"Skin Medicine" by Michigan-based author, Tim Curran, was first published in 2004 by
Hellbound Books. A small press with a small run of the title. So, when all copies were sold,
that was it. I was fortunate enough to buy one of those copies and am now thrilled that it is
back in print because I have been telling everyone I know to read this book!!
Set in 1882 in the Utah Territories, the novel opens with two men, in the dead of winter,
transporting a coffin in an old wagon to the town of Whisper Lake. But what SHOULD have
been a simple job soon turns into anything but. And Curran's writing is amazing in how it
makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up. Just reading Chapter One on the
Hellbound website sold me on this book.
Bounty hunter and former Confederate soldier, Tyler Cabe, has come to Whisper Lake,
looking for a serial killer, the Sin City Strangler, who has been preying on prostitutes. In
VERY gruesome ways: mutilations, disappearances, acts of cannibalism, horrific atrocities.
And Whisper Lake seems to be the epicenter of these crimes. With James Lee Cobb, the body
in the coffin, figuring into this horrific stew. As well as the shunned town of Deliverance.
With a cast of characters ranging from miners, gamblers, creepy undertakers, less than
trustworthy lawmen and whores to Mormons, Native Americans and whatever lurks in
Deliverance to backstories about uber-puritanical New Englanders, missing children,
witchcraft and horrifying "virgin" births, "Skin Medicine" has something for any horror fan.
The violence is graphic and, at times, disgusting (à la Edward Lee). The various backstories
of characters like Cobb are fascinating. And the final showdown in Deliverance is
unbelievable.
Curran has clearly done his research on this period of American history: mining towns,
bounty hunters, the ever-present grudge between Union and Confederate veterans and the
amazingly various ways a human being can be dismembered. The story is a
can't-put-it-down read, never lagging, always something going on. And the characters are
vividly depicted. Some people might compare "Skin Medicine" to "Deadwood", what with all
of the corruption, only "Deadwood" would have to have MUCH more of the supernatural
about it.
If you're a horror fan in need of something to REALLY sink your teeth into, this is the book
you've been waiting for! Enough of the "Twilight" crap - "Skin Medicine" would be an NC-17 if
it were to be made into a film, which I wish would happen. Fans of "The Burrowers" will love
this book. And I applaud Severed Press for acquiring this book and putting it back in print.
Don't know what their print run is but, just in case, get your copy fast!! Also, add Tim Curran
to your list of writers whose other books you want to read. He is very diverse: war horror,
Lovecraftian horror, you name it. But "Skin Medicine" is, so far, his magnum opus.
--Elaine Lamkin
Hellbound Books. A small press with a small run of the title. So, when all copies were sold,
that was it. I was fortunate enough to buy one of those copies and am now thrilled that it is
back in print because I have been telling everyone I know to read this book!!
Set in 1882 in the Utah Territories, the novel opens with two men, in the dead of winter,
transporting a coffin in an old wagon to the town of Whisper Lake. But what SHOULD have
been a simple job soon turns into anything but. And Curran's writing is amazing in how it
makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up. Just reading Chapter One on the
Hellbound website sold me on this book.
Bounty hunter and former Confederate soldier, Tyler Cabe, has come to Whisper Lake,
looking for a serial killer, the Sin City Strangler, who has been preying on prostitutes. In
VERY gruesome ways: mutilations, disappearances, acts of cannibalism, horrific atrocities.
And Whisper Lake seems to be the epicenter of these crimes. With James Lee Cobb, the body
in the coffin, figuring into this horrific stew. As well as the shunned town of Deliverance.
With a cast of characters ranging from miners, gamblers, creepy undertakers, less than
trustworthy lawmen and whores to Mormons, Native Americans and whatever lurks in
Deliverance to backstories about uber-puritanical New Englanders, missing children,
witchcraft and horrifying "virgin" births, "Skin Medicine" has something for any horror fan.
The violence is graphic and, at times, disgusting (à la Edward Lee). The various backstories
of characters like Cobb are fascinating. And the final showdown in Deliverance is
unbelievable.
Curran has clearly done his research on this period of American history: mining towns,
bounty hunters, the ever-present grudge between Union and Confederate veterans and the
amazingly various ways a human being can be dismembered. The story is a
can't-put-it-down read, never lagging, always something going on. And the characters are
vividly depicted. Some people might compare "Skin Medicine" to "Deadwood", what with all
of the corruption, only "Deadwood" would have to have MUCH more of the supernatural
about it.
If you're a horror fan in need of something to REALLY sink your teeth into, this is the book
you've been waiting for! Enough of the "Twilight" crap - "Skin Medicine" would be an NC-17 if
it were to be made into a film, which I wish would happen. Fans of "The Burrowers" will love
this book. And I applaud Severed Press for acquiring this book and putting it back in print.
Don't know what their print run is but, just in case, get your copy fast!! Also, add Tim Curran
to your list of writers whose other books you want to read. He is very diverse: war horror,
Lovecraftian horror, you name it. But "Skin Medicine" is, so far, his magnum opus.
--Elaine Lamkin
