The Breeze Horror

By Candace Caponegro

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0998067962
• ISBN13: 9780998067964
• Release Date: April 2017
• Publisher: Bloodshot Books
• Length: 342 Pages
• Weight: 0.82 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.0" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

The genesis of the extreme horror novel.

Candace Caponegro, The Breeze Horror (Berkeley,1987)Caponegro's sole novel has, over the past decade and a half or so, simultaneously languished in obscurity and gained a massive cult following in the horror underground. Reading it after finally acquiring a copy, I can see why the latter happened; I can only put the former down to someone's idiocy at the publishing house. The Breeze Horror should have been a blockbuster.Sandy and her two-year-old boy are headed to the babysitter's one morning when it begins to rain. Nothing odd about that, right? Except this isn't normal rain; it's causing New York City to call for an evacuation. Sandy flees to her parents' summer home on Breeze Island to wait out the storm. After it passes, those who got sick from the rain are quarantined on the beach, but they're not getting sicker... they're getting better. And they're not happy.Combine one part Animal Farm, one part Civil War historical novel, and one part Lucio Fulci film (The Breeze Horror has often been cited as the progenitor of the splatterpunk novel), and you have an idea of The Breeze Horror. Reading it fifteen years after its original release, a lot of it's going to seem oddly familiar to you. That's because you've seen it all in other places since. The Breeze Horror's influence can be felt in a thousand places, both in underground and mainstream horror books and films (both 28 Days Later... and the recent Dawn of the Dead remake lift scenes from the book almost verbatim, for example), but unlike some influential novels, that doesn't decrease The Breeze Horror's power in the least. It doesn't just come from being proto-splatterpunk (and despite the lengths to which Jacob, Lee, Devereaux, etc. have gone in the intervening time, The Breeze Horror still rates uncomfortably high on the squick factor), but from Caponegro's deft touch with the "some are more equal than others" power dynamic (thus the Animal Farm reference above). The plot is far more layered than that of your average horror novel, and it shows in how well the books still holds up this long after its release.Well worth tracking down, and a book that cries out for another printing. Preferably a very large one, so that a legion of extreme horror fans can see part of its genesis as a viable art form. ****

I thought I was ready for this book. I wasn't.

I remember seeing this book quite a few times since it first came out in the mid-80's. ... A friend who is also really into horror told me to pick it up, because it was good and 'one of this sickest things he'd ever read'. I smugly thought, "We'll see", but knew he had good taste and thought I'd give it a shot.Not only is the cover art lame, it's deceptive- neither the cover art, the description on the back, or the excerpt on the front page mention the fact that this is basically a zombie novel, with a some new twists. Like a lot of the best zombie movies and fiction, what caused the disease is vague- nuclear waste, outer space, something like that. The book begins when a toxic chemical rain comes down, infecting everyone it touches. The setting of the novel is an island (Sea Breeze Island, hence the title) where the main characters are trapped. Things are already bad, because the electricity doesn't work, anything with a motor doesn't work, they're cut off from any communication with the rest of the world (if the rest of the world even still exists), there's a limited amount of food and water, there's no way for anyone to get off the island, and those that try are melted into goo. The unlucky people that are infected grow sick and rot, are in horrible pain, but they don't crave flesh. Having them simply be cannabalistic would be much more cheerful than what happens to them. Their minds still work, so unfortunately they're just as smart, and strong as before, and just to add to the fun, as they get sicker they start going completely insane. It doesn't take too long for the zombies or 'beachers' to get tired of being in quarantine with no food or medical supplies, and begin to organize to take over. They go from mean-spirited to flat out sadistic to...well, you'll see. The book is divided into 4 parts, and beginning with part 4, becomes an out-and-out, free-for-all horror-fest. I could definitely see some easily disturbed or upset readers putting down the book well before the climax, however. I'm pretty jaded, and there were times when I just shook my head in amazement and disgust, wondering how much more unpleasant things could get.If you like your humor pitch-black, you might find some amusement in parts of the book, but it still starts out depressing and just gets grimmer and uglier. ...The 'beachers' not only are smart and seemingly indestructible, but they keep developing horrible new features just as the humans start to think they might come out on top. Things go spectacularly wrong in ways you never even thought of; just when you think you know what's going to happen, the author will surprise you by taking the story spiraling off in a bizarre new direction.Try as you might, you can't help but care about the characters, especially the central character, Sandy, and her toddler. While others around her start to go crazy from the horrible events, or just not care anymore, she manages to keep it together. At first she seemed like kind of a Polly

NOT TYPICAL ZOMBIES

THESE ARE NOT THE ZOMBIES GEORGE ROMERO CREATED IN ''NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD''. FAR FROM IT.IN A FALLOUT RAVAGED WORLD,THE HEROINE MUST ADJUST TO A NEW WORLD POPULATED BY ROTTING HUSKS THAT STILL HAVE GREAT MENTAL CAPACITY.THIS IS JUST ONE OF MANY TWISTS TO BE FOUND IN THIS UNPREDICTABLE HORROR YARN.YOU NEVER KNOW WHERE THIS STORY IS GOING TO END UP,AND IT IS RELENTLESSLY DOWNBEAT.I RECOMMEND IT TO ALL HORROR FANS.