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It Waits Below
It waits no more!
In the 1800s, an asteroid carrying an extraterrestrial life form crashed to earth and sunk a Spanish treasure ship. Now, a trio of salvage experts dives a three-man sub to the deepest part of the ocean to recover the sunken gold. There, they confront a nightmarish alien organism beyond comprehension, which has waited for over a century to get to the surface. It finally has its chance.
As their support ship on the surface is ambushed by deadly modern-day pirates, the crew of the stranded sub battles for their very lives against a monster no one on Earth has seen before.
279 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 2, 2014
2 people are currently reading
418 people want to read
About the author
Eric Red
74 books109 followersEric Red is a Los Angeles based novelist, screenwriter, and film director. His novels, an edgy Y/A book called DON’T STAND SO CLOSE and a dark fantasy called THE GUNS OF SANTA SANGRE and its sequel THE WOLVES OF EL DIABLO are published in hardcover, trade paperback and digital editions by SST Publications. Two other novels, a science fiction thriller called IT WAITS BELOW, and a mystery crime thriller called WHITE KNUCKLE are published by Samhain Publishing. The first two of his Joe Noose Western novels, NOOSE and HANGING FIRE, are published in Mass Market Paperback and digital editions by Kensington Books and Pinnacle Books. The next two Joe Noose Westerns, BRANDED and THE CRIMSON TRAIL, will be published in 2021.
Mr. Red directed and wrote the films COHEN AND TATE for Hemdale, BODY PARTS for Paramount, UNDERTOW for Showtime, BAD MOON for Warner Bros. and 100 FEET for Grand Illusions Entertainment. His original screenplays include THE HITCHER for Tri Star, NEAR DARK for DeLaurentiis Entertainment Group, BLUE STEEL for MGM and THE LAST OUTLAW for HBO.
His published horror and suspense short stories have been in Cemetery Dance magazine, Weird Tales magazine, Shroud magazine, Dark Delicacies III: Haunted anthology, Dark Discoveries magazine, Mulholland Books' Popcorn Fiction, among others.
He created and wrote the sci-fi/horror comic series and graphic novel CONTAINMENT from SST Publications and the horror western comic series WILD WORK for Antarctic Press.
Visit his website at www.ericred.com.
Mr. Red directed and wrote the films COHEN AND TATE for Hemdale, BODY PARTS for Paramount, UNDERTOW for Showtime, BAD MOON for Warner Bros. and 100 FEET for Grand Illusions Entertainment. His original screenplays include THE HITCHER for Tri Star, NEAR DARK for DeLaurentiis Entertainment Group, BLUE STEEL for MGM and THE LAST OUTLAW for HBO.
His published horror and suspense short stories have been in Cemetery Dance magazine, Weird Tales magazine, Shroud magazine, Dark Delicacies III: Haunted anthology, Dark Discoveries magazine, Mulholland Books' Popcorn Fiction, among others.
He created and wrote the sci-fi/horror comic series and graphic novel CONTAINMENT from SST Publications and the horror western comic series WILD WORK for Antarctic Press.
Visit his website at www.ericred.com.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
February 6, 2015
I'm a big fan of Eric Red's films. When I found out he was writing novels, I got excited. When I saw what looked to be a giant monster under the sea novel, I practically wet myself in anticipation. Then, I read it. Or, more honestly, I read about half of it.
IT WAITS BELOW is the tale of a salvage team whose attempt to bring the find of the century (a treasure chest full of Spanish gold, I kid you not) up from the depths of the Mariana trench meets complications. Specifically, a hivemind parasitic alien that crashed into the ship back in the 1800's. And Pirates. Russian gangster pirates, which are universally known to be the worst kind. I think we can safely assume that things won't go well.
From the start, I was thrown by some pretty glaring factual inaccuracies. I don't normally harp on those things in fiction, but I couldn't help it here. The submarine is described at one point as having a two meter diameter bubble for the three-man crew and equipment. The action is consistently listed as occurring in the Indian Ocean, while the Mariana trench is located in the Pacific Ocean. Lastly, there is a mention of them being in Japanese waters, though the Mariana trench is located well out into international waters. I took less than five minutes to verify this, so, no, I will not excuse it.
Then I was struck with how empty the characters seem to be. There were the brothers and the woman and the Russian guy who was good and the Russian guy who was bad; the tough guy and the wild guy and the play-it-safe guy and the mean guy who is willing to do anything to get what he wants. And a lady, who is just trying to make it in the man's world of underwater salvage. My sister used to play with paper dolls that possessed more dimension.
And I was pummeled constantly with lame duck description, often depending on a type of simile I did not know existed until reading this book: Literal similes. “His body twitched and jerked as he moved like he was powered by an alien force unaccustomed to how the human body worked” might function as a non-horrible description of someone's movement, if it was not describing the movements of someone who was indeed powered by an alien force unaccustomed to how the human body worked. This was, by no means, an isolated incident.
Despite these issues and the far too numerous fake-out cliffhangers with no payoff and the pointless “mile under club” scene and that the giant monster on the cover is a bunch of tiny Puppetmasters, I flew through this book. It was actually kinda fun, in a SyFy channel movie of the week sort of way. There is something to be said for consistent entertainment.
Until one of the pirates, a Somali (who could have a pirate party without inviting Somalis?), is referred to as a negro. Not by another character or by a racist first person narrator, but by the clearly 3rd person omniscient narrator who is clearly the author. In a book that was written in 2014, not 1914 or even splitting the difference at 1964, where the term had already become viewed as pretty damn racist.
reviewed by Anton Cancre
IT WAITS BELOW is the tale of a salvage team whose attempt to bring the find of the century (a treasure chest full of Spanish gold, I kid you not) up from the depths of the Mariana trench meets complications. Specifically, a hivemind parasitic alien that crashed into the ship back in the 1800's. And Pirates. Russian gangster pirates, which are universally known to be the worst kind. I think we can safely assume that things won't go well.
From the start, I was thrown by some pretty glaring factual inaccuracies. I don't normally harp on those things in fiction, but I couldn't help it here. The submarine is described at one point as having a two meter diameter bubble for the three-man crew and equipment. The action is consistently listed as occurring in the Indian Ocean, while the Mariana trench is located in the Pacific Ocean. Lastly, there is a mention of them being in Japanese waters, though the Mariana trench is located well out into international waters. I took less than five minutes to verify this, so, no, I will not excuse it.
Then I was struck with how empty the characters seem to be. There were the brothers and the woman and the Russian guy who was good and the Russian guy who was bad; the tough guy and the wild guy and the play-it-safe guy and the mean guy who is willing to do anything to get what he wants. And a lady, who is just trying to make it in the man's world of underwater salvage. My sister used to play with paper dolls that possessed more dimension.
And I was pummeled constantly with lame duck description, often depending on a type of simile I did not know existed until reading this book: Literal similes. “His body twitched and jerked as he moved like he was powered by an alien force unaccustomed to how the human body worked” might function as a non-horrible description of someone's movement, if it was not describing the movements of someone who was indeed powered by an alien force unaccustomed to how the human body worked. This was, by no means, an isolated incident.
Despite these issues and the far too numerous fake-out cliffhangers with no payoff and the pointless “mile under club” scene and that the giant monster on the cover is a bunch of tiny Puppetmasters, I flew through this book. It was actually kinda fun, in a SyFy channel movie of the week sort of way. There is something to be said for consistent entertainment.
Until one of the pirates, a Somali (who could have a pirate party without inviting Somalis?), is referred to as a negro. Not by another character or by a racist first person narrator, but by the clearly 3rd person omniscient narrator who is clearly the author. In a book that was written in 2014, not 1914 or even splitting the difference at 1964, where the term had already become viewed as pretty damn racist.
reviewed by Anton Cancre
October 6, 2014
An asteroid carrying a parasitic alien life form crashes into a Spanish galleon loaded with gold, sinking it in the vast depths of the Mariana Trench. Flash forward a few hundred years, where a treasure salvage group prepares to recover the gold in one of the deepest, most dangerous parts of the world's oceans. But little do they know what awaits them below, or the bloodthirsty rival salvage team that seeks to steal the gold from them.
Reading like a cross between John Carpenter's The Thing and one of those cheesy but fun SyFy Channel movies, author Eric Red keeps the plot moving and suspense and tension racheted up most of the way. The story drags a bit in the middle, but more than makes up for it at the conclusion. This reviewer would've probably rated this novel higher, as it seemed some of the writing could've been a bit more polished. The author overused descriptions of sounds (machine gun noises like RATATATAT) which wasn't necessary, in my honest opinion.
Overall, an enjoyable and wild ride of a novel, definitely one for fans of sci-fi horror. I received an ARC of this book for an honest review.
Reading like a cross between John Carpenter's The Thing and one of those cheesy but fun SyFy Channel movies, author Eric Red keeps the plot moving and suspense and tension racheted up most of the way. The story drags a bit in the middle, but more than makes up for it at the conclusion. This reviewer would've probably rated this novel higher, as it seemed some of the writing could've been a bit more polished. The author overused descriptions of sounds (machine gun noises like RATATATAT) which wasn't necessary, in my honest opinion.
Overall, an enjoyable and wild ride of a novel, definitely one for fans of sci-fi horror. I received an ARC of this book for an honest review.
September 24, 2017
I couldn't actually finish this one. I just found it kind of grating and ... I want to say cheap. This was a while ago, but I think I felt like the main (only?) female character was just there for sex. I don't know, it just wasn't for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 21, 2014
Laying eyes on It Waits Below on the Netgalley site, I had no idea it was written by THE Eric Red. "Who?" you may have just wondered. Well, none other than the screenwriter behind two of my favourite films from my teenage years, THE HITCHER (the 1986 one with Rutger Hauer not *shudder* the remake) and NEAR DARK (directed by Kathryn Bigelow). So I got fairly excited to learn he had made the transition from the silver screen to the written page.
Interestingly then, It Waits Below feels like it comes from the same era as those movies I mentioned above, since it was in the late '80s that we had the proliferation of sci-fi/horror hybrid films dealing with deep sea diving and the threats found in those murky depths. Of all those films, this novel feels closest to LEVIATHAN in that the alien creature encountered does more than simply attack and eat its prey, instead taking over the host organism and changing it from the inside ...
Into the alien's adopted habitat come three characters, all of whom are reasonably well detailed, even if they fall into somewhat cliched territory. There's the screw-the-rules captain, the hard-as-nails veteran pilot, and the gorgeous apprentice co-pilot who only got the gig because she has been getting it off with the captain. Up above on the ship monitoring the deep sea vessel's progress, the captain's far more conservative brother runs the operation, but soon has pirates and traitorous crew members to contend with.
Red's novel reads like it could be a screenplay in the sense that most scenes lend themselves to being easily visualised, and there's a clear three-act structure going on. The first act establishes the characters and the threats they are going to face, the second allows things to come unstuck and the final act goes for the huge Hollywood spectacle of an ending - complete with scenes that played out like JAWS on stimulants.
I may have had a hard time really caring about anyone in It Waits Below, but I genuinely enjoyed the back half of this novel and the craziness it unleashes. If, like me, you're a fan of those late '80s films I alluded to, jump on this one will all haste. Red delivers a competent sci-fi/horror/thriller hybrid that is more fun than scary, but then was anyone really scared by DEEP STAR SIX?
3 Doomed Argonauts for It Waits Below.
The preceding review is based on an eARC from Netgalley, courtesy of Samhain Publishing - with an extra special thanks to Marty from Samhain for providing another copy when I was too slow to download what I was approved for from Netgalley.
Interestingly then, It Waits Below feels like it comes from the same era as those movies I mentioned above, since it was in the late '80s that we had the proliferation of sci-fi/horror hybrid films dealing with deep sea diving and the threats found in those murky depths. Of all those films, this novel feels closest to LEVIATHAN in that the alien creature encountered does more than simply attack and eat its prey, instead taking over the host organism and changing it from the inside ...
Into the alien's adopted habitat come three characters, all of whom are reasonably well detailed, even if they fall into somewhat cliched territory. There's the screw-the-rules captain, the hard-as-nails veteran pilot, and the gorgeous apprentice co-pilot who only got the gig because she has been getting it off with the captain. Up above on the ship monitoring the deep sea vessel's progress, the captain's far more conservative brother runs the operation, but soon has pirates and traitorous crew members to contend with.
Red's novel reads like it could be a screenplay in the sense that most scenes lend themselves to being easily visualised, and there's a clear three-act structure going on. The first act establishes the characters and the threats they are going to face, the second allows things to come unstuck and the final act goes for the huge Hollywood spectacle of an ending - complete with scenes that played out like JAWS on stimulants.
I may have had a hard time really caring about anyone in It Waits Below, but I genuinely enjoyed the back half of this novel and the craziness it unleashes. If, like me, you're a fan of those late '80s films I alluded to, jump on this one will all haste. Red delivers a competent sci-fi/horror/thriller hybrid that is more fun than scary, but then was anyone really scared by DEEP STAR SIX?
3 Doomed Argonauts for It Waits Below.
The preceding review is based on an eARC from Netgalley, courtesy of Samhain Publishing - with an extra special thanks to Marty from Samhain for providing another copy when I was too slow to download what I was approved for from Netgalley.
November 3, 2014
IT WAITS BELOW is a lusty, piratical, high-seas adventure with science fiction flourishes. An expensive expedition in a deep-sea submersible in the Indian Ocean is designed to search out, and recover, tremendous quantities of gold lost in a 19th century shipwreck. Actually the incident was not a wreck per second, but a vanishing. No note was taken of the loss of the treasure ship in records, till a 21st century salvager discovered it. If he had known the cause, perhaps he would have left the wreck on the ocean's floor.
My favorite portion was the Prologue, which is lyrically imaged and tremendously vivid (and implacable).
My favorite portion was the Prologue, which is lyrically imaged and tremendously vivid (and implacable).
February 15, 2015
From its incendiary opening to a colossal climax, IT WAITS BELOW never lets the tension drop for a single page. This scary thrill-ride combines all the mystery and claustrophobia of the ocean's depths with action-packed set pieces worthy of an IMAX blockbuster. If the frantic cinema of Eric Red's writing doesn't grab you, you're already dead!
September 3, 2022
Let me start out by saying this wasn't a bad book. In fact, it was a downright entertaining little literary diversion. The problem is, it's been done before, and just as good (if not better). Rewind your VCRs back to the magical year of 1989 and check out the undersea, Alien-inspired, sci-fi/horror of films like Deep Star Six, Leviathan, and The Abyss and you'll see what I mean.
For what it's worth, Deep Star Six was probably my favorite of the three.
Anyway, It Waits Below is very much of that undersea sci-fi/horror mash-up genre, so you know exactly what to expect going in. Eric Red lays it on a little too thick sometimes, and tries too hard to play to all the genre clichés, but he does have a solid, quick-paced style of storytelling that keeps the story moving along.
There are some amazing scenes here, no question. The opening scene, with the Spanish treasure ship Corona being sunk by a massive asteroid, is undeniably awesome, as is the later scene of the Tulsa being sunk by the alien-fueled sea monster. Some of the scenes aboard the DSV (Deep Submersive Vehicle) Neptune are pretty cool as well, effectively capturing that claustrophobic horror of being on the cusp of death by crushing, drowning, or suffocation. Where it stumbles, however, and where I really wish we'd gotten more detail, is in the exploration of the Corona itself. That should have been a highlight, a breathtaking set-piece to really bring the story home, but it's far too quick and far too light on detail to make any sort of impression.
The characters here are okay, although (as I mentioned) clichéd sort of stereotypes. You have the two brothers behind the salvage mission, one a daring adrenaline junkie, and the other a cautious worrier, who connect the Neptune with the Tulsa up above. Aboard the Neptune you have the typically crusty Soviet Naval pilot who knows better than everyone else, and the super sexy apprentice pilot, who really serves no other purpose than to provide the Captain with a partner for the mile-deep club. Heck, she even has a cheesy, sappy subplot surrounding the death of her mother and her fear of drowning that's made for Hollywood. Up top, aboard the Tulsa, you even have the usual suspects trying to sabotage the mission in order to pay off debts to the Russian mafia.
Like I said, this was a fun read, and the parasitic hive-minded alien species was very well done. I can't say as I ever got emotionally involved or invested in the fate of the characters, but I was sufficiently intrigued as to stick around and see how it all worked out. It Waits Below is nothing new or groundbreaking, but just fine as a throwback or homage to those underwater monster movies of 1989.
Originally reviewed at Beauty in Ruins
For what it's worth, Deep Star Six was probably my favorite of the three.
Anyway, It Waits Below is very much of that undersea sci-fi/horror mash-up genre, so you know exactly what to expect going in. Eric Red lays it on a little too thick sometimes, and tries too hard to play to all the genre clichés, but he does have a solid, quick-paced style of storytelling that keeps the story moving along.
There are some amazing scenes here, no question. The opening scene, with the Spanish treasure ship Corona being sunk by a massive asteroid, is undeniably awesome, as is the later scene of the Tulsa being sunk by the alien-fueled sea monster. Some of the scenes aboard the DSV (Deep Submersive Vehicle) Neptune are pretty cool as well, effectively capturing that claustrophobic horror of being on the cusp of death by crushing, drowning, or suffocation. Where it stumbles, however, and where I really wish we'd gotten more detail, is in the exploration of the Corona itself. That should have been a highlight, a breathtaking set-piece to really bring the story home, but it's far too quick and far too light on detail to make any sort of impression.
The characters here are okay, although (as I mentioned) clichéd sort of stereotypes. You have the two brothers behind the salvage mission, one a daring adrenaline junkie, and the other a cautious worrier, who connect the Neptune with the Tulsa up above. Aboard the Neptune you have the typically crusty Soviet Naval pilot who knows better than everyone else, and the super sexy apprentice pilot, who really serves no other purpose than to provide the Captain with a partner for the mile-deep club. Heck, she even has a cheesy, sappy subplot surrounding the death of her mother and her fear of drowning that's made for Hollywood. Up top, aboard the Tulsa, you even have the usual suspects trying to sabotage the mission in order to pay off debts to the Russian mafia.
Like I said, this was a fun read, and the parasitic hive-minded alien species was very well done. I can't say as I ever got emotionally involved or invested in the fate of the characters, but I was sufficiently intrigued as to stick around and see how it all worked out. It Waits Below is nothing new or groundbreaking, but just fine as a throwback or homage to those underwater monster movies of 1989.
Originally reviewed at Beauty in Ruins
September 2, 2014
http://koeur.wordpress.com/2014/09/02...
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Publishing Date: September 2014
ISBN: 9781619220706
Genre: SciFi
Rating: 2.7/5
Publisher Description: It waits no more!
In the 1800s, an asteroid carrying an extraterrestrial life form crashed to earth and
sunk a Spanish treasure ship. Now, a trio of salvage experts dives a three-man sub to the
deepest part of the ocean to recover the sunken gold. There, they confront a nightmarish
alien organism beyond comprehension, which has waited for over a century to get to the
surface. It finally has its chance. As their support ship on the surface is ambushed by deadly modern-day pirates, the crew of the stranded sub battles for their very lives against a monster no one on Earth has seen before.
Review: This novel was written in a style that begged for a movie deal. To me, underwater action and the images invoked are just kind of ho-hum. This novel only got really good at about the 80% mark where the alien beast rises to the surface in hunt of one woman that destroyed most of its hive in the depths. Yawn. It is the old shtick “Ellen Ripley battles Alien while everyone around her dies”. At one point we come to the culminating battle between the alien and Clark, and much like Ripley in “Alien”, Clark screams “GET THE FUCK OFF MY PLANET!”, before blowing it away. Double yawn.
This is an ok read. The characters interactions also read like a movie script where emotions are laid bare, especially cowardice, and you know right away they are dead because redemption arrives in the form of martyrdom. Look for it this summer in a theater near you!
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Publishing Date: September 2014
ISBN: 9781619220706
Genre: SciFi
Rating: 2.7/5
Publisher Description: It waits no more!
In the 1800s, an asteroid carrying an extraterrestrial life form crashed to earth and
sunk a Spanish treasure ship. Now, a trio of salvage experts dives a three-man sub to the
deepest part of the ocean to recover the sunken gold. There, they confront a nightmarish
alien organism beyond comprehension, which has waited for over a century to get to the
surface. It finally has its chance. As their support ship on the surface is ambushed by deadly modern-day pirates, the crew of the stranded sub battles for their very lives against a monster no one on Earth has seen before.
Review: This novel was written in a style that begged for a movie deal. To me, underwater action and the images invoked are just kind of ho-hum. This novel only got really good at about the 80% mark where the alien beast rises to the surface in hunt of one woman that destroyed most of its hive in the depths. Yawn. It is the old shtick “Ellen Ripley battles Alien while everyone around her dies”. At one point we come to the culminating battle between the alien and Clark, and much like Ripley in “Alien”, Clark screams “GET THE FUCK OFF MY PLANET!”, before blowing it away. Double yawn.
This is an ok read. The characters interactions also read like a movie script where emotions are laid bare, especially cowardice, and you know right away they are dead because redemption arrives in the form of martyrdom. Look for it this summer in a theater near you!
February 1, 2016
Lame. The only interesting character is the first to die. After that, I really didn't care who lived or didn't, except that it would have been nice if someone other than the bimbo survived. There is the sub, a support ship, and not far away is the pirate ship. There are three people on the sub, the pilot, the boss, and the copilot/bimbo who earned her place on the sub by sleeping with the boss. After disaster strikes on the bottom of the ocean, the pilot dies, then the boss tries to save the bimbo but is crushed to death by the water pressure. The support ship crew see the bosses body and figure out where the sub is and rescue the bimbo. Meanwhile, the pirates decide that the treasure has been recovered and attack the support ship. By the end of the book, all the pirates are dead, all the support ship's crew are dead, and as the support ship sinks, the bosses brother pushes the bimbo out with the life raft while he goes down with the ship. Every single character in the story dies except for her. There are nasty space aliens, one of which seriously threatens the sole survivor at the end. No one was able to harm these creatures, but she miraculously and accidentally finds a way to kill it and send it back to the bottom of the sea. Don't waste your money or your time.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 28, 2014
It's a time travel device back to 1989...
I love deep sea monster movies and I especially enjoyed "Leviathan" and "The Abyss," both movies made in 1989.
And IT WAITS BELOW reads like a screenplay for an alien underwater fright-a-minute popcorn extravaganza of that time period.
I enjoyed the fast pace. I enjoyed the characters, even though fairly stereotypical. Great monster for the most part, though I kept thinking Kraken.
Oh, and fantastic cover art.
The book, though, could have used better editing. The proofreading mistakes were distracting.
I enjoyed the book all-in-all because I love this genre of movie and book. It's easy to tell that author Red comes from a movie background. And that's okay because I'd like to see this made into a monster movie. I'd sure watch it.
I love deep sea monster movies and I especially enjoyed "Leviathan" and "The Abyss," both movies made in 1989.
And IT WAITS BELOW reads like a screenplay for an alien underwater fright-a-minute popcorn extravaganza of that time period.
I enjoyed the fast pace. I enjoyed the characters, even though fairly stereotypical. Great monster for the most part, though I kept thinking Kraken.
Oh, and fantastic cover art.
The book, though, could have used better editing. The proofreading mistakes were distracting.
I enjoyed the book all-in-all because I love this genre of movie and book. It's easy to tell that author Red comes from a movie background. And that's okay because I'd like to see this made into a monster movie. I'd sure watch it.
August 19, 2014
Just got an advanced copy of this book and I couldn't put it down! I am addicted to underwater adventure and this book is an amazing combination of technical accuracy and fantasy combined to keep those pages turning. It was also just in then for #SharkWeek which was perfect timing :) it's a great read!!
October 26, 2014
A good science fiction/horror hybrid novel
For a full review, please go to http://www.examiner.com/review/it-wai... and follow me on Twitter @josenher
For a full review, please go to http://www.examiner.com/review/it-wai... and follow me on Twitter @josenher
August 18, 2015
Some of the clumsiest prose ever. Cliche-ridden dreck.
July 28, 2018
Like his screen plays but man stick to the screen plays. This book, im guessing, was just that. A screen play he elongated to turn into a novel with characters made of paper and bullshit. The cover drew me in, man it looked like a fun B movie of a novel but jesus man, the alien doesnt do anything besides take over one mans body. I made it more than 3/4 way through the book and put it away, total garbage. I mean he seriously describes a tenacles slithering as a "wet, rustling sound, lile a dry husked corncorb inserted into a wet vagina".....STAY AWAY PEOPLE
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews