Marcus Pelegrimas may not be a household name to paranormal fantasy fans like Laurell K. Hamilton, Kim Harrison, Charlaine Harris, and Jim Butcher are: but he should be. Although a relative newcomer to paranormal fantasy—his debut novel Blood Blade (the first installment of his Skinners saga) was released in January of 2009—Pelegrimas had been writing for almost a decade before that in a multitude of genres. Under the pseudonym Marcus Galloway, he wrote two popular western series (The Man From Boot Hill, The Accomplice, et. al.) and published short stories in various mystery and horror anthologies.
Last year, when Pelegrimas visited the BarnesandNoble.com forums, he stated that his “first love” has always been horror. “When I was a kid, I used to write monster stories on my mom’s typewriter and I still love writing them today…. I'm very comfortable writing westerns because I've done them for so long [but] horror and dark fantasy come straight from my heart, which is partially what inspired Skinners.”
The Skinners saga (Blood Blade, Howling Legion, and the recently released Teeth of Beasts) is the accumulation of all of Pelegrimas’ life experiences—from writing in a diversity of genres to growing up in Nebraska to being a rabid video gamer. (This is the biography on his website: “Str: 9, Dex: 11, Con: 10, Int: 15, Cha: 13.”) The Skinners novels read like a cool, supernatural-powered video game—nonstop action, ghastly monsters, unique weapons, intriguing and well developed protagonists, plot twists around every turn, etc. but the series is so much more than that. It’s a highly addictive blend of splatterific horror, dark fantasy, mystery, supernatural thriller, and sardonic social commentary.
And in the midst of this singularly phenomenal paranormal fantasy revolution—genre hybridized novels are on literally every fiction bestselling list and more and more are being released every month—now is the perfect time to be Marcus Pelegrimas. It’s the perfect time to be releasing the Skinners novels. Here’s what Pelegrimas had to say about the current state of genre fiction and the narrative freedom associated with it:
“I think paranormal fantasy has always been popular, but just under different labels. Vampires may have dropped off every now and then throughout the years, but have never truly faded completely away from popular fiction. I've researched a lot of folklore and bloodsuckers have been around since there have been storytellers plying their trade. When Bram Stoker and Anne Rice brought them back in their respective times, vampire stories were considered horror. Werewolves, zombies, ghosts, all of these things have been in stories for a long time, but have taken off again recently because they've been allowed to be something other than horror icons. Now, you can see them from a bunch of different angles including romance, comedy, adventure, you name it. Paranormal fantasy uses all of these elements, which makes them refreshing again. Older stories about vampires had them all be or act one certain way. The same goes with werewolves always being victims or looking a certain way. Now that authors are being given more freedom to play under the banner of ‘paranormal fantasy’ we're seeing a lot more variety in the storylines and the monsters themselves.”
And that’s exactly what Pelegrimas brings to the table—variety. Paranormal fantasy is loaded with stellar romantic/erotic sagas (LKH’s Anita Blake, Christine Feehan’s Dark novels, etc.) and excellent mystery series (Butcher’s Dresden Files, Madelyn Alt’s Bewitching Mysteries, etc.) but there aren’t that many top-notch series that embrace their horror roots quite like the Skinners novels. Pelegrimas cleverly explores and injects new life into numerous mythologies (vampires, shapeshifters, nymphs, etc.), meticulously creates and describes hierarchies of distinctive monsters, and weaves together a narrative that is simultaneously gruesome and gratifying.
Early on in Teeth of Beasts, for example, protagonists Cole Warnecki (former “video game geek”) and Paige Strobel, veteran monster hunter (aka skinner) are confronted by a nightmarish foe: “Mongrels had abilities that varied as much as their appearance. Some were sleek and beautiful, while others were freakish. This one had short, mangy fur that was thicker in the spots that would need more protection. Coarse patches over its back thinned out along the sides of its squat head and the middle of its boney legs. Having squeezed behind the Dumpster so quickly, its main ability seemed to include twisting itself into more shapes than a balloon animal. Curved claws dug into the pavement as it opened its mouth to display a set of thin pointed teeth with a barely audible hiss….”
There’s a subtle, intellectual depth to Pelegrimas’ narrative—the title, Teeth of Beasts, for example, references an Old Testament verse (Deuteronomy 32:24) and there is a looming apocalyptic plague motif throughout—but at the same time, he manages to keep it irreverent and fun by throwing in multiple visits to strip joints replete with pole-dancing soundtrack (Van Halen’s “Hot for Teacher,” Tone Loc’s “Wild Thing,” etc.), an epic throw down with a Chupacabra that would impress Vince McMahon, lizard men in the Everglades, etc.
Just as Bram Stoker reinvigorated Gothic horror in the late 19th century—and brought vampires to the forefront of bibliophilic consciousness—so too does Pelegrimas have the potential to do the same thing here in the 21st century with his myriad of monstrosities. His storytelling style is utterly readable, his characters are unconventional and endearing, his wry sense of humor priceless.
Paranormal fantasy fans who like their literary fare decidedly dark should make it a point to check out this series, which is arguably one of the most underrated paranormal fantasy sagas out there.
Paul Goat Allen has been a full-time book reviewer specializing in genre fiction for almost the last two decades and has written more than 6,000 reviews for companies like Publishers Weekly, The Chicago Tribune, and BarnesandNoble.com. In his free time, he reads.
