Has anyone read the Necroscope series by Brian Lumley? Opinions?

Yup, read every one so far, though not in a while. I absolutely love the series, probably my favorite horror books of all-time. I hate vampire stories, but these books put a completely different spin on the subject. What I loved the most about the series is it's truly, truly great villains. The most brilliant part of Lumley's storytelling in these books is his ability to creat truly epic villains with detailed histories of each one. The first book is still my favorite introducing us to the hero Harry Keough & the first great villain in the series Boris Dragosani. The first 3 books are by far the best of the series as we see Harry Keough really get fleshed out as a character as he masters his powers & as each book goes on you see the Wamphyr(sp?) get more & more menacing. A truly great horror series but it is definitely not for the squemish at all, some extremely gruesome stuff.

I am gonna drag this one up. I agree with Sessa17 completely. I love this series!! Anyone else?

I read the first 3 or so waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back when (probably in the mid-to-late 80s) and I remember enjoying them. Maybe I'll dig them out and see if they hold up (but first I have to finish reading/rereading the Dark Tower series).

I also read the first 3 or 4 and really enjoyed them. I really like Lumley's take on vampires.

Enjoyed the series. I think they would make good movies.
Especially the "war" ones in the starside with all those grand aieries ad the wampyres with their vampire making pits.

Even read the comic adaption of the Necroscope from Malibu (missing issue #1 though) and then the adaption by Caliber before they stopped.

I think he wrote 10 - 12 books in this series. I think the last ones were published a year or so ago.

Been thinking about these ones for years in the bookstore, but never picked one up yet. All I've read by Lumley so far are some lovecraft inspired stories in anthologies -- any recommendations/suggestions here?

I read all the Necroscope series. OVerall, I think it's a very strong series with a fun and new twist on the vampire mythology. I didn't really think that the "New Necroscope" trilogy (Invaders, Defilers, Avengers) were as good as the original series. You would probably enjoy the Titus Crow series as well if you're into the Lovecraft mythos.

By Lumley as well? I'll look next time I'm out. thanks.

I have only checked out the first book in the series, but I really enjoyed it. I will probably check out the rest of the books after I finish with the last book in the current series I am reading.

Definitely start with the first Necroscope book and work your way from there. The first book grabbed me when I first read it years ago, really giving me something radically different from the goth-romance Anne Rice style of vampires that was mostly in vogue then. The first book works well as a stand-alone, though later installments start getting heavily interconnected and reliant on knowledge of back-history. For me the series had its ups and downs. Besides the first book, my favorites were "The Source" (really brought some fresh ideas after the somewhat stale second book) and the "Vampire World" trilogy (great epic fast-paced imaginative pulp-style story). After that I kind of lost track of the series. Never read the "Lost Years" books, and started the last trilogy but don't think I ever finished it.

Certainly check out the Lovecraft novels. They're fun, as long as you don't go in expecting the subtlety of HPL and don't take offense at the Mythos being explained away in detail.

Has anyone read the latest Necroscope novel The Touch? I've read all the other books in the series, but after struggling through the last trilogy, I've been reluctant to pick up the hard cover. It was very cool getting to meet and chat with him the last two years at Horrorfind. He is a very nice gentlemen, and he gladly signed a huge stack of books for me.

Finished the first 2 Necroscope books now and I'm definitely wondering why I never picked them up sooner -- good stuff. I'm wondering though - now that I'm familiar with the character would it be a problem picking up any of his general anthologies that feature Keogh and other characters or should I hold off on the short stories till I've read all the other books?

Now I need to see where I can find the Titus Crow books -- I've only seen the character name in the short story collections like I've mentioned above -- I'll probably just have to order them.

Yeah, definitely hold off on the anthologies until you've read at least the 4th Necroscope book as there are still some characters in the anthologies that haven't been introduced yet.