¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Guy Endore!

AKA Samuel Guy Endore as well as Samuel Goldstein* and Harry Relis.

Born July 4, 1900. Died February 12, 1970.

He was the author of The Werewolf of Paris as well as several other novels such as King of Paris and Voltaire! Voltaire!. I have yet to read a dull book that has been written by him though that may say more about me than about him. He also wrote or co-wrote a number of Hollywood screenplays. I am tempted to call him one of my favorite writers but lately it seems like every other person I read is one of my favorite writers so let's just say that I find him very interesting to read even when he is writing about a topic that is not so interesting.

* Birth name.

The Werewolf of Madrid

There’s a great scene toward the end of the 1961 Hammer film The Curse of the Werewolf but unfortunately you have to wade through a lot of scenes of people doing cruel things to other people to get there.

Is it worth to get there?

Well, it depends. The Curse of the Werewolf gives us a young Oliver Reed, a likable narrator, a surprisingly benign Spanish cleric and a novel explanation for lycanthropy. The movie is loosely -- very loosely -- based on Guy Endore’s novel The Werewolf of Paris but unfortunately, the adaptation eschews almost every scene in The Werewolf of Paris worth reading and includes a few I would rather not have revisited.

Hammer deserves credit for attempting to do something more complex than the usual Lawrence Talbot routine but I can not honestly say that this is one of their better movies. The main problem with the plot is that Reed is sympathetic enough as cursed Spanish lycanthrope Leon Corledo that I can not help but wish a happy ending for his character yet an unhappy ending is all but a foregone conclusion. To be fair, the plot does hint at possible alternative endings. For example, Corledo attempts to elope with his girlfriend at one point, only to be stymied by the police. At another point, the cleric hints that Corledo could be sent to a monastery. (An odd solution given the Catholic Church’s traditional attitude towards the supernatural but in the wake of recent events, all too believable.) However, this plan ultimately fails as well.

So is Curse of the Werewolf worth seeing? Not really. Yet there is something about that final scene in which Corledo’s girlfriend, dressed in black, stands alone in a way which suggests Goya’s famous painting of the Black Duchess. Perhaps I am stretching things a bit but then again I do not often see scenes that remind me of Goya paintings in a movie, let alone a Hammer movie. I just wish this one scene had appeared in a better film.

All the Classic Horror Novels That I Have Read, Part One

1. Frankenstein (1818) -- Mary Shelley.

The one that started it all -- at least, historically speaking. Ironically, I never read the whole thing until recently but I do remember reading the plot synopsis in my parent's Masterplots collection over and over again.

2. The Portrait of Dorian Gray (1890) -- Oscar Wilde.

Another book I've read recently. (I did read Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" in high school, but unfortunately, it's technically a novella, not a novel, so I can't really put it on this list.)

3. Dracula (1897) -- Bram Stoker.

Another one that I've only recently read all the way through.

4. The Invisible Man (1897) -- H. G. Wells.

Horror novel or science fiction? You decide. One of the few classic horror novels I've read in high school.

5. The Werewolf of Paris (1933) -- Guy Endore.

Yes, I already mentioned it on another list, but it really is a good novel.

6. Conjure Wife (1943) -- Fritz Leiber.

One of the first novels of contemporary horror. Also the inspiration of at least two movies.

7. I Am Legend (1954) -- Richard Matheson.

Another co-mingling of science fiction and horror. This book has been ripped off so often it's a wonder Matheson gets any royalties at all.

8. Psycho (1959) -- Robert Bloch.

Yes, the novel that inspired the Alfred Hitchcock movie of the same name. Definitely different -- and more realistic -- than the movie. Save for that decapitation scene.

9. Carrie (1974) -- Stephen King.

The first book from some obscure writer named Stephen King. Whatever happened to him?

10. Ghost Story (1979) -- Peter Straub.

One of the best -- and most artistically ambitious -- horror novels I've ever read. Also way better than its cinematic namesake.

Literary Quote I Like

“It's you who are the stick-in-the-mud,” I said. “Look, I'll show you. Here,” I said, opening up a volume, “is a quotation from an ancient Egyptian papyrus. The young people no longer obey the old. The laws that ruled their fathers are trampled underfoot. They seek only their own pleasure and have no respect for religion. They dress indecently and their talk is full of impudence. Do you find yourself depicted there? There always was a younger generation and there always will be. And the younger generation will always think it smart to thumb its nose at its elders.”
--Guy Endore, The Werewolf of Paris

All the Fantasy Novels That I Have Read

Once again, a not so complete list:

1. Bloodsucking Fiends (1995) -- Christopher Moore.

A rarity--a vampire novel that is actually both funny and scary. Better than the sequel, You Suck: A Love Story.

2. You Suck: A Love Story (2007) -- Christopher Moore.

An appropriately titled book. At least the first part of the title is appropriate.

3. A Dirty Job (2006) -- Christopher Moore.

One of the best novels Moore has written in quite a while. It's about a man who sees the Grim Reaper at the bedside of his dying wife and ends up “inheriting” the Reaper's position. It combines genuinely serious insights into life and death with not so serious insights about everyday life -- and makes it work. It even manages to include a guest appearance by the lead female character of a previous Moore novel, Bloodsucking Fiends, and make that bit work.

4. Definitely Dead (2006) -- Charlaine Harris.

The until-recently-latest novel in the Sookie Stackhouse Saga (a series about a young Southern barmaid who becomes involved with a vampire). It answers some questions raised by earlier books in the series and leaves yet other answers to the imagination. It could have made a good conclusion for the series if Ms. Harris had not gone on to write another book in the series.

5. Grave Sight (2005) -- Charlaine Harris.

A young woman in the modern South can find dead people. A better novel than that brief description makes it sound. Proof that Charlaine Harris can write about something other than vampires and barmaids.

6. Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth (2006) -- Simon R. Green.

I had first supposed this book to be the concluding volume in Mr. Green's Nightside series. But apparently it is not. (Another book in the series has been published since this book came out.) An odd comic-book-style effort about a psychic detective who operates in a supernatural area of London known as the Nightside. The detective spends most of the series searching for clues to the mystery of his mother's disappearance, only to find out an unpleasant truth about his missing parent. In this book, he has a big confrontation with his missing mother; hence, the title.

7. Smoke and Ashes (2006) -- Tanya Huff.

Concluding book in a trilogy about a gay production assistant who is constantly running into the supernatural. (I hate it when that happens.) A spinoff from Ms. Huff's Henry Fitzroy series.

8. The Paper Grail (1991) -- James Blaylock.

So-so novel about a modern-day Holy Grail. Not to be confused with the Richard Ben Sapir novel Quest.

9. Quest (1987) -- Richard Ben Sapir.

A New York City police detective and an all-American girl try to track down an ancient artifact which might be the original Holy Grail. Sapir's last novel and one of his best.

10. The Werewolf of Paris (1933) -- Guy Endore.

Endore uses a fictional version of a real-life fiend (Sgt. Francis Bertrand) to explore the non-supernatural horrors of nineteenth-century French society. The novel is much, much better than the title makes it sound.

All the Not So Classic Books That I Have Read, Part Two

1. Voltaire! Voltaire! (1961) -- Guy Endore.

Not quite a novel. Not quite a history book. An account of French philosophers Rousseau and Voltaire and the odd relationship between them. Very interesting.

2. King of Paris (1956) -- Guy Endore.

Endore does for Alexandre Dumas, Sr. and Jr., what Voltaire! Voltaire! did for Voltaire and Rousseau. A very entertaining book. However, it does bring up the question of why no movie maker in this country has ever tried to make a movie about either member of the Dumas family. It's certainly not because the two of them are uninteresting.

3. Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls (2003) -- Matt Ruff.

A young person with MPD discovers a kindred spirit.

4. The Gun Seller (1996) -- Hugh Laurie.

A comic novel that actually lives up to its rep. And yes, its author is the same Hugh Laurie who starred in Blackadder and House.

5. Darkly Dreaming Dexter (2004) -- Jeff Lindsay.

A novel about a heroic serial killer--yes, you read that right. Inspiration for the current Showtime TV series Dexter.

6. Red Dragon (1981) -- Thomas Harris.

The first of the Hannibal Lecter novels.

7. State of Fear (2004) -- Michael Crichton.

Crichton's controversial take on global warming and the “true” menace to society--eco-terrorists.

8. Aztec (1980) -- Gary Jennings.

A long but interesting novel about an Aztec who lives through the Spanish Conquest of Mexico.

9. The Journeyer (1984) -- Gary Jennings.

The uncensored life of Marco Polo.

10. Spangle (1987) -- Gary Jennings.

A pair of Civil War veterans join a circus that goes on a tour of post-Civil War America and Europe.