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Fantasy Commentator, v. 1, issue 10, Spring 1946
Page 250
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250 FANTASY COMMENTATOR erally if we choose, or be regarded merely as an indication of the narrator's incipient madness. It relates of an obscure religious sect which years ago in England built an abortive imitation of the Tower of Babel, and of the peculiar and sinister optical effects this structure had on a latter-day travelling salesman. The odd changes observed in the tower's height and the things he saw crawling about its mighty summit and wriggling from beneath its dank base in the dead of the night leave us wondering if it is wise to meddle with the monuments of these defunct and little-known cults. A murderous demon-infant inhabiting a deserted house in an accursed wood where children were butchered in the past forms the basis for "The Child." This is competently done but hardly outstanding. Most ordinary of the tales is "The Dirk," which has to do with a fratricide and a haunted murder weapon that achieves vengeance upon the guilty one. Familiar elements dominate the structure of this story entirely. Told with considerable power is an account of ineffable astral harmonies produced by a strange musician while in a trance-like state. Whenever his fingers stray to the "Chords of Chaos," however, listeners rend each other in savage ecstasy as their ancestral memories of long-dead Atlantean religious orgies are reawakened. "Revolting" is the only word to describe adequately "The Meerschaum Pipe," which shows how an executed murderer's baleful influence still lingers in his personal effects, and what happens to be unwary individual who blunders in-such a genius loci. This tale is so ghastly and gory as to rank with our familiar tabloid sensations. However, it does have some authentic moments of terror as the growth of the evil influence in the interloper is detailed. The reader senses what is happening with mounting loathing, although the leading character appreciates only dimly his doom until the very ending which, even though you may be prepared for it, still comes as a very nasty experience. We have two tales of the weird in aviation's domain: "Haunted Air" and "The Iron Swine." These, while interesting enough, strike a relatively minor key. The first describes an accursed ridge where lurks a gelatinous something which flies up to rob passing planes of their control so that they crash to destruction. The other relates of a strange, foreign aircraft imbued with a vicious personality which is indicated by the quaint habit of breaking loose from its chocks while warming up, and slicing to ribbons unlucky pilots on the airstrip. The sole genuinely occult effort in the collection is the final story, "Animate in Death." In some respects this is reminiscent of Crawford's classic, "The Upper Berth," but it is not nearly so effective precisely because Lewis overworks and overemphasizes the purely physical aspects of horror. From the foregoing account it will be obvious that in this book we have a variety of fare---some original and striking, some merely pedestrian. Lewis emerges as a writer whose other work will bear close examination. At times he is lurid, but at least one can never accuse him of dullness. He speaks in the modern idiom; his language is often pungent and salty. A lively imagination coupled with a working knowledge of morbid psychology is in evidence, and a streak of the sardonic permeates his work. If Tales of the Grotesque truly reflects his nature, the author must be completely unsentimental and tough-minded in the correct sense of William James' connotation. In any case, he is deserving of attention, from readers and anthologists alike. ---Matthew H. Onderdonk --oOo--- "'You see,' said the new proprietor, 'the family ghost is included in the purchase of this old manor. The owner is supposed to see the ghost three days before his death. They say it may appear as a monk or as a cavalier, or even as that gardner over there.' "'But, my dear fellow, there is no gardner over there!'" ---Lady Maud Warrender: My Medley.
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250 FANTASY COMMENTATOR erally if we choose, or be regarded merely as an indication of the narrator's incipient madness. It relates of an obscure religious sect which years ago in England built an abortive imitation of the Tower of Babel, and of the peculiar and sinister optical effects this structure had on a latter-day travelling salesman. The odd changes observed in the tower's height and the things he saw crawling about its mighty summit and wriggling from beneath its dank base in the dead of the night leave us wondering if it is wise to meddle with the monuments of these defunct and little-known cults. A murderous demon-infant inhabiting a deserted house in an accursed wood where children were butchered in the past forms the basis for "The Child." This is competently done but hardly outstanding. Most ordinary of the tales is "The Dirk," which has to do with a fratricide and a haunted murder weapon that achieves vengeance upon the guilty one. Familiar elements dominate the structure of this story entirely. Told with considerable power is an account of ineffable astral harmonies produced by a strange musician while in a trance-like state. Whenever his fingers stray to the "Chords of Chaos," however, listeners rend each other in savage ecstasy as their ancestral memories of long-dead Atlantean religious orgies are reawakened. "Revolting" is the only word to describe adequately "The Meerschaum Pipe," which shows how an executed murderer's baleful influence still lingers in his personal effects, and what happens to be unwary individual who blunders in-such a genius loci. This tale is so ghastly and gory as to rank with our familiar tabloid sensations. However, it does have some authentic moments of terror as the growth of the evil influence in the interloper is detailed. The reader senses what is happening with mounting loathing, although the leading character appreciates only dimly his doom until the very ending which, even though you may be prepared for it, still comes as a very nasty experience. We have two tales of the weird in aviation's domain: "Haunted Air" and "The Iron Swine." These, while interesting enough, strike a relatively minor key. The first describes an accursed ridge where lurks a gelatinous something which flies up to rob passing planes of their control so that they crash to destruction. The other relates of a strange, foreign aircraft imbued with a vicious personality which is indicated by the quaint habit of breaking loose from its chocks while warming up, and slicing to ribbons unlucky pilots on the airstrip. The sole genuinely occult effort in the collection is the final story, "Animate in Death." In some respects this is reminiscent of Crawford's classic, "The Upper Berth," but it is not nearly so effective precisely because Lewis overworks and overemphasizes the purely physical aspects of horror. From the foregoing account it will be obvious that in this book we have a variety of fare---some original and striking, some merely pedestrian. Lewis emerges as a writer whose other work will bear close examination. At times he is lurid, but at least one can never accuse him of dullness. He speaks in the modern idiom; his language is often pungent and salty. A lively imagination coupled with a working knowledge of morbid psychology is in evidence, and a streak of the sardonic permeates his work. If Tales of the Grotesque truly reflects his nature, the author must be completely unsentimental and tough-minded in the correct sense of William James' connotation. In any case, he is deserving of attention, from readers and anthologists alike. ---Matthew H. Onderdonk --oOo--- "'You see,' said the new proprietor, 'the family ghost is included in the purchase of this old manor. The owner is supposed to see the ghost three days before his death. They say it may appear as a monk or as a cavalier, or even as that gardner over there.' "'But, my dear fellow, there is no gardner over there!'" ---Lady Maud Warrender: My Medley.
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