Coy Hall
@coyhall
Author of horror, crime, & sci-fi. History professor. Great Pyrenees obsessed. Italian movie completist. Anti-A.I. My books:
Althea has healed well since her surgery. Fur on her leg, shaved for the IV, is growing back.
Buckaroo, the Winchester Does Not Forgive (1967). A robber baron with a gold mine runs everyone around him out of business & controls his town with an iron fist. Like Wal-Mart. Enter a stranger named Buckaroo who helps a miner & settles a score with the baron. Pale Rider echoes.
Hole in the Forehead (1968). The action starts in an old monastery, where a bandit takes a playing card from a corpse. Turns out there are three such cards with clues that lead to a cache of gold. It’s bandit vs bandit vs general from there. Beautiful guitar music throughout.
15 Scaffolds for a Murderer (1967). Two gangs seek shelter in a widow’s barn. Come morning, when she & her daughters are found dead, the gangs blame each other & a lynch mob blames them both & now what? You guessed it, they take over a fort. They also have hostages. Smart. Way to double down.
Shango (1970). What’s that, honey? You said Django? Shit. No, I got Shango. Yes again. Anyway, this is a good one with atmosphere. Anthony Steffen gets tortured in a cage until he’s feral. When nursed back to health, he goes after the Confederate major who wronged him.
Blood Calls to Blood (1968). Bandits led by Fernando Sancho sack a monastery, steal Mary’s diadem, & murder the monks. One monk’s brother happens to be a killer as bad as the monk is good, & now little brother is on the bloodtrail for vengeance (while wearing a fabulous fur coat).
Last Train from Gun Hill (1959). Douglas is a marshal who lived hard in the old days. When big man Craig Belden’s (Quinn) son kill’s the marshal’s wife, he won’t rest until he gets blood for blood. And Belden won’t rest until he stops him. Suspense kicks in halfway through.
COVER REVEAL! Here it is, the cover of my medieval horror novel, Devilry in Godling Wood. Coming this fall from Sentinel Creatives. Art by Yanina Nesterova.
The Last Mercenary (1984). When Rolf is bullied by drug runners, he pisses on their cocaine Troll 2 style. So they kill his gf. Then it’s on. The hero’s theme song plays 3 times in the first 20 minutes, so he means business. 🎵Rolf!/Thunder in his wings/Rolf!🎵 Fabio Frizzi music.
Raiders of the Magic Ivory (1988). Nam vets, Sugar & Mark, return to the bush when offered 250 grand to find a magic tablet protected by undying monks. But why are the monks sacrificing the Keeper of the Celestial Peace, James Mitchum wonders as he crushes a beer & reloads. Tonino Ricci directs.
One for backlist Saturday. And it’s on sale for 99 cents for two more days! Mybook.to/WWI Death’s Other Kingdom: Horror Tales of World War I
Commander (1988). Italian producers really hoped old people would rent this thinking it was Commando. But no! Here we have Craig Alan as ‘Commander’ Craig (not a joke) taking on Russians in postwar Vietnam. Mike Monty shows up with his usual officer shtick. Simon Boswell music.
Althea is doing well and on the mend. She was able to go the park for a long walk today. She’s still wearing her cone, but that’ll be off soon enough. Can’t post a cone picture—too undignified for this proud girl.
Is Gunn pretty good? I’ve been getting into Vietnam fiction lately. This is another series from them in the 80s. I got the first one to try. Over 20 entries.
Saigon Commandos (1988). After reading the 1983 novel of the same name recently, I watched this straight to VHS adaptation. Retains character names and one of the book’s many storylines, but overall it’s a wasted opportunity. PJ Soles co-stars.
Death's Other Kingdom: Horror Tales of World War I is on sale this week! The ebook is 99c/p at Amazon US & UK. Check it out: mybook.to/WWI
A few upcoming reads for me. All from the 50s. May the gods bless Stark House.
Althea is getting spayed today, and the whole ordeal has me sick with worry. I’ll be picking her up at 2:30. Minutes crawling by until then.
Watching a giallo favorite as storms roll through this morning: All the Colors of the Dark (1972)