BY: JEFF OLIVER AND GORDON REILLY
VENOMOUS WORDS (2022)
BY: JEFF OLIVER AND GORDON REILLY
Horror films and books starring venomous creatures have littered the genre for decades. The nuclear age sprung hundreds of productions such as, “The Black Scorpion” and “Tarantula.” During the terror tidal wave of the 70s’ and 80s’, venom-soaked tiny terrors filled paperbacks and movie screens, making every reader and viewer check their shoes and sinks once they got home. Films such as, “Slugs” and “Ants” sent shivers down the spines of horror hounds. Author William Dobson’s “Fangs” was just one of hundreds of books that crept and slithered its way to best seller stardom during the paperback boom. This summer, dark poet Jeff Oliver teams up with acclaimed photographer Gordon Reilly to bring the horror nation a new and unique journey into the world of venomous creatures, both human and creepy crawler alike.
(PHOTO BY GORDAN REILLY INSERT HERE)
MONSTER
“I am not a monster
Leave me in peace as I wander
Into my glorious make believe”
The photo and excerpt is just one of many amazing visual and written works that jump off the pages of this educational and lyrical masterpiece. Reilly, a master of photography, gets intimate with his subjects. Eyes of spiders will mesmerize the reader, while shots of scorpions will make even the hardest terror titan tremble. The photography is beautifully matched with Oliver’s prose. Each dark poem gives humanity to the creatures while exemplifying the dark hearts of man. Oliver obviously opens himself up with his pen and gives a very personal account of his perception of man and beast. In an age mired in redundancy, “Venomous Words” takes a decades old subject and breathes fresh dark life into the work. This collection of dark art resembles the scorpion breeds that scurry through the pages, it is gorgeous to look at, but stings with fury.
Other contributors to Venomous Words:
Joe R. Lansdale- Bubba Ho-Tep
Dr. Chris McAuley- Creator of the StokerVerse
Xtina Marie- co-founder of HellBound Books Publishing
David Kemp- The Horror of It All
Brandon Scott- Vodou series
Noe Basurto- A Spark of Hope Volume II
Stephen Remillard
Reinaldo Torres
