Sardonicus By Ray Russell

Classic Ghost Stories

Tony Walker

Fiction, Drama, Science Fiction

4.9 • 686 Ratings

🗓️ 20 October 2022

⏱️ 124 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sardonicus by Ray Russell is possibly the best Gothic horror story written in the 20th century. Ray Russell's mastery of language elevates this piece of genre fiction into literature. Russell's reading of character and masterful portrayal of dark nuances are evident. It is such quality even though the author wrote it for Playboy magazine. This tale is perfect for Halloween, but it's captivating all year long. It features a castle with a strange master, a beautiful woman in trouble, individuals, disfigurement, an isolated setting, and a perplexing plot that our protagonist must unravel. Ray Russell serves as a link between contemporary masters of the dark like Thomas Ligotti and classic goth favourites like Dracula. It was published in 1961 and adapted into the movie Mr Sardonicus the same year, showing that its quality was instantly recognisedSadly, little this gothic masterpiece is little read now, but Sardonicus deserves to be resurrected!#audiobook #freeaudiobooks #audiobooksfulllength #audiobooktube #booklover #audible New Patreon Request Buzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched! Start for FREE Support the showVisit us here: www.ghostpod.orgBuy me a coffee if you're glad I do this: https://ko-fi.com/tonywalkerIf you really want to help me, become a Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/barcudMusic by The Heartwood Institute: https://bit.ly/somecomeback Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Sardinicis,
0:08.8	Dend, then, they?
0:10.4	Everybody come back, isn't that so?
0:14.4	You tried to get into the locked drawer today, didn't you?
0:17.1	How do the dead comeback, mother?
0:20.1	What's the secret? Sardonicus by Ray Russell
0:23.8	Chapter 1
0:25.8	An S of Vulgar Pretension
0:28.7	In the late summer of the year 18
0:32.0	A gratifying series of professional successes
0:35.7	had brought me to a state of such fatigue that I had begun
0:39.8	seriously to contemplate a long rest on the continent. I had not enjoyed a proper holiday
0:45.8	in nearly three years, for in addition to my regular practice, I had been deeply involved
0:51.4	in a program of research, and so rewarding had been my progress in this special work.
0:57.6	It concerned the ligaments and muscles, and could, it was my hope, be beneficially applied to certain varieties of paralysis,
1:06.3	that I was loath to leave the city for more than a week at a time.
1:09.9	Being unmarried, I lacked a solicitous wife who might have expressed concern over my health.
1:16.2	Thus it was that I had overworked myself to a point that a holiday had become absolutely essential
1:22.9	to my well-being.
1:25.0	Hence the letter, which was put in my hand one morning near the end of that summer,
1:29.7	was most welcome. When it was first presented to me by my valet at breakfast, I turned it over and
1:37.1	over, feeling the weight of its fine paper, which was almost of the heaviness and stiffness of
	...

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