Sunday, May 12, 2013

CENTIPEDE PRESS PRESENTS CHARLES BEAUMONT




Ed here: Two gorgeous Collectors editions of Charles Beaumont novels from Centipede Press http://centipedepress.com/. Many people, including me, feel that Beaumont belongs on the same shelf as Ray Bradbury and Richard Matheson.
Dark suspense and fantasy at its finest. He was a mainstay of such shows as "The Twilight Zone" and his fiction appeared regularly in pulp and slick magazines alike. These are two particularly powerful novels. Be sure to check out Centipede's
Collected Stories of Charles Beaumont as well.

THE INTRUDER 
Shortly after a 1954 U.S. Supreme Court ruling declared racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional, a stranger arrives in Caxton — a small southern town peacefully awaiting the integration of its all-white high school. Adam Cramer, a polite, threateningly smooth-talking young Northerner, has come to persuade this community to work against the new segregation laws. Within days, he stirs the white residents to violence in order to play his own personal power games. By the time he leaves town, mob action, riots, bombings, and attacks on integrationists had become commonplace, turning neighbor against neighbor, husband against wife, white against black. 
       But The Intruder is more than just the story of one man and the trouble he brings. It is a fascinating portrait of a southern town in the mid-1950s, an exciting novel dramatizing the problems of sociological change, civil rights, and, ultimately, the changing face of America. 
       This edition of The Intruder marks the novel’s first appearance since 1962, and features a new introduction by Beaumont biographer Roger Anker, who presents an insightful look into the history behind the novel and its subsequent film. Also included is a new, illustrated afterward by Beaumont associate William F. Nolan (co-author of Logan’s Run), who recalls his role in the film, in which he plays a small town bigot.


It was a Festival for Death. In the midst of the hustle and bustle of Mardi Gras, murder lurked in masquerade, and a man — the wrong man — was being tracked like a tiger through every street and alley of the godforsaken town. 
       Written by Charles Beaumont and John Tomerlin in the mid-Fifties under the joint pseudonym of Keith Grantland, Run from the Hunter is a crime-suspense thriller. 
       Framed for the murder of Steffany Fontaine, the novel’s protagonist, Chris Adams is being taken to prison when he escapes, returns to the scene of the crime, and, while hunted by the police, searches for Steffany’s real killer. Every street and alley, however, will lead him to the place where the killers wait.
       This hardcover edition, which features a new introduction by John Tomerlin, and new artwork by J.K. Potter, marks not only the novel’s first appearance since 1960, but also the first appearance of this important work under the byline of Beaumont and Tomerlin.
       This book also includes the Beaumont-Tomerlin short storyMoon in Gemini, which concerns a young expectant mother’s despairing journey into paranoia.

1 comment:

Peter L. Winkler said...

"Adam Cramer, a polite, threateningly smooth-talking young Northerner, has come to persuade this community to work against the new segregation laws."

Shouldn't that be "integration laws"?