Les Daniels – The Silver Skull

Les Daniels – The Silver Skull (Sphere, 1983)

Blurb:

INVOCATION OF EVIL

Into the fabulous realms of sixteenth-century Mexico came Alfonso Martinez, a Spanish alchemist, in search of the legendary Aztec gold. And with the aid of the silver skull of Don Sebastian de Villanueva – wizard, vampire, explorer of earth’s dark mysteries – he held the key to the New World’s secrets.
Then the skull fell into the hands of a virgin priestess, the sensuous leader of an Aztec cult. And in awesome scenes of occult ritual and bloody human sacrifice, Don Sebastian was brought back to life. So began an unholy alliance as vampire and priestess joined forces, summoning all the dread powers of Evil at their command to destroy the army led by Cortes…

THE SILVER SKULL is a masterpiece of blood-chilling terror which ranks with DRACULA and FRANKENSTEIN for sheer compelling horror.
Don’t miss Les Daniels’s other horror classic: THE BLACK CASTLE — Also available in Sphere Books

See also the Silver Skull thread on Vault Of Evil

Peter Tremayne – Zombie!

Peter Tremayne – Zombie! (Sphere, 1981)

The blood-freezing chiller sensation!

Blurb:

LET THE LIVING DEAD RISE UP AND WALK …

When June arrives in St Miquelon, the Caribbean island is far removed from the tropical idyll she imagined. The exotic estate owned by her grandmother has become a barren ruin. And Marie Lasneque, the grandmother she never knew, is rumoured to be dead.

But within the heart of that lonely house, a legacy of living death is waiting for nightfall. And the moment when June will learn the horrifying truth about the voodoo island and its hideous cult of bloody sacrifice to their black magic woman … Marie Lasneque.

Peter Tremayne – The Morgow Rises

Peter Tremayne – The Morgow Rises (Sphere, 1982)

Review by Killercrab.

Beware when the Morgow rises:
Lament for the living.
Lament for the unborn.
All things end!

The idyllic Cornish village of Bosbradoe is suitably populated by eccentrics – none more so than 72 year old retired mining expert Henry Archibold Penrose , known as *Happy* to the locals. Owning a crumbling old mansion Tybronbucca ( meaning House on Goblin Hill) – Happy likes nothing better than to pack a thermos and sandwiches and explore the disused Tom Wheal tin mine he owns , adjoining the property , in the hopes of finding a new vein of Malachite that will re-energise the town’s economy.

However the dank and fetid undersea caverns hold something far more deadly than tin , as Happy finds out to his peril…

Meanwhile his visiting neice Claire breaks down on a lonely stretch of the Bodmin moor ( in the best Hammer Horrible tradition). Local fortune teller and witch , cackling Mother Polruan accosts her – fortelling of her *doom* in no uncertain terms – echoes of a village CURSED reverberating across the desolute moors ! Claire is *rescued* by Willian Neville – thriller writer , car expert and all round handsome chap and together their twin fates spiral intextricably towards the slavering jaws of the Morgow !!…

Peter Tremayne’s knowledge of Cornish lore embues the story with a delicious superstitous aura – is the Morgow a monster of myth or something of a more recent vintage?! The local pub The Morvren Arms is no doub’t a derivation of Morveran – the name of the mermaid from Cornish folklore and certainly befits the drinking hole of the local fisherfolk like old Billy Scalwen and Jack Trenaglos – overseen by the moon-faced landlord Noall. The actual legend of the Morgow though seems more a fiction dreamed up by Tremayne – possibly the name inspired by the character of the same name in LORD OF THE RINGS ? – no matter – Tremayne makes you believe that Mother Polruan’s fortellings of the mythical beast returning are dangerously real enough. Mix into this potent brew journalistic rivalries and Harrier jump-jets and you’ve a cracker of a tale!

Whilst the book boasts a salaciously saliva-drippingly lurid delineation of red head siren Sheila Fahy ( of the too full breasts she opines!) , getting scoffed alive by the slithering Morgow – Tremayne opts to concentrate more on building suspense initially , rather than outright explicit sex and gore – but let’s fly as the reader rounds on the final bend of the book The story is exuberantly kinetic and easy on the eye – a couple of hours should suffice the average reader. Tremayne’s real strentgh lies in his ability to forge folklore and reality convincingly without the story getting bogged down in too much detail – highly recommended!

Killercrab click rating 4/5

Thanks to H. P. Saucecraft who kindly provided the cover scan.

Basil Copper – Into The Silence

Basil Copper – Into The Silence (Sphere, 1983)

Under the Cornish village a secret hoard lies buried. Obsessed as if by vampire dreams which possess his very soul, the professor drives his team to burrow through dense, heavy topsoil and solid granite rock into the cavern, into the darkness, INTO THE SILENCE. In the cavern they seek that which was lost to man. And in the darkness they hear the shattering, noisless scream from deep within their brains, the scream of silence.

Thanks to blackmonk for providing the blurb and cover scan.

Basil Copper – The Great White Space

Basil Copper – The Great White Space (Sphere, 1978)

Terry Oakes

Blurb:

Beyond the hideous Plain of darkness, past the terrifying secret city, deep within earth’s dank uncharted caverns, a monstrous hybrid race stood guard at the entrance to the great white space.

So it was that the Great Northern Expedition ventured into the horrors of a stupendously vast underground terrain, in search of the legendary opening to another universe, peopled by an unimaginable spawn of darkness…

Thanks to Calenture for the cover scan and blurb.