Book Review: THE PRELUDE TO ADVENTURE by Hugh Walpole *** and a 1\2 out of *****

Hugh Walpole (1844-1941) was a prolific writer with a readable, compelling style, but whose sensibilities were somewhat limited. Almost all his books feature tortured, alienated characters, Gothic atmospherics, and a cynical, often downbeat undertone.

Inspired by Francis Thompson's haunting poem "The Hound of Heaven", The Prelude to Adventure (1912) features all of Walpole's signature ingredients, but what sets it apart is that, here, Walpole's main character is not lost, but found. Here, his lead character, a college student by the name of Olva Dune, a man who commits a murder in a moment of rage and then hears the voice of God calling him, is a man who has always felt out of step with the world until the moment of his crime, when he finds God, or rather, when God finds him. From there, the story focuses on Dune's struggle with that revelation, as well as his guilt and his fear of being unmasked as the killer. It's an unputdownable book written with surprising urgency by Walpole, who usually takes his time setting things up. It's also a successful cross-genre novel if ever there was one. It's a detective story, a Gothic tale, a spiritual meditation, and a love story all in one. 

What makes the novel's effectiveness all the more surprising, is that its flaws are so apparent. Other than Dune and another character (Bunning, a lost soul who idolizes Dune), the rest of the cast are little more than sketches, and the plot progression and psychology are often clumsy. But work the novel does. It's a spellbinding book which aches with spiritual longing and the struggle to understand one's own darkness. No wonder Carl Jung praised it. It's a unique, fast-paced, moving story that ends on just the right note. Highly recommended.

Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2021.

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Ahmed Khalifa is a filmmaker and novelist. He is the writer/director of the feature film Wingrave, released on Netflix, and the author of a number of novels and short stories, including the YA horror novel, Beware The Stranger, available on Amazon. Find him on Twitter @AFKhalifa and on Facebook @Dark.Fantastic.AK·Writer

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Book Review: MR. PERRIN AND MR. TRAILL By Hugh Walpole *** and a 1\2 out of *****

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Hugh Walpole's third novel, Mr. Perrin and Mr. Traill (1911), considered by many, and by the author himself, to be his best work, is a strange, somber, meandering, and unforgettable piece of literature.

Revolving around a feud between two school masters in a public school in Edwardian England, the book starts out as a slow-burn social drama about the tedium and oppressive nature of everyday life in the public school system, depicting an affecting if not exactly compelling series of incidents that almost outstay their welcome. But then the book's tone shifts to something much darker and much more fascinating, as it focuses on one of the character's headlong dive into regret, rage, and, inevitably, madness. Here, the book, which flirts with Gothic undertones from the beginning, transforms into a disturbing psychological drama, with the screws tightening faster and faster, till the poignant ending.

Walpole's prose ranges from sublime to serviceable. It has been noted by several scholars and students of his work that Walpole was an unfussy writer, to a fault, writing quickly and seldom revising the first draft. The outcome of such a method does the novel a disservice to some extent, with the pacing of the book, especially in the first half, being too unsteady, and the tonal lurches are also a distraction. But by the second half the narrative threads coalesce into a satisfyingly unnerving whole, with scenes of psychological torment so vivid they push the book right to the edge of a Gothic horror story.

The book has two endings, the original one published in Britain, and a revised one for the later American editions. Both endings are interesting, yet each is problematic in its own way. The original ending, though melodramatic, is more effective, more poignant, and much darker. The revised ending is clumsy, heavy-handed, and borderline didactic, but its more hopeful tone might appeal to some readers.

Mr. Perrin and Mr. Traill is a flawed piece of psychological fiction, with a cynical bent that can be hard to take at times. But, in the end, it is a novel that has stood the test of time, as there's emotional truth buried within its pages, and its depiction of a middle-aged man undergoing a calamitous transformation is harrowing and memorable. Recommended.

Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2021.

Ahmed Khalifa is a filmmaker and novelist. He is the writer/director of the feature film Wingrave, released on Netflix, and the author of a number of novels and short stories, including the YA horror novel, Beware The Stranger, available on Amazon. Find him on Twitter @AFKhalifa and on Facebook @Dark.Fantastic.AK·Writer

Book Review: THE SHADOW: FOXHOUND. By Theodore Tinsley *** out of *****

Written by Theodore Tinsley (in place of the character's creator Walter B. Gibson), Foxhound is an entertaining and fast-paced thriller. Unlike Gibson, who always shows restraint when it comes to violence, Tinsley's writing is edgier and more lurid, and his portrayal of The Shadow as more fallible and vulnerable is interesting, since Gibson rarely allows The Shadow to falter.

While Tinsley's prose is lean and his pacing is gripping, his writing lacks style, and Gibson's penchant for puzzle-like plots and noirish/Gothic atmospherics is missed.

All in all, a solid entry in The Shadow cannon, and Tinsley's contributions bring a freshness to The Shadow's story. Recommended.

Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2021.

Ahmed Khalifa is a filmmaker and novelist. He is the writer/director of the independent feature film Wingrave, released on Netflix, and the author of a number of novels and short stories, including the YA horror novel, Beware The Stranger, available on Amazon. Find him on Twitter @AFKhalifa and on Facebook @Dark.Fantastic.AK·Writer

Book Review: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF F.B.I. SPECIAL AGENT DALE COOPER: MY LIFE, MY TAPES. By Scott Frost *** out of *****

Out of the three Twin Peaks books published at the height of the iconic series' fame (The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer and The Access Guide to Twin Peaks being the other two), The Autobiography of Special Agent Dale Cooper is the least rewarding and most problematic of the lot.

Written by Scott Frost (Mark Frost's brother) - who also wrote the superior short audiobook Diane: The Twin Peaks Tapes of Agent Cooper - the book attempts to be a revealing look into Cooper's psyche, from childhood onto adolescence, and up to his receiving the case of Laura Palmer as an FBI agent. From the get-go it is obvious that something is off with the book's tone. Veering from broad comedy, to forays into mysticism, to graphic sexual encounters, this is Cooper like we've never seen before. It is also a less interesting, less appealing version of Cooper. Portraying Cooper as some sort of oversexed young adult who hobnobs with hippies, and is sympathetic to anti-establishment sentiments, is jarring to say the least. As more than half of the book is spent on Cooper wrangling with the politics of the 1960s and 1970s and dealing with a father who is growing more radical by the year, this takes the story into overtly political and less interesting areas for Twin Peaks fans, as Scott Frost - like Mark Frost in his The Secret History of Twin Peaks - seems to get a kick from using the Twin Peaks mythos as a vehicle for delving into socio-political/historical tangents that just don't gel with the ethereal, timeless tone of the show.

In the book Conversations with Mark Frost by David Bushman, Frost admits that The Autobiography of Dale Cooper book was "jokey", and that David Lynch had almost zero input into the writing of it. Well, it shows. This version of Cooper feels like someone from an alternate universe. Only in the last third of the book, when Cooper starts to realize the true nature of his mentor Windom Earle, and gets assigned to the case of Teresa Banks, does the book feel like the Twin Peaks we know and love. But even the Windom Earle subplot is not that well-handled, with Earle coming off as some sort of super-villain, with no reason or rhyme behind his evil actions. And considering how the second season of Twin Peaks botched the Cooper/Earle storyline (mainly due to unsteady writing and an uneven, often over the top performance by Kenneth Welsh), it seems that that plot thread was doomed from the start, since the book was written before the scripts for the episodes were finalized.

That's not to say that The Autobiography has no merit. It has its moments, for sure. But, overall, it's a disappointing, jarring read, that doesn't really add anything substantial to our understanding of Cooper, or to the show's story. But fans, like myself, won't be able to resist hunting down a copy and giving it a read. Now, though, having read it, I understand why the book has never been back in print since its original publication.

Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2021.

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Ahmed Khalifa is a filmmaker and novelist. He is the writer/director of the feature film Wingrave, released on Netflix, and the author of a number of novels and short stories, including the YA horror novel, Beware The Stranger, available on Amazon. Find him on Twitter @AFKhalifa and on Facebook @Dark.Fantastic.AK·Writer

The Dark Fantastic is sponsored by VHS Books:

Book Review: THE SHADOW: THE STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE OF JOE CARDONA. By Walter B. Gibson ** out of *****

Dull The Shadow tale about an evil scientist who kills his victims with a poison that clots the blood and turns the victims' corpses purple. The Shadow doesn't have much to do, the villain's identity is obvious, and the ending is lame. Avoid.

Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2021.

Ahmed Khalifa is a filmmaker and novelist. He is the writer/director of the feature film Wingrave, released on Netflix, and the author of a number of novels and short stories, including the YA horror novel, Beware The Stranger, available on Amazon. Find him on Twitter @AFKhalifa and on Facebook @Dark.Fantastic.AK·Writer

Movie Review: DARK NIGHT OF THE SCARECROW (1981) *** and a 1\2 out of *****

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Dark Night of The Scarecrow (1981) is one of those "quiet horror" films that sneak up on you. At first glance, the film looks like a hundred other dated, unpolished, made-for-TV movie from the late 1970s and early 80s. And the opening sequence, with its maudlin performances and rushed pace, doesn't help change that first impression. But then a brutal execution of a mentally challenged character by an angry mob takes place, and the film takes a turn into a whole different class of moviemaking.

On the one hand, it has the trappings of a typical revenge from beyond the grave thriller. But as it moves along, it becomes more psychological, darker, and nastier. With a minimalist script by J.D. Feigelson (who originally wrote it as an independent feature film before CBS bought it), and unfussy but effective direction by Frank DeFelitta, it works quite well, with an assured pace, an eerie mood, and an ending that is the stuff of nightmares.

There is a reason why Dark Night of the Scarecrow remains a cult favorite to this day, and that is, decades on, it still has the ability to haunt and frighten without resorting to jump scares, dramatic histrionics, and fancy cinematography. This is American Gothic stripped to the core, and a movie that manages to work despite its shortcomings. Highly recommended.

Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2021.

Ahmed Khalifa is a filmmaker and novelist. He is the writer/director of the feature film Wingrave, released on Netflix, and the author of a number of novels and short stories, including the YA horror novel, Beware The Stranger, available on Amazon. Find him on Twitter @AFKhalifa and on Facebook @Dark.Fantastic.AK·Writer

Book Review: THE SHADOW : CITY OF CRIME By Walter B. Gibson ** out of *****

Underwhelming and incoherent The Shadow tale, with repetitive action sequences and a weak plot revolving around corruption and political intrigue in a small city. One of the dullest The Shadow stories. Avoid.

Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2021.

Ahmed Khalifa is a filmmaker and novelist. He is the writer/director of the feature film Wingrave, released on Netflix, and the author of a number of novels and short stories, including the YA horror novel, Beware The Stranger, available on Amazon. Find him on Twitter @AFKhalifa and on Facebook @Dark.Fantastic.AK·Writer