THE SNAKE by John Godey

The rivers are full of crocodile nasties 

And he who made kittens, put snakes in the grass

The urban jungle's about to meet the real thing, when a fully grown black mamba escapes into Central Park! Author John Godey was hot off his smash hit novel The Taking of Pelham 123, and a gritty horror thriller about a killer snake in NYC must have seemed like another surefire success.

All the pieces are there, including a charming herpetologist lead who understands all too well how the rest of humanity views his charges. And Godey unfolds the opening action with admirable ease, giving us that wonderful frisson of impending doom as everyone is one step behind our newly escaped snake ... but just as with Maryk and Monahan's Death Bite, the pacing turns sluggish, like a snake resting up between meals, and we find ourselves yearning for a bit more of the ol' blood and guts. Godey is too reserved, too realistic at times, whereas Maryk and Monahan at least went delightfully overboard with their giant Island Taipan and its bloodcurdling bite. Godey's attempt at colorful drama, the Jesus People freakshow cult that shows up near the end, feels underbaked. And the rather obvious twist at the end is hardly "the ultimate in horror," as the San Francisco Examiner claims. All in all, we could have used a touch of Mr. Brown and friends' sociopathy from Godey's much celebrated heist novel.

Hardcover edition

That's not to say it's all bad - just not as great as it could have been. Godey delivers the requisite city politics and panic just fine, and his characters are all finely drawn and relatably sad sack in that wonderful '70s way. Too, his use of Central Park is masterful (we're given those maps for a reason). There's just something missing in the final tally, and it feels like a letdown coming from Godey.

Dramatic NEL edition

He's a lover of life but a player of pawns

Yes, the King on His sunset lies waiting for dawn 

To light up His Jungle as play is resumed 

The monkeys seem willing to strike up the tune

This game that we animals play is a winner, but The Snake struggles with a 2/4 rating! For a second opinion, Will Errickson over at Too Much Horror Fiction offers a more positive appraisal.

As we finish 2025, man is STILL the prey!

A Berkley Book, 1979 (original pub. 1978)

MAN IS THE PREY by James Clarke

Danger from above, danger from below, danger from every living thing ... for our final entry of the year author James Clarke lays down the law: MAN IS THE PREY!

A beefy book with a simple concept: animals that kill people. All of 'em, all over the world, but especially Africa as that was Clarke's remit. Clarke horrifies with tales of killer beasts, but he also equivocates when necessary. Consider his thoughts on the gila monster, a controversial "man killer" in the literature:

A number of people who ridicule the idea of the gila monster's [bite] being lethal to man claim that those who died after its bite were all alcoholic or sick. Curiously it seems a great many of them were, but then if an alcoholic is knocked down by a bus did the bus kill him or did the alcohol?

The "deadly" aspect of an animal may be variable, and down to circumstance. Is the elephant more dangerous than the lion, than the hippo, than the croc? Do raw numbers of victims tell it all, and do we even know the true numbers? Does any of that matter when you're the one getting chomped? 

Above, the original hardcover edition with a back cover cameo from a chacma baboon. Clarke's careful treading elevates his book above a simple chronicle of misery and helps us think about our place in nature, as a part of nature despite our best efforts. Owing to its era, much of the color comes from big game hunters and safari tales. Goodreads reviewer Brett Dulle has an insightful review which helps put certain parts of the book in context:

The book has two clear biases:

1. The author is an ex-pat living in South Africa and as a result the book is more focused on African wildlife than other countries dangerous animals. For example, his chapter on crocodiles is almost exclusively about the Nile crocodile. It's hard to criticize him for this because it is obviously much easier to write about what you have a personal experience with and these firsthand accounts are the most interesting parts of the book.

2. The author has a strong interest in big game hunting. My estimate is that over half of the information in the book comes from big game hunter's memoirs or conversations with big game hunters. This effects the coverage of different animals. The crocodile, an animal the author admits is probably the most voracious man-eater, gets 10 pages while the elephant gets 20 pages of coverage. As the book moves away from the big game animals, it feels more like he's simply listing off facts about these animals and the book starts to drag. Again, it's hard to complain since the stories of the big game hunters are usually quite exciting.

These foundational biases aside, the author also takes sides with some of the animals. Bears are depicted as practically harmless while wolves are ravenous hellhounds that, according to a story he reprints, almost ate an entire village in one night.

Another example of Clarke's personal views coming through is his treatment of the killer whale. Despite no real hard data about orcas eating or killing humans, he takes it as read from anecdote and reputation that the fearsome predator is a known, guaranteed killer. After all, no less an authority than the US Navy says that orcas "will attack human beings at every opportunity." And would you want to test that out yourself?

James Frederick Clarke (1934-)

The final chapter details the most dangerous animal to man: himself. The second to last chapter covers insects and arachnids, and delves into disease and famine - we know the mosquito is one of the deadliest creatures on earth, due to its transmission of a multitude of diseases. Bees and wasps can kill through swarming by the thousands or from one single sting on someone unlucky enough to be allergic. How does this stack up against a tiger's fangs or a shark's jaws? How much does public health and policy factor into a focus on deadly animals? It's not so easy as a top ten list but the journey is rewarding.

That ol' showman Ivan T. Sanderson shows up in Clarke's bibliography with a book on elephants, The Dynasty of Abu. Famous tiger man Jim Corbett features as well ... of course! It wouldn't be much of a book on killer animals without the hunter who bagged the Man-Eaters of Kumaon among many others!

More of man against nature ...

Lions, tigers, bears ... sharks, snakes, and things that sting! Killers from legend and in the laboratory, who kill for food, for self defense, or just for the hell of it! Clarke catalogs them all, and we're all the better for it! Man is the Prey is well worth picking up even today, as both a snapshot of an era and a thoughtful, expansive exploration of its subject. Grrr, hisss, ahhh!

Panther Books edition

Another hardcover, with a goofy snapshot!

Clarke's excellent text is available to read and download at archive dot org.

Pocket Books, 1970 (original pub. 1969)

DEATH BITE by Michael Maryk and Brent Monahan

In the closing days of 2024 we learn that MAN IS THE PREY! In fact and fiction, on the ground and in the air or underwater, no one and nowhere is safe from nature's fury!

First up: it's almost 20 feet long, can kill a dozen men with a scratch of its fangs, and exists in a permanent state of pissed off! It's the near-mythical island taipan of Naraka-pintu, a tiny (fictional) hellhole between Australia and New Guinea. Locals call the island the gateway to hell, and as for the snake? The devil himself. Now, one of these demons is loose in San Diego, CA, and no one is safe from the DEATH BITE!

Authors Maryk and Monahan have crafted a winning monster here, a killer snake twice as long as its "mainland" (real world) variant, nurtured to extreme size and temperament by its isolated island home. The authors do a bang up job incorporating real snake science into their work, as well as the murky, dangerous world of exotic animal smuggling. Our giant taipan is being smuggled into the USA for Scott Miller's private zoo of dangerous snakes, with researcher Marcus Wrightson offered a sweetheart deal on the snake's rare venom if he'll help transfer it from the boat off San Diego to Miller's zoo in Florida.

Hardcover edition, 1979

Some shady characters have other plans, however, as does the snake ... Soon, our titan of terror is loose in the San Diego hills, and Miller and Wrightson are caught with their pants down explaining just what the hell they were thinking with their reckless scheme. Wrightson meanwhile has become entangled with Miller's mysterious assistant Ioka, and her connection to Miller's past may hold the key to the man's obsession with this demonic killer he's unleashed. The authors do a good job balancing some subtle character work with the unfolding action, especially the bad guys who we learn more and more about as their own harebrained plot for snakenapping unfolds.

This book belonged to George P. Asvos!

When Death Bite strikes, it's with a vengeance. However, just as most snakes can go a long time between meals, conserving their energy, so too does Death Bite rest between feedings, perhaps for a little too long. The middle of the book sags a bit, especially once all the pieces are in place and everything seems ready to cut loose. All the buildup leaves us rushing through the final 50 pages in a whirlwind.

Above, the Granada edition. Pacing aside, Maryk and Monahan's thriller seems ready made for a film adaptation, and Death Bite eventually made it to the screen as Spasms. The coolasscinema blog has an in-depth article on the troubled production of Spasms, including insight from Maryk and Monahan about their frustrations with the shoot. Co-author Brent Monahan has also written a bit about the novel and film adaptation at his personal website.

Maryk and Monahan's Death Bite earns a 3/4 rating for some lethal strikes amid languorous pacing.

Ace Books, 1980 (original pub. 1979)

KYRIK AND THE WIZARD'S SWORD by Gardner F. Fox

Kyrik moved forward, knifeblade up to cut her bonds. The girl eyed him, then cried out. “I must tell you I am a witch. I have been put here by the people of a small fishing village as sacrifice to the demon that roams this part of the world.” “What do I care for demons?”

“You’d care about this one,” she told him darkly. “It slays and slays, it is like a mad thing, ravening here and there. They have even sent soldiers from Sokarjus to hunt it down and slay it.”

In the tradition of Conan! And a new tag on the blog, "flashing swords" for swords, sorcery, barbarians, and the days of high adventure!

Author Gardner F. Fox was a prolific master of the fantasy genre, as well as a titan of the comics industry responsible for many early tales of DC heroes like Batman and the Flash! Unfortunately, Kyrik represents the lesser of his sword and sorcery efforts, decidedly weaker than his well-reviewed Kothar series. Fox's full bibliography is available in ebook and vintage cover galleries at the handsomely curated website for the Gardner Francis Fox library:

One mark against poor Kyrik is that publisher Leisure Books didn't take much care with him - typos and misprints abound, as well as editing/continuity issues. On page 21, Kyrik's new companion Olvia remarks that the wizard Upanikol may share food with them if they can reach his tower. Unbeknownst to our heroes, Upanikol has just died in the middle of a dread ritual! Just later on page 27 however, Olvia is suddenly privy to the wizard's fate, saying they'll have an easy time finding food and shelter in the tower "since Upanikol died!" There's a fine line in pulp between the muscular prose of Robert E. Howard and the diffident recitations of his imitators, and Fox strays over that line a mite too often with Kyrik. Our poor barbarian boy has been trapped as a statue for millennia since his last adventure, only to bust out and rescue a mysterious witch-girl before getting wrapped up in the wizard Upanikol's unseemly machinations, alongside characters with names like Ammalauth-Vul and Harakan, monsters like the serpent Coroboran, plus other magically imprisoned warriors and haunts like the Boar's Tooth ... you know, all that kind of swords and sorcery stew, sometimes filling, sometimes a pale imitation of better memories. If you can dig lines like He rode a big roan stallion across the flatlands that lay south of the Hyakian Hills, you can roll with Kyrik.

It holds interest for the full 186 pages at least, and hopefully paid some bills for Fox. Kyrik can be read in full, absolutely free, at the Gardner Francis Fox library.

For mediocre barbarian thrills, Kyrik earns himself 2/4 stars.

Leisure Books, 1976