(Drivebycuriosity) - If we believe the Roman Catholic mythology there is a big divide: On one side there are god and his angels, on the other are the devil and his demons. True or false, angels & demons are material for fascinating fantasy stories. "Black Easter or Faust Aleph-Null" by James Blish belongs to the best of them ( amazon).
The plot is set in Italy in the 1960s. A wealthy arm dealer commissions a powerful master in black magic to perform a giant and bizarre experiment. All demons of hell should be released and be allowed to roam the earth for a single night. What will happen? (this is a spoiler free blog. You can find a synopsis here wikipedia ).
The novella is paranormal thriller. The plot is told in a realistic - almost scientific - style like a Raymond Chandler novel. If black magic would be possible, it would happen as described by the author.
I indulged into Blish`s elaborate descriptions of the setting (a palazzo in Positano ) and the complex preparations, rituals & tools for the monstrous act. Blish created opulent & baroque scenes with grotesque and obscene appearances by the summoned demons. I enjoyed also the involvement of a subcubus (a demon who practices sex with a man in the shape of a woman and flies than to another place to have sex with a woman in the shape of a man).
"Black Easter" is based on real literature written in the Middle Ages when people, especially some parts of the Catholic Church, believed in magic. Blish used - and quoted - text books about sorcery, called grimoires, which were written by popular mystics (wikipedia. ). The novel, published in the 1960s, also was inspired by Goethe`s Faust and the cold war fears about a potential nuclear armageddon.
"Black Easter" is a jewel of the fantastic literature. I would like to watch the novel turned into a movie directed by a cinematic master of the like of Lars von Trier, Denis Villeneuve, Park Chan-Wook or Paul Thomas Anderson.
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