SHOCK ROCK

I've got a great idea: let's take modern musicians (?) and have them write horror stories about previous dead musicians from the 60's and 70's. Let's put in Stephen Kind and Paul Wilson and have Alice Cooper write the into. Sounds great, huh? Doesn't work. Not one story resonated with me on any level; they all felt as though the story had already been written and they just stuck in a Dead Musician's name. I'm surprise so many people found this book so enjoyable; perhaps true horror is not their normal genre.

This whole cd is very scary, but I especially love Bill Mumy's story "The Black '59." He reads this story in a way that only Bill can! I also got the book "Comic Prose" and read it before I heard Bill's interpretation. Good read and good listen! I love Bill reading on audio because he puts such enthusiasm into each sentence making you really get drawn into the storyline. No one can read an audio reading like Bill can! This cd is a must! It is deliciously scary, indeed! I like to pull it out and listen to it during thunder storms when the power is out. HAHAHA! Now, that's a good time...a real good time!

"Shock Rock" defied expectations as a surprisingly above-average collection. Nonetheless, several of these tales belong in the accursed hellhole of the bargain bin: "Voodoo Child" by Graham Masterson is uneventful; "You Know they Got a Hell of a Band" by Stephen King is deadly dull; the colloboration between Billy Mummy and Peter David, "The Black '59", is unimaginative. The largest disappointment is John Byrne's "Hide in Plain Sight", an amateurish sex romp with an obvious conclusion that reads like it was written by a 14-year-old boy with a hard-on. JOHN BYRNE!! THE GUY WHO DREW THE FANTASTIC FOUR--SUPERMAN--X MEN!! WHAT THE HECKFIRE, BYRNIE!?! The last two tales in the collection, "Flaming Telepaths" and "Addicted to Love", are two great stories that bring down the curtain. "Bunky" is a caffeinated sugar-high that takes a couple reads to comprehend, but it is a worthy contribution. METALLICA DIED WITH CLIFF!!!

This is an excellent book combining the best of rock and horror fiction. See my review of Shock Rock 2, a continuation of this fine anthology.

As a connoisseur of horror in general and horror fiction anthologies in specific, I have to say that this collection is one of the finest available. The intro by the father of shock rock himself, Alice Cooper, gets the book off to a roaring start. The stories that follow do not disappoint, ( a hallmark of editor Jeff Gelb's other anthology work), and makes this a must have for anyone who enjoys rock n' roll, and horror. Mr. Gelb, a second volume please?