Carl Noone - Even the Rainbow's Bent

[allthingshorror]

NEL (3/11/1977)

ISBN: 0450034011



ADRIAN DID NOT NEED LOVE, HE ONLY WANTED FRIENDSHIP...

but his life seemed destitute of the meaningful relationship he so desperately desired. Thwarted in his search for the right girl, he strove for other ways to satisfy his desires, only creating inner conflicts that seemed to split his personality and drag him slowly but inexorably towards tragedy.

Even The Rainbow's Bent is a powerful novel of a man's struggle for happiness that will grip you to the very end.

This defies all description. It begins as a run of the mill gay novel - complete with fumblings with the hunky gardener, but then it turns into a psychotic novel with the protag Adrian, becoming Adrienne and having a penchant for killing young school girls. And then it becomes a fully blown horror novel with it's blatant PSYCHO rip-off complete with a dead mother in the basement.

This is the book that the phrase 'Nasty NEL' was coined for - I'm truly speechless, and really wouldn't want to meet the author of this book on a dark night, that's for sure...

[bushwick]

Sounds insane. Thanks Johnny - gems like this are why this forum is indispensable.

[allthingshorror]

Methinks a quote from the book is needed:

'His mother almost gasped at her son's transformation.
'Adrian, you really are a genius!' she said. 'It certainly is a masterpiece.''
'Thank you Mother!' he said, and his chest swelled with pride. It was already swollen with the right amount of padding inside the small bra to give the correct amount of youthful hard bosom.

Always on these occasions, Mother kept things on a theatrical basis. She would neither admit to herself, or her son, that he was in any way homosexual. She knew only too well that he was, but neither her mind, nor her heart was ready to accept the fact. He was 'sensitive'... a cultured boy, artistic and very clever, with his 'theatricals' he was a near genius! Some boys grew up and became coarse, others remained 'refined' and Adrian had always been her little Lord Fauntleroy.

To see him dress up as a schoolgirl was painful in one way, and rewarding in another; she knew that he delighted in dressing up, and had he been a more robust boy with a bit more ego, he might have been a great actor! Nevertheless he enjoyed his 'theatricals' at home, and while he lived in his world of pretence, she played along with him. It was the one way of keeping him happy.

After all...it did no harm, and Mother understood him completely.

Part of the time they would indulge in ridiculous fantasy talk to make the character 'live'.

'What are you going to be when you leave school Adrienne?' she asked at one point.

'Oh, I don't know, I think I might be a nun, or perhaps a nurse!' he said quite seriously.

'Oh, my goodness child, I think perhaps you'll be something else surely? I don't think being a nun is very exciting for you, and as for a nurse, well, I suppose it's a nice thing to want to be, but if you are a nurse you'd have to spend all the time with poor people who are sick, and I don't think you'd like that, would you?'

'Oh, I don't know, I think somebody has got to do it...otherwise, where would we be?'

'Yes, perhaps you're right, but let's talk about school, shall we? Do you like your teachers?'

'Some of them yes. Not all though!' he said childishly.

'But that's a very good school you go to, isn't it darling?'

His mother looked at the school badge on the pocket, and suddenly she went cold. Something in the back of her mind made her frown, what was it? It was something to do with the school badge...her eyes opened wider and her mouth dropped open. It was the same school badge and blazer as that which was worn by the little girl who had been recently murdered in the woods, nearby.

[bushwick]

fifteen fucking quid on amazon mate!!!!

[allthingshorror]

Really? Paid ten pence for mines at the carboot! Tell you what I'll do, I've got some time off in September, if you or I haven't found a copy by then, I'll scan it in, and turn it into a PDF for ya. gimme a nudge nearer the time.

[bushwick]

You're a true gent Johnny. I'll have a ratch in the meantime but will give you a shout if I don't come up trumps. This does seem like something I have to read...