Resurrection Dreams

If you think Stephen King has a twisted mind, you might be interested to know that in the printed world, he's really rather tame. While Stephen King weaves a story of disbelief and macabre, he does not shock with the grotesque. Not like some.

For me, King's horror is in the visuals he paints, and of his classic story telling of how one's mind can become their own worst enemy. Of course his added elements of demonic evil and dark apocalypse certainly add to his tales, but I never stopped reading one of his books early because he over stepped the boundaries of what I enjoy reading in terms of a horror novel.

Yes, there are definitely far more twisted minds out there than Mr. King, and one of those minds belong to an author by the name of Richard Laymon. Unfortunately Mr. Laymon passed away in 2001, however several of his books have been released since that time posthumously.

Richard Laymon was an author that thrived on gore and vulgarity. Not so much vulgarity as in language, but rather in things, in horrors, that only a sociopath would inflict. I'm not quite sure why I read these type of books; probably the same reason I watch these types of movies. I'm sure some would say that it must be the sign of my a twisted mind.

Resurrection Dreams

Every school has its share of outcasts; kids that simply do not fit in. Usually we label these types as nerds, losers, weirdos, or my favorite - "motards" (that's a combination of a moron and retard... not that there's anything wrong with it .)

In Resurrection Dreams, that outcast was Melvin Dobbs. Only he wasn't just an outcast; he was weird. Real weird. As evidenced by the fact that he wanted to resurrect a dead body. So much so that for the school science fair, Melvin dug up a corpse and tried to electrocute it back to life "Frankenstein style." Unfortunately his science project didn't work. But it did work at making sure none of his classmates would ever like him, and it did work at getting him institutionalized.

Enter Vicki Chandler. She was one of Melvin's classmates who actually didn't pick on him. She even stuck up for him during one particular razing. Big mistake. HUGE even. Now Melvin is all in love with her, and we know what happens when psycho's are in love.... nothing good, that's what!

Fast forward several years - Vicki had escaped off to college only to find after some unfortunate events and really high student loans that she has no choice but to return to her home town and take up residence at the local medical clinic. Too bad Melvin is out of the loony bin and working at the local gas station. With everything being so "local" she was bound to run into him more often than she would like.

But what Vicki and the rest of the town fail to notice is that Melvin has been busy. He has graduated from experimenting on dug up corpses, to experimenting on real live females. Females he kidnaps and uses for his sick and twisted experiments. Females that end up dead.

Oh - and did I mention that ever since the day Vicki stuck up for Melvin all those years ago in high school, he has been madly in love with her? Obsessive even? Too bad Vicki didn't know that. Or else maybe she would have avoided him like the plague.

Instead Vicki decides to come back to town at about the same time Melvin gets his lucky break and successfully resurrects one of his victims. Jackpot! Now all he has to do, is lure kidnap trap invite Vicki to his his place for a little "happily forever after." He's going to need help, though, and who better to help than his newly resurrected sex starved zombies!

Richard Laymon is not for everyone, especially the wimpy types that can't handle a lot of little blood. He was very graphic, twisted, and most probably a closet pervert. You will find that the novels published prior to his demise, versus the novels published after his demise, vary in the amount of perverseness contained within the pages. Die hard Laymon fans seem to prefer the former more sexually explicit stories. I tend to be more in favor of more death and dismemberment, and would be perfectly content without the obscene narratives. I guess it's just another reason for having both vanilla and chocolate.

So if you like to read, and are not easily nauseated I would suggest you pick up one or two of Richard Laymon's books. He's almost as good as Bentley Little, and Stephen King even suggests you give him a try. It's right there on the cover. Don't believe me? Then ask Dean Koontz. He recommends Laymon on the cover, too. With all these recommendations, how can you lose?