Ivar Jorgensen - Rest in Agony

[dem bones]

Ivar Jorgensen (Paul W. Fairman) - Rest in Agony (Monarch, July, 1963: aka The Diabolist, Lancer 1972. Originally published in Fantastic Adventures, Jan. 1952)

Ralph Brillhart

Blurb:
THE LITTLE BLACK BOOK
Ecstasy Danvers ...House by the Devil's Bend.
A favored one.
Caress Dillon ...The Place of Pain.
The dangerous one.
Vandal James ...The Sign of the Bull.
Satan's playmate.
Amora Cartwright . . . House of Smothering Darkness.
Goddess of dark waters.

There were page after page of these strange, weird names in my Uncle Amby's little notebook. But that was only the beginning. For, though he had been dead for two days, his voice came over the telephone, moaning, “Help me! Help me!"
Then came my wild dreams, prompted by Uncle Amby's diary: of snakes and uninhibited sinning; of corruption almost beyond comprehension. Finally came the reality: that Uncle Amby must have lived two lives: one good and one evil.
Somewhere between Heaven and Hell his troubled spirit hovered, waiting to be rescued, so that he could REST IN PEACE INSTEAD OF IN AGONY. It was up to me to save him...

"On first reading you get the impression the foulness is there only for the sake of foulness, like smokehouse poetry... some of the practices described ... go beyond obscenity and into the realms of just plain foolishness ... some of them appear to go even beyond the degeneracy of distorted sexual urge."

Ambrose Whiting, improbably wealthy travelling salesman, dies screaming. Hal Brent, 21, and sister Lisa, 18, are mortified. Uncle Amby was the kindness man they ever knew. Generous to a fault, not only did he pay for their parents' house, he financed the kids through college. How could God let this Saint among men suffer so?

They could never have imagined it at the time, but Uncle Amby led a double life. The Mother Theresa routine was a cynical pose to mask the terrible truth. He was a filthy degenerate hypocrite in thrall to Lucifer.

Hal first gets wind of the truth when he receives a phone call. A phone call from beyond the grave. The voice is unmistakably that of Uncle Amby, and it is clear he is under the greatest distress. "Help me!," he pleads. But how?

No sooner has Brent replaced the receiver than a stranger arrives. It's Hugh Payson, the sports reporter on The Telegram. Maybe you've read his weekly column, The Tenth Innings? Payson explains that he's made Ambrose Whiting something of a pet project and knows all about his secret life. He's particularly interested in locating the dead man's little black book, and warns Brent that, should he find it among Amby's effects, best keep it away from his mother and sister. Oh no, thinks Hal. Pornography! "The thought of Lisa being subjected to a shock like that was sickening." Payson intimates that Hal should visit Uncle Amby's supposed place of work, 'Massasoit Fabrics' of 151 River Street, Williamsburg, aka 'The Place of Pain.'

Hal finds both an address book full of strange entries (see blurb) and the blasphemous Book of Ambrose. The latter is so disgusting he buries it in the garden.

Ambrose Whiting's funeral attracts a huge attendance. Hal can't help but ogle a particularly glamorous mourner. Payson tells him she's Margo Dillon, well worth looking at but deadly as sin itself. Hal feels ashamed of himself. There's a time and a place for "that sort of thing." And besides - oh dear! - he only has eyes for his sister.

Mom takes a phone call and keels over. Heart attack!

Will the nightmare never end?

TBC

[dem bones]

Ed Valigursky

.... and suddenly, everything in the garden is rosy. Mom recovers, Dad books them a vacation in Florida to recuperate. Before leaving, Dad confesses the family secret. Hal and Lisa are not brother and sister. She was adopted! Their 'unnatural' feelings toward one another are no longer cause for self-recrimination. What a result!

It's a false dawn. No sooner have the pair become lovers than Lisa is kidnapped.

Hal takes another phone call. A super seductive voice. It's Margo Dillon! Lisa is perfectly safe, but she'll not stay that way unless he brings The Book of Ambrose to River Street tomorrow night. He'll recognise her from her bravura performance intonight's steamy dream.

Hal confides in his best pal, Mark Davis, the star player on the "football" team. Mark is thick as shit but has the heart of lion. He's sweet on Lisa and who can blame him?

"As I raised my eyes they travelled up her sheer nightgown. Under it, right where they belonged, were her legs."

The kid finds it difficult to take everything in. Phone calls from the dead? Mumbo jumbo? Satan-busting sports reporter? Abduction? "Is Lisa being initiated into some goofy sorority?" Would that were the case, Mark.

The friends travel to River Street. Hal intuitively knows he'll find Margo in a department store and so it proves - she's behind a counter giving the hard sell to a new scent, Serpent's Wile, which comes in a cobra shaped bottle. Margo, angry that Hal's arrived way before the appointed hour, demonstrates her power by willing a random customer to strip a woman and force her over a counter. He's beaten to death by store detectives. Hal and Mark agree that discretion is the better part of valour in the circumstances and visit Payson at the local golf course. He agrees to accompany them to the Satanists' lair ...

TBC

******

Ed Emshwiller

Interlude:

"OUR LEAD story this month is an experiment — and you're the judge. This is an extreme story — in every respect. When Jorgensen first submitted it to us, our reactions to it were mixed — too much fantasy, too weird, too erotic, too much science. We were just full of criticisms.

BUT ONE thing stood out: not one of out staff could put the manuscript down until he'd finished reading it. Each one's attention was glued to the very end. Written in rhythmic nostalgic style of Jorgensen, "Rest In Agony" has a power and a. beauty which is sweeping.

SO — WE'RE taking chance on it. It's up to you. Do you want more of this type of story? Or would you prefer Jorgensen to stick to the kind of thing he's been doing for us up to now?"

- L. E. Shaffer, The Editor's Notebook (Fantastic Adventures, January 1952).

"A pulpy-to-rotten diabolic thriller, much worse than any of The Exorcist's misbegotten progeny.

- R. S. Hadji, 13 Worst Stinkers Of The Weird, Scream Factory #10, Autumn 1992.

Read it for free on UNZ.org. It may even be that you owe yourself. But I doubt it.

[dem bones]

Ed Emshwiller

Commentary has taken three instalments but, bearing out L. E. Shaffer's remarks, took me just over an hour to read Rest In Agony in one hit (the book version is a slimline 120 pages). I enjoyed the experience, too, if, at times, for decidedly The Legs That Walked reasons. My guess is that Rest In Agony was speed-written to meet a punishing deadline. Some of the dialogue is delightfully ropey but book is nowhere near as awful as R. S. Hadji would have us believe, just badly let down by inevitable piss poor happy ending. The very mildly erotic dream sequences are a plus. Would not be at all surprised if brief cameo from demonic entity masquerading as Jesus Christ upset a few readers on initial publication.

Paul W. Fairman would go on to greater things, not least The Partridge Family #4: The Ghost Of Graveyard Hill which I've never read but just know is tremendous.

[dem bones]

Paul W. Fairman - The World Grabbers (Monarch, Oct 1964)

Ralph Brillhart

Blurb:

"ARE YOU A FAILURE?
If success has passed you by there may still be time. Sri Ahandi has helped many to undreamed of heights in achievement and personal satisfaction. Swami Ahandi will give a lecture on "The Human Potential" Tuesday evening at eight o'clock. 802 W.10th St."

That was the entire ad, an obvious come-on for some con game. But somehow it pulled Dane Morrow like a magnet, almost beckoning with an invisible finger to come and be fleeced. Since Dane didn't have a nickel to his name, what could he lose?
It turned out that the swami guaranteed to make you rich — for a fee of $1,000 and a share of the wealth you would acquire through his astounding powers . . .
It was a hoax-except that Dane did immediately start making money, and found himself enmeshed in a miasmic complex of dangerous secrets, evil influences, and a sinister society of self-styled super—men known as The Enlightened Ones!

A Dramatic. Suspenseful Novel Inspired By The Popular TV Program: ONE STEP BEYOND

More Fairman. Picked this up at Sp*t*lfields Market this morning on what appears to be the last bookstall standing. One for 2019 ...

[helrunar]

That looks fascinating, Dem. Great cover and scan!

cheers, Steve