There are lots of ways people become monsters. They can be bitten, sucked, born, reborn, reanimated and exposed to toxic sludge—the list of possibilities goes on and on.
Dicky Illes, a small town hillbilly, will never forget the moment he became a monster. It happened unexpectedly one night in the woods when a strange old man puked into his mouth. “The curse is yours now, boy,” says the greybeard with relief.
The phlegmy body fluid turns Dicky into an eight-foot-tall rotting bear. His eyes were white and dead and his bones jutted from his body in odd places. It was as if his new body represented the ghost of a bear rather than the living, breathing variety.
After a few shapeshifting experiences, Dicky realizes that he’s now a werebear. But he isn’t just any werebear—he’s a monster with a superhero origin story. He instinctively understands that with great monster power comes great monster responsibility.
“Snare of the Werebear” is just one of a handful of terrific monster stories in Brad D. Sibbersen’s latest anthology Pulp: Monsters. As you can probably guess from the book’s title, Sibbersen infuses his stories with the spirit and adventure of vintage pulp magazines.
Without a doubt, “Headless Jack, Part 1” is the most pulpy thing in the collection. The story features a flaming pumpkin head vigilante waging a one-man war against organized crime. Actually, that’s not exactly true. Headless Jack is working in tandem with a mysterious lady—“She was pretty, but harsh,” says one mobster. I’m definitely looking forward to reading more adventures about this dynamic duo.
In true pulp tradition, most of these stories are serials, and I expect Sibbersen will revisit his characters at a later date. One excellent story that’s self-contained, however, is “The Great Dragon Burlesque Show of 1953.”
American soldiers on a bender visit a mysterious Korean nightclub called Yong-ui (“Dragon’s House,” I think). Expecting bawdy humor and topless local girls, the servicemen are shocked to see a 20-foot dinosaur on stage. “It was really real, and not some sort of incongruously professional prop or illusion,” notes the narrator. People had paid lots of money to see a pretty young lady get eaten alive by a fire-breathing monster.
Naturally, the U.S. soldiers cannot abide by such horror. They rush to the woman’s rescue and all hell breaks loose. The surrounding neighborhood goes up in flames, but the ending will surely put a smile on your face.
In my opinion, Sibbersen’s best effort is “The Master of Frankenstein.” It’s another example of a great Bride of Frankenstein story. In this version, the patchwork girl is actually the reanimated corpse of Dr. Frankenstein’s wife. The twist is that Autumn Mary Frankenstein was murdered by her husband. And the mystery is: Why would Frankenstein kill his wife and then steal her body from the crypt?
Later, when she is told of her sad circumstances, Lady Frankenstein is struck with an all-consuming sadness. She knows that life is precious, but she wonders if there is happiness in a false life such as her own—a life that has been gifted by a devil. She answers her own question definitively after burning Frankenstein’s castle to the ground.
[ Pulp: Monsters / By Brad D. Sibbersen / First Printing: October 2023 / ISBN: 9798863056494 ]