|
The question that will immediately come to the minds of many Charles Beaumont fans regarding this new collection of thirteen previously-unseen stories is: What could possibly be left to publish? The author, best remembered for his outstanding teleplays for "The Twilight Zone," passed away over thirty years ago; and two earlier retrospectives--"Best of Beaumont" and "The Holwing Man" (a.k.a. "Selected Stories")--contained a total of eight unpublished (and uneven) tales between them. The happy news here is that, indeed, there are good pieces still remaining, and Subterranean (in full cooperation with Beaumont's son Christopher) has found several to include in "A Touch of the Creature." The best among these is certainly "Adam's Off Ox," a charming backwoods deal-with-the-Devil tale written in an amusing country vernacular. Here is Beaumont's Devil: "He was a study, let me tell you. A big man it was, standin there laughin at Billy Spiker--big and ornry looking and by no stretch of the imagination just exactly right. For one thing, he didn't have no hair on his whole body, and you could say this for a fact because the old vulgarian was naked as a jaybird, without even nothin to cover his modesty! Head slicker'n a bean and flatter on top than two pancakes...When he smiled, you could see his sharp pointy little teeth set in a row, and his bitty eyes, like a fish's eyes, ony a deep bright bloody red." There are at least three other very good stories in the book as well: "The Indian Piper," a strange and beautiful tale of a would-be criminal's redemption; "The Junemoon Spoon," more backwoods fun with a marvelous sting-in-the-tail at the end; and "Mr. Underhill," an ambiguous, unsettling offering which might have made an excellent "Twilight Zone." Along with a couple of near-misses--the interesting but overwrought "Resurrection Island" and "Fallen Star," which appears to be unfinished--there is enough quality material here to make the book worthwhile. Alas, it must also be reported that about half the works in "A Touch of the Creature" are weak, uninspired efforts which will do Beaumont's reputation no good at all. Worst are four stories ("A Long Way From Capri," "Lachrymosa," "The Rival," and "A Friend of the Family") seemingly written for the women's magazine market of the 1950s--hackneyed, half-baked "relationship" tales with substandard characterization and pat, formulaic happy endings. Utterly without individuality or style, it is difficult to imagine Charles Beaumont having written them at all. Yet lovers of Beaumont's work will feel nothing but gratitude to Subterranean Press for publishing "A Touch of the Creature." The reader unfamiliar with Beaumont should certainly not start here--"Best of Beaumont" or "The Howling Man" would be much more appropriate--but longtime fans will be surprised and delighted by the best of what this new volume offers. It is a tribute to the depth of Beaumont's genius that, more than three decades after his death, he still has a few wonderful tales left to tell.
|
