REVIEWS
“An authentically seedy, almost charming tale of zero-budget horror moviemaking morphs
cleverly into a genuine splatterfest in Williams’ unnervingly enjoyable debut... horror film buffs should be delighted and chilled in equal measure.”
—Publishers Weekly
“A deftly written, exciting tale from first page to last. Highly recommended.”
—Midwest Book Review
“A really good idea for a novel... keeps you reading via paranoid atmosphere and suspense.”
—Fangoria
“A gruesome and enjoyable whodunnit... does a great job of evoking this period...the film within the book is a convincing artifact that you feel should exist somewhere... highly recommended.”
—William Smith, Hang Fire Books
“Extremely entertaining... mixes suspense with black humor and old fashioned gory horror to
create a gripping read.”
—Book Buzz
“Austin Williams’ novel is not merely a sleazy grindhouse movie replayed; CRIMSON
ORGY uses the lowest of the low budget cinema as a platform from which to shape an
engaging tale of human greed, fallibility and darkness with prose that invokes Jim
Thompson’s relentlessness, Elmore Leonard’s offbeat humor, and Ramsey Campbell’s
atmosphere. And yet, Williams’ greatest strength is the creation of verisimilitude; after
the final page, readers may well be longing to see this fictitious film.”
—Daniel R. Robichaud, Horror Reader
“Most writers of horror fiction join in Clive Barker’s famous declaration: Give me B-movies
or give me death. In CRIMSON ORGY, Austin Williams delivers both. Riffing the low-budget
and low-brow films of Herschell Gordon Lewis and David Friedman into a novelistic blood
feast, Williams turns sixties ‘sin-ema’ into the setting for a mystery in which the fantasy and
reality of madness, murder and mayhem blur into a nightmare with one color: red.
(Warning: readers will not be admitted during the last fifty pages of this book.)”
—Douglas E. Winter, Film Threat
“Fans of urban legends, splatter cinema, and sharp tools will want to get it on with CRIMSON ORGY. Austin Williams’ debut novel pays respect to the cinematic trail blazed by H.G. Lewis—with sex, storms, and suspense.”
—Rod Lott, Bookgasm
“There's a lot more going on than is even hinted in the prologue. If ever the phrase ‘troubled production’ was justified, this is the time... entertaining reading, check it out.”
—Bill Crider's Pop Culture Magazine
“First-time novelists are told to write what they know and it so happens that a talented
tyro named Austin Williams is an expert on 1960s gore films, from the anything-for-a-
buck producers and $50-a-day-plus-car-fare actors to the sleazy storylines and
gruesome special effects. CRIMSON ORGY is the rare book that you seem to be watching
rather than reading, because it's so visual that it will remind you of those bloody horror films
that played at the drive-in forty years ago, only with more intelligence and intentional humor. ”
—Danny Peary, author of Cult Movies and Guide for the Film Fanatic
“Real good stuff and a fascinating look at the exploitation film industry... the tension builds as
we move toward the conclusion and we know that something really bad is going to happen.
It’s a book that will leave you twitching uncomfortably when you finish.”
—Don D’Ammassa, author of Narcissus and Dead of Winter
“Every once in a while, not very often, a book comes along that not only is a great horror
novel, but also one that revels in the history of the field. This is classic material for savvy
horror fans and I give it my highest recommendation. Austin Williams is a new name in fiction,
but he is right on target with CRIMSON ORGY. Borderlands Press only puts out the very best
in horror and dark fantasy, and I'm pleased that Austin Williams and this weird and wonderful
story have found such a prestigious home in publishing.”
—Mark Sieber, Horror Drive-In
“Williams takes us far deeper into this culture than you’d ever expect... the story unravels like
a ticking clock that you know is driving toward something horrific... the ending is shocking
enough to keep our minds churning long after we’ve put the book down.”
—Michael De Kler, Nossa Morte
“A rambunctious homage to the not-so-halcyon days of no-budget exploitation filmmaking
of the 1960s/early 1970s, told with a dry wit and a moralist’s eye. Gene and Shel are great
characters, and their debut (and swan song) to the gore film genre is a cautionary fable for archeologists of the most obscure grindhouse fare who persist in believing that less always
means more.”
—John McCarty, author of Bullets Over Hollywood and The Fearmakers
“A ripping, tearing, cutting tale about the filming of a cult classic, and very much deserving of
that status in its own right!”
—Curt Purcell, Beyond the Groovy Age of Horror
“ CRIMSON ORGY is an entertaining read that accurately represents the exploitation film
business in all its blood-soaked glory. Williams conjures up such cinematic exploits and
unexpectedness well, and the story is well-paced. The characters each have distinct voices.”
—Alyse Wax, BlogCritics and SporkFashion
“I give CRIMSON ORGY a 5 out of 5. Anyone with an interest in the way classic grindhouse
style movies were filmed will enjoy this book.”
—Mark “Red Hawk” Carpenter, Happy Horror
“Mr. Williams writes with a style and wit all his own... he is destined to become a major force
in the genre if he continues to write stories as stylish and original as CRIMSON ORGY.”
—Dennis Duncan, Horror World