The strange international fame of Richard Laymon

[@troytradup]

God bless it, Olly. I was nearly halfway through the video before I looked at the calendar. 🤨

[@CriminOllyBlog]

😂😂😂

[@Kritz_Reads]

I'm dying 😂😂 Thank you, I needed this today! All hail the prince of the rump.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

😁

[@brycepardoe658]

I love Richard Laymon! His books are very good.

[@DDB168]

OK, the theme park rang alarm bells, but the link - DAMN YOU ! 🤣

[@CriminOllyBlog]

😂😂

[@myneighbourjohnturturro]

I also read a lot of Laymon as a teenager, some of his novels I remember fondly, like Funland, Endless Night, and Savage, but the one that always sticks out in my mind was his short story collection A Good and Secret Place, in particular the titular story, which kind of haunted me at the time, but I haven’t reread it in decades. In my view he was a better short story writer than a novelist - his books always started strong (the opening of Endless Night is gripping), but tended to get bogged down as they progressed. And I had no idea Dreamland was based on his books! 😂

[@johnsmith8906]

I have to admit Laymon's fame in Japan was a total shock. The pics of the abandoned theme park were suitable creepy....as all abandoned theme parks are.

[@ObscureImages]

That's good info about Laymon. I never knew about Dreamland or of Laymon's popularity in Japan and France. I first started reading Laymon in the early '80s along with guys like Rex Miller, Gary Brandner and Charles L. Grant. Richard wasn't what I'd call a great writer but his stories were always bizarre and oddly titillating on an impressionable teen like me. For me, while hardly literary masterpieces of course, THE CELLAR and its sequels were my favorite books of his.

[@PaintingThePieces]

This was an interesting look at Layman's life. I had not heard of him before your channel but he would not have been an author I would have read.

[@MegaAndreyy]

I like to read Laymon when I want to relax a bit and between more dense type of reading.

[@sophiaisabelle027]

We appreciate your insights. Keep working hard.

[@paulaj7860]

The phallic-shaped sign at the theme park got me

[@CriminOllyBlog]

😂

[@paulaj7860]

@@CriminOllyBlog they did their research 🤣

[@francisweyns8840]

Very interesting, thank you !

[@babettesfeast6347]

I was born in 1965 and have been a passionate reader all my life. I spend a fortune on books and second hand books. I do remember his name but have not read any of his books. It’s strange how many successful authors are now completely forgotten.

[@ijroderick]

For such a prolific author, it's surprising that (as far as I know) none of Laymon's work has been adapted into a film.

[@interghost]

cant find anything on that theme park?

[@cafecryptic]

Up until recently, Laymon and stephen King seem to be the two main authors you'd find in bookstores in France that do horror, interesting video!

[@SuperStrangSshadow]

I started reading his books before it became a thing. The only thing I know about him is he died on a Valentine's Day.

[@MichaelJones-pd6do]

Nice video!! Yes, he wasn't very well known here in America in the 80s and 90s. He did have a cult following though. However, after his sad death in 2001, his books did gain popularity here. Perhaps in part because huge authors like Koontz and King praised his work. In 2002, Dean Koontz wrote an introduction to a rerelease of Laymon's 1995 book "Island". Koontz wrote quite a nice tribute talking about his friendship with Laymon and praised his work.

[@Bloody-Butterfly]

Still my favorite author

[@MichaelJones-pd6do]

I much preferred the horror novels by Robert McCammon during that period, but have to admit some Laymon books I found pretty enjoyable.

[@TheBookubus]

The prince of the rump! Bravo, Olly 😂

[@CriminOllyBlog]

😁😁

[@tyler2610]

I love horror and do want to try Laymon at some point although I am a bit wary of him. As an American I can say we tend to be fairly picky and fickle in our tastes. Offensive things like his overuse of the word rump and obsessively describing the female anatomy could be off putting especially if his writing didn’t really make up for it. King has some weird tendencies as well but you don’t get overwhelmed by them and he has enough talent you can overlook it usually.

[@Bloody-Butterfly]

There is a lot of sexual assault in his books. If that would upset you, I recommend trying someone else.

[@anthonyjenkins2001]

@tyler2610 why is using "rump" offensive?

[@AndrewFarnfield]

April 1st right

[@CriminOllyBlog]

It was

[@stephennootens916]

I find when people note the sex in books special horror it always doesn't make the cut. I have read negative reviews for Bentley Little books complaining about the too much sex and I have picked them up expecting real trashy horror and they always came short. If it isn't as graphic as a Bodice Ripper at the vary least or disturbing as Naked Lunch it just doesn't count. Like Clive Barker's Cabal passes the test, one of no where scene of a woman self pleasuring herself as she listens to what she thinks is a wild party only for it to turn out to have been a mass murder.

[@Taylorgang77]

I have read one of his books and I did not like it very much. I am not a big fan of rape. But I still want to continue with his books because I am curious and I want to develop my own opinion. I really liked your video! Have A Great Week! 😊

[@Bloody-Butterfly]

That happens a lot in his books.

[@1stclassknowledge144]

Richard Laymon is my favourite horror aurhor he helped me serve a 4yr prison sentence when i was 16yrs old with his writing lol😂😂

[@CriminOllyBlog]

That’s brilliant!

[@retrog1]

Strange, but i don't think any of Laymon's books were translated in Dutch. Hs certainly wasn't a big name in the Netherlands

[@heidifogelberg3544]

I'm wondering if Laymon even spoke French ... it was probably a more common foreign language choice in schools in his Era than later, but ...

[@DylReadsHorror]

I read two of his novels back in '98. I had heard of him and saw he was a prolific author and so decided to give him a try. I thought both books were awful. The tittles escape me. One was about a family discovering a vampire and the other a group of young people on a camping trip getting attacked (for reasons unexplained) by some nutter. Terrible writer. Both books were heavy on the sex and light on plot, characterisation, and everything else.

[@eriebeverly]

Now I have "Big in Japan" stuck in my head on April Fools. Seems appropriate.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Well now I’ve got it stuck in my head too

[@anotherbibliophilereads]

Laymon was usually entertaining. Better than a lot of the dreck that got published in the same era.

[@isirlasplace91]

👏I have to give it to you for keeping a serious face throughout the video😂

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Thank you 😁

[@jimsbooksreadingandstuff]

oo la la... should have won the Pricks Goncourt....

[@SlimeAndSlashers]

Hahahah you're a genius honestly 😂 I'm finally getting a chance to watch this days late. Haha honestly if it was real, I would have gone to that "abandoned laymon theme park" 😂🤣

[@CriminOllyBlog]

If you watched it after 1st April then it must be true

[@jackthereader]

I will say that of the Leisure label, he was easily the best if only because his writing was grammatical, had a clear narrative line (for the most part), and lots of nasty horribleness. There’s no escaping, though, that in most literary terms he’s a terrible writer. His characters are 1 dimensional, plotting threadbare, and writing flat and texture-less. (That might be why he’s so beloved in non-English speaking territories, since a translator can put their own spin on his prose.) What he has going for him is pace and a certain gonzo escapism. If you like that sort of thing. Sometimes I do, though I’ve been reading him much less of late. He’s the lowermost of the junk pile before you get into writers who are actually incompetent on every level, like William W Johnstone. My favourite Laymon novel is Among the Missing, which was a half-decent detective story. My favourite book of his, though, is Dreadful Tales. I think that he was better at short stories than anything longer. The short form suits his flat style and allows the concepts to shine through.

[@stephennootens916]

I think I tried one of his novels and it was so boring.

[@M-J]

Oh my! 😂🤭

[@CriminOllyBlog]

😂😂

[@eriebeverly]

Since you've done King's On Writing now you have to do Laymon's Writer's Tale. Rules. 😆

[@M-J]

@@eriebeverly 😂😂😂

[@SlimeAndSlashers]

Also, all hail the rump king 🙌🤣

[@CriminOllyBlog]

😂😂

[@theculturevulture]

Only fair considering how many times as a reader Laymon has made me feel like a fool.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

😂😂

[@kellyshaw7271]

I found layman mentally disturbed. He had a fixation with caging women or tying them up. Always some sadistic rapist or torturer. Having said that, I’ve read quite a few especially when younger. I wouldn’t bother now though

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Hard to disagree with that assessment

[@ukjarry]

In the late ‘90s I had a post at public library which was affiliated with three prisons. One of my tasks was processing all the reservations submitted by the prison librarian. I would have been saved about 10-15% of that work if I could have just tilted the entire county on its side so that every Richard Laymon book tumbled into the prisons. Richard Laymon: popular with convicts. I never knew quite what that meant.

[@kellyshaw7271]

@@ukjarry I think I do, they were not getting any 😀

[@CriminOllyBlog]

@@ukjarry Honestly, I'm not surprised

[@MichaelJones-pd6do]

What is interesting though is that according to his friends like Dean Koontz, Laymon and his wife were two of the nicest people you could meet.

[@wendyvilla2904]

🖤💚🤪

[@Paperbird76]

😂

[@CriminOllyBlog]

😁

[@timmaher2471]

Bahaha