Michael Samerdyke: 14 books

This book provides critical commentary on cartoons made by Warner Brothers, MGM, Walter Lantz and DePatie-Freleng between 1933 and 1976, covering cartoons “starring” Bugs Bunny, Tom and Jerry, Woody Woodpecker and the Pink Panther among others.

In the early Sixties, Newton Minow, head of the FCC, dismissed commercial television as "a vast wasteland." However, this was the era of sophisticated programs such as "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" and "The Twilight Zone." "Frightening the Vast Wasteland" looks at horror on American TV from the mid-Fifties...

"His Queen of Darkness" is a collection of six horror stories inspired by the 1940s horror films of Val Lewton. The stories explore the power of classic horror movies and the lure of forbidden love and obsession that stretches through the decades and, perhaps, beyond the grave. The stories...

“Toys and ‘Toons” consists of four fantasy stories inspired by toys and cartoons: “The Frankenstein Doll,” “The Plot Against Santa Claus,” “The Duck Is Amuck” and “The Best Medicine.”

As the Fifties end and the Sixties begin in Chagrin City, the Kestrel's struggle against crime continues. There are losses and triumphs as old foes such as the Night Clown and Diamond Jim return. New enemies, such as the Goofball show up, but the biggest danger to the Kestrel is posed by age and television.

Space invaders, experiments run amok, rampaging dinosaurs and other horrors parade across the Star-Lite Drive-In's screen for the greatest summer ever.

Vampires, werewolves, mad scientists, and sorcerers rule the imagination for the greatest monster movie marathon, if you survive.

Attempts to reshape the past, recapture the past, and find hidden meanings abound in "Invasion of the President Snatchers," along with a sense of amusement. This book contains 6 short stories of science fiction, including "The First World War Shall Not Take Place," "Zoo Days,"...

Goriod, a poet, must flee the wrath of the Emperor. As he travels, he collects stories of the gods transforming humans into beasts and strange creatures. Goriod does not realize that he is fleeing toward the transformation he fears the most. "Goriod: Tales of Metamorphosis" contains 12 tales of myth-like transformation. Thirteen, if Goriod's own fate is taken into account.

In the crime-plagued Midwestern metropolis of Chagrin City, one man wages a lonely war against the bizarre criminals of the Forties and Fifties. The Kestrel, a brooding crime-fighter with a wounded past, faces foes as odd as the dapper Diamond Jim, the vicious Night Clown, the seductive Valentina, and the relentless Combination in his struggle against the dark side of human endeavor.

The mysterious Dr. Kino travels from town to town showing visions of mad scientists and monsters, vampires and werewolves, and other horrors in his Dream Cabinet.

Classic radio horror shows, apart from Orson Welles' "War of the Worlds," are mostly an unknown continent for the horror fan of the internet era. "Those Frightening Shows of Yesteryear" is a guide to the four best classic radio horror series: "Lights Out," "Inner Sanctum Mysteries," "Suspense," and "CBS...

"Horror 213" covers the best horror movies and radio and TV episodes of the Twentieth Century. Volume Two begins in 1961 with "The Weird Tailor" on "Thriller" and concludes with "The Sixth Sense" in 1999. "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" "The...

“Horror 213” covers the best horror movie and radio and TV episodes of the Twentieth Century, starting with “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” in 1920. Volune One goes up to the Vincent Price movie “Pit and the Pendulum” in 1961. “The Phantom of the Opera,” “Bride of Frankenstein,”...