So the new Holiday Guide presents a special new feature! Best Of. That’s right. I got some folks together and asked them to contribute a list of their top ten movies and top ten books. Along with an intro and some pimping of their stuff when I can, we’ll be doing one a day when I have one. I had nothing to do with these lists except soliciting them. The descriptions are the authors’ as are the picks. Remember, I do not write these. The people listed to.

James Chambers’ tales of horror, fantasy, and science fiction have appeared in Bad-Ass Faeries, Crypto-Critters, Dark Furies, The Dead Walk, The Dead Walk Again, Hardboiled Cthulhu, No Longer Dreams, and Warfear, plus the magazines Bare Bone, Cthulhu Sex, and Inhuman. His short story collection, The Midnight Hour: Saint Lawn Hill and Other Tales, was published in 2005. His website is www.jameschambersonline.com. In no particular order…

BOOKS

1984 by George Orwell and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury: The only two books I can confidently say that everyone on Earth would be better off for having read. These simple, brilliant distillations of what it means to be human, as an individual in conflict with and existing in a society, remain as powerful to me today as the first time I read them. Required reading for anyone chafing at our increasingly restrictive, privacy-demolishing, history-ignoring culture, especially you creative-type folks. Your government is not your friend.

Tripmaster Monkey: His Fake Book by Maxine Hong Kingston: A lush read following recent college grad Wittman Ah Sing as he drifts through the 1960s Bay Area, experiencing the clash of Chinese and American culture, all dosed liberally with references to everything from Silver Age comics to Chinese mythology to an obscure gem of Polish cinema, The Saragossa Manuscript.

I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets by Fletcher Hanks: Full-bore, Golden Age, comic book insanity rescued for twenty-first century readers in this nicely designed volume. Follow the adventures of cosmic sorcerer Stardust, eight-feet tall and the most powerful being in the universe, as he keeps busy busting up crime rackets on Earth. See terrorists turned into rats! Watch as crooks are reduced to oversized heads and absorbed into the body of the hugest giant in the universe, the Headless Headhunter! Marvel as Stardust crosses the galaxy in his tubular spatial! Meet Fantomah, Mystery Woman of the Jungle, who transforms from jungle beauty to disembodied, flying skull to protect the natives! These are the comics Fredric Wertham warned you about.

Confessions of a Crap Artist by Philip K. Dick: One of PKD’s overlooked gems. A character-driven novel. Utterly lacking in sci-fi conventions or reality-bending concepts, this novel paints a rich picture of its time and place, of the cruelty of family, and of the inevitable violence of everyday madness. This is PKD the writer at his best, with nary a sign of PKD the phantasmagoric wizard in sight.

Demons by John Shirley: Hands down, the best apocalypse story I’ve ever read. Richly imagined, tightly-woven, and beautifully written in prose that often borders on poetry, Demons delivers John Shirley at his darkest, most heartfelt, and most compelling.

The Elephant Vanishes: Stories by Haruki Murakami: The first Murakami story I recall reading is “A ‘Poor Aunt’ Story,” in which the lead character finds a “poor aunt” sprouting from his body (and it’s not his aunt, either). It’s a helluva story. It’s not in this collection, but lots of other great stories are. Sometimes with Murakami, you don’t know whether to laugh or cry or put the book down and walk away, slowly. Weird stuff. Good stuff.

Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk: The framing sequence for this collection let me down, but the short stories did not. There’s no shortage of inventiveness in these tales. They range from amusing to disturbing, from horrific to gross. Palahniuk delves deep into the guts of his characters and settings (sometimes literally), turns them inside out (again, sometimes literally), and then quietly snickers behind your back. I didn’t like this book the moment I finished reading it, but I changed my mind weeks later when I was still thinking about the stories.

Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell: Chilling and bleak, yet beautiful and gripping like a pure, winter day, this mystery/thriller from Norwegian Mankell introduces Kurt Wallander, a middle-aged cop in a small Norway town, as he works to solve a brutal and bloody murder that might ignite the friction between Norwegian natives and African immigrants. A novel that stands out for me for its truly powerful sense of place; the setting almost rises to the level of a silent character.

Discouraging at Bestt by John Edward Lawson: Five interwoven stories that grab modern society by the neck, throttle it unconscious, and then kick it while it’s down, giggling sadly all the while. Not for the squeamish or the impatient, but highly recommended for those who enjoy virtuoso wordplay and satire incisive in the extreme.

I Am Legend by Richard Matheson: If you’ve only seen the official movie adaptations and countless cinematic knock-offs, then you still don’t know what this seminal piece of horror/sci-fi literature is really all about. This book is always better than the movie. For desired results, read it before watching Will Smith give a bunch of CGI bloodsuckers the big smackdown this holiday season.

MOVIES

Ultraviolet: The British television series about vampires (not the live-action anime dud starring Milla Jovovich). It’s a smart, understated, and creepy modern take on the undead bloodsuckers that sidesteps most genre conventions or cleverly subverts them. It ran only six episodes, and they’re all collected here.

The Fountain: Apparently there was a lot of production hoopla around this movie, cast changes and such, and then it sort of tanked at the box office. Too bad. It’s remarkably touching, thoughtful, and thought-provoking, especially for something starring two Hollywood A-listers. The story clicks together on a thematic level and the plot is wonderfully ambiguous. Visually it’s a treat. Bonus points for being Darren Aronofsky’s most upbeat movie.

Altered: Directed by one of the Blair Witch Project creators, this went straight to DVD, probably due to a lack of big name stars and the story’s high-level of unexplained weirdness. But it deserves a bigger audience. Unlike Blair Witch, this flick actually tells a story. Partly a classic style monster movie, partly a twist on alien abduction mythology, and partly just high strangeness, it’s a vicious little treat for fans of horror/sci-fi.

The Third Man: The classic thriller written by Graham Greene and starring Orson Welles, wherein Welles delivers his immortal “cuckoo clock” speech.

The Big Sleep (1946): Bogey and Bacall, an unsolvable plot, and non-stop killer dialogue. This film noir classic is thick with style and still surpasses most of the private eye flicks that have followed it.

Joe Versus the Volcano: This unjustly maligned classic of the (admittedly small) philoso-comdey genre stars Meg Ryan in three separate parts and a pre-Oscar Tom Hanks; it heightened public awareness of the terrible affliction of “brain cloud.” How can you go wrong with Abe Vigoda in a grass skirt? No, seriously, how? You can’t. Now, feed the big Woo.

The Uninvited: My favorite ghost story, starring Ray Milland. The setting is an old estate on the English seaside, and the haunting brings cold air, strange sobbing, and the unearthly scent of perfume. There’s even a treacherous cliff, a séance, and haunting music. But an air of genuine mystery and romance put the polish on this forgotten gem.

Cure: Cerebral Japanese serial killer movie with an effectively slow pace, an unerring sense of setting, and the one of the most satisfyingly ambiguous endings ever. J-horror minus schoolgirls in uniforms and ghosts desperately in need of a haircut; a stocking stuffer for the thinking horror fan.

The Crow: A classic comic book movie, an adaptation of James O’Barr’s frenetic and violent series. With a basic plot that could’ve played out like an overextended episode of Tales from the Crypt, this one accomplishes far more than it reaches for through style, characterization, some surprisingly good performances, and most of all, music.

The Val Lewton Horror Collection: Nine films from producer Val Lewton, directed by folks such as Robert Wise and Jacques Tourneur, and starring the likes of Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi. Distinct in vision and style, these movies are the definition of atmospheric. My favorites are Bedlam, Isle of the Dead, and I Walked with a Zombie. When people say “They don’t make them like that anymore,” this is what they’re talking about.

The Midnight Hour: Saint Lawn Hill and Other Tales by James Chambers and Jason Whitley: Shameless self-promotion in this bonus pick! Eight tales of supernatural adventure penned by yours truly and copiously illustrated by Jason Whitley. For details, review blurbs, samples, and artwork check out www.atthemidnighthour.com or www.diemonsterdie.com