Universal Monster novels

I love the Universal Monster films of the 1930s and 40s and revisit a number of them not just in October but throughout the year. Like most fans of these films I wish that there more of them and to this end I have been thrilled when occasionally a new tale with the old Universal characters turns up. Every few years Universal offers up some new bit of merchandising for them and, as much as I love Frankenstein toys or Mummy t-shirts, the best of these in my opinion has been the on again off again series of horror novels that get released. I’ve read a number of them and enjoyed each one with Jeff Rovin’s RETURN OF THE WOLFMAN and Paul Di Filippo’s Creature novel TIME’S BLACK LAGOON being the best so far. In 2001 a series of Young Adult Universal Monster novels were issued and I’ve decided to give them a try this October. I’ve just started the first of the run entitled ‘Return of Evil’ which focuses on Dracula showing up on the Florida coast in 2001 and it may be YA but the violence is pretty harsh. Exciting stuff!

I’ve got another Wolfman book and a Mummy tale as well so the ‘to read’ stack is looking pretty cool. When will I find time to dive into that collection of 1970s Marvel Frankenstein comics? Not enough time in the month.