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Post by dem bones on Sept 9, 2009 18:19:58 GMT
Just finished "The House of Lost Souls" by F.G. Cottam (Hodder & Stoughton, 2007). It's a British supernatural horror novel - faintly (and, I think, consciously) "old-fashioned", as you'd probably expect from an author adopting that rather quaint two-initials-and-a-surname styling. I really enjoyed it though, apart from being a bit unsure (on several levels) about the ending... So... why have I posted this in the "Dennis Wheatley Haters" thread? Because dear old Dennis is a character in the book... and it's not a flattering depiction! He's a racist, and a sadist (of course). He's also a Satanist. He must be spinning... Anyhow, here's a brief taster - He heard the staccato clack of high heels on wood as she started to descend the stairs from the darkness above him. Pandora's approaching footsteps sounded terribly loud in the silence of Klaus Fischer's empty mansion. As they got closer, he heard wood splinter and groan under their impact. And he began to think that whatever was coming down the stairs was certainly bearing its considerable weight on two legs. But the thing climbing down to him wasn't on heels, it dawned on him, with horror. It was coming down on hooves. i'd not heard of The House of Lost Souls until you mentioned it (no surprise there), but i'm thinking good old fashioned black magic romp? Students in peril, too! The whole thing sounds positively 'seventies, dammit! The Fischer House was the scene of a vicious crime in the 1920s - a crime which still resonates as the century turns. At its heart was a beautiful, enigmatic woman called Pandora Gibson-Hoare, a photographer of genius whose only legacy is a handful of photographs and the clues to a mystery. Paul Seaton was lured to the house ten years ago and escaped, a damaged man. Now three students will die unless he dares to go back. But this time he has Nick Mason at his side, and maybe Mason's military skills and visceral courage will be enough. Does Dennis see a hefty chunk of the action or is he a minor player?
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Post by Dr Strange on Sept 10, 2009 9:34:16 GMT
Yeah - "old-fashioned black magic romp" would just about cover it. It's really well written and tightly plotted (don't really know what that means, except people always say it when they enjoy a bit of genre fiction). Not exactly "pulp", but not really "literary" either. I enjoyed it so much, I went out and bought the author's next book ("Dark Echo"), which would also seem to be a "black magic romp", but this time with a haunted boat rather than a haunted house.
Wheatley has a fairly big role in the back-story of "House of Lost Souls" - along with Aleister Crowley (and Herman Goring also makes an appearance). Let's just say that the author has taken full advantage of the fact that you can't libel the dead...
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Post by glodfinger on Sept 13, 2009 19:48:50 GMT
So... why have I posted this in the "Dennis Wheatley Haters" thread? Because dear old Dennis is a character in the book... and it's not a flattering depiction! He's a racist, and a sadist (of course). He's also a Satanist. He must be spinning... [/i][/quote] I expect that DW was watching all of this from the astral plane. He may have initially intended to reappear and strike down the author, but finally asked the question 'How many members of the public have actually read this?' Having received the answer he chuckled to himself, poured himself a bottle of the best celestial champagne, and settled back down in his armchair.
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Post by Dr Strange on Sept 14, 2009 8:22:30 GMT
glodfinger: I expect that DW was watching all of this from the astral plane. He may have initially intended to reappear and strike down the author, but finally asked the question 'How many members of the public have actually read this?' Having received the answer he chuckled to himself, poured himself a bottle of the best celestial champagne, and settled back down in his armchair. Then you (and he) will be delighted to learn that most of the characters in the book regard Wheatley as pretty obscure (if they've heard of him at all), and it's claimed that none of his books are even in print when the story shifts to modern times. Anyway, Cottam seems to be doing OK - his third novel is due out this year - and if you run your eye over the blurbs on Amazon, you'll see he's had his previous books reviewed in The Times, Financial Times, The Guardian, Daily Mail, Daily Mirror... So people are reading him, though admittedly it's probably people who wouldn't know Wheatley if he arrived in a puff of smoke. Added much later: Just found out that Cottam's The House of Lost Souls won the 2007 Children of the Night award from the Dracula Society. Previous winners include Ramsey Campbell, Kim Newman, Robert Westall... and a certain John L Probert.
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