Look Out For… The Hammer of Dr. Valentine by John Llewellyn Probert
“Promises to be even more gleefully deranged than the first book!”
Two years ago, a series of horrific murders shocked the city of Bristol. These were killings so elaborate in their planning, and so outrageous in their execution, that they made national headlines for weeks. Now the journalists who wrote the stories behind those headlines are beginning to die, in ways even more gruesome, even more flamboyant, and even more unbelievable than the murders they themselves wrote about at such length in the national dailies all those months ago.
Dr. Edward Valentine, brilliant surgeon and the maniac responsible for the Nine Deaths, has not been seen since he escaped the police following a final confrontation.Has he returned? Is he now intent on punishing the British tabloid press that he feels has misrepresented him? Has he chosen as the most appropriate method of punishment that most British of institutions, the Hammer Horror film?
And how many times will the Hammer of Dr. Valentine strike before he can be stopped?
Why We’re Excited About This Book: Dr. Valentine is back!
John Llewellyn Probert’s previous novella, The Nine Deaths Of Dr. Valentine, was a deliriously gore-soaked tale about the eponymous villain murdering people in ways inspired by Vincent Price movies. Now Dr. Valentine returns and this time the target of his flamboyantly gruesome murders are the tabloid hacks who took such pleasure in reporting and misreporting his previous crimes.
And Dr. Valentine has a new muse: British Hammer Horror films…
Hammer fans will have a blast working out which films are referenced in the book, but don’t worry if you can’t spot them all, as Probert explains all the references in an Afterword. And with the whole spectrum of Hammer film deaths for Dr. Valentine to take his inspiration from, this book promises to be even more gleefully deranged than the first.
The Hammer of Dr. Valentine is available for pre-order from Spectral Press now.
In the meantime, The Nine Deaths Of Dr. Valentine is available on Amazon now.
Look Out For… The Black Magic Series by Dennis Wheatley
“The sheer pace and verve of Wheatley’s best work still has the power to thrill”
The entire collection of Dennis Wheatley’s Black Magic series in one digital volume: The Devil Rides Out; Strange Conflict; The Haunting Of Toby Jugg; To The Devil A Daughter; The Ka of Gifford Hilary; The Satanist; They Used Dark Forces; Unholy Crusade; The White Witch Of The South Seas; Gateway To Hell; The Irish Witch.
Why We’re Excited About This Book: Dennis Wheatley’s series of occult horror novels were immensely popular from the 1930s until the 1980s, but they have largely fallen out of fashion since. And on first glance it’s not hard to see why. The modern reader is likely to be struck by the ‘dubious’ nature of some of Wheatley’s views; the preposterous black-magic based plots; and his incessant focus on the British upper-class as heroes. But the sheer pace and verve of Wheatley’s best work still has the power to thrill, most notably in the first volume of his Black Magic series, The Devil Rides Out, which tells of a party of aristocrats trying to rescue those of their number who have been seduced by the black arts. Now that the whole series has been reissued in this fantastically good value for money set, maybe it’s worth giving Wheatley another chance.
The Black Magic Series was released on 26 December 2014 from Bloomsbury.
JAMES EVERINGTON
