Franklin Marsh has started a detailed review of Charles Black's Black Ceremonies on the Vault of Evil.
"With a Mudie cover. And endorsements from no less than Anna Taborska and Johnny Mains. This really is high class swanky time.
I've enjoyed some Chas's stories on line, plus his classic from the original Black Book (included here so really looking forward to revisiting) plus his contribution to KSG.
The opener The Obsession of Percival Cairstairs is a riot. Lovecraftian, Black Sorcery, a dash of the Oscar Cooks...our narrator is hassled by a tramp, who is none other than former gentleman Percy. After being taken home, cleaned up and given a snifter of a decent brandy, the wretched Cairstairs begins to relate his descent into the Black Arts, caused by lust for a scarlet woman and a competitive streak engendered by her former paramour, a Rasputin-a-like lupine cove. Mix in a village full of inbreds, a desecrated church and a fully functioning gibbet (in this day and age??!!?) - and if that's not enough, there's a twisty epilogue featuring a character called 'Black.'
We're off!"
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