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William Sloane (1906–1974)

Autor(a) de The Rim of Morning

13 Works 647 Membros 25 Reviews 2 Favorited

About the Author

Includes the name: William Sloane (ed)

Obras de William Sloane

Etiquetado

Conhecimento Comum

Outros nomes
Milligan, William
Data de nascimento
1906-08-15
Data de falecimento
1974-09-25
Sexo
male
Nacionalidade
USA
Local de nascimento
Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA
Local de falecimento
New City, New York, USA

Membros

Discussions

Paranormal novel from the 1930s (I think) em Name that Book (Outubro 2015)

Resenhas

A spoooooky tale for Halloween, in the cosmic horror genre. I have a fondness for cosmic horror - who doesn't like being told that they and their species are an insignificant non-entity in an unfathomably vast, ancient, and hostile universe, whose true nature will drive us to madness if we begin to comprehend it, falsifying the beliefs of both religion and science. Right? This one came republished from NYRB Classics along with the only other novel Sloane ever wrote, and I may read that one tonight, or may not.

"To Walk the Night" features a couple of mathematics geniuses working on a theory that if true would fundamentally upend an Einsteinian understanding of the universe, and it's made clear at the start that both of them are now dead - one mysteriously set aflame as he worked at his desk, the other by suicide (Max Born may have felt uneasy here in the unlikely event he ever read this story). After the first man's death his friend and protégé Jerry discovered to his shock that his mentor was recently married, to a very unusual woman (with the suggestive name of Selena). Jerry then fell in love with her and married her himself, and despite her urging him to leave it alone, continued the theoretical work that no one else in the scientific/mathematical community believes can be true. After suddenly reaching a new understanding of Selena while they're together in the presence of his best friend Barkley, he immediately shot himself in the head.

The story is told in the format of Barkley trying to explain to Jerry's father, a highly rational and scientific man, events in their lives that suggest and explain his indeterminate fear of Selena, despite his fear that if he ever solves the mystery of her and these deaths, his own death will somehow immediately follow. This frame is effective as a method of slowly ratcheting up the tension and horror, despite the reader knowing Jerry's fate from the start, as we fear for Barkley's own safety. When he inevitably has his Eureka moment near the end of the story, the description is a pretty good description of a panic attack:
The panic fear that swept over me as I realized that I might have discovered the answer was indescribable. I felt no sense of triumph at having found out the secret of Selena and her life with Jerry and the rest of us. Instead, I was sinking into icy, black water, being suffocated by its pressure, drowning in arctic night and winter. Layer after layer of cold and blackness was piling up above me and the fright of death itself was pounding in my pulse. Fear like that, real fear, is an invasion. A physical thing full of ice and death that enters into every fiber of the body and possesses the mind. The worst of it was that there was no tangible thing with which I could deal. There was nothing to run away from and nothing to confront. This terror sprang from a nebulous idea.


The writing in general is only somewhat accomplished; it does sometimes read like a clunky debut novel written by a white dude in the 1930s. But it also has surprising accomplishments like moments of real humor, which certainly puts him up on Lovecraft! An interesting story especially in the context of the development of cosmic horror.
… (mais)
 
Marcado
lelandleslie | outras 5 resenhas | Feb 24, 2024 |
Subtitled "Two Tales of Cosmic Horror," this volume contains William Sloane's only published novels, "To Walk the Night" (1937) and "The Edge of Running Water" (1939). Both books are beautifully written combinations of science fiction, horror and mystery story, and both generate a palpable sense of dread and uneasiness. They each feel remarkably contemporary, certainly not nearly 90 years old, even though they also provide a glimpse into a time when people relied on train travel and a grown woman wearing pants resulted in negative comments from her friends.

"To Walk the Night" deals with two lifelong friends and roommates who return to their college for a football game and a visit to a favorite professor of astronomy in his observatory. But instead of a happy reunion, they discover their professor engulfed in a mysterious fire that burns only his body and nothing else. This leads them to an almost as strange discovery: the professor, a socially backward bachelor completely devoted to his work, leaves behind a young and beautiful widow who seems to have no past before she met and married the professor. The mystery of the locked room death and the widow are the focus of the rest of the book.

"The Edge of Water" is a little more gothic and formal in style. Julian Blair, a brilliant college professor has isolated himself in an old house in Maine, causing suspicion among the conservative townsfolk. He is assisted in his work on a strange electrical device by the mysterious Mrs. Walters, a woman imposing in both will and size. Enter Richard Sayles, a younger professor and friend who has been summoned for some information crucial to Blair's efforts. Blair's lovely niece Anne, visiting for the summer, confides that Blair suffers greatly from the death of his wife five years ago and she fears Blair's device is insanely meant to provide a means to communicate with his lost beloved. When the housekeeper from the town dies mysteriously, the story takes off to solve her death and uncover what Blair has created in his locked lab upstairs.

Both these novels have the cosmic horror theme that the universe is cold and indifferent to us and the more we try to uncover its essential mysteries, the more damage we bring unto ourselves. In addition, both are compulsive and enjoyable reads.
… (mais)
 
Marcado
RobertOK | outras 11 resenhas | Feb 7, 2024 |
Intriguing tale of a mystery woman whom men suddenly fall for, marry and shortly afterwards they wind up dead in mysterious circumstances
 
Marcado
kitsune_reader | outras 5 resenhas | Nov 23, 2023 |
Suspenseful story about a scientist trying to create apparatus to enable him to communicate with his dead wife and featuring a vividly created thoroughly evil female character.
 
Marcado
kitsune_reader | outras 4 resenhas | Nov 23, 2023 |

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Associated Authors

Stephen King Introduction
Basil Davenport Introduction
William Rose Cover artist

Estatísticas

Obras
13
Membros
647
Popularidade
#39,006
Avaliação
3.8
Resenhas
25
ISBNs
17
Idiomas
2
Favorito
2

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