Nothing but the Night (1968)
John Blackburn
With a new introduction by Greg Gbur
Book Description
Three directors of the Van Traylen Fellowship have died in gruesome ways, and now a bus carrying children to the Fellowship's orphanage has crashed, killing the driver and injuring seven-year-old Mary Valley. While in hospital, Mary, the daughter of triple murderess Anna Harb, suffers horrifying nightmares, and psychiatrist Peter Haynes believes she is mentally ill. Is it schizophrenia, or is there another explanation for the strange and vivid images she sees: memories of a past life, psychic possession, or psychological trauma from her lunatic mother's attempts to give her occult powers? When Anna Harb goes on a murderous rampage at the hospital, trying to kill Mary and exclaiming that she is a 'soul that should never have been born', the mystery deepens. General Charles Kirk of Foreign Intelligence and his friend Marcus Levin, an esteemed scientist, believe Harb is connected with the Van Traylen deaths and are determined to solve the case. They will follow the madwoman to a remote Scottish island, where against the backdrop of a blazing Guy Fawkes night bonfire, a sinister and unthinkable truth will be revealed!
John Blackburn (1923-1993) was unrivalled at blending the genres of mystery, horror, and science fiction into chilling, page-turning thrillers, and Nothing but the Night (1968) is one of his best and most frightening. This new edition, the first in over forty years, includes a new introduction by Greg Gbur.
John Blackburn
With a new introduction by Greg Gbur
Book Description
Three directors of the Van Traylen Fellowship have died in gruesome ways, and now a bus carrying children to the Fellowship's orphanage has crashed, killing the driver and injuring seven-year-old Mary Valley. While in hospital, Mary, the daughter of triple murderess Anna Harb, suffers horrifying nightmares, and psychiatrist Peter Haynes believes she is mentally ill. Is it schizophrenia, or is there another explanation for the strange and vivid images she sees: memories of a past life, psychic possession, or psychological trauma from her lunatic mother's attempts to give her occult powers? When Anna Harb goes on a murderous rampage at the hospital, trying to kill Mary and exclaiming that she is a 'soul that should never have been born', the mystery deepens. General Charles Kirk of Foreign Intelligence and his friend Marcus Levin, an esteemed scientist, believe Harb is connected with the Van Traylen deaths and are determined to solve the case. They will follow the madwoman to a remote Scottish island, where against the backdrop of a blazing Guy Fawkes night bonfire, a sinister and unthinkable truth will be revealed!
John Blackburn (1923-1993) was unrivalled at blending the genres of mystery, horror, and science fiction into chilling, page-turning thrillers, and Nothing but the Night (1968) is one of his best and most frightening. This new edition, the first in over forty years, includes a new introduction by Greg Gbur.
reviews
'A real creepy crawly ... Recommended to those who like their thrills chilled.' – Evening Standard
'John Blackburn lives right up to his reputation for the eerie and the sinister.' – The Guardian
'A stylish, genuinely chilling author. Blackburn's devils do not loom vaguely in the background, but seem unstoppable and are among the most malevolent portrayals in the genre.' – St James Guide to Crime and Mystery Writers
'An accomplished writer.' – Spectator
'John Blackburn lives right up to his reputation for the eerie and the sinister.' – The Guardian
'A stylish, genuinely chilling author. Blackburn's devils do not loom vaguely in the background, but seem unstoppable and are among the most malevolent portrayals in the genre.' – St James Guide to Crime and Mystery Writers
'An accomplished writer.' – Spectator
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BOOK DETAILS
ISBN: 1939140242 ISBN-13: 978-1939140241 $16.99 US, 170 pp. Trade paper Published 2013 |
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AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
John Blackburn was born in 1923 in the village of Corbridge, England, the second son of a clergyman. He started attending Haileybury College near London in 1937, but his education was interrupted by the onset of World War II; the shadow of the war, and that of Nazi Germany, would later play a role in many of his works. He served as a radio officer during the war in the Mercantile Marine from 1942 to 1945, and resumed his education afterwards at Durham University, earning his bachelor’s degree in 1949. Blackburn taught for several years after that, first in London and then in Berlin, and married Joan Mary Clift in 1950. Returning to London in 1952, he took over the management of Red Lion Books.
It was there that Blackburn began writing, and the immediate success in 1958 of his first novel, A Scent of New-Mown Hay, led him to take up a career as a writer full-time. He and his wife also maintained an antiquarian bookstore, a secondary career that would inform some of Blackburn’s later work. A prolific author, Blackburn would write nearly 30 novels between 1958 and 1985; most of these were horror and thrillers, but also included one historical novel set in Roman times, The Flame and the Wind (1967). He died in 1993.
It was there that Blackburn began writing, and the immediate success in 1958 of his first novel, A Scent of New-Mown Hay, led him to take up a career as a writer full-time. He and his wife also maintained an antiquarian bookstore, a secondary career that would inform some of Blackburn’s later work. A prolific author, Blackburn would write nearly 30 novels between 1958 and 1985; most of these were horror and thrillers, but also included one historical novel set in Roman times, The Flame and the Wind (1967). He died in 1993.