Attention slasher film fans: if you have not already - run, don't walk, to your nearest book merchant and get your hot little hands on Vince A. Liaguno's The Literary Six.A bloody cocktail of a potboiler that includes elements of Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians, and dozens of homages to every great slice and dice horror movie of the 70's and 80's, The Literary Six is the kind of book you curl up with on a rainy night and don't put down until the last twist has been twisted, and the final turn has been, well, turned.
It's New Year's Eve 2006, and a collection of former college chums are getting together for their yearly reunion. Gossip will be spread, champagne will be drunk, sexual feelings will come back to the surface...and blood will be spilled. It seems that this bunch of alumni all share a deep dark secret, and tonight, they will have to pay for a rather ugly stunt they were involved in twenty years earlier. In a way, The Literary Six is The Big Chill funneled through a grand guginol fun-house .
One of the things that makes reading The Literary Six such a kick is the tributes to slasher cinema that can be found throughout. For instance:
- The characters are holed up in a Gothic inn on a small island off the New England Coast - shades of April Fool's Day.
- A disembodied head found with candles surrounding it - much like Mama Voorhees's noggin was kept in Friday the 13th II.
- A gay twist to the infamous hot tub scene from the original Halloween II, complete with the victim sucking on the fingers of his killer (before he realizes that said digits don't belong to his beloved, that is).
- A masked killer (which of course is de rigeur in any slasher piece worth its salt).
- And of course, the fact that the killer keeps popping back up, just when you think the SOB is dead!
I can't wait to see what Vince has up his sleeve for an encore.
7 comments:
Thanks for your generous words, Pax! So glad you enjoyed the book.
Funny, out of all those references you mentioned, do you know that only ONE was a conscious inclusion? The APRIL FOOL'S DAY-ish setting, yeah. But until you just pointed them out, the HALLOWEEN II and F13 PART 2 bits must have come completely out of my subconscious! The only other conscious homage in there was to MY BLOODY VALENTINE (the bit on the walkways behind the inn with the smashing of the lights?) and the original HALLOWEEN (think Linda's death and a later scene with Maggie).
I just marvel at how much diehard slasher fans take away from the book. Makes the creative process so worthwhile.
Again, my heartfelt thanks for your kindness!
Vince,
I noticed the Bloody Valentine and Halloween bits ... I can't believe that the ones I mentioned were not deliberate. Be that as it may, they made the book that much more fun to read. I would love to see this made into a film (as long as Rob Zombie does not direct it...).
I really need to read this novel.
It's great to see a fellow LOTTD-er having so much success in a book-writing career.
So what's the best and fastest way for a guy in sweden like me to get my hands on this book? :)
Amazon? If you are really stuck, I could mail you my copy.
email me at paxromano@gmail.com.
Pax: Very nice of you! But I actually found a swedish retailer who can have for me in about a week, so I will give it a chance and buy it - everything because of your review here :)
Thank you, Ryne!
Happy reading, Ninja! I think you'll be my first official Swedish reader!
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