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Title: Unoriginal, but still fun
Review: Tim Curran's HIVE is a workmanlike science fiction horror novel, fun in parts but not earthshaking. Billed as a sequel to H.P.Lovecraft's celebrated novel "At The Mountains Of Madness", the book tacks on the entire plot (and most of the set pieces) of Nigel Kneale's BBC serial "Quatermass and the Pit", perhaps better known in the US in its movie incarnation as "Five Million Years To Earth". To this mix Curran also adds the central conceit of Kneale's last Quatermass story, known in the States as "The Quatermass Conclusion", and large chunks of John Carpenter's version of "The Thing". The resulting stew is quite entertaining, if heavy-handed in parts.This borrowing doesn't make the book a bad one, but it is annoying as Curran is obviously a skilled writer who - with a little more effort and a decent editor - could be a really good one. Hopefully as Curran continues to write, he'll become confident enough in his abilities to come up with his own plots in future.
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