Black Leather Required [Hardcover]

David J. Schow (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"Eating 'em was more fun than blowing their gnarly green heads off. But why dicker when you could do both? The fresher ones were blue. That was important if you wanted to avoid cramps, salmonella. Eat a green one and you'd be yodeling down the big porcelain megaphone in no time."

Those are the opening lines of "Jerry's Kids Meet Wormboy," a justifiably (in)famous Romero-world zombie tale presented here in a collection for the first time. That gives you just a taste (heh heh) of the bold horror imagery and witty metaphors (or shall we call them tropes?) that are David J. Schow's trademark. Black Leather Required is a knockout collection: 12 superb stories (some new, some reprinted), one short play in the Grand Guignol style, an introduction by John Farris, and an afterword by Schow himself. It's all beautifully produced by Mark V. Ziesing. (Click on the cover for a larger view of the dramatic cover painting.)

The stories include a remarkably sharp tale about dinosaurs ("Sedalia"), a delightfully manic number about roadside violence in the Arizona desert ("Bad Guy Hats"), the tale of a loathsome near-death ("Scoop Makes a Swirly"), and varied sagas of the recently dead or the undead having a good ol' time. As Farris writes in the intro, Schow is "like a Gothic Absurdist, an urbanized Cormac McCarthy, but with a hip, mean sense of fun.... He punishes you, then he winks and punishes you some more. Friends, I do this for a living, and I'm not easily impressed, but the can-you-top-this operatic exuberance David conjures with mere words is a cause for, not censorship, but celebration." --Fiona Webster

From Library Journal

An interesting mix of splatterpunk and more traditional horror is featured in this excellent collection of 12 stories and one short play. The usual zombies, monsters, and things that creep are served up in such a fresh style that even jaded readers won't be able to second-guess Schow. Especially effective in the gore category are "Pitt Night at the Lewistone Boneyard," in which a man's dead relatives return to change his life, and "Bad Guy Hats," wherein violence begets more violence. Some of the tamer stories show a more delicate touch. Liberal doses of sex, violence, and even cannibalism are integral to the stories, yet these elements may offend squeamish readers. Yet Schow is so fine a writer, so imaginative a storyteller, that he deserves a place in all contemporary fiction collections. Horror fans not acquainted with his work will be delighted. Recommended.
Eric W. Johnson, Teikyo Post Univ. Lib., Waterbury, Ct.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 244 pages
• Publisher: Mark V Ziesing; 1st edition (May 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0929480295
• ISBN-13: 978-0929480299
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,674,234 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best..., August 5, 2000

By 

Victor (San Digo, Ca) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Black Leather Required (Hardcover)

David Schow first came to my attention when I read Jerry's Kids Meet Wormboy. One of the funniest, shocking, openings I have ever read. This collection shows just a little portion of the talent that Schow has for making you think. He is one of the few that can take a bad pun and make it outstanding without stretching the boundries of believability. He is an outstanding writer that catches the nuances and foibles of the english language and uses them to his advantage. His sentences have a meter and rhyme that catches you up and pulls you in. (Read Bad Guy Hats, for proof.) Overall, Schow is a much better writer than his image would lead you to believe. Being the "Father of Splatterpunk" has mis-aligned him with the public and critics alike. I recommend Schow whole heartedly to everyone.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extreme stories that seek to provoke a new awareness., July 16, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Black Leather Required (Hardcover)

I will not kid you. Schow's fiction is real; it is brutal; and it often offends (especially those who recognize themselves in his characters). But like Bunuel's classic short film "Un Chien Andalou", Schow also uses his graphically brutal scenes to shock our deadened senses in order to allow us to honestly assess the problems of a post-industrial, post-modern America. Schow challenges our ambigous morals and a culture that voraciously consumes sanitized pre-packaged violence. But most importantly of all he writes ENTERTAINING stories. This collection is a must

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars David J. Schow's Black Leather Required..., August 9, 2002

By 

Christopher Mc Nally - See all my reviews

This review is from: Black Leather Required. --Signed-- (Hardcover)

"Short stories are the shadow warriors of prose." This is a quote from David Schow's afterword of BLACK LEATHER REQUIRED. He backs those words up with some powerful writing in this, his third collection of shorts. Schow uses every color and tone on his palette. Subtley scratching with fine lines and slam dunking you with broad strokes. Dispicable though deviously enjoyable characters, vivid settings, and roller coaster plots. All written with a sure hand and humorous eye for detail. His writing is so unique that he can horrify and touch you in the same sentence. B.L.R. celebrates short horror at its highest.