Tendrils

by Simon Ian Childer

Genres: Horror

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 23, 1986

About the author

Pseudonym of John Brosnan

John Raymond Brosnan was an Australian writer of both fiction and non-fiction works based around the fantasy and science fiction genres. He was born in Perth, Western Australia, and died in South Harrow, London, from acute pancreatitis. He sometimes published under the pseudonyms Harry Adam Knight, Simon Ian Childer (both sometimes used together with Leroy Kettle), James Blackstone (used together with John Baxter), and John Raymond. Three not very successful movies were based on his novels–Beyond Bedlam (aka Nightscare), Proteus (based on Slimer), and Carnosaur. In addition to science fiction, he also wrote a number of books about cinema and was a regular columnist with the popular UK magazine Starburst.

Reviews

[Warren Fournier · Rating 4 out of 5]

The era of paperback horrors were a potential goldmine for the film industry, but were rarely utilized. "Tendrils" was written by the same writing team behind the pseudonym Harry Adam Knight (HAC), and three of their novels were actually made into movies in the 90s. But with the most recent horror boom, the constant nostalgia for the 80s, and some renewed, if not brief, interest in mass market fiction titles, "Tendrils" may make a great monster flick yet. As long as they use practical effects!

This time John Brosnan and Leroy Kettle are writing as Simon Adam Childer (SIC), and offer the same science fiction thrills filled with humour and gore that fans came to expect from the genius behind "Carnosaur" and "Slimer."

Doctor Who gets a shout out in this novel, but fans of the show may also recognize the same eco-friendly message paired with giant maggot creatures in the classic episode "The Green Death." Here we start off with protesters demanding all drilling cease at a site where stockpiles of nuclear waste are to be buried. Suddenly the derrick starts spitting out black goo, but this isn't Texas Tea. It's corrosive, eating the flesh off anyone it touches, and is coming from a big worm monster. Evidently, they've awakened a kaiju-sized alien creature buried deep within the earth, which then goes on a rampage, sending its black "tendrils" through the ground to digest unsuspecting victims from the inside.

This was written during a time when slimy critters and alien menaces were popular subjects in genre fiction of both film and page, so merging the subgenres was an inevitable marketing strategy. One year after "Tendrils," John Halkin published "Blood Worm," featuring another giant worm eating Londoners, and Brosnan would write a solo project called simply "Worm."

But Brosnan was a science fiction writer and fan foremost. Even when he was cashing in on the horror craze, his books were sci-fi under all of the blood and gore. "Tendrils" is no exception, warning the salt-of-the-earth to stay skeptical of those scientists and those uppity corporate-types who only want to pollute the world.

It is one of those novels that pulls a little bait and switch on the reader, setting up one character to be the hero only to replace her with a "Bob." But I wasn't a fan of the "Bob" in this case.

If you don't know what I mean, "Bob" is the name I give to the main male protagonist in these vintage paperbacks from hell. The more inept yet macho they are, the more "Bob" they are. Like your annoying neighbor with the perfectly manicured lawn who's always complaining about you not pulling in your garbage cans immediately after the truck has emptied them, and who one day sees you trying to reboot your car battery in your driveway and swaggers over in his white Keds slip-ons and Izod shirt to show you how it's done, but ends up shocking the piss out of himself. You know. Bob.

Well, Clive Thomas is the "Bob" of this feature. Actually, it would be more appropriate to call him "Dick." But Clive wouldn't like to be called Bob or Dick. In fact, he demands to be called "Doctor." He is the husband of who I thought would be the hero, but when she ends up dying in the hospital, Bob tries comparing penis sizes with her doctor instead of grieving. First he gets insulted that the actual physician doesn't call HIM "Doctor," then tries to pull rank by criticizing the doctor's age, then shoves his government badge in the doctor's face. He acts this way with everyone. Granted , there are some weird things happening around him, and his boss is putting him square in the middle of it, but he is not a compelling protagonist at all. He grabs everyone by the shirt collar and tries to intimidate them. He's generally gruff, inpatient, and entitled. He's a controlling jerk of a husband, and the last time he sees his wife, he treats her like absolute dirt. Then he has angry sex with the woman he blames for killing his wife, even though she had nothing to do with it. Bob can kiss my ass. I'm sorry--"DOCTOR" Bob!

Fortunately, I didn't have to suffer reading about Bob very much, as the novel is brief and the action plentiful. There was plenty of B-movie goodness to keep me satisfied. And you gore hounds who expect creative kills will not be disappointed. This was definitely a case where two authors were trying to outdo each other with ridiculous carnal mayhem.

There are two alternate covers for "Tendrils" that feature different aspects of the monster. One focuses on the tendrils themselves, and the other (my copy) is of the main beast itself, exploding out the ground while puny humans run away in terror. Actually, one of the human male figures doesn't appear to be running at all, seeming to be standing with a rifle or something slung over his shoulder and giving the middle finger to the reader. That's probably Bob. But it's a classic kaiju image and one of my favorite cover designs.

Sadly, this book has been out of print since initial publication. I do think it is worth seeking out, as it is a wild but fun ride that I highly recommend for your nostalgia collection. These are titles that deserve to be remembered and enjoyed for generations to come.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

When a drilling company accidentally strikes an alien creature buried deep within the earth it responds by spewing acidic gunk that kills drillers and site protestors alike. Nobody knows what the thing is and when it moves away, ever closer to London, it leaves a trail of destruction in its wake, reducing people and animals to brittle husks. The only person who understands the gravity of the situation is a professor who lost his wife to the creature and, teaming up with a young reporter, he tries to stop more death.
Written by John Brosnan and Leroy Kettle (the SIC pseudonym is an in-joke, Brosnan also wrote as Harry Adam Knight - HAC), this slice of Brit horror from 1986 is an almost perfect example of paperback horror from that era. Told with wit and pace, this has a lot of echoes with 50s horror pulp (you can almost imagine Hammer having a field day with it), with plenty of sex and gore thrown in. Using London and the Home Counties as key locations really grounds it and the little vignettes of the victims amp up the suspense and terror but, really, it’s the mayhem that makes this. Gory, gruesome, funny and occasionally unpleasant (Robin the reporter has something very nasty happen), this races to a thunderous climax and then tops it off with a wonderfully downbeat ending. If you like 80s paperback horror, as I do, you’ll likely love it. If you don’t then, well, I feel sorry for you.

[Curtis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this cover speaks for itself lol. Trashy 80s shlock horror. Read it if you have any pesky remaining brain cells you've been meaning to kill off. This dude has a lot of pseudonyms, and I would too if I were him, he's rapey enough to make Richard Laymon look like a choirboy. I preferred his book Slimer written under the Harry Adam Knight name.

[Wayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book reads sort of like "Scorpion" by Michael R. Linaker. Both have groups of protesters fighting to protect the earth. This one has them converging on a multinational that is drilling into the earth to bury waste. They hit something way down in the core and release the Tendrils.

I liked "Scorpion" a bit better than this. Although, this has some nice parts as well. The final assault in the tunnels of London's tube is a plus. Some of the Tendrils attacks are pretty funny too. Like a peeping tom having a wank outside a house with a couple having sex. Or the guy on the toilet who gets his insides sucked out. Makes you want to have a look before sitting.

[Beorn · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty solid horror tale, which for someone usually as relatively apathetic towards fiction that doesn't involve big hairy Romans or a sword in your gizzards, is surprisingly better praise than it first seems.

At a few cases in the story, I felt myself thinking I'd actually rather enjoy this if it were made into a movie, even if it were a straight to DVD affair. Unlike previous horror stories I've read in the past, it feels distinctly British and in a no-nonsense realistic way, though not as to make it unrelatable to foreigners. In some respects, it reminded me a little of the British horror film Creep, though with tentacles of doom not a psychopathic mutilated freak living in the Tube.

Nothing mindblowing here and I can't say I'd rush back to read it, but it's still a relatively steadfast enough book to enjoy at least the first time you read it.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good read for fans of these British killer animal novels (those this does turn out to be something different). I read this and Saurian at the same time and they both had a similar origin for the monster. Fast-paced, short (208 pages) and gory just like how you want these novels. The "Don't Go in the Woods" style of briefly introducing characters only for them to immediately get bumped off is always appreciated by me. Not every character has to be a big part of the story especially in fun trash like this.

The main character is one of the horniest in recent memory, unable to keep his hands off the hot reporter "Robin" who got his wife killed just a few weeks before. Apparently lots of sex with the woman you despise is a good way to overcome grief. Check out this lovely paragraph:

"He idly examined her sweat-slicked buttocks as she answered it, his gaze centering on the cleft between them. He decided he would have her from behind next time- as soon as he regained some of his strength." The biggest flaw of this book is this line is never followed up on.

To kind of spoil the ending he's even in the mood right after killing the creature, too bad for him he didn't know what Robin endured while he was out being the hero. And I don't just mean her having to take care of "all-demanding pink-parasites (children)". Unfortunately we'll never know if he got to "have her from behind."

[Mikepottz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Drilling into the centre of the earth a creature from outer space will come out of hibernation looking like a black earthworm and strip a human body of all its blood, bones, organs leaving a grey jelly on the inside of the skin. Unsuspecting people will be killed, some sitting on the toilet while a tendril will penetrative their anus (not a pleasant way to go) and Britain will be plunged into a catastrophic disaster and one scientists courage will eventually save mankind.

[Aurora Marchant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gave me shivers!!!

[Kit-Kat · Rating 2 out of 5]

I will admit when purchasing this book I didn’t know what entirely to expect. For the first half of it I was entertained. Then it all went downhill. It’s been a while since I’ve read a book that has left me so unsatisfied that I wanted to get up and write my own in spite. So to fill that need, this review will suffice.

The writing is mediocre at best. Nothing groundbreaking. Have you ever read a book where the protagonist feels like a clear self insert power fantasy?
Well, Thomas, our protagonist, has the macho and smarts of a noire detective without the charisma. I don’t think that’s what Mr Childer was going for but alas here we are. He clearly has to be the smartest man in the room and if anyone disagrees well… let’s just say they won’t be making it to Tendrils 2.

I can typically overlook cliches and tropes because after all they are narrative devices. However it is painfully on the nose within this book. The character short hands are painfully easy to follow, if the women are not up to Mr Childer’s standards then they are fodder. If the men are not intellectual geniuses or chummy with Thomas, then they are either villains or fodder.

Also I sure hope you like fridges because you get not one but two. There are moments where I found myself saying ‘must you remind me?’. I hope other readers will know when and where I’m referring to.

The romance arc feels painfully rushed (and predictable). I get it. It’s 200 pages. But was it necessary?
God forbid a man and woman look at each other lest they become overcome by the true monster of this book Mr Childer’s horniness.

I’ve gone on for a while and I could go on even more. But I will end it here.

[Kathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I needed a sci-fi book for a challenge I was doing. Sci-fi really isn't my thing, but a friend sent me this book and it was just what I needed. A pretty cheesy, fairly short story.

A drill team is drilling a new hole in hopes that they can store nuclear waste deep underground. A protest group has gathered, and is allowed near the hole. All the sudden the drill bit seems to hit a strange structure in the ground. When it proceeds through it, an explosion of liquid acid pours up the pipes and onto the spectators, killing several. But...that's not the only thing that happens.

It seems they have awakened some kind of outer space being, one that has hundreds of tenacles that snake through London's sewers. During the night, it attacks people for food, and saves them in a cocoon for later. This is the story of a team of scientists that set out to kill it.

[Eric]

Full review: https://supermonsternovels.com/2019/0...

[Signor Mambrino · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good.

[Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid pulp horror.