Mark McLaughlin, Pickman's Motel

Published back in 2007 by Delirium Books, Mark McLaughlin ' s ' Pickman ' s Motel 'was brought out in the form of a hardback chapbook that was limited to only 300 copies, eachone numbered and hand signed by the author. This limited edition chapbook is the third release in the Delirium Hardcover Chapbook series.

Following on from the success of the authors previous slice of comical Lovecraftian horror that was entitled ' Shoggoth Cacciatore And Other Eldritch Entrees ' , McLaughlin returns with another collection of short stories in his very unique style; this time with a much more adult content.

McLaughlin once again delves deep into his bizarre mind to drag up a great mixture of weird and wonderful ideas for his surreal short stories. Like a bizarre crossbreed between H.P. Lovecraft and Eddie Izzard, McLaughlin produces three more wacky tales that pay a comedy homage to Lovecarft ' s work.

After a short ' About The Author 'passage, the book starts off with a quick introduction entitled ' Sects And The City 'where McLaughlin pens a quick introduction to his short story collection in order to whet the readers appetite before all surreal hell is let loose.

With the two page introduction over with, the first of the three short stories kicks off, entitled ' Pickman ' s Motel ' . This twenty-four page tale involves the demise of a man by the name of Anton Matterhorn Pickman. Like with the rest of the book this story is laced with Lovecraftian references all over the shop, often in the most unlikely of places often with comical plays on the Lovecraftian names.

Pickman is an obsessive collector of the most sleazy and depraved movies that have ever been filmed. His tastes cover a wide expanse of genres all the way up to snuff movies. The story joins Pickman ' s life as he manages to obtain a very scarce copy of a sleazy movie impressively entitled ' Dark Summoning Of The Insatiable Tomb-Legions ' . When Pickman and his friend (whom this story is written in the first person perspective of) sit down to watch the film, they discover that it might indeed hold snuff footage involving some rather grotesque ghouls. Pickman ' s friend is not convinced, and so Pickman takes it upon himself to prove the terrible truth behind the film...with deadly consequences.

This first short is so heavily laced with Lovecraftian references, it ' s a joy in itself to read McLauglin ' s comedy play on them. The tale is simple, but delivers such an imaginative array of surreal moments, that you can ' t help but laugh your way through it. Like with the other two stories within this collection, ' Pickman ' s Motel 'includes some clever links between it and the seemingly altogether separate other two tales. This links all three up nicely as a complete package (in a similar and much more light-hearted way as that of Clive Barker ' s Books of Blood series).

Next up is the short entitled ' The Heckler In The Ha-Ha Hut ' . This twenty-eight page tale is perhaps the most comical of the three. Its storyline involves a comedian who tries his hand at performing at ' The Ha-Ha Hut 'comedy club. Unfortunately a heckler (who we soon learn to be none other than Nyarlathotep) keeps heckling him on stage whenever he begins one of his jokes.

McLaughlin throws into the plot a supposed joke that is so amusing it will bring an end to the fragile fabric of the time/space continuum (inspired by the Monty Python sketch perhaps). This joke is of course transcribed in the Necronomicon, which is handily available in large print at the comedian ' s local library where he now works. You can no doubt see where the story is going. With its amusingly surreal nature, this short is absolute hilarity from start to finish.

Last in line we have the longest of the shorts at forty-four pages long, the tale is titled ' Tony Tar-Pit And Monky-Face Joe Battle The Flying Mushroom-Devils: A Tale of Prehistoric Arrkhumm ' . This elaborately titled short is by far and away the most bizarre and surreal of the collection. Its content is quite adult in places, laced with some sexually explicit jokes.

The story concerns a group of prehistoric cavemen who unearth a strange new pet. This pet which they name Buggoth is a weird cross between a bug and a mushroom with resemblances to a crab. But their new pet brings with it deadly consequences.

This final short started off in a very surreal nature and then got even more bizarre from there. Unfortunately, this eventually fell more towards becoming annoying as the short dragged on along what comes across as a non-existent storyline. The tale does finally wrap itself up in a clumsy and in what you can only guess was a ' final thought 'fashion. Perhaps not for everyone, this last effort delivers so much surreal comedy that it can begin to grind on the reader.

The collection is beautifully presented in this hardback form, with cover artwork by John Everson that displays a multitude of elements that are taken from each one of the stories inside.