Dark Sanctuary
by H. B. Gregory
Selected as one of the thirteen best novels of
supernatural horror of all-time by the Iate author/editor Karl Edward
Wagner, Dark Sanctuary more than Iives up to its Iegendary status. First
published in 1940, this powerful novel of Lovecraftian horror takes place in
a demon-haunted abbey off the Cornish coast. H.B. Gregory demonstrates a
sure hand at sustaining a sense of mounting dread surprising in a first
novel.
The story opens with Anthony Lovell, Sr., master of
the ancient abbey of Kestrel and its Iike-named island off the Cornish
coast, raving in madness and fear over the ancient family curse that
''dwells in the bowels of the abbey rock.'' What has caused his madness is
unclear, but it is obviously Iinked to something seen or experienced in
Kestrel's ancient crypts. Lovell's son is called back from London and, soon
thereafter, John Hamilton, a freelance journalist and friend to the younger
Lovell, makes his way to Kestrel as well . . .
Virtually unobtainable for over sixty years, the
2001 edition from Midnight House sold out quickly, Ieaving many aficionados
of the weird tale disappointed. This new edition from Dancing Tuatara Press
reprints the informative introduction by D.H. Olson from the Midnight House
edition and adds a new introduction by John Pelan and an interview conducted
with the author shortly after his ninety-second birthday.
supernatural horror of all-time by the Iate author/editor Karl Edward
Wagner, Dark Sanctuary more than Iives up to its Iegendary status. First
published in 1940, this powerful novel of Lovecraftian horror takes place in
a demon-haunted abbey off the Cornish coast. H.B. Gregory demonstrates a
sure hand at sustaining a sense of mounting dread surprising in a first
novel.
The story opens with Anthony Lovell, Sr., master of
the ancient abbey of Kestrel and its Iike-named island off the Cornish
coast, raving in madness and fear over the ancient family curse that
''dwells in the bowels of the abbey rock.'' What has caused his madness is
unclear, but it is obviously Iinked to something seen or experienced in
Kestrel's ancient crypts. Lovell's son is called back from London and, soon
thereafter, John Hamilton, a freelance journalist and friend to the younger
Lovell, makes his way to Kestrel as well . . .
Virtually unobtainable for over sixty years, the
2001 edition from Midnight House sold out quickly, Ieaving many aficionados
of the weird tale disappointed. This new edition from Dancing Tuatara Press
reprints the informative introduction by D.H. Olson from the Midnight House
edition and adds a new introduction by John Pelan and an interview conducted
with the author shortly after his ninety-second birthday.