David Ely - Seconds

[dem bones]

David Ely - Seconds (Four Square, August 1965)

Blurb:
If you were a bored, overweight banker with a fat depressing wife, and you had the chance to become a lean, sardonically handsome bachelor — rich, devastating to women ... would you take it?

This is the story of a man who did.

Following the address on a scrap of paper, Wilson found himself in a world of telephone calls from the dead, operating theatres where middle-aged men are wheeled in and youthful copies wheeled out ... a world in which young girls who had seemed forever out of reach were suddenly sensuous and willing ...

"Don't miss this most ingenious, original and very well written suspense fantasy that starts like a daydream and ends like a nightmare." - THE OBSERVER

"'Masterful and macabre novel." - DAILY EXPRESS

With Phobia simmering nicely on the back burner, thought i'd turn my attention to the 160 pager that inspired the scary film in which Rock Hudson gave possibly his best ever performance. Picked this up from Milan at the Zardoz fair and it's been all i could do to keep my hands off it up 'til now!

It began with an unexpected phone call from his dead friend, Charley. At first it was difficult for Wilson to believe that a guy who'd last year committed suicide Varney the Vampyre-style (he'd thrown himself into an active volcano) could be in such an upbeat mood. But when Charley relates some of the shared college experience that only these two ever knew of', Wilson is curious enough to hear him out. Despite having convinced his wife, family, colleagues and the world otherwise, Charley isn't dead. He's been assisted by a shadowy organisation to disappear and reemerge to a brand new life in a younger, healthier body. And now, thanks to his endorsement, Wilson will shortly be given a scrap of paper with an address scrawled upon it. If he too wants to start his life over, then all he need do is visit that address and do as instructed. But before taking that first fatal step, he'd best be certain that it's what he really wants as, once you're in, there's no returning to your old self.

Wilson can't help himself. The Emily he married has mutated into something that can no longer be regarded as a trophy wife and, even though he's likely to become president of the bank in the next year, he's had enough drudgery. So one afternoon during his lunch break, he takes a cab to the address he's been handed by a stranger who approached him in the street. After many a detour, he arrives at a nondescript building where he's given a nice hot cup of spiked tea. One steamy romp on a bed with a mute woman later and his transformation is underway! He awakens to find kindly Mr. Jolifie inquiring after his current physical and mental well-being.

"I have the distinct impression that I have been subjected to a humiliating and obscene exposure, possibly under the influence of drugs, added to the various other unpleasant experiences of the afternoon, and although as I say, I should be very snappish with you on this score, I am not even curious about it."

This is obviously the right answer as shortly afterward, Mr. Ruby, the assistant general counsel is asking him which he would prefer: Death or Disappearance?

To be very continued - this is great

[David A. Riley]

I've never read the book but I remember watching the film years ago. The ending was one of the most chilling I've ever seen. It would be interesting to see how this compares to the effect of the book.

[marksamuels]

Nov 15, 2010 17:52:44 GMT David A. Riley said:

I've never read the book but I remember watching the film years ago. The ending was one of the most chilling I've ever seen. It would be interesting to see how this compares to the effect of the book.

Me too, David! It's fantastic. Who'd have thought it, Rock Hudson: Horror Star? It's the best film about the male mid-life crisis ever made.

He was also in a horror duffer called Embryo, which is pretty dire except for the trained Rottweiller. Apparently it was inspired by Ewers's Alraune.

Dem... I've had the same lurgy. My chest is full of green gunk.

Mark S.

[dem bones]

from what i can gather, the film stayed faithful to Ely's novel so yes, that ending should be worth waiting for. The only other David Ely i've encountered is The Academy which Christine Barnard included in the 3rd Fontana Book Of Great Horror Stories. from my own lousy notes, it's not entirely dissimilar in theme. "'The Academy' is a place for parents to send their sons during their “difficult years” to drill all of that juvenile spirit out of them. Zombie farming." His novel The Tour (Panther, 1969: "The strangest, sexiest, deadliest holiday ever") surely has Vault credentials: "A peculiar and messianic figure runs a tour which offers the thrills of night-long bouts of sexual adventure, attacks from hordes of rabid animals, the opportunity to take the occasional shot at marauding Communists, and participation in a live test of the ultimate anti-guerrilla weapon."

Nov 15, 2010 18:22:42 GMT marksamuels said:

Dem... I've had the same lurgy. My chest is full of green gunk.

Mark S.

Ooh, thanks ever so for sharing, Mark!

[dem bones]

A cadaver is procured, the funeral conducted and the client 'reborn' as Antiochus 'Tony' Wilson, an artist of some repute based in San Francisco ('his' paintings, needless to say, are the work of a talented third party in the Company's employ). Tony has been provided with an amiable butler, John, to help him through the tricky first months of his new life. John organises a cocktail party, the male guests comprised of other members of the Brotherhood. He even arranges for a nude model to pose for Tony's wretched canvases. But the Company have made a big mistake in providing Wilson with the body of a virile beach bum - it is woefully ill-matched to his banker's soul. He is too hung up to enjoy the beautiful young women who throw themselves at him and utterly embarrassed in the company of fellow newborns. For the first time in years he has an overwhelming urge to visit his estranged daughter. The Company are not impressed, even less so when he insists on calling on his wife. His fellow newborns are everywhere, keeping tabs on his movements, reporting back to the Company until finally, exasperated that his antics could expose the whole set up, he's whisked off the street and back into surgery ...

Mark's remarks are doubtless spot on, and i'd add that this is the most paranoid thriller i've read since Cornell Woolrich's masterly Graves For The Living. While the novel ends on a far less dramatic note than the film, it's no less harrowing as Ely opts for the big grim nihilistic pay off.