Paperback Fanatic 4

Justin Marriott (ed.) – Paperback Fanatic #4 (September, 2007)

Another cracking solo effort from Mr. Marriott with an increased page count and a real scoop:

Robert Lory

Dracula Lives! An exclusive  interview with Robert Lory, author of the Dracula Returns, Horrorscope and Vigilante series’.

Legion of the Damned! The first part of a study of the German war pulps from authors such as Sven Hassel and Leo Kessler and titles such as Reign in Hell, Blitzfreeze and Wheels of Terror!

The Memoirs of Lord Grandrith: a look back at Philp Jose Farmer’s ground-breaking Image of the Beast, Blown and A Feast Unknown.

Eyes Wide Shut. Artist Jan Parker’s occult and fantasy paperback covers

The Prophecies of Bruce Pennington:  master fantasy artist Pennington is given the Fanatic treatment in this definitive study which includes a massive checklist of his covers!

Back Page Gallery: A selection of Jan Parker’s illustrations for Peter Haining’s Witchcraft & Black Magic (Hamlyn, 1971)

Robert Lory – The Witching Of Dracula

Robert Lory – The Witching Of Dracula (New English Library, 1977)

When the blood countess returns, even Dracula is filled with horror!

Blurb:

One afternoon a fine, strong young man named Janos strayed too far into the solemn hills above his tiny Hungarian village. Suddenly he came upon an ancient castle, a dark, mysterious place where, according to legend, a young woman had been murdered many years before.

Venturing down into the cavernous dungeons, Janos discovered the legendary bed chamber. If the stories were true… this was the place! The place where Elizabeth Bathory had been walled up to die!

Then he saw it. A small skeleton crumpled before a massive iron gateway. Was it Elizabeth Bathory? Fighting a desire to turn and run, Janos crept past the bleached bones to the inner chamber. There, in the center of the room, was a huge, dust-covered glass box.

Trembling, he wiped the dust away. His eyes widened with horror. Inside was the body of a beautiful naked woman!

The fifth of nine novels in the original Pinnacle series (NEL only reprinted six) sees Dracula reunited with his old sparring partner, Elizabeth Bathory, the ex-Bloody Countess who has since reinvented herself as a psychic sponge and is out to destroy the old count!

Who did the NEL covers for the Dracula Returns series? This, the first and Drums look to have something of the Bruce Pennington about them …

Robert Lory – The Drums Of Dracula

Robert Lory – The Drums Of Dracula (NEL, Feb. 1976)

Robert Lory - The Drums Of Dracula

Blurb:

Jenny Harmon, Professor Harmon’s young niece, is staying in Jamaica to study the mysterious and infamous cult of voodoo. But her investigations anger the hostile followers of the forbidden religion. She is kidnapped — and a ransom note is delivered to her uncle demanding $500,000 or she will die screaming!

Only a power of greater evil than those of the voodoo witchdoctors and their terrible zombie slaves can save young Jenny. Dr Harmon is forced once again to turn to Count Dracula for aid — the most dreaded creature of the night, the greatest vampire of all, whom Dr Harmon has resurrected through his great knowledge.

A violent battle for supremacy is played out against the throbbing of voodoo drums and the dark Caribbean night.

Review by Franklin Marsh:

We’re off to Jamaica for some voodoo in this one. Sound ridiculous? It is but Lory somehow keeps it compelling. Just like the Hammer Draculas you wish the Count had more …er…page time. Lory is on top form whenever the Lord of the Vampires is around. He’s used sparingly though but to very good effect. Our heroine Jenny arrives on the island, upsets the locals within minutes, changes into a skimpy bathing costume, is caught by the voodooists and chained up naked. You can’t ask for much more than this. Lory deflects accusations of sexism by having Cam captured and chained up naked too. At last – equality in exploitation! Tops for atmosphere and zips along faster than you can query any plot holes. Dracula may be on the side of the good guys but he still exudes evil given a chance.

Robert Lory – Dracula Returns

Robert Lory – Dracula Returns (NEL, Dec. 1973)

Robert Lory's 'Dracula Returns'

The world thought it was free from the Count’s black shadow ….

The year was 1883. In a south Romanian village, three men and a girl were gathered in an old crypt. They watched fascinated as a wooden stake was driven through the heart of a long-dead corpse. With an inhuman cry, Count Dracula departed this world. But the strange, unwinking eyes of a black cat watched their efforts derisively.

In the year 1938, a young policeman on special duties was clubbed and thrown into the dark waters of New York’s vicious dockland. Miraculously he lived, but was condemned forever to a wheelchair. His twisted thoughts turned to the occult. This man’s name was Damien Harmon. A man selected for a terrible purpose …

To bring the Master to life again, and to unleash his terror on unsuspecting twentieth century America. Could the Professor turn his back on the call? This is the first in a spine chilling series about THE RETURN OF DRACULA.

Valentine Penrose – The Bloody Countess

Valentine Penrose – The Bloody Countess (NEL, 1972)

Much admired history of the life and bloody crimes of Elizabeth Bathory, which, in Penrose’s capable hands, reads like a savage Gothic novel from the M. G. Lewis/ de Sade-in-Justine-mode school. Not to be confused with Robert Lory’s The Witching Of Dracula which addresses the Countess’s improbable adventures centuries after her death.

Thanks to Justin Marriott of Paperback Fanatic for the scan!