Buffy the Vampire Slayer Vol. 16: Slayer, Interrupted
by Scott Lobdell
from Dark Horse
Considering how Buffy Summers has burned down the school gym, run off to Vegas, and filled her diary with tales of vampires and demons, her parents see no other choice than to have her committed to a mental institution for a nice long rest. During her stay, Buffy finds that she rather likes not having to slay vampires and demons night after night. But there's something sinister going on here as some of the doctors may not be what they appear. Meanwhile, in England, Rupert Giles' use of black magic has stopped a corrupt Watcher from destroying the Council, but now, to prove himself worthy of the title Watcher, he must face the consequences of dabbling in the forbidden arts. Dark Horse recounts this turning point in Buffy's history before she got to Sunnydale, in a story we only saw a glimpse of in the television show.
The Uncanny X-Men #303 : Going Through the Motions (Marvel Comics)
by Scott Lobdell
from Marvel Comics
Tales of the Miskatonic Valley (Call of Cthulhu Horror Roleplaying, Bk+Map, #2334)
Battlestar Galactica The Compendium #1 (Maximum Press)
by Robert Napton
from Maximum Press
Big Book of Horror
by Steve Niles
from IDW Publishing
Collected together for the first time are the original Little Book of Horror stories. This collection features three classic tales of terror - Frankenstein, War of the Worlds and Dracula - retold by Steve Niles and accompanied with beautiful full-color art by Scott Morse, Ted McKeever and Richard Sala.
Black Evening
by David Morrell
from Phoenix Audio
David Morrell is best known for testosterone-fueled thrillers like Extreme Denial and First Blood (whose excellent movie version, reissued on DVD in 1999, stars Sylvester Stallone as Rambo). But Morrell has also penned many frightfully scary short stories. In Black Evening, he presents 16 of his favorites, each with a fascinating introduction explaining what provoked him to write it.
"The Dripping" (1971) came to the author in a dream that most would regard as a nightmare. In this eerie little number, a father faces his worst fear when his family goes missing. Morrell suffered his own family tragedy in January of 1987, when his son Matt was diagnosed with bone cancer. "Orange Is for Anguish, Blue for Insanity" (the Horror Writers Association's best novella of 1988) was written shortly before Matt's death. Writing about a mad painter kept Morrell sane: "The made-up horror was paradoxically providing a barrier from real-life horror." But after Matt's death, Morrell was besieged with panic attacks, and could do nothing but "stare at the ceiling" for three years. A harrowing story about lost children and a long buried family secret, "The Beautiful Uncut Hair of Graves" (another HWA award-winner) signified Morrell's return to short fiction. The title is taken from Walt Whitman's poem about death and children; John Rambo's name is a pun on Arthur Rimbaud. Morrell is a genre writer with a poet's soul.
And whether he's writing stories of subtle psychological terror or conjuring up scenarios of pure horror, Morrell never fails to scare the bejesus out of us. --Naomi Gesinger
THE OPEN DOOR AND OTHER GHOST STORIES
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Vol. 15: Viva Las Buffy
by Scott Lobdell
from Dark Horse
The Buffy saga takes a bold new direction under the guidance of former X-Men writers Lobdell and Nicieza. It's 1996, and Buffy Summers has just accepted her role as the Vampire Slayer. After the destruction of her high school, she flees to Las Vegas to sort her life out, but there's more than Wayne Newton and hookers in the city of sin. A twisted coven den of vampires has big plans for the strip. And there's a tall, dark, and handsome stranger keeping an eye on her during those dangerous nights in Vegas.
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