|
|
Post by dem bones on Nov 5, 2021 7:05:56 GMT
Robert Alexander [Robert Haining] - Demonstrand (Corgi, 1982) Blurb: The man was lying across the rock, his limbs twisted under him. His head was thrown back, as though he were screaming — his lips drawn back over gleaming teeth… but it was the eyes which held Edward’s gaze … the expression of naked terror…
With this ghastly vision, Edward Scillary’s nightmare began when he returned to Tremaryon, the tiny Cornish village of his childhood — a village full of memories of his sister’s tragic death and of the unrest caused when his father helped shut down the tin mine known as the Snake Pit …
For Tremaryon, Edward soon discovered, was at the heart of a secret cult — and the ancient Voodoo curse would not be broken until brooding, evil forces had had their revenge. Alexander's second novel comes tearing out of the traps with the discovery of a Negro's hideously mutilated corpse on a stretch of beach known locally as Demonstrand. By the time Edward Scillary has climbed down from the cliff to get a closer look, the body has vanished, and not even a bloodstain to show for its ever having been there. In sudden deafening windstorm, a panicked Scillary runs for home, convinced he's being pursued, too terrified to take a look behind him. Scillary, a successful author, has returned to Tremaryon from London following an acrimonious divorce. His father, Allan, managed the tin mine, owned by local aristo's, the Melton family, until its abrupt closure in 1951. There is resentment in the village that, now the mine is to reopen, the Melton's are only offering employment to outsiders, no Tremaryon men need apply. The Harbour Inn regulars seem magnanimous enough, but cheery landlord, Reg Brown, warns Edward to keep clear of young Jack Spicer, the village troublemaking bolshie. Then there's Dai Morgan, a Welsh giant who claims to be clairvoyant and forecasts universal death, misery and despair. Still, Edward thinks he might like it here, not least because he's already been chatted up by Alison Meredith, an attractive young widow, though, as the reader soon discovers, Alison's loyalties lie with figures who may not consider Scillary's continued well-being a priority. To be continued
|
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Nov 5, 2021 17:57:50 GMT
Time for a quick pint at The Harbour Inn. Scillary makes the acquaintance of Dai the doomsayer who assures that he'll be fine, just so long as he steers clear of the Snake Pit. "There's danger in that mine for you." Angry young Jack Spicer wastes no time in letting him know that some still blame his father for the pit closure, and that he is most assuredly among them.
Edward visits Peter Melton at the Manor House to find his childhood friend prematurely aged and incapacitated by lung disease. Crossing the lawn he catches sight of a man and woman in smart Victorian dress, the woman slapping her partner for making too free with his hands. When, later, he mentions this to the host, he is assured there is no such couple on the premises. Edward and son will soon be leaving the ancestral home, forced to sell up to avoid eventual bankruptcy. Perhaps it's for the best. The Melton's unpopularity in Tremaryon dates back five generations to Lord Rodney Melton, who built the family fortune off the backs of fifty slaves illegally imported from his Jamaican plantation to toil in the tin mine. The men were treated abysmally, the more rebellious of their number beaten and/or tortured to death as an example to the rest. Lord Rodney did not have it all his own cruel way. Lady Agnes, fifteen years his junior, was attacked and raped by a slave while walking the clifftop. She died a mute recluse, living alone in a room on the top floor, refusing to set eyes upon her infant son. On Agnes death, it was sealed on her husband's instruction and has not been reopened in over 150 years. Andrew Melton is all for knocking down the wall to see what's in there, but his father is adamant it remain shut off.
The prophet of doom has just endured his most horrific vision to date.
Been good, this. I'm getting Plague of the Zombies vibes.
P.60 of 220
|
|
|
|
Post by Jojo Lapin X on Nov 5, 2021 18:24:35 GMT
"Demonstrand" means that which is to be demonstrated? Or the one doing the demonstration?
|
|
|
|
Post by Swampirella on Nov 5, 2021 18:30:47 GMT
"Demonstrand" means that which is to be demonstrated? Or the one doing the demonstration? I thought it meant "demon strand" (poetic/archaic word for beach). |
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Nov 5, 2021 18:33:30 GMT
"Demonstrand" means that which is to be demonstrated? Or the one doing the demonstration? I thought it meant "demon strand" (poetic/archaic word for beach). Swampi is correct. |
|
|
|
Post by Jojo Lapin X on Nov 5, 2021 18:41:48 GMT
I thought it meant "demon strand" (poetic/archaic word for beach). Swampi is correct. Oh. By the way, I recently demonstrated my home. All the monsters are gone now. |
|
|
|
Post by andydecker on Nov 5, 2021 19:23:20 GMT
I also have a copy of this. Never read it, though. Coincidently, I also wondered about the title. Strand is German for beach, so the choice of words for a title is kind of strange. Can this be the same artist who did the cover for Quinn Yarbro's Dead & Buried? |
|
|
|
Post by Middoth on Nov 6, 2021 12:57:17 GMT
Dead & Buried's cover is the same as the film's poster
Artist: Dario Campanile
|
|
