Inspired by the drive-in epics of the 1950s, the stories in This Island Earth marry the exuberance of Eisenhower-era sci-fi movies to nuanced examinations of love, family, fear, and loss―without leaving the robots and ray guns behind. These stories abound with the bug-eyed monsters and irradiated highschoolers you remember from the late-night Creature Feature. But they transcend nostalgia to illuminate the complications of the human heart with wit and compassion.
In I Married a Monster from Outer Space, winner of the Asimov’s Readers’ Poll Award, a Walmart cashier trapped in a disintegrating marriage finds herself tempted by the charms of an alien paramour. I Was a Teenage Werewolf, plunges us into a generation gap with teeth! And Bela Lugosi stars in The Ghoul Goes West as a fading Hollywood bogeyman whose star still burns in the reality next door.
So join the gang at Party Beach, and let Dale Bailey introduce you to some teenagers from outer space, a Creature from the Black Lagoon like you’ve never seen, and onslaughts of alien invaders with human women―among other things―on their minds! You’ll laugh! You’ll cry! You’ll recoil in horror! And you’ll recall these stories long after the last flying saucer has ascended into the heavens of sci-fi cinema past.
Dark bleatings, my awesome tribe. We’re talking about a short story collection today, and it’s one with a bit of a difference, I think. I love short story collections, and I especially love the slightly lesser-spotted themed collection. And then, I had the good fortune to run into this rarity – it’s themed, and the theme is so specific – 1950s drive-in movies. What a great idea for a short story book.
I can’t get into the stories themselves without first mentioning the artwork by Illan Sheady. We’ve got this perfect, gorgeous cover, and then inside the book to announce each new story, illustrations that encapsulate the story’s theme.
The stories themselves are great. This is my first book by this author and I really enjoyed his general writing style and how he used each of the themes. I could tell that the stories were not only inspired by various movies, but also inspired by the love of these properties. It was really lovely, actually, to feel the passion for the source material like this.
I liked the entire book but there are two major standouts for me. They are…
I Was a Teenage Werewolf – oh my gosh, how fun! Maude is killed by a suspected teenage werewolf, and then there are more murders until Arlene is attacked, but survives. Prom rolls around and.. erm… well…. picture Carrie at the prom, but with werewolves.
I Married a Monster From Outer Space – oh, this story. My heart! My sensitivities! Ruth lives with her husband in a trailer, and works in a supermarket, and has a habit of taking home stray animals to care for them. She’s suffered some loss in her life and she handles this with deep kindness and compassion. One day at work, she notices a stray… alien from outer space. Worried that he’s, well, feeling like an alien, she takes him home to look after him. What begins as a funny little scifi idea deepens into something tear-jerking. I simply cannot believe the skill of the author to take an idea like this and give it so much credible heart.
It’s a strong, varied, and extremely creative collection of short stories and I would recommend it to general horror fans. If you’d like to get a copy or check out the author, I have popped some links below for you.
Bleeeeeat!
Happy Goat Horror 
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