HALLOWEEN SPECIAL: Mandrake - Oliver Sherry

THE STORY:  Research student of the arcane arts, and sometime occult detective, Tom Annesley has traveled from America at the request of some friends in London to search for their missing friend Hilda Brown. His search takes him to the town of Haddeston where he encounters a powerful sorcerer who has penetrated the darkest secrets of alchemy and Black Magic and discovered how to create and prolong life with the aid of a mandrake root. A series of hair-raising adventures ensues as Tom and his new found friends, Ethel Derrington and Rev. Hamilton Sturt, set out to put an end to Baron Habdymos and his rampant evil.

THE CHARACTERS: Mandrake (1929) is modeled on both early 19th century fairy tales and Victorian era "penny dreadful" shockers. Baron Habdymos, a thoroughly venal and evil sorcerer bent on dominating all mortal men, outdoes anything Dr. Nikola or Fu Manchu accomplished in any of their occult thrillers. In creating this master of the Black Arts Oliver Sherry has added one of the most horribly memorable villains in early 20th century supernatural fiction. Not only can he create life using ingredients that are more disgusting and flesh-creeping than those employed by the Weird Sisters at work with their double-bubbling troublesome cauldron he has the ability to shapeshift into any human of his choosing (as long as he has murdered them) and transmogrify into animals. Just like Fantomas with his many disguises one never knows when the evil Baron will be appearing in any given scene in some other form -- either human or animal -- which only adds to the spinechilling surprises.

Our trio of heroes Tom, Ethel and Mr. Sturt -- are the heroic, pure of heart and intelligent.  A fourth hero is added to this trio when Mr. Sturt's servant Dunsmore selflessly risks his life to pursue the Baron in one of his many disguises. Dunsmore views himself a stoic and less spiritual than the others thinking this will be beneficial in dealing with such an other-worldly adversary. However he, like the other three, underestimates the range of the Baron's arcane skills. 

Unlike other fictional occult detectives like Carnacki, Miles Pennoyer, Jules De Grandin and John Silence, Tom does not consider himself a master of the supernatural lore. He confesses he is still a student and sees his dearth of knowledge, ironically, to be his greatest asset. He glibly remarks to Sturt: "A student is rather too inclined to value knowledge apart from its use.  It is a kind of foolishness one is compelled to admire and imitate if one can."

Mr.  Sturt is the perfect foil for Tom. He has more common sense and coupled with his deep religious faith he is a voice of both reason and goodness. The two men also share a belief in amulets and talismans.  Tom wrote a book on the subject and Sturt read the work with great interest. He talks about a cross of gold and rubies that was stolen from him by the sinister Dr. Demos, one of the Baron's many alter egos, and we learn from Tom that artifact was most likely one of the hundreds of "rosy crosses" created by the Rosicrucians to protect them from evil.

Amulets and magical artifacts play a large part in the story.  Tom gives an iron ring to Ethel that he tells her is a powerful amulet that will protect her from the Baron.  Later it becomes an engagement ring when inevitably Tom falls in love with the young woman. Their almost instantaneous romance is one of the glaringly obvious fairy tale motifs Sherry includes.  There is even an almost unintentional comical moment when Ethel under an evil hypnotic spell is saved from the Baron's telepathic clutches when Tom out of love gives her a meaningful tender kiss. Ah, the course of true love saves the day!

INNOVATIONS:  The strongest aspects and the most thrilling parts of Mandrake are the Gothic excesses, the sheer number of supernatural incidents and the manner in which Sherry constructs his tale to end all of these action sequences with cliff hanger endings at the close of each chapter.  Even within each chapter there are cliffhangers and sudden shifts to other locales.  At times it seems as if Mandrake was modeled on a Saturday morning silent movie serial. The book certainly has enough moments that would work extremely well on screen. There is even one sequence when the townspeople of Haddeston rise up in revolt against the evil Baron and storm his usually shunned fortress of a house armed with torches, pitchforks, crowbars and other tools of the angry rural mob. It's right out of a Universal Pictures 1930s monster movie -- except it was written a couple of years before any of them were ever made.

In addition to fairy tale elements like magic rings, a magic mirror that foretells the future, transformations, and the power of true love's kiss, the book is teeming with "penny dreadful" grotesquerie and macabre set pieces.  Each chapter is packed with supernatural manifestation that surprise and shock both the characters and the reader.  The Baron works his evil magic in bizarre and unusual manners not often encountered in supernatural fiction.  Learning about the use of the mandrake root to create a homunculus then transforming it into a full size humanoid creature was eye-opening.  This may be used in contemporary horror but I've not come across a similar folk horror touch in any of the books I've read in this genre. The variety of identities that the Mandrake inhabits at the command of the Baron is sort of mind-boggling.

The constant shifting of scenes also creates a great deal of suspense for the reader knows so much more than many of the characters do. We can only hold our breath hoping against hope that none of our heroes fall into the many traps we know are being laid for them. Tom, the perennial student, has a foolhardy manner. His desire to know as much as he can leads him to more than his fair share of mortal danger and near deathtraps.

As the story progresses it becomes wilder and more fantastic as if Sherry was trying to outdo himself with every passing page. Whether the book was first published as a serial has never been determined, but it seems likely for it certainly reads as if it was designed to be read that way.  Even as I thought nothing could be more outlandish that the previous scene Sherry continues to impress with his lurid and macabre imagination. The most grotesque and shocking scene occurs late in the book when Tom is nearly run over twice by a madman in a sports car and he seeks refuge in the home of a miserly old man.  The house turns out to be no haven, but rather a literal house of horrors. I not only gasped, I actually cried out "Oh my God!" at one point while tearing through the paragraphs of this scene.

THE AUTHOR:  Oliver Sherry was the pseudonym of Irish poet and writer George Edmund Lobo (1894-1971).  In the limited edition reissue of Mandrake (Medusa Press, 2010) Richard Dalby, noted supernatural fiction scholar, has written a brief biography of the man. Dalby notes that while Mandrake was Lobo's first novel of the supernatural he supposedly wrote a second thriller called Brood of Death which was listed in Lobo's Who's Who in Literature (1930) entry.  However, no publication of that title is recorded in any reference books or newspapers.

EASY TO FIND? Mandrake has been an elusive collector's book for several decades now. There is exactly one copy of the 1929 Jarrold's edition of Mandrake for sale from noted sci fi/fantasy/supernatural fiction bookseller L. W. Curry.  And it's got a hefty price tag. I recommend you purchase a copy of the reprint from Medusa Press.  There are no used copies of this reissue for sale primarily because the book is 1. so scarce anyone will want to keep their copy and 2. it's beautifully designed and typeset. The photographs in this post are all of the Medusa Press edition.  There were only 350 copies printed and I have no idea how many are left now that 16 years have passed since it was published. But I got mine only two and half weeks ago. There may still be some copies for sale. And good news! The original price has been reduced by 25%, only $30 now.  Order directly from the publisher.  Here's a shortcut link for you.  

 

FRIGHT FEST #6: The Black Cat - Robert Poe

Whaddya know? Another distant relation to Edgar Allan Poe cropped up. This time it's Robert Poe who wrote two mystery novels inspired by two short stories by the Master of the Macabre.  I found his second one first and because it's titled The Black Cat (1997) and drawn from that nasty story of ax murder, a body walled up in a cellar, and a vengeful cat, I thought I'd tackle this one for Halloween.  It also promised a storyline about a witch and how her practicing Wicca affects the town of Crowley Creek, Virginia.

Our narrator is John Charles Poe who, just like the author, is also descended from the great Edgar. He has been entrusted with a box of documents and letters written by EAP, handed down to the eldest Poe over the past five or so generations. Occasionally John Charles turns to this box and pores over what ol' Edgar wrote. It was fun to read these letters as the author tells us in a footnote that they are taken directly from known letters and essays Poe wrote himself. But they have little to do with the story other than reminding us that the book is supposed to be an exploration of the inescapable concept of doing evil for its own sake.

The novel is basically nothing more than a re-telling of "The Black Cat." There is a woman who disappears and is feared to be dead by the more superstitious members of the town. Her husband, the local veterinarian, is sure she simply left him and will show up at her relatives in Charlottesville. John Charles Poe, a reporter, at the urging of his research assistant Edith starts looking into this disappearance. Anyone familiar with Poe's short story knows that Margaret Cully is never coming back.

The vet has hired Julie Noir, a young girl who John Charles says can be anywhere between seventeen and twenty-four. She alternately acts like a wise old woman and a naive teen making it all the more difficult to pin down her age.  Julie is also a practicing Wiccan. She has an exceptional skill at healing the sick animals at Dr. Lawrence Cully's clinic. She gathers special herbs at night in the light of the moon (preferably a full moon, of course) and concocts all sorts of unique potions and poultices. An old Irish Setter named Gomer suffering from a GI illness was treated by Dr. Cully but had a relapse. As soon as Julie applies her special herb treatment to the dog he recovers within hours. Does she have magical powers? Or is it arcane science? We never really know. The townspeople begin to freak out, in particular the zealot Rev. Rowland Fairchild who accuses Julie of witchcraft and dealing with Lucifer. He starts a campaign to oust her from Crowley Creek. But Dr. Cully is unwilling to fire his assistant. You see, he is lusting for her wants to possess her. It's no surprise when he confesses he has had a sexual relationship with her. 

From a French 1948 edition
artwork by Albert Dubout

And where is The Black Cat in all of this?  Julie has a pet cat called Asmodeus, of course.  A cat named after a demon can't be a good sign.  Asmodeus is almost always seen on Julie's shoulder watching everyone.  The cat is always ready to protect Julie.  It has taken a liking to John Charles and has an antipathy towards Dr. Cully.  Again, anyone familiar with Poe's classic short story will have figured the entire plot once Asmodeus appears. And sure enough the story fulfills it promise of echoing all that occurs in "The Black Cat."  Though the characters notice the eerie similarities to the short story and the events taking place in town it takes John Charles way too long to think of going into Dr. Cully's cellar and exposing him for the killer he most obviously is.

As the so-called mystery of Margaret's disappearance and the revelations of her murder slowly unfolds there are three or four subplots going on. John Charles is a reporter and he has an antagonistic relationship with his editor Mrs. Boynton. We have generational criticism of lost teenage misfits, how easy it is for teens to be exploited when vulnerable. The author attempts to satirize the small-mindedness of small towns that want everything to stay the same, and attacks their intolerance of counterculture types. Finally, there is a very strange 17th century, fire and brimstone, backlash in response to a young woman practicing Wicca. The "us against them" mentality got to be annoying and I got the feeling that the author had a big hang-up against punk rock and death metal and its insidious influence on young people. Late in the novel a disturbing sequence occurs when John Charles and Edith attend a death metal concert for a band called The Dead Souls. Ironically, in a story including an ax murder and entombment, this is the most gruesome and bizarre incident in the book and it most definitely serves as the author's big message of the book.

From a French 1933 edition,
artwork by Auguste Leroux

The most off-putting aspect was Fairchild's over-the-top reaction to Wicca rituals. His insane ranting and quoting Old Testament passages from the Bible was utterly anachronistic. He is introduced as an Episcopalian priest with a church that has a small parish and with little influence in a town of Christians who attend other churches. By the end of the book he has become the only religious figure speaking out against Julie and for some reason everyone is listening to him. I don't know why because he comes across as a lunatic. When he's practically foaming at the mouth about witches being the Devil's handmaidens, quoting the Book of Leviticus, and mentioning a moonlight ritual he witnessed during which Julie prayed to the Goddess and calls it blasphemy it all seems ridiculous.  I always thought that Episcopalians are just American versions of Church of England followers and therefore similar to Catholics minus the Pope and leadership from the Vatican. I would think like Catholics the message of an Episcopalian is the teachings of Jesus and not an obsession with obscure passages from the Old Testament, a preoccupation of fundamentalist Christians. Reverend Fairchild seems more like a Calvinist or a Puritan rather than a late 20th century Episcopalian. It was all very strange and sort of insulting to read those passages. It could have been handled with less hysteria and ludicrous zealotry.

For the Halloween season The Black Cat was an OK read.  I did find a copy of Poe's first book Return to the House of Usher (1997) but I'm unsure if I will bother with it knowing what's he's done with this re-telling of EAP's short story.  Ultimately, the mystery was hardly mysterious since it completely echoed "The Black Cat." The religious zealotry was absurd, the teen cliques (punks vs. the straights) were overplayed, the bullying and violence among the teens also seemed over-the-top in reaction to something as innocuous as a girl who heals sick animals with herbs. Even the supernatural element seemed nebulous. The true mystery of the book is Julie Noir. Is she a good witch or a bad witch?  Though everything seems to wrap up neatly -- the villain's evil is exposed, our hero is redeemed -- that ultimate question about Julie is never really answered.

For the curious who feel compelled to read this book you may buy my copy. It's listed for sale here.