‘It’s a good thing you didn’t.’
‘Yes. That rat-thing could have. possessed me?’ The modern part of her mind expressed incredulity at the concept.
‘Oh, I think so,’ said Giordano. ‘Don’t you?’
She did not reply, and they walked in silence until they reached the bar. At the door she turned and asked him, ‘How did your “wicked ancestor” die?’
‘Arturo Delia Quercia? Nobody knows. He disappeared. No one ever found his body.’ Giordano followed her in, saying, ‘Ciao, Signora Renata’ in passing to the mustachioed proprietress.
When they had found seats, at a minute table by the window, Jo took the key out of her pocket. ‘I should give you this while I think of it.’
Giordano eyed it with suspicion. ‘If I were you, I’d throw it in the canal.’
‘Okay,’ she said.
Their espressos arrived, and Giordano spent some time sugaring his and stirring it. After a while he looked up and said, ‘Do you mind telling me where your family comes from?’
Taken aback by the sudden change of subject, she replied, ‘Well, Portugal, as you might guess from the name. Lisbon. But there was some kind of family feud and the parents came to England before I was born. Why?’
‘Because you have blue eyes.’
‘What?’
Her companion looked embarrassed. ‘It’s just that the captain of one of Arturo Delia Quercia’s ships was called Da Silva.’
‘It’s a pretty common name,’ said Jo, picking up her cup.
‘Maybe,’ Giordano agreed. ‘But they called this chap “occhio azzurro”.’ He shrugged, and picked up his own coffee. ‘Perhaps it’s a coincidence.’
‘But you think there’s a connection. Why? Why would Arturo Delia Quercia want that—’ she lowered her voice’—demon to do me harm, if I’m a descendant of someone he employed?’
Putting his cup down, Giordano eyed her levelly. ‘ “Harm” is rather too mild a term, you know. When you think that “possession” is another word for “owning”. Owning you, in life and death, body and soul. For ever. Whatever he had against the Da Silva family, you were lucky to get out.’
‘Well,’ said Jo, looking out of the window at a white cat that had wandered into view, ‘you could say I had help.’
STEPHEN JONES & KIM NEWMAN
NECROLOGY: 2001
Arthur c. Clarke’s iconic date saw the passing of many writers, artists, performers and technicians who, during their lifetimes, made significant contributions to the horror, science fiction and fantasy genres (or left their mark on popular culture in other, often fascinating, ways).
AUTHORS/ARTISTS
Children’s author Catherine Storr, whose classic 1958 novel Marianne Dreams was filmed in 1988 as Paperhouse, died on January 6th, aged 87. A former editor at Penguin Books, eleven of her supernatural stories were collected inCold Marble and Other Ghost Stories, while her collection of stories for young children, Clever Polly and the Stupid Wolf, was published in 1955 and remains on the curriculum of many British primary schools.
Wartime cryptographer and screenwriter Leo Marks died on January 15th, aged 80. He scripted Michael Powell’s cult classic Peeping Tom and Twisted Nerve.
Gordon B. Love, who produced the fanzineRocket’s Blast/Comicollector in the 1960s, died on January 17th following an automobile accident. He was 62.
Comics artist Frederic E. Ray, Jr., who illustrated Superman and Tomahawk for DC Comics during the 1940s and 1950s, died on January 23rd.
Fantasy and military SF writer Rick Shelley died of complications from a massive heart attack on January 27th, aged 54. His books include the ‘Varayan Memoir’ trilogy, the ‘Lucky 13th’ series, plus The Wizard at Meq and The Wizard at Home.
Canadian-born fantasy and SF writer Gordon R. (Rupert) Dickson died of complications from asthma on January 31st, aged 77. Best known for the ‘Childe Cycle’, ‘Dorsai’ sequence and ‘Hoka’ stories (written with Poul Anderson), the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author published his first story in 1951 and wrote more than eighty books and around 200 short stories. His 1976 novel The Dragon and the George won the British Fantasy Society’s August Derleth Award.
British horror author Gerald Suster died of an apparent heart attack on February 4th, aged 49. A former teacher before becoming a full-time writer in the late 1970s, his many occult thrillers include such titles as The Devil’s Maze, The God Game andThe Labyrinth of Satan, which formed a loosely linked trilogy. His other novels include The Elect, The Scar, The Offering, The Block, The Force and The Handyman. A devotee of Arthur Machen, whose writing was a major influence on his own work, Suster also wrote a number of non-fiction volumes based on his personal interest in the occult, including Hitler and the Age of Horus, The Truth About the Tarot, The Hellfire Friars and a biography of Aleister Crowley. He also contributed a regular column to the esoteric magazineThe Talking Stick.
Slovakian-born John L. Nanovic, who worked as an editor under the name ‘Henry Lysing’ for Street & Smith on such pulp magazines as Doc Savage and The Shadow, died on February 9th, aged 94.
Peggy (Margaret) Cave, the wife of pulp author Hugh B. Cave, died of cancer complications on February 12th after two weeks in hospital. She was 86.
Popular horror author Richard [Carl] Laymon died of a massive heart attack on February 14th, aged 54. The current President of the Horror Writers Association, his many novels include the ‘Beast House’ series (The Cellar, The Beast House and The Midnight Tour), along with The Woods Are Dark, Out Are the Lights, Beware! All-Hallows Eve, Resurrection Dreams, The Stake, Quake, Bite, Cuts, Once Upon a Halloween, The Travelling Vampire Show and Night in the Lonesome October. As well as writing two novels under the pseudonyms ‘Carl Laymon’ and ‘Richard Kelly’, his short fiction was collected in A Good Secret Place and Dreadful Tales, while the autobiographical studyA Writer’s Life appeared from Deadline Press. He was set to be guest of honour at the 2001 World Horror Convention in May.
Italian composer Pierro Umiliani died the same day, aged 75. He composed the scores for more than 100 films, including The Amazing Doctor G., Five Dolls for an August Moon, Witchcraft ‘70, Night of the Devils and Baba Yaga.
Eccentric Irish Ufologist and author Desmond [Arthur Peter] Leslie died in France on February 22nd, aged 79. He collaborated with George Adamski on the controversial 1953 bestseller Flying Saucers Have Landed.
Film and TV composer Richard Stone died after a long battle with pancreatic cancer on March 9th, aged 47. Besides writing the music for such movies as Sundown The Vampire in Retreat and Pumpkinhead, he also won seven Emmys for his work on Animaniacs and such other cartoon TV series as Freakazoid, Histeria! Pinky and the Brain and Tazmania.