The Spinner

by Doris Piserchia

The search for new sources of energy led one man to an accidental breakthrough into a strange parallel world. It was apparently deserted and might have been a good place to prospect until the finder panicked. He tried to shut the dimensional crack that led into that other place.

But the breakthrough had prematurely awakened that world's most predatory inhabitant from hibernation - and in raging fury THE SPINNER slipped through to find itself alone and hungry in an American city loaded with good things to eat - people!

Genres: Science Fiction, Horror, Fiction

176 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published March 1, 1980

About the author

Also wrote under the psudonym Curt Selby.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 2 out of 5]

If Philip K. Dick dreamed that he was Avram Davidson writing a Reader's Digest Condensed version of Samuel R. Delany's Dhalgren in the style of R.A. Lafferty... no, that's not quite it. The Spinner has all of the framework of a standard monster story: a scientist burrows a hole into another dimension and brings back an alien who hatches in Eastland, spins a web around the city to cut it off from the rest of Earth, and begins eating the inhabitants. It's told in an absurdist/bizzarro fashion that's kind of confusing, and it skips around and many, many, far too many characters are introduced, and my mind just kept wandering and I had the continual feeling that I'd missed something important. There's a guy who wears red long-johns who seems to be something of a superhero, maybe, and he kidnaps the retarded daughter (as she's called in the novel) of one of the main characters so he can marry her. Mordok the alien lays eggs, kind of, and the doctor becomes increasingly forgetful as his senility advances. Most of the characters are quite aged and infirm but they've been stockpiling explosives in the vast caverns under the city for years. I guess that represents their dissatisfaction with society's care of the aged. The Army surrounds the city, but they don't help much. I've read several novels by Piserchia and enjoyed them quite a bit for the most part, but this one was quite different and left me with the feeling that if it had had another draft or three it would be great, but as it was... I wonder why the SF Book Club, which was quite a major presence in the field when the novel appeared in 1980, chose this novel of Piserchia's instead of any of the others? And they gave it such a very muddy, amateurish looking cover.... Maybe I just missed something important.

[Warren Fournier · Rating 2 out of 5]

While wandering the streets of Indianapolis several years ago, I happened upon a used bookstore and picked up the hardcover Bookclub edition of "The Spinner" by Doubleday for 50 cents, not knowing if it was a horror, scifi, YA, or a superhero novel. I never got around to reading it until now, and to be honest, I'm still not sure how to characterize it.

"The Spinner" is certainly a monster story, featuring an alien creature that accidentally crosses an interdimensional portal to our world. I say "our world" loosely because it takes place in a weird dystopian Earth. The beast, whose name is Morlack, is kind of a smelly version of Venom, who goes on a rampage in the fictional metropolis of Eastland. Sounds like a straightforward creature-on-the-loose horror, but Doris Pischeria writes in such disorienting dream logic that it took me a while to understand what the hell was going on. In fact, I found it unnecessarily frustrating. She introduces multiple strange characters in such a way as to make it difficult to sympathize with anyone because you didn't understand who they were or what they were doing. For example, Gusty is an old man who we first see at a site of the "bore," an illegal portal to another planet that is being used to mine and transport alien resources across dimensions. I assumed he worked for the facility in some way. But later, we find him fishing, and a body comes flying out of nowhere and lands in the water. Gusty is nonplussed and casually hooks the guy out of the water, as though he has seen this kind of thing a lot in this world. Okay. Intriguing. But then he takes the unconscious man to a cave where he performs surgery on him. Huh? Just who is this guy? And his smart-mouthed nurse assistant is casually mentioned to be 90 years old. Then the guy Gusty fished out of the water is suddenly crawling around like Spiderman up skyscrapers for no damn reason. Seriously, what drugs was this author on?

And this kind of thing keeps happening through page after page. The author keeps introducing more characters. And more. You start to forget who people are. And you don't care. You're starting to get bored. Then you realize you are only 1/3 into the book. So you start speed reading, glancing over a paragraph or two. Big mistake. Because it seems that something major happened in those three sentences you skimmed. You go back to see where you went wrong. No, you didn't miss anything. The author simply made an illogical jump from point A to Z. You ask yourself why you are putting up with this mess, and you can't really answer yourself. Somehow, it's kind of intriguing and hypnotizing. You read on despite a growing hatred for yourself. By the time the book is over, you have no idea what was the point. Was there a moral to the story? Is this book smarter than me? Am I missing something?

I don't think the publishers even knew what this was supposed to be either, and they certainly didn't quite know how to market it. The cover art by Dennis Meehan on my edition is illustrated like a kid's book. It features a cartoonish blue werewolf thing dragging a body around while derpy-looking onlookers stare half at the beast and half at you. The cover aside, this sure seemed like the kind of book that would have attracted me if I saw it on the shelves when I was 11. But the contents are far more brutal than you'd expect for children. Before the first chapter is finished, we have the monster chewing off the head of a security guard and mutilating a cathedral bell-ringer in gruesome detail. Children are abused, impregnated, dismembered. There are cannibals and sadistic muggers preying on old people. And it's all told in an almost humorous, satirical way. But it's never funny.

Perhaps that is why I've never heard of this book. It just didn't know what to be, and thus ended up being nothing. But evidently, this is kind of the trademark style for Doris Piserchia. Though writing in the New-Wave era of science fiction, she had a love for old-fashioned alien stories of the Radium and Golden ages, the end result being that her books retain a B-movie or pulp style while adding a touch of modern complexity and even bizarro. That makes sense, because this was like reading a Phillip Dick story adapted as a Marvel comic cowritten by Edward Lee.

And I must say that this jambalaya wasn't to my taste. It was quirky enough to be interesting at times, but there was just something... WRONG about it. Several reviews for this book mention how good the writing is, or at least that it was penned in "proper English." What kind of books must one be reading to recommend a novel because of proper English? "Riddley Walker?" No, I don't think the writing was good at all. There is a schizoid-type quality to the writing that unintentionally reveals the author was a little "off" cognitively. Something isn't firing on all cylinders. That doesn't mean that people can't enjoy this novel. In fact, the closest experience I can think of to describe "The Spinner" was like watching Larry Cohen's "Q--The Winged Serpent," and I loved that movie.

But this book just wasn't for me.

SCORE: Two spinners

[Snood · Rating 5 out of 5]

This five-star rating has a lot of asterisks following it.

Piserchia straddles the line between science fiction and straight up bizarro fiction. You have an extradimensional drill, a spider alien, and a colony of elderly people with dementia living in a coastal cave system all dropped on you within the first few chapters.

If you prefer more grounded or hard science fiction, you will probably hate this. But if you’re a fan of off-the-wall stories with surprisingly obsessive atmospheres, you’re in for a wild ride.

[Roger · Rating 1 out of 5]

The Spinner may be the worst book I have ever read. That is saying something considering I have read quite a lot of books, and some of those books have been execrably bad. This will not be a spoiler free review as my goal is to make sure that you absolutely under no circumstanced pick up this book. This is the first time I have read anything by Doris Piserchia-it will also be the last. The cover of this book (which by the way is also the best thing about it) states it was a Science Fiction Book Club selection. Apparently nothing else was published that month. So what exactly is so bad about The Spinner? In terms of plot it is very reminiscent of Stranger Things (though in all fairness this book came first) without any of the charm. A scientist has found a way to punch a hole into another dimension or parallel universe that can be mined and exploited. Big mistake when you awaken an alien creature who gets trapped in our universe. Consumed with rage he exacts a terrible revenge on the town of Eastland. This novel features: a genius inventor who pierces the dimensional barrier, another mad scientist who performs illegal brain surgery on the homeless (the mad scientist rate per capita in Eastland is staggeringly high) plus a colony of elderly people living in hidden caves underneath the city, who vacillate between bouts of dementia and cannibalism, and the aforementioned Spinner, who encases the community in a huge web a la Kingdom of the Spiders. The writing here is poor and incoherent-nothing is ever adequately explained it is just a string of bad ideas poorly executed and grouped together. If you ever have a chance to read this book-DON'T.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book is pretty weird and it's so short a lot of the weird things feel like they are out of nowhere. It's still pretty enjoyable in a pulpy sort of way

[Silvio Curtis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't tell if this is set in the same universe as Spaceling or just recycles a lot of the same ideas. The subject matter is considerably grimmer, as this is an alien monster story. The monster gets in through a "dimensional portal" used for drilling for oil on another planet and wreaks havoc in a small town in a futuristic U.S. that seems to be quietly slipping toward dystopia. The most interesting parts were from the monster's point of view. He's something like a cross between Gollum and Spiderman with a good deal of general monsteriness added. Other characters include a policeman who's well placed to observe as the town's general social dysfunction descends into complete mayhem; the owner of the portal, who's a real mad scientist with crippling agoraphobia; a "roach" or juvenile delinquent who's as close to pure evil as any character I've yet read about; and most memorably, a community of old people who have escaped from the prison-like nursing home and are living under town unseen and untroubled by much except accidents caused by advanced dementia. Unfortunately, not much about the scenario is explained and what is explained doesn't all make sense.

[Cuauhtemoc · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book by Doris Piserchia, it is a SciFi-terror-police thriller. Many characters and three to four different plots run parallel. It seems weird to me the number of 1-3 star reviews in here. Personally, it is the first Piserchia book I read and did not disappoint. I will look into getting other titles and see how they fare.
This is a story about an interdimensional being that is dragged by accident and irresponsibility towards our dimension, particularly to planet Earth. Once he finds itself here, he acts vengefully against all human beings and then decides it will make Earth its new home for itself and its descendants. Highly lethal, intelligent, strong, and agile... a real nightmare.

[Michael Hill · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this when it first came out and thought it OK but reading it again I found I had to struggle through it. Mordak is part spider, part plant and part who knows what. He is from some alien dimension and has found his way to an Earth city. He spins webs between buildings which capture and hold people. He eats some and the webs sap the life out of others. Criminals help Mordak, stealing from his victims. Mordak lays eggs which quickly hatch and quickly grow into endless more spinners. Bullets don't stop them and nothing else seems to work as they take over the city, intent on killing the remaining citizens and spreading over the world.

[Frank Cavanaugh · Rating 2 out of 5]

The idea of an inter-dimensional creature and the characters involved were both good. The logic flaws were too blatant. The world giving up on an entire city because of one very visible creature, the multiple military failures, not introducing shotguns until the end and the ending just did not work for me.

[Joseph Carrabis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a rare find for me, an enjoyable blow-off read. Also an easy read, not challenging (except the storycrafting could've been better and that didn't throw me off), something for a lazy afternoon. Enjoy.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great story with memorable characters. Wonderfully descriptive.
Strange transitions from one group of characters to another.
When dialogue occurs it's unclear who is speaking.
If you like the show Stranger Things you should definitely read this book.

[Otis Doss III · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an okay read, probably more like a 3.5 I wish I could've read this in one or two settings, because I kept forgetting things that happened in earlier chapters (Maybe I'm just getting old :) ). I might have rated this a 4 in that case.

[Peggi Warner-Lalonde · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dystopic, and feeling very much of its time.

[Ivan Stoner · Rating 2 out of 5]

Solid, competent prose (very good even) and sci-fi thriller/horror plot. But not really weird/exceptional as recommended.

[Egghead · Rating 3 out of 5]

torn from another
dimension, spinner cloaks town
and book's plot in webs

[Stef · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember reading something of Doris Piserchia's when I was young that I found interesting, but I don't remember which book it was. This wasn't it.

This is a very creepy but interestingly satisfying book. An alien accidentally finds its way to Earth as a result of human mining activities that disrupt its home planet. I would say that the theme is "displacement," but it's not only the alien who is displaced.

[Jorgon · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Darkly comic" is an apt description. Shades of both Dick and Sheckley, and an interesting, vaguely dystopian background. The monster is cool, but it is the moments of pure poignant humanity that make this stand out from the crowd of 1970's science fiction. A solid, and often touching, sf-horror story.

[Mauisis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sci Fi Horror -- not usually my cup of tea, but this book has some relationships between the characters, and the elderly characters in this book are worth the read. They figure prominently in the outcome of the story.

[Terence · Rating 1 out of 5]

I remember trying to get through this book several times when I was in my mid-teens without luck.

At this remove, I couldn't tell you why but it was just so dull that I've never been inspired to pick up another book by this author.

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked this up at a used comics/bookstore that used to be on Devon west of Clark. I remembered the author's name and the copy was inexpensive. Unfortunately, I didn't remember that I'd never much liked the author.

[EchelonKastor]

I used to own this book when I lived in Ontario Canada. I have been looking for a hard copy of this book with the blue hard cover since. I first read this book when I was ten. (Heh, well the first half chapter. The book is written in proper English which for a youngster speaking Americanised English at the age of ten, it was boring.) The beautiful cover sleeve kept me opening the book. Finally at 15, I locked my door skipped school and hammered through the book. I loved it so much I skipped school a second time a month later just to read it. I would cut my own arm off just to get that blue hardcover copy with the beautiful cover sleeve of the spinner with his soul shattering blue eyes so I can read it again and love the memories of struggling with proper English. Books like this are true works of great art.