Haley Newlin (author of NOT ANOTHER SARAH HALLS and TAKE YOUR TURN, TEDDY) just published a review of my latest novel, BELA LUGOSI'S DEAD, on CemeteryDance.com. Here's an excerpt:
Universal monsters Dracula, Frankenstein, Wolf Man and others, primarily produced between the 1930s and 1950s, still stand today as not only icons of horror but pop culture.
And yet, so many of the horrifically haunting films featuring these creatures, including Bela Lugosi’s infamous bloodthirsty Count Dracula, have been buried away and forgotten.
Robert Guffey’s Bela Lugosi’s Dead revives Universal monsters. Furthermore, it raises the stakes, pun intended, with a second storyline depicting a writer down on his luck (Mike) who dreams of writing a supernatural screenplay and publishing a magazine all about classic horror, and… you guessed it, Bela Lugosi.
Mike meets a young actress, Lucy, at the grave of Sharon Tate, the actress notoriously known for her brutal murder at the hands of Charles Manson’s Family. Shortly after, Mike finds backers for his magazine called Ramboona, dedicated to remembering “forgotten films,” and stumbles into a haunted maze of sorts — attempting to uncover the lost test reel of Lugosi as Frankenstein (eventually played instead by Boris Karloff).
What readers and fans of classic horror movies will revel in is Mike and Lucy’s run-ins with Maila Nurmi (Vampira), Manly P. Hall (Lugosi confidant and author), and others.
Bela Lugosi’s Dead is a remarkably authentic, hypnotizing interpretation of all the glitz and pure talent behind Lugosi’s fame, as well as the hubris that steered his downfall. Guffey depicts how Lugosi’s Dracula transformed horror from a genre of make-believe to one that spreads the notion that monsters lurk among us....Read the entire review HERE.
FURTHER PRAISE FOR BELA LUGOSI'S DEAD:
“Blending intertextual rampage through the horror-movie canon with engrossing noir mystery and a backdrop of Hollywood esoterica, Robert Guffey serves up an intoxicating pulp cocktail that will leave you wanting more. A crepuscular treasure from a fascinating author.”
--ALAN MOORE, author of V FOR VENDETTA and WATCHMEN
“In Robert Guffey's latest and greatest novel, dreams of old movies and nightmares of classic horror rack into sharp focus through the lens of a brave film historian, one determined to squint clearly at fleeting grains of film through the shifting sands of time. Never has the truth of Hollywood been so well revealed through fiction. As a result, BELA LUGOSI'S DEAD delightfully and definitively proves that Bela Lugosi isn't dead.”
--GARY D. RHODES, author of LUGOSI and TOD BROWNING'S DRACULA
"[H]orror fans will delight in how Guffey cleverly immerses movie monsters in the real world. Film buffs and monster enthusiasts will relish the supernatural characters brought to life in this atmospheric celebration of monster mayhem."
--PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"The sensation [of reading BELA LUGOSI'S DEAD] is like being led deep underground while your flashlight grows dimmer and dimmer, until you’re left in total darkness. That’s when the lights of a subterranean crypt flash on to reveal that you’re not where you expected to be, and where you are is far worse than you could have imagined. The result is an ending that left me chilled and took me a few days to fully process. As shocking as it was, everything was set up from the beginning. I know, I went back and checked, and have to give Guffey credit for pulling off a literary sleight of hand that caught me by surprise. I won’t spoil it with more, except to say that like the frog in water that’s warmed so slowly it doesn’t realize it’s coming to a lethal boil, Guffey’s readers face an equally stunning conclusion."
--TERENCE TAYLOR, NIGHTMARE MAGAZINE
The unabridged Audible Audiobook of BELA LUGOSI'S DEAD is also available! It's brilliantly read by the talented SAMUEL E. HOKE. Hoke was so dedicated to nailing the audio version that he contacted me before he began narrating the novel to make sure the accent of a particular character was exactly correct. He also went out of his way to research some of the films and documentaries about the real people and events upon which the novel is based. If you're interested, you can listen to a sample of the audiobook right HERE!
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