Dracula's Guest

We lost the last of the iconic, golden age horror greats yesterday, and we will honor his legacy throughout the month with tales related to his amazing life and career. To many, the man was Dracula, so what better place to start than with an encore presentation of the Bram Stoker classic, "Dracula's Guest" adapted by Frank Bolle in 1966 for Christopher Lee's Treasury of Terror paperback (originally featured here at THOIA back in 2010.)

Rest in peace, dear Prince of Darkness.

Wentworth's Day (H.P. Lovecraft)

Another classic from Christopher Lee's Treasury of Terror paperback (Pyramid Books, 1966), this time from the great H. P. Lovecraft, (a story actually completed after his death by August Derleth), and here adapted / illustrated by Russ Jones. Says Lee in the introduction: "...we are enchanted by the whirling mists of HPL's unmentionable world, with its horrendous song of the whippoorwills, all set amidst the lurking trolls of witch-haunted Arkham. The immortal creator of the mighty Cthulhu Mythos has written nothing more eerie than Wentworth's Day." Actually, I can think of a few HPL tales that are more eerie than this one, but who am I to argue with Dracula?!

We'll be heading back into the 1950's pre-code horror next, but I promise to return to Christopher Lee's Treasury of Terror later this summer with the remaining Robert Bloch and Ambrose Bierce tales, (fyi: it's a royal pain in the ass scanning stories out of an old paperback, and the main reason why it's taking so long to get this stuff posted-- the clean-up alone is murder!)

The Mark of the Beast (Johnny Craig)

No, you're not seeing double... oh wait, yes you are. Yeah, it's the same story as our last post, but this time from Christopher Lee's Treasury of Terror paperback (Pyramid Books) and featuring stunning art from the great Johnny Craig! In Lee's own words from the introduction: "...The Mark of the Beast couples the age-old savagery of the East with unnameable suggestions of the power of evil." So let's consider this a comparison post, which comic book adaptation version do you like best? And for god's sake, someone please tell me what Strickland did to the poor leper with that red hot gun barrel already-- my imagination's running overboard!

Dracula's Guest

In 1966 Pyramid Books released Christopher Lee's Treasury of Terror, a small paperback book containing black and white "picture stories of supernatural horror" as selected by Lee himself, featuring five fright classics: Robert Bloch's "The Past Master", Rudyard Kipling's "The Mark of the Beast", Ambrose Bierce's "The Death of Halprin Frayser", "Wentworth's Day" by H. P. Lovecraft and August Derleth, and finally today's THOIA Flash Forward pick, Bram Stoker's long-lost first exploit of Count Dracula "Dracula's Guest" (adapted by E. Nelson Bridwell and illustrated by Frank Bolle.) There's more after the story...

Other artists applying their talents to this fine collection are Alden McWilliams, Russ Jones, EC's legendary Johnny Craig, (and Mort Drucker on the cover.) If you enjoyed today's story let me know, I'll be glad to feature other tales from this collection in the future.

---Karswell