A tour of the lesser lights of the mythos, stop 1: The Dark Destroyer by John Glasby
icarp...@aol.com
mythosish, based on the chapbook from Rainfall Books by Glynn Barrass,
supplemented by ramblings from James-Ambuehl-he-of-compendious-mythos-
knowledge. I have been through a few of these and will share my
impressions, however briefly. I am trying to get through all these
books before I get on to Rainey's Blue Devil Island.
The Dark Destroyer by John Glasby dates to 2005, from Sarob Press in
Wales (a lot of these novels I've been looking at are from the UK,
perhaps explaining their obscurity in the US (not that they're famous
in the UK)(and not that they should be...). This 187 page books was
rather expensive, about $45 from Mythos Books. I think they still
have a copy or 2 if you are so inclined. The effective cover art is
byPaul Lowe, showing a shadowy horned figure in a desolate place,
surrounded by menhirs in the setting sun. It was the best thing about
the book.
I think I've read a few Glasby stories; there were several of them in
the cycle books (help me out here, Jim) but none of them were
memorable.
The Dark Destroyer is set in the village of Redforde. The de Vernis
family conjured up something evil a few hundred years ago and it still
lurks in the countryside, trying to exert a malvolent influence.
Alan Garvey, an occultist, is contacted by his friend, village doctor,
Paul Weston, to help fight against nefarious doings as the Dark
Destroyer seems to have been unleashed to cause unrelieved mayhem.
How is it mythos. Well a few occult tomes are cited, the Book of
Dyzan and the Necronomicon. In the Necronomicon they find a passage
that some other names for the Dark Destroyer are Nyarlathotep and
Azathoth (Azathoth *and* Nyarlathotep, you ask. Yep, that's the way
it is.). Ways that it was not like typical mythos writing include the
fact that a crucifix has power over the agents of the Dark Destroyer
as does a talisman called the Solomon Seal. The evil entities/entity
can't really manifest physically but rather occupy the bodies of those
recently killed.
Basically this book wasn't worth the candle; it was pretty much lame.
The writing is labored, the dialogue stilted, the characterizations
non existant. Moreover it was tediously plotted. It took me forever
to finish it. I kept dropping it to pick up my technical journals, a
very bad sign. Nothing is scary; it's all too boring. I don't like
being told over and over how much horror/terror/mind numbing fear the
characters are experiencing without being allowed to feel a little
myself. I mean, there was a passage in Balak by Rainey that was
really intense! Here I was exasperated from start to finish. If it
had been cheaper I would have punted on it. I will not go excitedly
yipping to the bookstore for Mr. Gaslby's next book.
Matt
PS: Alas some of the next books have not been much better. On deck:
The Iron Maiden by Peter Lancett