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Extraterrestrial
- GenresHorrorScience Fiction
302 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published August 1, 1982
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 21, 2021
For those of you who are veteran collectors of vintage horror titles, it will come as no surprise that the awesome cover art of some of these publications, designed to hook you in, are in no way representative of what lies inside. That's part of the charm and feeling of discovery from exploring these books. You just never know what to expect.
That's why I tend to go in blind, without knowing much about a certain book before reading it. Others want to gauge whether or not a book will be for them before investing the time and money in a vintage title. If that's you, read on.
Would you expect a book with the name of "Extraterrestrial" to be a meta-commentary on the publishing industry set in a spooky old hotel where the guests keep disappearing one by one? Well, that's what you get with Julian Shock's 1981 novel, which certainly has more in common with Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None" than "Alien." The novel was actually written by paperback horror icon J.N. Williamson, and this is the only time to my knowledge that he uses the "Julian Shock" pseudonym. Perhaps this is because he or his publishers felt this was not entirely in keeping with his usual work. Indeed, it feels more like a stitched together monster of previous unpublished ideas and rejected manuscripts than a coherent horror sci-fi. But if any of you are familiar with Williamson, you will no doubt see his signature on every page.
To begin with, Williamson tends to come up with the most ridiculous excuses to keep his characters embroiled in the dangerous scenario. In this case, the characters catch on pretty quick that people are disappearing from the hotel. In fact, the main protagonists almost immediately jump to the conclusion that the thinning population of guests is because of aliens. I know. But if you think that's stupid, the suspicious guests can't seem to leave the hotel even if they want to. Why? Well, despite it being early spring, the hotel is surrounded in heavy snowfall. Now, our heroes all still have access to the news on TV, and they all hear about how it is snowing in just ONE SQUARE BLOCK, which of course includes the hotel and a B. Dalton Bookseller. They already think aliens are behind all the weirdness of the hotel. This should confirm their suspicions. Time to get the hell out of Dodge. But they can't because it's snowing. Really? You just have to walk one block! It's not like you have to cross miles of frozen tundra to get to civilization! Hell, you don't even have to walk that far. Just hop in B. Dalton and warm your tootsies, call someone to dig your cars out, and buy a few books while you're waiting.
The other Williamson trademark is the humanizing of the paranormal threat. In his book "Ghost Mansion," he does the same thing to the spiritual residents of his haunted house. In this one, we've got an alien couple, a married male and female, with their bratty little psychotic daughter who keeps mispronouncing earthling English. The couple is constantly bickering. The husband has elitist attitudes towards the humans. The whole thing borders on the realm of comedy, but Williamson takes himself way too seriously to allow the book to completely go in the direction of satire. So instead, he simply breaks the first rule of an effective horror story. He destroys the mystery and awe of the evil. The horror genre is all about fear of the unknown. "Jaws" taught us that less is more, and "Final Destination" solidified the idea that death is always close at hand, sometimes even in the most mundane and unexpected places, like a hotel. We did not need these humanized aliens because it made them... well... less alien!
And I won't spoil the ending, but let's just say the motivations of the aliens makes absolutely no sense. Not that Williamson was trying to leave at least that much about the aliens as a mystery. No, it was clear he just confused the hell out of himself. It seemed like he was trying to create a thought-provoking finale, but instead couldn't quite figure out how to make his hodgepodge of ideas come to any satisfying cohesion in the end. What we are left with is a hot mess of nonsense about twin worlds, an unsatisfying ending, and a rather insultingly naïve and heartless message about mental illness, for which I think Williamson was patting himself on the back, but which will make modern audiences wince.
For you vintage mass market book collectors, grab this if you see it for cheap, but I probably wouldn't bother cracking the spine for the story. Better to let these E.T.s stay home.
That's why I tend to go in blind, without knowing much about a certain book before reading it. Others want to gauge whether or not a book will be for them before investing the time and money in a vintage title. If that's you, read on.
Would you expect a book with the name of "Extraterrestrial" to be a meta-commentary on the publishing industry set in a spooky old hotel where the guests keep disappearing one by one? Well, that's what you get with Julian Shock's 1981 novel, which certainly has more in common with Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None" than "Alien." The novel was actually written by paperback horror icon J.N. Williamson, and this is the only time to my knowledge that he uses the "Julian Shock" pseudonym. Perhaps this is because he or his publishers felt this was not entirely in keeping with his usual work. Indeed, it feels more like a stitched together monster of previous unpublished ideas and rejected manuscripts than a coherent horror sci-fi. But if any of you are familiar with Williamson, you will no doubt see his signature on every page.
To begin with, Williamson tends to come up with the most ridiculous excuses to keep his characters embroiled in the dangerous scenario. In this case, the characters catch on pretty quick that people are disappearing from the hotel. In fact, the main protagonists almost immediately jump to the conclusion that the thinning population of guests is because of aliens. I know. But if you think that's stupid, the suspicious guests can't seem to leave the hotel even if they want to. Why? Well, despite it being early spring, the hotel is surrounded in heavy snowfall. Now, our heroes all still have access to the news on TV, and they all hear about how it is snowing in just ONE SQUARE BLOCK, which of course includes the hotel and a B. Dalton Bookseller. They already think aliens are behind all the weirdness of the hotel. This should confirm their suspicions. Time to get the hell out of Dodge. But they can't because it's snowing. Really? You just have to walk one block! It's not like you have to cross miles of frozen tundra to get to civilization! Hell, you don't even have to walk that far. Just hop in B. Dalton and warm your tootsies, call someone to dig your cars out, and buy a few books while you're waiting.
The other Williamson trademark is the humanizing of the paranormal threat. In his book "Ghost Mansion," he does the same thing to the spiritual residents of his haunted house. In this one, we've got an alien couple, a married male and female, with their bratty little psychotic daughter who keeps mispronouncing earthling English. The couple is constantly bickering. The husband has elitist attitudes towards the humans. The whole thing borders on the realm of comedy, but Williamson takes himself way too seriously to allow the book to completely go in the direction of satire. So instead, he simply breaks the first rule of an effective horror story. He destroys the mystery and awe of the evil. The horror genre is all about fear of the unknown. "Jaws" taught us that less is more, and "Final Destination" solidified the idea that death is always close at hand, sometimes even in the most mundane and unexpected places, like a hotel. We did not need these humanized aliens because it made them... well... less alien!
And I won't spoil the ending, but let's just say the motivations of the aliens makes absolutely no sense. Not that Williamson was trying to leave at least that much about the aliens as a mystery. No, it was clear he just confused the hell out of himself. It seemed like he was trying to create a thought-provoking finale, but instead couldn't quite figure out how to make his hodgepodge of ideas come to any satisfying cohesion in the end. What we are left with is a hot mess of nonsense about twin worlds, an unsatisfying ending, and a rather insultingly naïve and heartless message about mental illness, for which I think Williamson was patting himself on the back, but which will make modern audiences wince.
For you vintage mass market book collectors, grab this if you see it for cheap, but I probably wouldn't bother cracking the spine for the story. Better to let these E.T.s stay home.
October 8, 2020
Spooktober 2020 Book 8
On one hand, I get what Shock (a. k. a. J. N. Williamson) was trying to do with Extraterrestrial.
Taking the typical horror mainstays of haunted houses and possession and mixing it with aliens, alternate realities, and other Sci-Fi tropes, is, in concept, kind of a cool idea, and had Shock been able to pull it off, I can see Extraterrestrial as being one of the more unique and interesting horror novels from the Zebra line.
But, as you can see from the one star rating, this book fails on basically every single level. Ok, well, maybe not the super sexy, ominous cover, but it most assuredly bombs with every thing else.
Shock/Williamson has far too may pans in the fire, trying too hard to mix too many different plot points and ideas, making this book a total mess. The characters are supposed to be deep and insightful but come off as boring and inane, leaving absolutely zero empathy or anything to root for. The alien intelligence is more annoying than deep, more contrived than original. The conclusion and eventual revealing twist could have been interesting but Williamson's plodding style left a bad taste in my mouth and I was far more happy to just be done with the story.
I had a lot of hope for Extraterrestrial as it seemed like a new, contemporary take on haunted houses and alien intelligences, however it's a big stinking dud. More of a huge disappointment than anything else.
On one hand, I get what Shock (a. k. a. J. N. Williamson) was trying to do with Extraterrestrial.
Taking the typical horror mainstays of haunted houses and possession and mixing it with aliens, alternate realities, and other Sci-Fi tropes, is, in concept, kind of a cool idea, and had Shock been able to pull it off, I can see Extraterrestrial as being one of the more unique and interesting horror novels from the Zebra line.
But, as you can see from the one star rating, this book fails on basically every single level. Ok, well, maybe not the super sexy, ominous cover, but it most assuredly bombs with every thing else.
Shock/Williamson has far too may pans in the fire, trying too hard to mix too many different plot points and ideas, making this book a total mess. The characters are supposed to be deep and insightful but come off as boring and inane, leaving absolutely zero empathy or anything to root for. The alien intelligence is more annoying than deep, more contrived than original. The conclusion and eventual revealing twist could have been interesting but Williamson's plodding style left a bad taste in my mouth and I was far more happy to just be done with the story.
I had a lot of hope for Extraterrestrial as it seemed like a new, contemporary take on haunted houses and alien intelligences, however it's a big stinking dud. More of a huge disappointment than anything else.
May 2, 2022
No One:
The Main Character every 5 minutes: "SHIT AND DAMNATION"
Look I have to give this book 2 stars merely because it is most assuredly not a good book, the plot will NOT hold together with any level of thought, but IT IS TREMENDOUSLY FUN to experience.
A book that is essentially a poorly thought out exercise about what a future society could look like and what could happen if they visited us today.
J.N. Williamson under a pseudonym, name dropping other famous creatives, and putting them all locked up in a hotel together whilst an Alien picks them off one by one.
The Main Character every 5 minutes: "SHIT AND DAMNATION"
Look I have to give this book 2 stars merely because it is most assuredly not a good book, the plot will NOT hold together with any level of thought, but IT IS TREMENDOUSLY FUN to experience.
A book that is essentially a poorly thought out exercise about what a future society could look like and what could happen if they visited us today.
J.N. Williamson under a pseudonym, name dropping other famous creatives, and putting them all locked up in a hotel together whilst an Alien picks them off one by one.
December 30, 2017
I really like the tone of this book. It keeps a dark, foreboding tone and has plenty of twists to keep you wanting to read more to uncover the mysterious influence the Quinces are having on the guests of the hotel.
July 10, 2022
2.5 but I’ll round up to 3 stars simply because the first 50% of this book was a page turner for me. Then it dragged on and on till the very end. I didn’t care for the extraterrestrials reasonings for why they were doing what they were doing BUT I did enjoy the little twist/last four pages of this book.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews