The Devil Rides Out by Dennis Wheatley (1934)

[AE35Unit]

This seemed slow at first and I wasn't keen, in fact I quit at one point. A big problem was the fact it was written in the 1930s so the language is very different to a what you'd find in a modern horror novel.
But I persisted and finished the rest of it in one day. Not bad at all, but I found the ending terrible.
think of that Dallas scene, it was all a dream...

 

[BAYLOR]

Give Black Easter by James Blish a try ,

 

[KGeo777]

I found the book a really painful read.
Just something about the style and digressions drove me crazy.
Matheson did a miraculous job cutting it down into something more sensible.

A really good book turned into a movie is Conjure Wife.
That is a really good swift read.

 

[nixie]

I've a soft spot for Dennis Wheatley. The Devil Rides Out, first read when I was about eleven. I probably didn't really understand it until I read again about ten years later.

 

[Rodders]

I didn't realise that this book was so old.

I've not read it, but i vaguely remember seeing the movie. I was terrified.

 

[Vladd67]

I can remember reading this in the sixth form common room, mainly to wind up some of my friends that had got religion big time. One of them had a bonfire of D&D books as apparently they were tools of Satan leading us into devil worship. I believe it was this edition.

 

[BAYLOR]

I didn't realise that this book was so old.

I've not read it, but i vaguely remember seeing the movie. I was terrified.

Ive one novel by him Atlantis Has Been Found

 

[Vladd67]

This was a fun book. It read like a police file with type written reports, telegrams, and little envelopes with actual physical evidence. I remember I solved the murder and correctly identified the murderer but for the wrong reason.

 

[nixie]

View attachment 105666
This was a fun book. It read like a police file with type written reports, telegrams, and little envelopes with actual physical evidence. I remember I solved the murder and correctly identified the murderer but for the wrong reason.

Not read this one. I remember The Forbidden Territory, again read about eleven. Found it a fun adventurous read.

 

[AE35Unit]

Give Black Easter by James Blish a try ,

He wrote horror as well as SF?
Ah its part of the series begun with A Case of Conscience. Didn't like that book at all

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

He wrote horror as well as SF?
Ah its part of the series begun with A Case of Conscience. Didn't like that book at all

Only a trilogy in the loosest possible meaning of the word. The books have nothing in common except the very broad theme of the search of secular knowledge. (Blish called the trilogy "After Such Knowledge.")

The books are otherwise as different as they can be. There's a straight historical novel about Roger Bacon (Doctor Mirabilis), the science fiction novel A Case of Conscience, and the fantasy novel Black Easter (and its direct sequel The Day After Judgment.) You might like one if you don't like another.

 

[Astro Pen]

One of the first sf stories I read was his "Star of ill Omen". Not bad at all as I recall. I still have it 60 years on.

Dennis Wheatley was born in January 1897 ! so you have to give him a break on linguistic style.

 

[Steve Harrison]

I read all his novels in my early twenties when I went through my occult stage (bookended by my mafia and Hornblower stages) and loved them. I expect they are dated now, but I still have a copy of this wonderful non-fiction coffee table reference work:

 

[HareBrain]

I'd recommend The Devil Is a Gentleman: The Life and Times of Dennis Wheatley, by Phil Baker. I found it a very interesting read, even though I've only read a couple of Wheatley's books.

 

[Randy M.]

He wrote horror as well as SF?
Ah its part of the series begun with A Case of Conscience. Didn't like that book at all

Blish also wrote a werewolf novella, "There Shall Be No Darkness," basis for a moderately good movie, "The Beast Must Die," though I admit "moderately good" might be up for interpretation.

 

[Vladd67]

Blish also wrote a werewolf novella, "There Shall Be No Darkness," basis for a moderately good movie, "The Beast Must Die," though I admit "moderately good" might be up for interpretation.

Isn't that the whodunit where the film stops and you have to guess who the werewolf is?

 

[Randy M.]

That's the one.