard Marvin, Susan Marvin, and Julie Ellis, her primary pseudonym. By the time Wasserman died in 2006 at the age of 86 she had published more than 150 novels.
"Where Horror Lurks... It looked to be a perfect summer fo Liz Woodville-- ten weeks in her beloved England tutoring recently orphaned ten-year-old Timmy Kingston. And it looked even better when Liz met Timmy's young, handsome guardian, his Uncle Craig. But her sightseeing trip to London with Timmy and her lesson in its bloody history were the innocent beginnings of bizarre happenings-- eerie midnight figures and attempted murders-- as Timmy turned gruesome fifteenth-century history into frightening twentieth-century reality... and made Liz's dream summer a horrifying nightmare of possession, violence, and evil!"
Joe Lombardero produced the cover and stepback art on Lupe, the debut novel by prolific television script writer Gene Thompson (1925-2001). Ballantine published this paperback in 1978. Gene Thompson also wrote a crime novel titled Murder Mystery, which purportedly was the first novel ever to use that exact title phrasing.
Lombardero (1922-2004) studied at the Ringling School of Art in Sarasota, and his first gigs were as an advertising designer and a pharmaceutical illustrator. In the 1960s he started illustrating record albums, book interiors and then actual book covers, primarily paperbacks, representing nearly every genre that there is: gothic, romance, sci-fi, horror, crime & mystery and westerns. Chances are that if you've ever picked up a Longarm adult western novel---they number in the hundreds---the cover was undoubtedly Joe's.
"The Vatican, 5th Century A.D. Pope Gregory has ordered to be sealed forever the ninth Gregorian chant-- a profane, unholy invocation to the devil. San Francisco, 1977. Emily Blake has begun to hear strange disembodied voices calling to her in her home. Her husband's lover has burned to death, in a chair, behind a locked door. The ancient charge of murder by witchcraft has been leveled at Emily... Emily whose only hope may be a grotesque eleven-year-old boy with a demonic sexual craving. A little boy who has already taken her once, evilly. A little boy who taught her the tune of a chant unheard for fifteen-hundred years..."
John Melo allegedly won an award for 'Best Cover' art for Comes the Blind Fury, though I'm not sure who the actual sponsor was (his publisher, I presume). Dell published this novel in 1980, and after they staged a vigorous marketing campaign it sold more than 4 million copies, putting newcomer John Saul on the horror map forever. Melo was already on the illustrators map, having produced quality advertising art for movies, television, theater and paperback covers since about 1970. But the best was yet to come for Melo, including more outstanding paperback cover art for author's such as Jerry Ahern, Sean Costello, Gardner Dozois, John Farris, Robert A. Heinlein, William Katz, Andre Norton and Brad Steiger, among others.
"AMANDA. A century ago, a gentle blind girl walked the cliffs of Paradise Point. Then the children came-- taunting, teasing-- until she lost her footing and fell, shrieking her rage to the drowning sea... MICHELLE. Now Michelle has come from Boston to live in the big house on Paradise Point. she is excited about her new life, ready to make new friends... until a hand reaches out of the swirling mists-- the hand of blind child. She is asking for friendship... seeking revenge... whispering her name..."
Peter Caras' career in illustration is about as accomplished as can be with approximately 1,700 book covers to his credit. He was a student of Frank J. Reilly at the Art Students League in New York, and then was mentored by both Norman Rockwell and James Bama, which tells us he learned his craft from the very best in the business. His leering cover illustration and lurid stepback illustration for Effigies are proof enough of that. Dell published William K. Wells' debut novel about weird, possibly satanic happenings in an upscale artist community, in 1980. To my knowledge he published only one other novel, Chaos (1987), a thriller that takes place on a train.
"Holland County-- a suburban paradise, an oasis of peace and beauty... until beautiful Nicole Bannister got the little package that triggered a nightmare... until little Leslie Bannister's invisible playmate vanished and Elvida took her place... until Estelle Dixon's Ouija board spelled out the message: I AM COMING... SOON. A menacing pall settled over the gracious houses. Rank decay took hold of the lush woodlands. Death came. They thought it would go away. But Hell had come to Holland County. To stay."
Steven H. Stroud produced the cover art on the trade hardcover edition of Stephen King's Firestarter. It was published by Viking Press in 1980. These days Stroud spends his time painting fine-art landscapes, but his many expertly composed book covers and book illustrations are outstanding examples of an earlier, crowded time when he represented some of the biggest names in literature: Pearl Buck, John Cheever, Clive Cussler, William Faulkner, Charles L. Grant, Joseph Heller, Leo P. Kelley, Stephen King, Joyce Carol Oates, William Styron---and of course the biggest name of them all---Carolyn Keene.
"You are about to meet the sweetest, most irresistible little girl you've ever known-- 8-year-old Charlie McGee. She's everything that a proud father like Andy McGee could want-- and all that he can fear. For Charlie was born with the most destructive power a human being has ever commanded-- and somehow she must be saved from both herself and from those in high places who want to use her as their weapon. Meet Charlie-- and see what happens when innocence and beauty ignite with evil and terror..."
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Phantasia Press's limited, hardback edition of Firestarter (1980) was enhanced by a magnificent wraparound dustjacket by Michael Whelan, science-fiction & fantasy's most honored cover artist. And, while I wish I would've bought every limited edition book of Stephen King that was ever published (I didn't, dammit, although I know a fellow who did), none would be more valuable to me than this, the very first King of its kind, and the one with the absolute best cover art out of all of them.
So far, nobody has been credited with the cover art on The Homecoming. Dell published this horror novel about a mentally disturbed boy who gets sent away to a private hospital in 1980. Russell O'Neil, who passed away in 1991 at the age of 64, was both a playwright and a novelist. The novels he wrote are: Jonathan (1959), A Climate of Violence (1961), A Moment of Violence (1962), The Devil's Profession (1964), The Most Beautiful Girls in the World (1970, The Alcatraz Incident (1971), Neighbors (1972), The Need (1974), The Choice (1976), The Country Club (1979), and Venom (1979). The latter is a pretty good horror thriller about cobra's slithering around in a downtown high-rise, freaking out tenants.
"They should never have done this to him. Not ever... Josh and Jessica Morgan had everything. A beautiful home in Beverly Hills. Glamorous friends. Glittering parties. And Jeff, their bright, beautiful twelve-year-old son. But Jeff was different. He lived in a tree-house world of his own, a world he jealously guarded against every intrusion. Jeff awoke one morning to find himself a psychiatric patient in exclusive Rosedale Hospital. His rage made him tremble. That was when Jeff knew his parents would have to pay. They had put him away. But not for long. Soon there would be... The Homecoming."
Shelley Katz was responsible, along with her husband Paul, for writing one of those horror paperback originals that become a cult phenomenon. You know, the ones that people resell at ridiculous prices. I finally got my own copy of Alligator, and lucked out by having to pay only half of what it usually goes for. Truthfully, I just wanted the cover art, which is ridiculously awesome. Her other horror novel, The Lucifer Child (Dell, 1980), is not a cult phenomenon, and generally sells for what a used paperback should sell for. Its cover art is not as awesome as Alligator's, but it ain't half bad either. The artist is unknown.
"Adam was the dream made flesh... the perfect baby, a "miracle child" created by a triumphant science and flawless technology, bred for consummate beauty and brains. He was everything. Everything they had hoped for. Everything they had planned. He was perfect. Until they discovered he had perfect power... power to enter any mind and bend it to his will. Until they discovered they had created a monster... a blond, blue-eyed demon with the brightest of smiles and the darkest of hearts. Men had made him. Earth was his playground. Mankind was a fragile toy in the tiny, evil hands of... THE LUCIFER CHILD."
Fritzen Ravenswood would've made a splendid title for a gothic romance. And yes, Ravenswood is the author's real name, or at least Fritzen is-- Ravenswood was allegedly adopted by her as a surname after a divorce. Her maiden name was Hinman, and she graduated from Principia College in 1940 with a degree in Japaneses studies. She was proficient in a number of other languages too. She taught English language in Guatemala, worked for a while as an aid to the U.S. Military, and became the head of the University of Iowa's International Travel and Study Department. She was also as an editor for Mother Earth News and at some point in her life a devotee of Wicca. She only wrote two novels though, The Spawning and The Witching, both published by Zebra in paperback in 1981.
Mark and Stephanie Gerber produced the cover art on The Spawning. For years they mingled their artistic efforts, but it would appear that now they are mostly producing separately-- Stephanie paints portraits primarily, while Mark seems to be still grinding away commercially (and digitally) in his Gerber Studios, where both artists flourished together during the 1980's and 90s, creating some of the most memorable horror art in all of publishing.
"Satanic Seduction: I'm not going to hurt you. Just relax and think of your husband. I'll massage you. Think of your husband. I'll kiss you. Think of your husband. Now get more comfortable and think of your husband. I sound like him. Look like him. Feel like him. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm going to help you serve our goddess, our queen of death who thirsts for the blood of babes. We will give her our child, for now you are mine and I am your demon lover..."
Gerald "Jerry" Neal Williamson was forty-nine years old when he published his first horror novel in 1979, and he went on to publish 39 more and place at least 150 short stories. The Horror Writers of America were so impressed with his accomplishments that in 2003 they gave him a lifetime achievement award. Sadly though, and far too typical for recipients of lifetime achievement awards, Williamson was only able to bask in his glory for two short years before passing away in 2005 at the age of 73.
"The were rejected by their families, cast aside by society, and now---banished from the face of the Earth. One group at a time, they vanished---engulfed, swallowed, absorbed by a great white ball of light. What was the mystical force that took them away, and why? What did those poor misfits have in common? Psychologist Stacy Bennett and writer Jed Westphal are compelled to find the answers to the questions, not realizing that they, too, are part of an arcane plan."
Max Ginsburg produced the cover art on The Children, by Charles Robertson. Bantam published this this horror novel, or what should be more accurately described as an investigative thriller, in 1982. Charles Robertson is the author of 5 other thrillers as well: The Elijah Conspiracy (1980), The Omega Deception (1984), Red Chameleon (1985), Directive Sixteen (1988), and Strike Zone (1990).
Ginsburg has been a successful fine-arts painter since the mid-1950s. He specializes in New York street scenes, covering all aspects of the Big Apple's daily social and political life. For decades he supplemented his income by providing outstanding cover art for the publishing industry, and it is that aspect of his work with which I'm most familiar with, and grateful for.
"The Children. You might meet them anywhere. In the subway. On a plane. In your bedroom. So innocent in their schoolboy blazers. So angelic with their bright faces. Don't be deceived. They are the sons of wealth and power. And behind their shining eyes lurk cold, murderous hearts. They are the weapons in a secret army. They might be anywhere from New York to Houston to Switzerland. They are waiting. For you."
Although the cover and stepback art was not credited on Ken Eulo's The Deathstone, it's most likely the work of actress/singer/illustrator Gillian Hills, known and loved by many as bestselling author V. C. Andrews' very first ever book cover artist. Pocket Books published this horror novel in 1982. Hills also created the covers of two other books in Ken Eulo's "Stone" series: The Brownstone (1980) and The Bloodstone (1981). She started her illustration career producing cover art and illustrations for books and magazines in the mid-1970s, and ended up representing some of the biggest authors in the business, folks like Peter Benchley, Robin Cook, John Coyne, D. M. Thomas, Kate Wilhelm, and the aforementioned Eulo, among others.
"There is no escape for the one whose name is carved upon... The Deathstone. Chandal Talon's occult nightmares were behind her. For seven years she and her husband Ron had lived happy, loving lives. Then-- at the start of a Rocky Mountain vacation with their daughter Kristy, an accident strands them in a village of eerie customs and strange rituals... rituals to which the friendly townspeople eagerly invited their new visitors. And suddenly Ron is plagued by bloody visions. Kristy is obsessed by creatures no one else can see... Then-- The Carnival of Summer... The Crowning of the Queen... The Sabbath that calls for a gift of flesh and blood. Now a long-forgotten specter of evil reaches out again for Chandal, while a lone stonecutter carves another name in the great rock above the town..."
Michael Whelan again---this time producing an extremely creepy cover for The Year's Best Horror Stories: Series XI, edited by the late Karl Edward Wagner. Daw published this paperback in 1983, part of an ongoing anthology series in conjunction with United Kingdom publisher Sphere, that began back in 1972, and under various editorship lasted until 1994 when it was discontinued after Wagner's sudden passing at the age of 48. Wagner was a pretty good horror and fantasy writer in his own right, and although I don't always approve of pastiches, Wagner gets high marks for writing what I think are the two best Robert E. Howard pastiches that have ever been published-- Legion from the Shadows (1976), and The Road of Kings (1979).
Frank Morris produced the cover art on Day Care, by John Russo. Pocket Books published this horror novel in 1985. Morris supplied cover art on a score of mainstream, science fiction, horror, and juvenile books during the 1980's and 90s, and perhaps a lot more beyond that. He also designed coins and medals for the U.S. Mint, with his most recent creation, a Law Enforcement Memorial Gold and Silver obverse, occurring just this year.
John Russo is the co-writer of the classic horror film, Night of the Living Dead. He also wrote the novelization and more than a dozen other horror novels in addition to some film related non-fiction. He's been an actor, director, screenwriter, magazine editor and publisher too (Scream Queens Illustrated).
"He's a good puppet. He does what they say, but he's programmed for terror, and someone will pay. The Academy. It's every parent's dream, turning their little darlings into geniuses, superachievers, perfect little children. And if there's a problem, the Academy fixes that, too. It's a simple operation. Just a little device. Then a teeny pink scar on a tender little skull... One boy knows the secret. Now he wants him mind back. But it's much, much too late. Too late for anything but the ugly feelings. The bad feelings. The messy sexy feelings. The knife-cold hatred, the murderous rage, for total, screaming, blood-drenching revenge..."
"There is a Bad Thing in little Todd's Closet---claw marks on the door, something angry trying to get out. His toy carousel plays a song from the past, but not his past... There is a girl in the dark, shadowy woods. Or is there? If you come too close, she disappears... Todd's mother Maggie has nightmares of death, insanity, an evil child, a dead baby... Gradually the MacKenzie family becomes enmeshed in a sinister web of past evil, woven by a girl long dead, until at last the children of light are forced into a terrifying confrontation with a child of the deep and fathomless dark."
Orphans was published in paperback by Dell in 1989. The cover art was not credited but it should have been because it is one outstanding piece of illustration (more John Melo, perhaps). Ed Naha's career has been pretty outstanding too: rock & film journalist for several leading slicks, publicist and artistic development clerk for Columbia Records, staff writer for the Starlog magazine and the first editor of Fangoria magazine, screenplay writer for both film and television and the author of over 25 novels, mostly in the realm of the fantastic including many novelizations. He also wrote, in conjunction with his buddy John Shirley, the cult post-apocalyptic paperback series, The Traveler.
"Oh please-- teach me to kill tonight... It was a beautiful autumn night in a tiny upstate New York town. Everything was picture perfect. Except for the children. The first-graders at the exclusive Roth School had apple cheeks, innocent smiles, and hearts of pure evil. And day by day, as the children acquired superhuman strength, as they developed strange unnatural desires, that evil grew. Pretty young Kate Winston felt something terribly wrong from the moment she drove into the town of Belleville. Something in the thick, blinding fog seemed to reaching out for her. Something like a shadow seemed to be closing in behind her. She had come to teach. But she couldn't stop the horror that made her blood run cold. She couldn't stop the long, agonizing scream that tore from her throat. She couldn't stop the children... or the terrible things they were destined to do..."
The cover art on Seed of Evil (top) was produced Mark and Stephanie Gerber, that talented husband and wife team who had a crazy habit of creating outstanding horror covers. The author, Edmund Plante, had a habit of writing crazy horror novels, or at least seven of them that we know of, but they weren't all habit forming for those who actually tried to read them. At 368 pages, Seed of Evil is a marathon, even for those who read horror and nothing but.
"A lonely, divorced mother of two, Patty wasn't in the habit of picking
up men in her neighborhood bar. But then she saw Sam, a stranger in
town--and after one riveting look she knew she had to take him home. But
later, Patty's screams of pleasure turned to screams of pain as Sam
began to grow inside her, ripping her flesh, transforming before her
eyes into a hideous giant with fire in his eyes--the fires of hell.
Leaving her to soak in pools of her own blood, he disappeared as
mysteriously as he had arrived. Their savage union left Patty with a
child, one she couldn't bring herself to abort--or love. Richard was
outwardly a normal little boy, but as he grew, so did the monster within
him. Accidents began to happen--murderous, violent accidents--and Patty
knew that the boy was responsible. The seed had been planted, the
harvest would be hell..."
BMI published Plante's Seed of Evil in paperback in 1988. Mark and Stephanie apparently repurposed their illustration when Keith Ferrario had his horror novel, Deadly Friend, published in 1994 by the same publisher. With some slight alterations, of course.
"A friend in need is a fiend indeed. Little Georgie is dead, but this
minor convenience doesn't stop him from invading the realm of the
living-- or from looking for playmates to join him in the great beyond..."
Computer programmer Keith Ferrario basically started writing when he got his first Macintosh computer-- ah, the wonders of the word processor. Me, I started out on an old manual typewriter, then I bought a Brother electric and suddenly I was in writers paradise. Now I use an iMac just like Keith does, except he has 4 horror novels published to date while I have nothing but scraps of unfinished stories and blog blitherings. Picture my BALEFUL STARE.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!
[October, 2021, © Jeffersen]
