Horror Biss, Gerald: The Door of the Unreal, v.1, 02 Feb 2008

[BenG]

Originally published in 1919, The Door of the Unreal is one of the first true werewolf classics, and helped to pave the way for the 'golden age' of the genre, which flourished in the two decades following the publication of Gerald Biss's novel. At the time he wrote the novel—his one foray into supernatural fiction—Biss was largely covering uncharted territory: most of the now-familiar conventions of the werewolf tale had yet to be set in stone, and the author was not working to the type of narrow pattern which constrained many writers of vampire tales in the years following the publication of Dracula. As Stefan Dziemianowicz writes in his introduction: 'The Door of the Unreal . . . reminds us of a time when one of horror's classic themes had not yet been forced into a rigid mould shaped by genre expectations, and when the plot of a horror tale was limited by nothing more than the imagination of writers like Gerald Biss.'

H. P. Lovecraft called this novel one of the children of Dracula.

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[Lobolover]

uhm-PDF never works for me.Could you please store it as word or as something that one can open up with any microsoft aplication?

[BenG]

I posted an html version in the Other Books forum.

[Lobolover]

have began reading it.not bad,even if the opening and buildup are a tad bit LOOONG.

[Lobolover]

well,finished it a while ago.I must say the last division of the first part was the most tedious and uneventfull of it all,though it was redeemed by the masterfull endings.Even if the image of the girl walking with a shot through the leg,and the fact that no real sinister hints were given till three half the book,and then it was all blabed out-was anoying,plus with the "I then proceeded to explain to them" and the notion on the "characters" of the lesser figures (there were so many I didnt bother to try to rememember them) ?The explanation shouldve been left out and only presented AFTER the werewolf hunt,leaving that scene to be a monstrous surprise-and dont tell me that wouldnt be a wery powerfull thing to put in?

all in all,masterfully writen,even if a few larger cuts couldve been made and a few more evil hints given to ensure it would draw the unknowing to its central plot as well.