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Post by dem bones on Apr 13, 2015 13:05:21 GMT
Sax Rohmer - The Daughter Of Fu Manchu (WDL, 1960: originally Cassell & Co, 1931) Blurb When Sir Lionel Barton, leader of a Tomb excavation party is found in The Tomb of The Black Ape - apparently dead from heart failure, Dr. Petrie, Sir Nyland Smith and Superintendent Weymouth are quickly on the scene. And pretty soon they find they have to come to grips with an enemy quite as cunning as their old adversary, Dr. Fu Manchu his daughter, Fah Lo Suee. After many horrifying adventures the climax comes when all concerned visit the ancient abbey of Abbots Hold - and for once the terrifying Dr. Fu Manchu has to come to the rescue of the doomed party.
This book will delight all those who are already Fu Manchu addicts, and will make addicts of those who have not previously come into contact with this weird and mysterious character. It is a must for all mystery readers.Not sure yet if this qualifies as mummy fiction but 75 pages in and much of the action has centred in and around 'Lafleur's Tomb' aka the Tomb of the Black Ape. My only previous encounter with Fu Manchu was via an extract in the Michel Parry's Christopher Lee's Omnnibus Of Evil, so was quite surprised to learn that by book 4 in the series, the yellow peril had already been killed, although as it transpires, his is not the only non-fatal death to afflict The Daughter Of Fu Manchu. The story is narrated by young archaeologist Shan Greville, who, when we first meet him is distraught. Not only has the love of his life, Rima Barton stormed out on him, but his friend, Rima's uncle, Sir Lionel Barton has died mid-excavation of the aforementioned tomb in the Valley of the Kings. To add to his woes, Shan believes he is being watched at all times by a slanty-eyed menace. It is almost as if the evil Fu Manchu is up to his old tricks, but that can't be the case as the lovely Kâramanèh shot him dead at close of the previous book! Fortunately for Sir Lionel, Dr. Petrie and Sir Denis Nayland Smith are not so sure that he is properly dead as an anonymous telegram suggests that he is the victim of catalepsy, courtesy of one of their old enemy's most terrible drugs. Lucky that Petrie is the only man on earth to know the antidote, but they must get to Barton quickly. But horror of horrors - his "corpse" has been stolen! Who would lower themselves to perform such an appalling crime?
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Apr 13, 2015 14:36:28 GMT
You need to read the Fu Manchu books in order, starting at the beginning! Just kidding. They are basically just the same thing over and over again.
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Post by mattofthespurs on Apr 13, 2015 16:58:01 GMT
You need to read the Fu Manchu books in order, starting at the beginning! Just kidding. They are basically just the same thing over and over again. Larks abound. La-de-da.
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Post by dem bones on Apr 13, 2015 18:28:49 GMT
You need to read the Fu Manchu books in order, starting at the beginning! Was worried that might be the case but took the plunge regardless, though perhaps it would have been better to begin with Fu Manchu And The Devil Doctor which seems to be the second book in the series (?). Only other one I have is the much later Re-Enter Fu Manchu in an attractive Corgi boring cover edition. Back to the Devil's daughter. Sir Lionel Barton has been rescued and restored to life but his brain is totally incapacitated. While under some dastardly yellow spell - possibly hypnotism - Barton spilled the secret of the Tomb of the Black Ape to 'Madame Ingomar' (aka Fah Lo Suee) whereupon she and her cronies left him to die. Luckily, master of disguises Nayland Smith was on hand to save the day. But what has the girl with the "long, narrow jade-green eyes" and lovely hands stolen from the sarcophagus? Only Nayland Smith seems to have any idea what's going on and, setting off with Dr. Petrie, Weymouth (sorry, I've forgotten who he is) and Greville for the Oasis of Kharga, he solemnly informs his colleagues: "Tonight, the powers of hell will be assembled." It's a shame Rima isn't going with them (she and Greville have patched up their differences: it was all a misunderstanding) as she is brilliant at flukily snapping clear images of their enemies while attempting to photograph something else. In complete contrast to femme fatale Fah Lo Suee, Rima is a nice Irish girl and Shan reckons she looks at her most smashing in a pretty frock. Not sure if I've quite taken everything in, but am rather enjoying Daughter .... Are they all as turbo-charged?
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Post by pulphack on Apr 14, 2015 4:48:17 GMT
There is a continuity of sorts to the Fu Manchu books, but it's not the kind that requires reading in order - I think Rohmer tended to forget what he'd written at times, or at least it seems that way... I still think the first is the best, but as that was the first one I actually read, by chance, I suspect that might be purely because it was my first encounter with the Dr - as Jojo points out, they are all basically the same stuff over and over, so it was the law of diminishing returns for those I read later.
Re-Enter Fu Manchu - when I read this I thought it had been ghosted as it seemed so different in style, but apparently not. However, as there are more than forty years between the first and last Fu Manchu books, that may account for it.
I have read little of Morris Klaw, Rohmer's occult detective, but what I have read was actually better than the Dr's exploits, and I wonder if Rohmer was just a better short story writer than novelist? Does anyone know offhand if there was a Klaw collection?
Incidentally, I read one of Cay Van Ash's Fu Manchu meets Holmes pastiches, and I have to admit I thought it was far more enjoyable and a smoother read than Rohmer's originals/
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Post by dem bones on Apr 14, 2015 7:00:03 GMT
I have read little of Morris Klaw, Rohmer's occult detective, but what I have read was actually better than the Dr's exploits, and I wonder if Rohmer was just a better short story writer than novelist? Does anyone know offhand if there was a Klaw collection? The Dream Detective, (Jarrold, 1920: Pyramid, 1966, Dover, 1977) includes the following Klaw adventures: The Tragedies in the Greek Room The Potsherd of Anubis The Crusader's Ax The Ivory Statue The Blue Rajah The Whispering Poplars The Headless Mummies The Haunting of Grange The Veil of IsisHere's the gel on the Corgi's referred to above, covers nothing like as boring as I (mis)remembered them. Same blurb suffices for both. Sax Rohmer - The Devil Doctor (Corgi, 1967; originally Methuen, 1913) Blurb: "Imagine a person, tall, lean and feline, high-shouldered, with a brow like Shakespeare and a face like Satan, a close-shaven skull, and long, magnetic eyes of the true cat-green. Invest him with all the cruel cunning of an entire Eastern race, accumulated in one giant intellect, with all the resources of science past and present, with all the resources, if you will, of a wealthy government-- which, however, already has denied all knowledge of his existence. Imagine that awful being, and you have a mental picture of Dr. Fu-Manchu, the yellow peril incarnate in one man."Sax Rohmer - Re-enter Dr. Fu-Manchu (Corgi, 1967; originally Herbert Jenkins, 1957)
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Post by pulphack on Apr 14, 2015 7:39:19 GMT
Thanks Dem - I'll abe that one and see if I can find a copy. I should have known that title, I was responsible for a 'Dream Detective' back in the mists of the 90's! Well, I'm not sure if 'responsible' is entirely the right word...
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Apr 14, 2015 14:58:46 GMT
Not sure if I've quite taken everything in, but am rather enjoying Daughter .... Are they all as turbo-charged? I have only read the first six volumes, but they certainly all get to the point quite efficiently. In particular the first one, which I understand to have originally been a series of short stories.
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Post by andydecker on Apr 14, 2015 16:58:12 GMT
I still havn't read this. Most of my Fu Manchu lore is from the comic book version in Marvel's Master of Kung Fu. Which gave the impression that it did the characters pretty well. It made Fah Loo Suee later the head of MI-5. Which was a novel idea at the time.
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Post by severance on Apr 14, 2015 21:00:38 GMT
I haven't read this one yet either - but I do have the 1964 Pyramid edition with cover art by Robert Maguire.
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Post by dem bones on Apr 14, 2015 21:07:42 GMT
Contains spoilers
P. 130. Even if they are much of a muchness, Daughter Of ... probably isn't the ideal Fu-Manchu entry point simply because the criminal mastermind is otherwise engaged for much of the duration. That said, twenty-something Fah Lo Suee is fully capable of holding our attention - if not the fort - in his absence.
"A woman appeared at the top of the steps, facing us but backed by shadow ...
Her hair was entirely concealed beneath a jewelled headdress. She wore jewels on her slim, bare arms. A heavy girdle which glittered with precious stones supported a grotesquely elaborate robe, sewn thickly with emeralds. From proudly raised chin to slight, curving hips she resembled an ivory statue of some Indian goddess. Indeed, as I watched, I knew she was Kali, wife of Siva the patronne of thugs and dacoits, from whom they derived their divine right to slay!"
What with Nayland Smith's insistence on cunning disguises for every occasion and now Fah Lo Suee's Kali impersonation, Daughter Of Fu Manchu is quite the fancy dress party. And now we know the terrible truth. With the Devil Doctor out of commission, it has fallen upon his glamorous offspring to continue the family business, namely to reconvene and preside over the evil empire of "murderous Asiatics" - Thugee, Dacoit, Phansigar ("or religious stranglers!"), even a pair of Buddhist monks - collectively known as the Si Fan, whose goal remains world domination! And Nayland Smith is of a mind that whatever they stole from the Tomb of the Black Ape will enable them to achieve it!
But the daughter of Fu-Manchu has an Achilles heel. Wicked, merciless and thoroughly beastly to the core, she is still, above all, a WOMAN. She has NEEDS, and one of them is Chan Greville for whom, incredibly, she has developed a pash. "The little Irish girl is charming," she assures him. "No one will harm her. If it will make you happy, you shall have her." Commendably magnanimous for sure, but now she's heading a ruthless mob of murderers shouldn't Fah Lo Suee be setting an example?
Anyway, we're back in Limehouse now, as yet none the wiser to what transpired when Nayland Smith and Greville were exposed as imposters at the Si Fan get-together on the night hell was unleashed. All we know is - it was terrible!
I'm guessing Dennis Wheatley and Seabury Quinn were very familiar with this series.
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Post by pulphack on Apr 15, 2015 5:05:51 GMT
Yep, I think old Den owes Rohmer a drink in whatever occult afterlife they inhabit.
What Jojo was saying about the first book having its roots in a series of short stories made me pause for thought, considering my assertion that I prefer Rohmer the short story writer... I think this preference may be put down to an ambivalent feeling about the feuillade. If the novel cobbled together from a series of shorts has the same recurring hero/villain combo, I tend to find I get arsey about 2/3rds of the way through - 'haven't you figured him out yet?' etc - which says more about my boredom threshold than anything else. The kind of feuillade I prefer comes from the likes of Edgar Wallace where, in something like The Twister or The Mixer, you have a main villain but they're not always centre stage. They may lurk on the edges of some chapters/shorts, but the focus shifts. By it's very nature, the Fu Manchu book can't do this, which may be why I prefer Rohmer in small doses. Yes, I get a lot of time to think when I'm walking the dog, but not much of it is constructive - I could be working on world peace, for God's sakes.
Incidentally, this may be why I thought Re-Enter Fu Manchu was ghosted - it was, as I recall, more of a through narrative, and so unlike the earlier books in many ways. It was over 20 years ago, though, so anyone who's read it since is free to put me right!
What I do like about Rohmer is his ruthless women - you can see why Jess Franco was a natural for a number of (very) loose movie versions of Rohmer tales. Again, that probably says more about me than anything else...
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Post by dem bones on Apr 15, 2015 12:20:38 GMT
What I do like about Rohmer is his ruthless women - you can see why Jess Franco was a natural for a number of (very) loose movie versions of Rohmer tales. I'd argue that, far from being ruthless, it's Fah Lo Suee's sporadic spasms of humanity ultimately cost the Si Fan victory in a campaign that was theirs to lose. The Devil's daughter is quick to dispose of devoted underlings who've served their purpose, but can never quite bring herself to dispense instant death to her enemies when golden opportunities arise. I was expecting more from a woman variously described as a "witch", a "vampire" and a "tigress." Maybe she's just having an off novel. True, Fah Lo Suee belatedly shows signs of living down to her reputation when Nayland Smith is captured and and, on her orders, throw him into a dungeon - "I had been judged worthy of that Chinese penalty known as The Protracted Death" - but why not just garrotte the blighter and have done with it? Shan, as mentioned above, gets off incredibly lightly. His initial injection of "F-Katalepsis" is compensated by premium medical care, a supervised gratis hashish trip, and possibly even an off-page romp with the anti-heroine, who puts the entire world domination mission at risk by confiding in him! She's even nice to his fiancée. "Her astonishing indiscretion I can only ascribe to a sudden and characteristically Oriental infatuation" explains Dr. Petrie who, happily married to Kâramanèh, is wise to the ways of these inscrutable Chinese. We finally learn just what it was the Si-Fan retrieved from the sarcophagus in the Tomb of the Black Ape and can safely confirm The Daughter Of Fu-Manchu is not mummy fiction (even if Dr. Fu-Manchu, when we eventually meet him, physically resembles one. Ironically, old yellow skull's explanation for his intervention on the side of "good" is the most plausible sequence in the entire novel). Meanwhile, the fancy dress farce continues apace with Wayland Smith seemingly unable to go thirty pages without affecting yet another dramatic makeover - at one stage, and for reasons best known only to himself, he even poses as 'The phantom monk of Abbot's Hold'. This would be marvellous if his disguises actually fooled anyone other than his own people. Anyway, never mind any of that! Daughter Of Fu-Manchu is terrific fun and have set aside The Devil Doctor for next novel once I've polished off two from current books on the go.
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Post by andydecker on Apr 15, 2015 17:33:35 GMT
What I do like about Rohmer is his ruthless women - you can see why Jess Franco was a natural for a number of (very) loose movie versions of Rohmer tales. I'd argue that, far from being ruthless, it's Fah Lo Suee's sporadic spasms of humanity ultimately cost the Si Fan victory in a campaign that was theirs to lose. The Devil's daughter is quick to dispose of devoted underlings who've served their purpose, but can never quite bring herself to dispense instant death to her enemies when golden opportunities arise. I was expecting more from a woman variously described as a "witch", a "vampire" and a "tigress." Maybe she's just having an off novel. Rohmer was as "modern" as he could, but if you consider that in the pre-war time the concept of the heroine – or should I say ass-kicking villianess - was not a thing I guess he never got the idea to make more of his creation. I think his whiny portrayal of women who NEED a strong man at her side is harder to swallow today than Fu Manchu's evil plans. His BROOD OF THE WITCH QUEEN is one of my novels for the island, but every time I read about the simpering love interest of its hero I just want to wake her up. But Rohmer at least tried to go with the times. His Sumuru series was published after WWII. He never gave up.
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Post by pulphack on Apr 16, 2015 4:41:55 GMT
Ah, but ruthless does not mean without weakness, does it? And that very weakness is what makes the ruthless woman irresistible - yes, young man, YOU will be the one with the power to tame her, etc... She is the evil overlord (overmistress sounds too clumsy and overlady sounds like a feminine product) but she has this flaw that only YOU can exploit. I think I may be revealing too much about my psyche here, and certainly Mrs PH would be rolling around on the floor laughing if she saw this. And quite rightly - it's the 14year old in me talking.
Leaving that aside, it must have been hard to try and write a strong female heroine or villianess in that period between the wars: suffragettes and emancipation had started but hadn't really had a wide-spread effect on social attitudes, so where can you go with that? It's to his credit that Rohmer tried to tackle this.
A little like JT Edson post-WWII, deciding that females in Westerns shouldn't just scream but should get out their Colts (??). Mind you, that way leads to 'foxy boxing'... I must search through my Edsons and see what book that is, purely for the purposes of research, of course.
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