FREE/BARGAIN - Horror/Supernatural

[ZodWallop]

Many Robert McCammon books are $1.99 each:

They Thirst
Mystery Walk
Usher's Passing
Swan Song
Stinger
The Wolf's Hour
Blue World
Mine
Boy's Life
Gone South
Speaks the Nightbird
Mister Slaughter

His first book, BAAL was also for sale, but is over now, so who knows how long these sales will last?

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Many Robert McCammon books are $1.99 each:

They Thirst
Mystery Walk
Usher's Passing
Swan Song
Stinger
The Wolf's Hour
Blue World
Mine
Boy's Life
Gone South
Speaks the Nightbird
Mister Slaughter

His first book, BAAL was also for sale, but is over now, so who knows how long these sales will last?

Thanks for posting info on this sale.

Heads up to everyone who likes GREAT horror stories and/or needs to catch up on their McCammon.

[Number9]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

Thanks for posting info on this sale.



Heads up to everyone who likes GREAT horror stories and/or needs to catch up on their McCammon.

Thanks for the tip. Do you know where to start?

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Number9

Thanks for the tip. Do you know where to start?

Swan Song is likely his most popular book. It sounds VERY similar to The Stand, but I believe it was just a coincidence.

A PBS Great American Read Top 100 Pick

Swan is a nine-year-old Idaho girl following her struggling mother from one trailer park to the next when she receives visions of doom—something far wider than the narrow scope of her own beleaguered life. In a blinding flash, nuclear bombs annihilate civilization, leaving only a few buried survivors to crawl onto a scorched landscape that was once America.

In Manhattan, a homeless woman stumbles from the sewers, guided by the prophecies of a mysterious amulet, and pursued by something wicked; on Idaho’s Blue Dome Mountain, an orphaned boy falls under the influence of depraved survivalists and discovers the value of a killer instinct; and amid the devastating dust storms on the Great Plains of Nebraska, Swan forms a heart-and-soul bond with an unlikely new companion. Soon they will cross paths. But only Swan knows that they must endure more than just a trek across an irradiated country of mutated animals, starvation, madmen, and wasteland warriors.

Swan’s visions tell of a coming malevolent force. It’s a shape-shifting embodiment of the apocalypse, and of all that is evil and despairing. And it’s hell-bent on destroying the last hope of goodness and purity in the world. Swan is that hope. Now, she must fight not only for her own survival, but for that of all mankind.

A winner of the Bram Stoker Award and a finalist for the World Fantasy Award, Swan Song has become a modern classic, called “a chilling vision that keeps you turning pages to the shocking end” by John Saul and “a long, satisfying look at hell and salvation” by Publishers Weekly.

To be honest, that type of story is not my thing. I read and enjoyed both Swan Song and The Stand, but neither is a favorite of mine.

I liked Night Boat and Baal, which aren't currently on sale and are CRAZY overpriced.

Stinger looks good to me, a monster/alien attacking a small desert town. The better half read and enjoyed it, but I haven't yet.

All of the books listed are stand-alones and all have their fans. McCammon wrote all sorts of different stories with different flavors. They Thirst had vampires in Los Angeles, Wolf's Hour was a mixture of WWII espionage and werewolves, Usher's Passing was a sequel to Poe's The House of Usher, Blue World is a short story collection. One of the stories from there, Nightcrawlers, was adapted as an episode of the Twilight Zone revival in the 80's, directed by William Friedkin (The Exorcist). YouTube link below.

The only McCammon book seen as a misfire by some is Bethany's Sin and it isn't on sale right now anyway.

[Dr. Drib]

I would go with 'Boy's Life', a beautiful novel of wonder and horror on a par with Ray Bradbury, in my opinion.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

I would go with 'Boy's Life', a beautiful novel of wonder and horror on a par with Ray Bradbury, in my opinion.

Dr, I updated my post with a link to the Twilight Zone adaptation of Nightcrawlers. Have you seen that yet?

That '80's Twilight Zone is seriously under-rated.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Dr, I updated my post with a link to the Twilight Zone adaptation of Nightcrawlers. Have you seen that yet?

That '80's Twilight Zone is seriously under-rated.

I just now watched it - and this is the first time I've seen it.

I read the story years ago, of course, but for some unaccountable reason I only watched a few episodes of the new Twilight Zone TV series.

Thanks for posting that. I guess I'll now need to watch the entire series, which sounds like a great way to spend my time!

[Number9]

Thank you @ZodWallop and Dr. Drib! 😊

[ZodWallop]

Stolen from the sci-fi thread: The Stand by Stephen King - $1.99

Stevie's books don't usually stay on sale long, so get it while the getting is good.

Robert McCammon's Swan Song was also just on sale. It would make for a neat (or depressing) double feature.

[ZodWallop]

Dr. Drib, I mentioned that I missed Night Boat when it was on sale. I was missing his earliest books, Baal, Night Boat, Bethany's Sin and They Thirst.

Last night I was going through my Kindle app and I found out I have all of them. They were the earlier editions published by Subterranean Press. They didn't show up in my search because they listed his name as Robert McCammon instead of Robert R. McCammon.

But I found out that if I can pick up the Open Road editions for cheap, it's worth re-buying. The Subterranean ones are not well formatted.

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Dr. Drib, I mentioned that I missed Night Boat when it was on sale. I was missing his earliest books, Baal, Night Boat, Bethany's Sin and They Thirst.

Last night I was going through my Kindle app and I found out I have all of them. They were the earlier editions published by Subterranean Press. They didn't show up in my search because they listed his name as Robert McCammon instead of Robert R. McCammon.

But I found out that if I can pick up the Open Road editions for cheap, it's worth re-buying. The Subterranean ones are not well formatted.

I remember having that same exact issue, because (like you), I had neglected to be consistent on that abbreviated middle name. Too, I found one listing had his last name misspelled, so it wasn't showing up by author. (Have you ever had an issue where calibre has red in some of the author and/or title data fields? Whenever I add a book to my Library, I find myself double checking the metadata to see if it 'took'.)

I (think) I got most of his books free when Open Road had that huge sale about 7 or so years ago.

Regarding the formatting, I'm going to check and see what publisher editions I own, and then compare the formatting. -- Thanks for the heads up on that issue.

Glad you found your 'missing' McCammon!

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

I remember having that same exact issue, because (like you), I had neglected to be consistent on that abbreviated middle name. Too, I found one listing had his last name misspelled, so it wasn't showing up by author. (Have you ever had an issue where calibre has red in some of the author and/or title data fields? Whenever I add a book to my Library, I find myself double checking the metadata to see if it 'took'.)

I see that most often when the series is made part of the title, or when there's a description: Mary Poppins, A dark erotic thriller with supernatural suspense!

Regarding the formatting, I'm going to check and see what publisher editions I own, and then compare the formatting. -- Thanks for the heads up on that issue.

I found out when I realized I had two copies of They Thirst. The Subterranean one has the better cover, the Open Road one has better formatting (the table of contents is where it was most apparent). Since Open Road stuff goes on sale for $1.99 all the time, I'll pick up their editions of Baal, Bethany's Sin and The Night Boat as they hit sale price.

Subterranean cover


Open Road cover


Cover I used

[Dr. Drib]

I also used the same cover as you.

Here's mine.

[Dr. Drib]

You got me thinking about all of my McCammon ebooks. Years ago, I had a complete set of all his Kinnell (?) First editions in hardback. I still have one or two ARCs of Swan Song (in storage). Everything is in immaculate condition.

So, to compensate for my beloved books, I have numerous ebook incarnations, as shown below. The Pocket Books ebooks are (were) probably copied from PDFs, but I'm not certain. A couple of other titles were generously donated to me. The Open Road were all free, although the Subterranean Press titles were mostly purchased and perhaps some of them were free. (Perhaps some of them were at reduced prices; I can't remember.)

The Matthew Corbett Adventures #1 is the combined first two volumes put together utilizing epubmerge, along with the correct cover. Of course!

I've read (to my knowledge) ALL of his earlier published work - before his 20-odd year hiatus from publishing. It's most of the newer work that I have yet to read.

1. Baal - (Subterranean Press)
2. Bethany’s Sin - (Subterranean Press)
3. Bethany’s Sin - (Pocket Books)
4. Blue World - (Pocket Books)
5. The Border - (Subterranean Press)
6. Boy’s Life - (Open Road)
7. Cardinal Black - (Cemetery Dance)
8. The Collected Stories of Robert R. McCammon - (?)
9. Eat Me - (?)
10. The Five - (Subterranean Press)
11. Freedom of the Mask - (Subterranean Press)
12. Gone South - (Open Road)
13. The Hunter From The Woods - (Subterranean Press)
14. I Travel By Night - (Subterranean Press)
15. Last Train From Perdition - (Subterranean Press)
16. The Listener - (Cemetery Dance)
17. Matthew Corbett Adventures #1 - (Subterranean Press)
18. Mine - (Open Road)
19. Mister Slaughter - (Subterranean Press)
20. The Monster Novels - (Open Road)
21. Mystery Walk - (Open Road)
22. The Night Boat - (Open Road)
23. The Providence Rider - (Subterranean Press)
24. The Queen of Bedlam - (Subterranean Press)
25. The River of Souls - (Subterranean Press)
26. Speaks The Nightbird - (Pocket Books)
27. Stinger - (Open Road)
28. Swan Song - (Open Road)
29. Swan Song - (Pocket Books)
30. They Thirst - (Open Road)
31. They Thirst - (Pocket Books)
32. Usher’s Passing - (Open Road)
33. The Wolf’s Hour - (Open Road)

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

I also used the same cover as you.

Here's mine.

To be clear, the image I uploaded isn't the actual cover I use in Calibre. Just an appropriate sized image I found online.

Here's my They Thirst cover: