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Post by dem bones on May 28, 2009 20:12:14 GMT
Dennis Wheatley - Star Of Ill-Omen (Arrow, 1965: originally Hutchinson, 1955) Doubt I'll get around to Dennis's solitary foray into Sci-Fi any time soon but figured I owed it to myself to land a copy when the chance presented itself after reading the rave reviews on the Wheatley Forum whose posters almost unanimously proclaim this his Worst Book. According to the blurb (curiously understated once you get past "SCIENCE FICTION BY DENNIS WHEATLEY MEANS SCIENCE FICTION AT ITS BEST. MORE THAN THAT- IT MEANS A THRILLING HUMAN STORY") Lincoln, ex-Commando and British secret agent, realised that his new assignment was a mission fraught with danger. But he had no idea that he'd be involved with mysterious space ships—or with the beautiful Carmen Escobar, a saint in sinner's clothing. And there was Anna. Russian —and as svelte as she was deadly.Anyone had the dubious pleasure?
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wotan
New Face In Hell
Posts: 5
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Post by wotan on Feb 13, 2011 17:57:46 GMT
I’m having a bit of a Wheatley session at the moment and I’ve just finished this one. I must say I enjoyed it a lot. Was going to give it a few chapters originally but it moves along quite well and two days later I’d finished it. Be warned though I tend to take great enjoyment from what 'normal' people call crap! Spoilers Alert!!! Kem Lincoln has been sent to spy on Argentinian scientist Estevan Escobar who is thought to be developing atomic weapons for some tinpot dictator bigwig that we don't meet. He’s conned his way into the household by getting to know Mrs Carmen Escobar rather intimately during a cruise and been invited back to the Escobar’s palatial home for tiffin. A few days later, after a quick - "Ooh look! A flying Saucer", Kem has tricked Escobar into meeting him in the middle of nowhere and after fisticuffs leaves him trussed up in his car whilst the agent nips back to pinch some secret documents and to have a last bit of nookie with Carmen. This proves to be his undoing and having removed his trousers Is caught in the act by an escaped Escobar. A fight ensues and Escobar is knocked out. Suddenly all pandemonium breaks loose when two giant pairs of hands reach into the bedroom to start grasping at all and sundry. The arms belong to two humanoid, naked giants who carry our three heroes wrapped up in sheets to the waiting flying saucer parked nearby. After nearly two months on board the saucer after suffering many trials and tribulations, the three - now all friends, arrive on Mars (well, it is the 1950’s). Mars is actually ruled not by the giants but by a race of flying Bee / Beetles who want the gang to build them a couple of Atomic bombs so they can leave their dying planet and take over the Earth (ho hum!). Things spice up more with the arrival of another trio of humans, this time communist Russians including the sultry Anna who takes a liking to Kem and the nasty Zadovitch, who doesn't (and has a gun). The six must then take on a whole world full of giants and insects in an attempt to get home and save the good old Earth from destruction. Next up.......Uncharted Seas
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Post by dem bones on Feb 13, 2011 19:58:36 GMT
many thanks for sharing the dirt on Star .., wotan. i made a false start on it last year, giving up after 40 pages, concerned that the gents on the Wheatley board didn't have enough experience to appreciate a truly awful book, but you've restored my confidence. i never thought i'd live to type these words but this sounds even worse than Gateway To Hell! Good old Dennis!
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Feb 13, 2011 20:49:28 GMT
I must admit when i got to 'flying bee people' my interest was aroused. It's a book I saw for years in the charity shops. Must have been loads printed.
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Post by paranthropoid on May 12, 2011 9:21:30 GMT
Actually, Wheatley didn't invent the bee people. Gerald Heard - West coast mystic and one of the first psilocybin trippers, along with his friend Aldous Huxley- suggested in his 1950 book Is Another World Watching? that the saucers must be piloted by big bees, who alone could withstand the rapid manouevring of the UFOs. Sounds to me like he'd had one mushroom too many. Wheatley must have liked the idea and appropriated it for Star. The novel as a whole is dire. Wheatley's Mars must be the dullest Red Planet ever invented.
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