A certain Mr. Runsom has invented a very special drill. He’s not exactly sure what it does: perhaps it opens a door into another world, or another dimension, but it tears a rift into SOMEWHERE, and that somewhere is full of resources that the Earth can’t wait to exploit. Unfortunately, in their eagerness to tear open the fresh planet, they disturb the rest of Mordak. What is Mordak? Well, he’s 7 feet tall and grey and has big nasty fangs, and he’s none too pleased about waking up in Eastland, an American city, and utterly unlike his home. He promptly starts eating people.
At first, no one is much disturbed: Mordak isn’t PLEASANT, but there’s only one of him, and is an alien predator really so much worse than the standard serial killers, stalkers and madmen? Folks aren’t even too worried when Mordak starts weaving a fibrous, glistening web between the buildings; the web is sorta lovely to look at, and if a few persons get stuck in them, well, surely the authorities will get them out, sooner or later. Right?
Then Mordak seals the entire city under his web, and the citizens of Eastland realize they are no longer living in their homes, but in Mordak’s larder…
Doris Piserchia was a busy Sci Fi writer throughout the 70s and early 80s. Her style is typified by surprising plot twists, eccentric characters and outre settings. She seems to have brought some of her ambitions into line for this novel, which plays out more or less like a conventional monster tale. Her old literary habits do make for some interesting narrative flourishes from time to time, though. I dig, for example, how much of the ensemble cast is made up of a cabal of sweet old geriatrics who have escaped to an underground base and occasionally sneak above ground to cannibalize the odd naughty youth. Then there’s Runsom, the eccentric millionaire who can’t stand the touch of the sun, and so barricades himself and his girlfriend in the kitchen of his mansion. Oh, and even the monster Mordak gets his character quirks: he’s quite fastidious for a flesh eating ghoul, and gives up chasing one human because that human escaped down a chimney. Mordak thinks chimneys are gross; he goes off in search of easier meals. Reading Mordak’s passages is a bit like reading the POV monologues of the creature from ALIEN, and it turns out the Alien is kind of annoyed at the whole situation and really would rather be elsewhere and, by the way, why do these humans taste so terrible. Good times.
It trundles along at a brisk enough pace, and I like the increasing sense of desperation as Mordak spins his literal web, but I don’t know if I’d recommend going out of your way for this one. If you want to sample Piserchia, check out A BILLION DAYS OF EARTH, which is nuts, and stars rat people. Rat people! Me like books.
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