Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Go Waltzing Mephisto with Me

I present for your satanic delight a "classic" post-Rosemary's Baby occult horror novel, The Mephisto Waltz (1969), from a writer who would go on to write bestselling mainstream historical fiction about the Civil War and whatnot. Great covers all around, from both the US and the UK. All but the original 1970 Signet paperback below highlight the nude female form, titillating potential readers about what might reside within. But I'm not surprised to learn the novel (and its 1971 movie adaptation starring horror-film icon Alan Alda) is fairly lackluster and lame; check out The Midnight Room review, in which it's referred to as "late '60s quasi Satanic hooey." Ha!

 


2 comments:

Obsidian said...

Really good blog! I've nominated you for the Liebster award!
For details, go to:
http://obsidianclouds.blogspot.in/2014/04/obsidian-clouds-won-liebster-award.html

J F Norris said...

I agree. One of the worst Faustian pact novels ever written. Even John Philip Sousa's fantasy The Fifth String, about a musician who sells his soul to the devil, is more interesting than THE MEPHISTO WALTZ. And if you've read Sousa's novella you know what a slam that is for Stewart's book.