Clickers [Paperback]

J. F. Gonzalez (Author), Mark Williams (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 8, 2008

In a peaceful New England village, terror lies lurking beneath the surface... Phillipsport, Maine seems to be the perfect place for novelist Rick Sychek to settle. A small seaport village, it is quaint and peaceful, just what Rick needs in order to write his next novel. On his drive into town, Rick runs over what appears to be a large crab in the road. About the size of a common house cat and sporting a segmented tail that resembles the stinger of a scorpion, it is unlike any crustacean he or anybody else in town has seen before. Within the next day the town is besieged by hundreds of the creatures-which Rick calls Clickers due to the sound their claws make as the click together-as they ravage and plunder anything unlucky enough to get in their way. Hundreds of Clickers beach themselves in a wave of terror that ends in horror and death for some...but it brings the town together collectively in a fight to drive the creatures back. Rick joins his new friends in fighting the creatures only to discover that the Clickers aren't merely here to ravage and pillage. They are being driven onto the shores of this New England village by instinct. For something is hunting the Clickers. Something far worse than any of them could ever imagine.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Clickers is a wild ride through horror B-movie territory. A fun read you won't want to put down." -- David B. Silva, Editor of Hellnotes

"Fans of Guy N. Smith and the early James Herbert should get a real kick out of CLICKERS...creatures run amok, and heads roll! The invasion of the quiet, seaside community also has echos of Lovecraft. Creepy, grisly fun." -- Richard Laymon, author of THE CELLAR, and BITE

"In an era of horror fiction that's often reckless and overboard, Gonzalez brings intellect and a studied, consummate craft to the table, creating tales the right way: with deft characterization, riveting plotwork, and imagery sharper than a carpet razor. This is a rare type of writer indeed, tackling even hardcore and taboo subjects with brains and creative brawn. If you haven't heard of this guy yet, believe me, you will. It won't be long before Gonzalez is taking big bites out of the field of horror fiction." -- EDWARD LEE, author of GHOULS, INCUBI, and THE BIGHEAD

"Miss those glory days of cheap'n'nasty bone-crunching horror? They're back. Clickers will eat you up and spit you out!" -- Peter Atkins, author of Morningstar, Big Thunder; screenwriter for Hellraiser II & III and Wishmaster --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

J. F. Gonzalez is the former editor/publisher of Iniquities and Phantasm Magazines, which in their heyday published cutting edge short fiction by the likes of Clive Barker, David J. Schow, John Shirley, Douglas Clegg and others. His short fiction has appeared in various small press and professional publications including YOUNG BLOOD, ASYLUM: STORIES FOR THE CRIMINALLY INSANE, Cabal Asylum, Vampire Dan's Story Emporium, Frightnet, and others. He makes his home in Pasadena, California with his wife and daughter and various furry and slithery animals. CLICKERS is his first novel.

Mark Williams (1959 - 1998) was a multi-talented artist whose work spanned film and comics. As a special effects artist, his work has graced the films of James Cameron (The Abyss, Aliens, Terminator 2) and David Cronenberg (The Fly) and most was most recently seen in Shrieker and Curse of the Puppetmaster (1998, Full Moon Productions). Films weren't the only median his special effects work was confined to: he created the special effects for Alice Cooper's live shows in the late '80's and 90's, and designed album covers for Poison, Dangerous Toys, and other acts. In the world of comics, Williams co-wrote and drew Sisters of Mercy (with Poison drummer Rikki Rockett) and Nightshade (recently optioned by 20th Century Fox as a feature film). He passed away on May 27, 1998 from pneumonia. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 308 pages
• Publisher: Delirium Books (July 8, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 193454602X
• ISBN-13: 978-1934546024
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,386,755 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Total camp, but I loved it!, February 5, 2007

By 

missy99 "horrorlover" - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Clickers (Paperback)

I have just recently started reading JF Gonzalez, and I have to say that I am definitely sold! As other reviewers have said, Clickers is an old-school creature-feature tale. Gonzalez knows how to shock, with just the right amount of gore, and the right amount of suspense. Yes, as another reviewer stated, there are some spelling errors and this book could have used a better editor, but that really did not detract from the story at all - at least not in my opinion. The story was engaging, so I was able to overlook any minor editing problems. I look forward to the sequel, and I would just love to see Clickers made into a feature film.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars OLD SCHOOL, OVER THE TOP HORROR, June 17, 2006

By 

John J. Avery - See all my reviews

This review is from: Clickers (Paperback)

Reading this, I could almost close my eyes and see myself back at the old [route] '66 drive-in in st. louis watching a triple bill of some good-old fashioned b-horror movies. in "clickers" phillipsport, maine is being over run by giant crab-like creatures that eat everything in their path [ cats, people, etc.] but the catch is they have not come to the coast town to look for dinner, they are fleeing from even more horrible creatures from the sea, called "the dark ones", who come ashore looking for a meal. and they find it in abundance. this is not the first time this has happened, this town has a "history" of this sort of thing. I love all types of horror, but this has to be my favorite. I would love to see more of this gory, no one is safe, take no prisoners, horror. subtle this is not.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One of the Hallmarks of modern horror fiction/Splatterpunk, February 18, 2005

By 

Charles A. Gelinas "sad little zombie guy" (Everett, Wisconsin USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Clickers (Paperback)

Only the term "transcendent" could do justice to J.F. Gonzalez's and the late Mark Williams' "Clickers". Labelled by the authors as an hommage to 3-D B-Movie Creature from the such-and-such lagoon flicks, "Clickers" quickly passes the thresshold of such cheezy monster fare into the realm of high-quality hard core, queasy-stomach-churning Splatterpunk.

The protagonist, an author of cheezy horror novels himself, moves to the lovely vacation spot of Phillipsport, Maine for some peace before starting his next novel. However, soon after his arrival, the town is confronted with an infestation of acid-dripping, over-sized mutant crabs (affectionately dubbed "Clickers") that emerge from the sea. Though the crabs' razor sharp claws, tremendous numbers and extremely painful poisonous barbs (which liquify your innards and turn you into a quivering puddle of crab lunch) do tremendous damage to the community and cause horrendous casualties among the innocent folk of Phillipsport, the Clickers' arrival is only a precursor to the infestation of an even more horrible, ancient race of "Dark Ones" (to use a Lovecraftian turn of phrase). The townspeople, continually diminished in numbers, are thrust into more and more terrifying and desparate situations by their antagonists as they endeavor to leave the community for safer inland territories.

Yes, giant man-eating crabs and slimy sea creatures are the stuff of the saturday matinee popcorn flick. And yes, we have the strong protagonist endeavoring to lead his woman, her child and the chummy local kooks to safety just as we do with every Harryhausen giant ant from the desert/mutant squid attacking the golden gate movie. But there the similarity ends.

The authors spend a considerable time fleshing out their considerable cast of characters, whether protagonists or jerks, smart, scrappy survivors or pathetic idiots. We see these people at their local haunts, in the privacy of their homes, in their work places. We begin to identify with their wants, their limitations, their dreams. And then all of a sudden these characters are horrifically violated, subjected to terrible pain and extrme anxiety, all in the places they felt safe so few pages before. Their varying conceptions of the nature and supremacy of humanity are simultaneously and irrevocably rendered null by the arrival of these ingeniously imagined creatures.

The agitation and terror of the work is doubled by the nature of the antagonists-- these are not supernatural creatures of evil, or visiting upon the collective guilt of Phillipsport, but are simply following the natural dictates of hunger and preying on the most defenseless food source available. There is no malice involved in their attacks, which makes the story all the more difficult and sad to consider. Humans we care about and recognize as individuals are inescapably rendered into walking sacks of lunch meat. Even innovative, quick thinking, well-armed, aggressive humans can do little to stop the onslaught (and in truth only serve to draw unwanted attention to themselves).

As the violence and gore are ratcheted up from chapter to chapter (especially when awful deaths happen to children and families in their pathetic scramble to escape from Phillipsport), this thematic ambiguity will more and more deeply unsettle the reader. All hope is extirpated from the community (except for the chance working of fate)-- something that most people, being semi-optimists in the power of our rational, intelligent minds, might find very hard to accept.

A masterwork of modern horror (think of the film "Deep Rising" but on a grander, more serious scale), "Clickers" will quickly ensure its primacy on the shelves of any discriminating horror reader.

A must read!

N.B. As a work of such extreme violence, this is not literature for the squeamish or for children.