'Carl Dreadstone' - The Mummy

[dem]

Carl Dreadstone - The Mummy (Tandem-Universal, 1978; originally Berkley Medallion June 1977)

Blurb
Secrets from beyond the grave

An unmarked burial place deep in the Nubian desert contained an ancient Mummy case of plain wood. The unearthing of this simple box was to invoke the most horrifying repercussions.
For within the case lay a body that had been interred while still struggling to free itself from the smothering bonds - a body condemned to death in both this life and the next.

And on the box, a warning - 'eternal punishment for whoever opens this casket'. For Norton, the temptation was too much. He waited until he was alone and then . . . he was found insane, the box was empty and the mummy gone.

Eleven years later, the world was to pay the price for Norton's foolish curiosity ...

Not to be mistaken with the 'Carl Dreadstone' who was actually Ramsey Campbell and penned novelisations of The Bride Of Frankenstein, Dracula's Daughter and The Wolfman for the Universal Horror Library. There were six books in all, each attributed to Dreadstone. Ian Covell suggests Walter 'Saliva' Harris was responsible for The Werewolf Of London but there is still some mystery as to who was responsible for The Creature from the Black Lagoon and The Mummy. To confuse matters further, when Star reprinted the books, the 'Carl Dreadstone' pseudonym was replaced by another, 'E. K. Leyton'.

Ramsey Campbell, however, does provide an introduction here, and it's an enthused one; "despite many sequels, remakes, and imitations, [The Mummy] has yet to be surpassed in its sense of archaeological mystery and doom". i particularly like this passage.

"Like the best of the pulps, The Mummy benefits from its belief in its own melodrama. Nowhere is there a suggestion of conscious camp, and the occasional potentially embarrassing line is saved from itself by the playing and the direction. No other film has caught the mood of this kind of Weird Tales theme so accurately."

[pulphack]

Mr Campbell has it spot on there. You might know it's all dreadful tosh, really, but in order to put it across you have to believe. It's the difference between doing a good job and taking that seriously, and taking yourself seriously. A lot of writers get that a bit muddled, and either are too knowing or too po-faced. The balance is very difficult.

And he'll always be Walter 'New Avengers' Harris to me.

[lemming13]

Damn, I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed those novelisations - I had all of them at one time, don't have a single one now. The Mummy was my favourite, too; always have been a sucker for Boris, and when Universal put out their lovely, lovely remasterings I had to have that one. (Okay, I had all of them. Tosh, but such wonderful tosh...) The documentaries are fascinating, too.

[glodfinger]

THE MUMMY was always my favourite of the novelizations. We're still no nearer to discovering who actually wrote it, then?

[dem]

not yet, glodfinger, but ....

'E. K. Leyon' [Walter Harris] - The Creature From The Black Lagoon (Star, 1980)

Another mystery solved; re the confusion surrounding the version of 'Carl Dreadstone'/ 'E. K. Leyton' who ghosted the 'Creature From The Black Lagoon ' novelisation, I've just heard from Charlie Farrow on behalf of Walter Harris who informs me:

"Walter Harris would like to confirm that he is indeed the Carl Dreadstone who wrote The Werewolf of London. He is also the Carl Dreadstone who wrote The Creature from the Black Lagoon. Mr Harris would be happy if you amend your website accordingly."

I am very happy to do so! Charlie goes on to add: "We are currently republishing a number of Mr Harris's works and will have his new website operational soon." Will give details on here when these are made available.

[noose]

WOW. News of the decade this is.

[Johnlprobert]

A quite splendid coup by the Vault and just another reason to love it

[dem]

well, truth be told, the credit belongs to proper bibliographer Ian Covell as it was his spadework on Vault Wordpress which drew a response from Mr. Harris. if all goes to plan, i think we'll be hearing some more from Walter shortly ....

so, as far as the The Universal Horror Library goes, we're now missing just the one author:

The Bride of Frankenstein - Ramsey Campbell ['Carl Dreadstone']
The Creature from the Black Lagoon - Walter Harris ['Carl Dreadstone' for the Berkley Medallion edition, 'E. K. Leyton' for the Star edition]
Dracula’s Daughter - Ramsey Campbell ['Carl Dreadstone' for the Berkley Medallion edition, 'E. K. Leyton' for the Star edition]
The Mummy - - ? ['Carl Dreadstone']
The Werewolf Of London - Walter Harris ['Carl Dreadstone']
The Wolfman - Ramsey Campbell ['Carl Dreadstone']

[Craig Herbertson]

Mar 30, 2010 20:15:44 GMT pulphack said:

Mr Campbell has it spot on there. You might know it's all dreadful tosh, really, but in order to put it across you have to believe. It's the difference between doing a good job and taking that seriously, and taking yourself seriously. A lot of writers get that a bit muddled, and either are too knowing or too po-faced. The balance is very difficult.

And he'll always be Walter 'New Avengers' Harris to me.

I endorse that fully - both Mr Campbell's perception of it and the fact he's right. The Mummy is a standout for those reasons.