Little’s Shop of Horrors

Bentley Little was a teenager when he moved to Orange County in 1975, but the award-winning Fullerton horror writer hasn’t abandoned his Arizona roots.

He and his wife, Wendy, maintain a vacation home in the northern Arizona town of Payson, and his birth state has provided the setting for five of his eight horror novels, including his late1936993802 “The Store” (Signet; $6.99) is set in the fictional central Arizona mountain town of Juniper. It seems a giant chain retail operation ominously called the Store has moved into town.

Residents are thrilled by the arrival of the one-stop mega-store. But this is a Bentley Little novel, and, as the book jacket says, there’s “evil lurking within the Store.”

Bill Davis, a telecommuting technical writer, is the first to be unsettled by the retail giant, which levels a picturesque hill for its parking lot.

Soon, competitors of the Store mysteriously begin to die or disappear. The town goes broke, and the Store, its only major employer, takes over the school district and police and fire services. Employees, who undergo psychological indoctrination, eventually begin wearing militaristic uniforms. And so-called Night Managers, zombie-like people dressed in black, are seen after store hours wandering aimlessly in the aisles.

A review in the horror magazine Fangora says, “Little expertly sustains a frightening aura of malice and dread.”

“Someone described it as a cross between Stephen King and ‘Roger and Me.’ I thought that’s a pretty good line,” said Little, 37. “A lot of it was inspired by the coming of Wal-Mart to the small town [where] we have our vacation home in Arizona. It’s a combination of that and several years ago I saw a ’60 Minutes’ piece on a small, New England town that rejected a Wal-Mart and rallied around its own Main Street.”

Just published in paperback in this country, “The Store” was originally distributed in hardcover by Headline Publishing in England last year. The Doubleday Book Club is also doing a special hardcover printing and will offer the book as an alternate selection this month.

Little, who was able to quit his job as a technical writer for the city of Costa Mesa in late 1995 to write full time, is on a career upswing.

His second novel, “The Mailman,” was optioned last month by actor John Malkovich’s production company--a first for the author.

“It’s quite possible nothing will happen with it, but it’s still exciting,” he said. “The Mailman,” also set in Arizona, was originally published in 1991 by Signet, which re-released it last November.

“Now that I’m more successful, they’re re-releasing my old, failed novels,” joked Little. “It originally got good reviews, but it didn’t sell.”

Signet also has bought the rights to “The Revelation,” Little’s 1990 debut novel that earned him a Bram Stoker Award from the Horror Writers of America; and his third novel, “Death Instinct,” will also be re-released.

Little, it seems, was virtually destined to become a horror writer.

His mother was pregnant with him in 1960 when she saw the world premiere of Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” in Phoenix, where part of the film was shot. He has been told his grandmother thought the experience might somehow “damage” the unborn baby.

Little doesn’t rule out the fact that Hitchcock’s horror classic may have had a prenatal influence: “Some mothers play classical music to their unborn children; my mother saw ‘Psycho.’ ”

But for a guy who likes to dish up the horrific for readers, Little admits to wimping out when it comes to one thing: book signings. He’s done only one bookstore signing in his life, for his first novel.

“It kind of scares me, to be honest,” he said. “I just have a fear of sitting at a table alone and no one showing up.”

This week:

* The Factory Readings’ seventh annual performance poetry contest will be at 8 p.m. Tuesday at Gypsy Den Cafe and Reading Room in the Lab mall, 2930 Bristol St., Costa Mesa. Sign-ups begin at 6:30; $5 entry fee. Music will be provided by Reflex Blue. Admission free.

* Carl Sferrazza Anthony, author of “The First Lady, the Jazz Age, and the Death of America’s Most Scandalous President,” will speak at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at the Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace, 18001 Yorba Linda Blvd., Yorba Linda. Admission: $8. A public book signing will be at 11:30 a.m. For more information, call (714) 993-5075.

* Robert Ditraglia, author of “Dead Hearts Don’t Break,” will sign at 7 p.m. Thursday at Coffee, Tea & Mystery, 13232 Springdale St., Westminster.

* Cast members of the award-winning Broadway play “Rent” will appear at 4 p.m. Friday at Barnes & Noble in Metro Pointe, 901 S. Coast Plaza Drive, Costa Mesa.

* Carolyn Wheat, author of “Sworn to Defend,” will sign at 1 p.m. Saturday at Book Carnival, 348 S. Tustin Ave., Orange. Wheat also will sign at 3 p.m. Saturday at Coffee, Tea & Mystery, 13232 Springdale St., Westminster.

* William A. Gordon, author of “The Ultimate Hollywood Tour Book,” will present a slide lecture at 2 p.m. Saturday at Barnes & Noble in Fashion Island, 953 Newport Center Drive, Newport Beach.

Send information about book-related events at least 10 days before event to: Dennis McLellan, O.C. Books & Authors, Life & Style, The Times, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626.