Rather, Gibbons (1893 - 1977) is now believed to have been a chemical engineer, best remembered today (when he is remembered at all) for the two novels that he wrote featuring the ace criminologist Rex Huxford: "Murder in Hollywood" (1936) and the book in question, which was first released as a World Press hardcover and remained out of print for almost 80 years, till the fine folks at Bruin decided to resurrect it for a new generation. Despite this Bruin edition's claim that the author was a "Hollywood screenwriter," a quick search on the IMDb discloses nobody with that name. It has all the elements of a Saturday matinee fright fest: vampirism, mad scientists, head-hunters and yellow peril."? Not me, that's for sure!īefore I go on, a quick word on Cromwell Gibbons himself. But really, who could possibly resist this blurb on the back cover: "Prepare For Schlock And Awe.this wonderfully schlocky novel of evil menace was undoubtedly meant as a treatment for a Universal Studios horror picture. I was thus happy to read that Bruin has recently released a whole slew of horror works under its new Bruin Asylum label, and choosing at random, I selected the book in question, Cromwell Gibbons' "The Bat Woman" (1938).even though I had previously never heard of the author or this novel. Case in point: Bruin Books, from Eugene, Oregon, which, a few years back, made it possible for me to finally obtain a reasonably priced copy of Paul Bailey's wonderful horror novel "Deliver Me From Eva" (1946).
As some of you may have discerned, my favorite type of reading matter these days has been the science fiction, fantasy and horror books from the period 1900 - 1950, and so I am always on the lookout for modern-day publishers issuing new editions of these often out-of-print works.
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