An Itching for Quinn
Strangely, and against better judgment, I find myself tempted to order the first two of five propos'd hardcover volumes of ye supernatural tales of Seabury Quinn from publisher Night Shade Books. I read, aeons ago, all of Quinn's Jules de Grandin stories when Robert Weinberg publish'd yem in wonderful mass pb editions in ye mid-1970's. Many of ye tales made me sneer because, oh man, they were so pulp. Reading them was similar to watching the tv series Buffy the Vampire Slayer--every week there is a "new" monster that just happens to appear in the young woman's home town. And yet--silly as the stories seemed to be as I recall them--I really enjoy'd reading them; & glancing over ye few reviews on Amazon, I see that others really enjoy'd reading the stories as well. Yes, I am going to purchase ye first of the two publish'd volumes, and then next month I'll buy ye second volume. It has been a creative itch of mine, for years, to write my own series of occult detective tales--and I partially did so, in collaboration with Jeffrey Thomas, when he and I invented our character Enoch Coffin. I still feel a wee itch to invent a new character in this tradition. Mine wou'd be a male ghost detective, but he wou'd have an elderly woman as his "Watson" who wou'd accompany him in his investigations and provide various clues that had eluded him. But this is such a mild itch that I doubt I will actually pen such a book. Rather, I think I'll just wait for my Quinn book to arrive and then enjoy such stories by a master of ye form.
I have the first two books with the third due in March. I also have the audio books for each volume so it really is a great experience to read along and listen. The are quality editions with a heavy hard cover binding. I highly recommend the If you have Amazon Prime the come with a reasonable discount.
ReplyDeleteI recently read (or listened to, from Audible) Seabury Quinn's Jules de Grandin stories. I... well, I don't know. As you say, they are VERY pulp. But as for a new monster every week, sometimes it seemed to me like it was either a vampire or a werewolf, and that either way good old Dr. Trowbridge Did Not Believe It. I found myself shouting at the audio book sometimes, things like, "Don't believe in vampires, do you? Do you remember what happened to you two stories ago? DO YOU? No? Grrr." Anyway, I think this is a warning to all who approach these texts, to remember that they weren't meant to be read all in one great gulp.
ReplyDeleteI was determined to try and like the stories with this new reading--and it was impossible. I've never had stories that actually irritated me as these do. I have given up, out of boredom. But I don't feel too sad--I'll be saving a lot of moola from not ordering the other four volumes...
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