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Succubi (Novel)
For other uses of the word Succubus, see Succubus (disambiguation).
Succubi, is a novel written by Edward Lee.
Details
- Title: Succubi
- Author: William Lee
- Format: Paperback
- Publisher: Diamond Books (March 1992)
- ISBN-10: 1557736766
- ISBN-13: 978-1557736765
- Paperback: 248 pages
- Publisher: Necro Publications (May 2004)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1889186392
- ISBN-13: 978-1889186399
- Hardcover: 280 pages
- Publisher: Necro Publications; 1st edition (June 1, 2001)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 188918618X
- ISBN-13: 978-1889186184
Author Information
Edward Lee was born Lee Edward Seymour on May 25, 1957, and was raised in Bowie, Maryland. He attended the University of Maryland, College Park as an English major but with a GPA of 3.89 and a few credits left to graduate he dropped out to pursue his dream to be a writer. Within one year of dropping out of college Edward Lee sold his first novel and has gone on to publish numerous novels, short stories, comic books and articles. While mostly too hardcore for mainstream publishers his books and stories printed in smaller pressings often sell out quickly. These rare books when found on the used market sell for a premium. He is known best in the horror literature world for his intense hardcore, visceral style. Lee is also known to have tremendous love of seafood and the New York Yankees.
Book Summary
Archaeologists are stunned to find remnants of a little known ancient civilization known as the Ur-locs, a pre-druidic sect of the early Chiltern inhabitants of England. These people formed an occult society that practiced various rituals involving gratuitous sex, sacrifice, and cannibalism. However, what made them particularly unique was the fact that they were a society formed entirely of females. By enlisting the aid of "clever management and fear," they subdued males, enslaving them to do their biding. All of this in the name of their goddess, the Ardat-Lil, a succubus. But these ancient peoples have long since died out. Or have they?
Anne is a successful lawyer living in the city, even though her upbringing took place in a small suburban town. She resides with her daughter and her poet boyfriend, yet is living in constant turmoil and regret because her job keeps her from spending enough quality time with them. For months she is continuously awakened, at the same time every night, by the same recurring nightmare. Though her psychiatrist feels that her dreams have something to do with her guilt and stress, she isn't entirely convinced. When she returns home to visit her ailing father, the nightmare takes on a whole new dimension.
Erik Tharp has been living in a mental institution for quite some time now after being caught by police burying children and babies. Though convicted only of burying the bodies, and not killing them, he has been condemned to a life of mental poking, prodding, and dissection. Most of the professionals analyzing Erik write him off as delusional. Regardless of what they think, the vernal equinox, the "tangential lunar apogee," the doefolmon, is upon them, and Erik must find a means of escape before it is too late.
Book Review
The following is an Amazon Book Review from the page noted in the External Links below.
Not bad, not great, just middle of the road, July 31, 2004
Edward Lee is a prime example of a "cult" writer in the horror field. Many of his books are extremely hard to find, and fans are willing to pay an arm and a leg on ebay to buy books of his that sometimes don't even exceed 100 pages. Why is Lee so popular? Because his stories are gruesome, gory, graphic and everything else that fans of the extreme horror genre crave. Oh, and he's a good writer too. Only recently have some of his titles been published in mass market editions thanks to the Leisure line of horror paperbacks. Succubi is not one of them, it's a 1992 novel novel that has wallowed in obscurity, even among his rabid fans. There's a good reason for that.
Ann Slavik is a big-shot lawyer in Washington D.C. She lives with her rebellious teenage daughter Melanie and with her writer boyfriend Martin. When Ann gets a call that her father is not well and on his deathbed, the three head north into the boonie town of Lockwood where her parents live. Meanwhile an escaped mental institute patient named Erik Tharp is also headed to Lockwood but for a different reason, to put an end to the sadistic cult that has been killing babies and framed Erik for it. Anne Slavik had no idea her home town is breeding ground for a sex-mad, cannibalistic, murderous cult but she will find out soon enough...
Succubi started off promisingly, as we meet several well-developped characters. Lee's writing in this novel is simple but effective and displays a sharp literary wit as I found myself cracking up at several of the verbal exchanges between the characters. Lee does take quite a while to kick his story into second gear, not good considering the short length of this novel. Does that mean the ending is explosive then? Ehh...not quite. I actually preferred the set-up of the first 100 pages than the last 100. That's not usually a good thing. The idea of a cult that sexually violates its victims and kills them while climaxing could have made for an incredibly gruesome ride but the gore is rather restrained here (only by Lee's standards mind you). No, what's really sickening are the scenes involving Duke Belloxi, another escaped patient at the mental institution. That dude is MEAN. He's a walking, joke-cracking timebomb that kills absolutely anyone in his path whether he feels they deserve it or not. His "exploits" had me squirming in my seat.
One of the things that really bothered me about this novel was the omnipresence of a strange language that the cult members use. These words mean absolutely nothing to the reader as we are not given any prior explanation as to their meaning. Only at the end during a discussion between a doctor and a researcher do we get to uncover the meaning of the language but still it feels clumsy and definitely too late. That, along with several loose ends that are never tied together and some of the main characters being dispatched unspectacularly are reasons not to shell out major bucks on this one. But that's okay, it's one of Lee's early novels and he was still refining his style. These days the man writes excellent books.
Review By Matthew King - Amazon Reader
External Links
Author
- Official Website
- Header Movie Website
- Necro Publications
- Podcast X reviews Verotika #14 (featuring Edward Lee's "Headers")