[Jack Burton]

Hello all. Anyone ever read RL? Ever hear of him. I happend to stumble onto his work while scouring the bookshelves at Barnes&Noble looking for a decent horror title. I bought Night in Lonsome October and WHOA, what a crazy ride that was. He has been described as a Stephen King without a conscience, and it is a fairly apt descripition. I read 6 more novels of his, all with a varying degree of , for lack of a better word, readability! His writing is definately not for the squeamish, both in the gore and sex category! Am I morally bankrupt if I like his stuff?

[AuntiePam]

That's why some books (and movies and food and music etc.) are called guilty pleasures, I think.

The only Laymon I've read is One Rainy Night -- it was fun, like a B movie from the 50's or 60's.

[dragondrool]

I'm about half-way through In The Dark . It'll likely be a while before I drift back to it and finish it, though. What I've read of it seems a bit lightweight. Maybe the last half will be different.

[Frankenjohn]

I've read several Laymon novels, and I've got a few more I've started.

The pleasure I get out of Laymon is that his books are quick reads, he is good at pacing, and he can pull off some really creepy moments. The stories usually take place in a short period of time, and he does a good job coming up with surprises and dealing with realistic responses by his characters.

I would definately recommend The Travelling Vampire Show and The Stake. Vampire Show is really excellent up until the last 50 or so pages, and then it takes a really crazy turn, but it's unexpected and funny (in a sick way I guess) if you can go along with it.

AuntiePam was right about One Rainy Night. It is like a B movie, and it was fun.

[Jack Burton]

I agree with you and Auntie Pam, One Rainy Night was a nice bit of horror fun! I've read The Traveling Vampire Show and I really enjoyed it. Nice leisurely paced begining, then BAM!!! He makes the unatural feel natural, while shocking you at the same time. Dragdrool, give Into the Dark a second look, it slowly builds, then gets very..uh..'interesting' later on! BTW, I think I've read all his boks that are available here in The US, so I guess I'm gonna have to go to Amazon.com UK to order his others!

[Frankenjohn]

I'm surprised there haven't been any films of his books. The ones I've read have all seemed like perfect candidates for films.

Jack Burton, which is your favorite?

[Jack Burton]

Me too..have to say One night in Lonsome October my first RL book that I read..pretty damn good!!! BTW, in the paperback edition of Into The Dark I though on the back of the front cover it said cover image from film Richard Laymon's Into the Dark? But I scoured the Net and couldn't find anything. Perhaps I was mistaken.

[Rob B]

I read The Traveling Vampire Show and thought it was one of the lousier books I read. To me, it seemed like, cheap, predictable, generic, teen slasher flick--except I was reading it rather than watching it. Nothing original, nothing too scary, nothing entertaining. The only good thing was that it WAS a quick read.

I found it hard to believe it won the Best Horror Novel of the Year.

Completely turned me off to anything else by him.

[Jack Burton]

Hmm.didn't find it to be cheap, or too predictable, but then again, what is truly original? His novels, I guess, are a accuired taste, so to speak, but he does do shock, and makes beleivable characters, IMHO..I'd rather read him than Ann Rice or King or Koontz, but I'm bit on a visceral thrill kick right now!!!!

[AuntiePam]

By "horror award", do you mean the Stoker? I haven't agreed with most of those choices, actually. But awards are so subjective, they're probably not a good way to choose reading material.

Laymon died at about the time TVVS was published -- might be the award was a sympathetic response to that. By all accounts, Laymon was a nice guy and more importantly, extremely helpful to new writers. I don't think he ever pretended (or wanted) to be anything more than a B-list writer.