The Deadly Spring
J.C. Conway
Leisure Books, 1976
ISBN: 395DK
What if the movies The Crazies and Earthquake had a paperback baby? Well, that little kid would be The Deadly Spring by J.C. Conaway. Disaster movies were the superhero movies of their day, terrifying the populace with tales of crashing airplanes, upturned cruise ships and infernos in high rises. It also dovetails nicely into government conspiracy and cover-ups. But more on that later.
J.C. Conaway was a paperback writer with a string of pseudonyms and books published by a lot of the lower-tier publishers. Most of his output came from the 70s and let’s just say aren’t too fondly remembered by those who have peered between the covers of his books. A lot of his work was in the mystery/men’s adventure field, with female detective series Jana Blake, and, um...Nookie. Also his super-spy series about Shannon who drinks more than he spies. At the same time he was writing gothics and more horror-tinged affairs, like the werewolf books Night of the Wolf and Quarrel with the Moon, both which shows Conaway’s biggest crutch: self-plagiarism. Conaway liked to reuse characters and plots for his new books. And back in the pre-internet days you could get away with it.
All that being said Conaway is a very readable author, dashing off first drafts of books that usually hang-together pretty well. His attitude is that of a man of his time with all the faults that come with it. But if you can look past the dated social norms of the time, his books are a fairly fun way to pass an hour or two of reading. I think you have to tune your taste buds to really enjoy a lot of the paperback originals of the 1970s, they have a sleazy, shoddy quality all to themselves. After all they were designed to be read as disposable entertainment for truck drivers, lumberjacks and all those without easy access to a T.V. The authors were also paid pennies and most authors had to produce a lot of work to make a living.
The Deadly Spring is an interesting book, notice I said interesting. The back cover promises that the small town of Cheat Holler is poisoned by government toxins in the water and that then releases “the savage and sadistic urges normally kept hidden under the veneer of society.” So, yeah, The Crazies-part of the book does happen, it’s not just a hyperbolic sales pitch. But the first part of the book is about earthquakes. Enough so at first it made me wonder if The Deadly Spring started out as a disaster cash-in before Conway decided it needed to be spicier.
Cleat Holler is a small town with small town soap opera characters in it. Our main characters are a land surveyor, Ben and his girlfriend Amy (who writes paperback romance novels, I see you J.C.) besides the earthquakes we are introduced to a stacked cast of characters. Army men with marriage problems, funeral directors, repressed gay generals, theater owners with problem actresses, bar owners, bored housewives, etc. etc. Also Ben’s got problems with Amy’s ex-husband. There’s a lot going on in the first two-thirds of the novel and that’s all before the toxin is spread. They think they got it bad enough with the earthquakes and then all hell breaks loose.
It’s pure sleaze after that, the toxin lowers inhibitions which mostly comes in the form of sex, but there is obviously violence involved. A lot of the characters sort of get lost in the shuffle. The town is going nuts and the army isn’t much help since they drink water. It boils down to a series of almost vignettes as Conaway tries to wrap up all the stuff he started in the first two-thirds of the book. The vignettes are pretty wild ranging from slightly goofy to really horrific. Then because it’s clear that Conaway had a word count to reach and wasn’t much interested in writing more than that set word count. The book just sort of stops in its tracks with the minorest of resolutions. It’s almost like a movie with the last reel missing. I guess anything can be the end if you type: “The End.”
So, I don’t know if I can really recommend this book, maybe as a prime example of how publishing used to be for the very interested reader. Because this is a shoddy book, but I was still a bit charmed by the audacity of it all. Conaway not really finishing the book, editors not making him write any more and putting it to market without a real ending. It was the wild west, baby.
But no, it's a pretty terrible book.
Roy Nugen is an award-winning writer, producer, property master, plus actor. He comes from a family of musicians, engineers, wildcatters, cops, lion tamers, and carpet salesmen. Evil Dead II changed his life and he once partied with Lloyd Kaufman.
He has written 15 short films including Bag Full of Trouble, Potboiler, Handle With Care, Death in Lavender, Hole in the Ground, and the feature film Arrive Alive, many of which have played across the country. He has been the property master on 17 short films and 2 feature films.
Roy is also a prolific book reviewer and collector of vintage pulp paperback books. You can read his reviews on his blog Bloody, Spicy Books and multiple magazines including Paperback Fanatic, Hot Lead and Sleazy Reader. He has also written afterwards for novels and for various websites. He lives in the only city that once arrested L. Ron Hubbard with his wife and cats.