The Book of the DeadThe ambiance of fin de siecle France imbues these eight gothic tales in the third volume in Lee's Secret Books of Paradys tetralogy, tracing the tortured lives once led by those buried in the crypts and cemeteries of the mythical (or forgotten) city of Paradys. "The Weasel Bride" twists a folktale about a man who marries an enchanted weasel and dies of her bite into an account of a young husband who kills his beloved bride on their wedding night and takes her dreadful secret to the gallows. The artist in "The Glass Dagger," who normally saves her emotion for her art, is consumed by jealous rage and turns to supernatural revenge when a jaded aristocrat tries an old stratagem to win her love. In "The Moon Is a Mask" a drudge who creates a world of beauty in her garret room steals to buy a mask that turns her into a vampire owl. The miasma of corruption and death, combined with vivid and at times elegiac writing will engross readers who fancy this dark shade of fantasy writing. |
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Page 95
... fire - we feel the cold , Monsieur de Venne and I. " Within half an hour , while the tempest still cascaded on the jungle outside ( from which statues protruded here and there like leprous teeth ) , Rendart was seated in a hot and avid ...
... fire - we feel the cold , Monsieur de Venne and I. " Within half an hour , while the tempest still cascaded on the jungle outside ( from which statues protruded here and there like leprous teeth ) , Rendart was seated in a hot and avid ...
Page 103
... fire with a poker . Sparks showered up and the wood sank , letting show two glaring hellish hearts . " The room was locked and sealed , and the door of the tower itself was boarded up . The corpse they left to rot in the tomb it had ...
... fire with a poker . Sparks showered up and the wood sank , letting show two glaring hellish hearts . " The room was locked and sealed , and the door of the tower itself was boarded up . The corpse they left to rot in the tomb it had ...
Page 140
... fire , and on a highly polished stand a globe in ebony . Through the open doors of the alcove was a dining room , an oval table perched with candles , and a sideboard of sparkling decanters ; here too a fire burned gently , cheerfully ...
... fire , and on a highly polished stand a globe in ebony . Through the open doors of the alcove was a dining room , an oval table perched with candles , and a sideboard of sparkling decanters ; here too a fire burned gently , cheerfully ...
Contents
The Weasel Bride | 7 |
The Nightmares Tale | 25 |
Beautiful Lady | 65 |
Copyright | |
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actress Alain André Andromede Antigone Baubon beautiful began blood bones brandy breast cage candle Cesar child Chorgeh City Conjuror cycads Dargue dark dead death Desbouchamps door dream dress Elsa Garba Eshlo everything eyes face father felt fire flew flowers forest garden Gentilissa girl glass gone grave grew Grisvold hair Haïssa hand head heard Jausande Marguerite Jausande's aunt Jean de St Julie d'Is kill knew L-shaped room Labonne lamps laughed light looked lover Madame mademoiselle Marie-Mai mask Mercile Michael Zwarian mirror Monsieur de Venne moon Morcara Venka mother mountains moved never night Oberand Olizette once Owlsa painting pale Paradys perhaps priest rain Rendart Roland Coville salon Sandrine seemed seen silver stared stars stood street TANITH LEE things thought Tibelle tower trees turned uncle valley Valmé walked wall watched window woman young Yshtar