Wetbones [Hardcover]

John Shirley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1992

"WETBONES, the acclaimed and viscerally powerful work by John Shirley, is being released for the first time in a new, improved form. *Fully revised and updated edition. *First fully-author-approved text ever released. *INCLUDES a Brand-New companion story. Never before published. Down -on-his-luck screenwriter Tom Prentice is called to the morgue to identify the body of his ex-wife Amy. She's recognizable--but her body is also 50 pounds underweight, and mutilated. Disturbed, but trying to go on with his life, Prentice pitches a cop-show to studio head Arthwright and is surprised when the exec is interested in the run-of-the-mill idea. Arthwright’s real motives will emerge into hideous view, along with soul-consuming astral creatures camouflaging themselves behind greed, the seduction of Hollywood power—and pleasure. The secret of the Akishra writhes in the background...until it squirms into plain, horrific view. Meanwhile, Reverend Garner, a recovering addict who runs a ministry in Oakland, discovers that his teenage daughter Constance is missing. She has been kidnapped by Ephram Pixie, a ghoulish serial murderer with connections to the cult of the Akishra—Pixie uses psychic pressure to turn Constance into a pleasure addict of the sickest sort. And Mitch Teitelbaum, the missing brother of Tom Prentice's roommate Jeff, ends up in a hospital after deliberately and gruesomely mutilating himself...under the influence of the Akishra. Much of the action spins out from a mysterious, on-going, underground party, which goes on, apparently endlessly, at the fenced-in residence of The More Man and his Malibu film folk, legendary Hollywood Babylon-type partiers, connected with Arthwright, living for decades as psychic vampires feeding on pleasure and the gradual destruction of the human soul. Wetbones is a streetname for victims of their former ally, Ephram Pixie—the residue of his latest sensuous atrocity with Constance, they’re skinless package of freshly bloodied bones... All the storylines come devastatingly together, like wet bones lashed together, in the apocalyptic climax... A contemporary horror tale with Lovecraftian overtones, a subtle message about the horrors of addiction (which may all be inspired and directed by entities from a higher and very nasty plane of existence) and a look at the dark underside of Hollywood written by someone who knows...WETBONES is wrapped in a speed-charged action tale with enough gruesome violence and horrific action to remind readers that John Shirley was recognized from early on as one of the mainsprings of the Splatterpunk movement. The content is very graphic and not for the faint of heart, a glimpse into the abyss only to discover the abyss looking hungrily back."

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

G-R-R-I-S-L-Y...by the author of A Splendid Chaos (1988). Horrible as this is, it has redeeming values, one being its warning against addictive pleasures and too much partying. When down-at-heels screenwriter Tom Prentice identifies his ex-wife Amy in the morgue, she's 50 pounds underweight and mutilated. Then when Prentice pitches a banal cop-show to studio head Arthwright, Arthwright is oddly not dismissive of the dumb idea. As we later find out, Arthwright is a kind of astral vampire. Meanwhile, Reverend Garner, a recovering doper/alcoholic who runs a ministry in Oakland, finds that his teenage daughter Constance is missing. She's been kidnapped by Ephram Pixie, a ghoul with astral ties who turns Constance into a pleasure addict by psychic pressure on her pleasure-center brain cells. Ephram likes to have Constance enjoy sex in his presence while she murders folks in nasty ways in motel rooms. Mitch Teitelbaum, the missing young brother of Tom's roommate Jeff, turns up in a hospital after deliberately laying bare his chest muscles and slitting open his leg, among other enjoyable self-injuries, after a strange party. With echoes of The Shining, this all-continuing party takes place at the fenced-in residence of some ageless Malibu film folk and famed party-givers (including Arthwright) who have been living for decades as vampires of pleasure. Their particular pleasure is to extend their snouts like a mosquito's feeding tube and suck out just enough flesh to leave a victim emaciated but still alive. Some of the party guests are themselves in advanced decay but still actively autoerotic. The story's ghastliest effects focus on the wetbones, or victims now a skinless rubble of fresh bones--bones sometimes strapped together with thongs to make wet furniture.... The queasies'll getcha if you don't watch out! -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 273 pages
• Publisher: Mark V. Ziesing (December 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0929480643
• ISBN-13: 978-0929480640
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 6.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,229,443 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Disturbing, with a great big helping of Revulsion, January 28, 2001

By 

Ryan Costantino (Nowhere, Special) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wetbones (Mass Market Paperback)

This isn't your namby pamby, tip toe around the details Horror. This is in your face, Oh my God I can't believe that just happened, Horror. Good Horror.

The story is both involving and intriguing as well as extremely heart wrenching. Also, it's undeniably gross. A Lovecraftian tale of the less subtle variety; of things existing just beyond the threshold of our reality and the next.

An unspeakable horror, capable of reducing a human to an amorphous pile of gore and bones in seconds. A creature that endows men with the power to control the thoughts, and actions, of others. A creature that thrives on the darkest perversions. A creature that hungers to be very much a part of our world.

You will be amazed. You will be shocked. Your eyes will bulge, your gorge will rise.

The talent of John Shirley is apparent here. This was the first piece of writing I had ever read by the author (except for the lyrics on Blue Oyster Cult's album Heaven Forbid) and now I can't wait to read more of this demented man's work.

A word of warning to the faint of heart: Wetbones is what some might call Splatter Horror. It bears all the subtlety of an upside down crucifixion. So pregnant women, people with heart conditions, and those with weak stomachs, proceed with caution. But by all means proceed.

Don't let the numerous typographical errors sway your judgement either, this is a damn fine example of Horror fiction, even if the editor assigned to it was a complete idiot.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a contemporary horror masterpiece!, February 9, 2000

By 

jason wallach - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wetbones (Mass Market Paperback)

A lot of things can be said about this book but "dull" has no place in any description about this book. And yes, stick to Stephen King if you want the same old predictable and formulated horror novel written from the imagination and not the soul / from experience. The only problem with WETBONES is that it's horribly misunderstood. The author presents us with a familiar surrounding - the filthy and one dimensional city of Los Angeles. However, we find out that it's actually 4 dimensional. For the most part the other reviews here do describe some of what goes on in this book so I won't bore you with attempting to elaborate... just read this book.

John Shirley speaks from his own horrors of drug and sex addiction and when an artist pours his soul into his work it ceases to be pornography, it is art. This book is dark and ugly and highly confrontational in regards to addiction and its consequences as well as the nature of humanity. It is raw and visceral and honest in ways I've never experienced before. This book is a profound story with a message which may be too honest for most people to handle... John Shirley pulls no punches and even I wished that I could put the book down and forget I had heard of it, but I couldn't because it's too compelling as a horror novel, as a drama, as well as somewhat of an autobiography in symbolic and metaphorical ways. John Shirley simply made it severe enough that people would take notice. Whether you love it or hate it WETBONES leaves its mark. It's a pretty hardcore book and not for the squeamish. It is ultimately about hope and pulling through the darkness of our souls (and what feeds on them)however it is a long and hard journey through that darkness and the only way past it is through it. Read this book and if you don't feel anything than stick to flat and "dull" works of other horror writers who only wish they could write like Shirley. Wetbones is a journey to places within ourselves that we don't want to be or see, but that's the beauty of it and the formula for really good horror. Out of a possible 5 stars I give it 10. There is no other book like this and more than likely there never will be again.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars AN IMAGINATIVE, BUT STICKY MESS!, August 16, 2000

By 

David D. Warner (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Wetbones (Mass Market Paperback)

WETBONES is a novel about addictions. In it, you will find vivid depictions of heinous behaviors fueled by compulsive dependencies on both substances and actions, including alcohol, crack, sex, power, ego, self-mutilation, torture and murder. Set in LA, Hollywood and Malibu, (where else?), the characters are a mixed bag of active addicts, addicts in recovery, future addicts and even an addict-come-preacher who has to fight his own cravings and compulsions before he can save his daughter from the greatest addiction of them all - the need to feed the blood lust. But that's not where the real horror lies. The real horror here is that Shirley attributes addictions - all addictions - to myriad species of inter-dimensional, worm-like parasites that infect human hosts and feed off the pleasure the hosts receive from indulging their addictions. These astral worms, or Akishra, in turn reinforce the addictions and manipulate their hosts in mind and body by supplying "reward" or "punishment" - direct stimulation to the pleasure and pain centers of the brain. What I found profoundly disturbing about this novel is Shirley's reduction of addictions to entirely external forces. Effectively, he removes all personal responsibility from the addict and places the onus of the addicts' behavior squarely on otherworldly shoulders. He demonstrates graphically, that the things that we crave can possess even the most innocent among us.

WETBONES is the first of John Shirley's novels that I've read. It was a recommended selection from Amazon.com based, I'm sure, on my recent purchases of books by Poppy Z. Brite, Douglas Clegg and Brent Monahan. I'd previously read many rave reviews of Shirley's work and decided to give this novel a try. I found WETBONES to be an imaginative story that was riveting, well written and utterly decadent. I loved it. And I will definitely pick up a few of Shirley's other novels for future reading. But while I found the story to be engaging and well crafted, I was distracted throughout the entire book by a string of careless typographical errors. The book was littered with them on practically every other page. This is certainly no reflection on the author. He crafted an ingenious and highly imaginative story. For the connoisseur of the sticky macabre, this is one of the stickiest and certainly one of the scariest. But my question is this ... Where was the editor? A respectable publishing house would never have been so careless as to allow this imaginative, but sticky mess out the door. If I were rating strictly the author, this book would have received 5 stars ... but because of the sad, sorry shape of the supposedly edited product, I could only rate the overall package 3 stars. And I suggest that Mr. Shirley start looking for a more professional publisher. His work deserves better than this.