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The Boss in the Wall, A Treatise on the House Devil
A Short Novel by Avram Davidson and Grania Davis
With introductions by Peter S. Beagle and Michael Swanwick
122 pages (paperback)
Tachyon Publications
1459 18th Street, San Francisco, CA 94107
URL: http://www.tachyonpubl
ications.com
Electronym: tachyonsf@aol.com
Set in a milieu of small-town colleges and big-time scholarly egos,
The
Boss in the Wall, A Treatise on the House Devil is a brief and unsettling
novel that unleashes a previously unreported terror into the horror genre.
Ed Bagnell of Sumner Public College makes an unusual request of the curator
of the collections of the Carolina Coast Museum: to see the "Paper-Man"
or "Rustler." He is taken to see some mummified remains in filthy clothes;
fragments of Horace Greeley's "special election supplement of the New
York Herald of November whatever-it-was, 1864." Not surprisingly, this
item is locked away from ordinary visitors, and Bagnell must say a shibboleth
to convince the curator of his bona fides: "Boss in the Wall." The head
of this particular relic is preserved elsewhere -- in the General Museum
of the Province of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Just a few
pages later, his friend Vlad Smith (of Bewdley College) has encountered
a Paper-Man with tragic consequences.
The "Paper-Man" is a monster that lurks in the walls or wallpaper of
those older houses one finds at the fringes of almost any town (I have
even located several likely sites within the sedate, suburban and orderly
confines of Montclair). In outward form, the Boss in the Wall resembles
desiccated wreck of a human being, "horribly bony and filthy," a bum with
newspapers stuffed into his ragged clothes.
As Vlad Smith seeks to solve the mystery of what killed his wife's
uncle and rendered his young daughter mute with shock, he encounters a
varied cast of eccentrics. He also uncovers the paper trail of the unexplained
phenomenon in odd pamphlets --
The Treatise on the House Devil,
stray articles with such titles as "A True Account Prepared from the Original
Testimony of the Capture and Death of a Paper-Man on the Lands and Domains
of Jim Oglethorpe . . ." and cranky letters to amateur historical society
newsletters. Smith comes across evidence of a conspiracy of scholars to
keep this information from the light of day, and survives his own encounter
with a Paper-Man. Ed Bagnell is meanwhile pursuing his efforts to
identify the Carolina Coast Museum's Paper-Man, with the help of a photograph
of the head and a Civil-War ambrotype found at PasTime Paper Antiques.
These apparently parallel plotlines are in fact closely intertwined.
The Boss in the Wall is the first book-length work by Avram Davidson
published since his death. Davidson wrote drafts of The Boss in the
Wall in the early 1980s, and the book was completed by Grania Davis,
who was also co-author of Marco Polo and the Sleeping Beauty. As
published, it differs substantially from the 86-page manuscript dated "Nov.4/82"
-- in structure, in pacing, and in focus. I have not examined the longer
manuscript (of 563 pages) and do not know what material from that version
might figure in the book, but it is apparent that this collaboration consisted
of more than simple editorial intervention on the part of Grania Davis.
Peter S. Beagle's introduction describes his friendship and long correspondence
with Avram. He notes that the The Boss in the Wall is "atypical
of Davidson in one major respect: it is a truly terrifying story." (The
cover illustration of the Paper-Man is quite startling and effective; while
the back panel illustration of an isolated house in the woods is also chilling,
in a more atmospheric way.) Michael Swanwick's introduction touches upon
the history of Avram's attempts to find a publisher for his earlier drafts,
and notes the many "lost epics" of science fiction, such as Philip Jos
Farmer's original
Riverworld, and Avram's Peregrine Tertius
and others. Swanwick writes, "But not, for a miracle, The Boss in the
Wall."
Some passages from the early version appear nearly word for word, such
as the memorable exchange between the dotty Librarian Emeritus H. Brown,
historian of the Underground Railroad and the Mustee who has come to steal
the head of the Paper-Man from the General Museum. Brown labors under the
delusion that the Mustee is a "passenger," a runaway slave; this delusion
is not removed by bottle of brandy brought by the Mustee.
Other digressive sections have been tightened up and passages telescoped
(among them the concluding scene) to accelerate the race of events as the
plot unfolds. The pace of this novella is quite brisk by comparison with
Avram's later work.
One of the most memorable passages of dialogue in The Boss in the
Wall concerns the three warnings given Vlad Smith at the outset, by
an aged black man: "Firstly, get you a cat. They
hates cats. Nextly,
keep you a fire. They feared o' fire. And lastly, folks, never
get between one o'
them and the wall." Alas, Smith does not
know what to make of this very sound advice.
Where Avram's earlier draft is mainly concerned with the conspiracy
of scholars and seems hardly to focus on the monster,
The Boss in the
Wall successfully brings the monster onto center stage even as it keeps
an eye on the activities of the shadowy Committee.
One important correction to the front cover of the paperback must be noted. Avram Davidson was not "Winner of the Nebula Grandmaster Award for Lifetime Achievement." His novels were nominated for the Nebula Award in the 1960s, but he never won the award. In 1986 Avram received his third World Fantasy Award, for lifetime achievement. (My copy of The Boss in the Wall, received on 22 June 1998, has a duplicate page 49 bound into the text. A second copy of the book, received on the same date does not have such a duplicate page.)
Footnote: The Boss in the Wall on the Tour de France:
Cyclists on the Tour de France experienced extreme temperature ranges
during the climbs in the Pyrenees -- below freezing at high altitudes and
sweltering heat in the valley. Riders found their sweat freezing on their
bodies; and spectators were seen handing newspapers to the athletes, which
they then stuffed inside their clothes . . . . (Hearsay forwarded
by an appreciative reader of The Boss in the Wall.)
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Uncle Avram; or, Some Reflections on Clash
of Star Kings
Date: 98-07-08 10:59:14
From: Janwillem van de Wetering
Thanks for the clashing Star Kings that I read with interest and attention
and mailed back to you -- it will be of more use in your library than yellowing
here on a forgotten shelf. I had just read Ken Carey's Return of the
Bird Tribes, a channeling of angelic information wherein several of
Avram's Star Kings talk about the 1987-20ll cleansing period that precedes
a thousand years of harmonizing, as described in the Mayan calendar. The
book also explains the corruption through fear-driven ego power that brought
down the Central and South American warrior civilizations and set North
American tribes against each other in bloody conflict throughout the dark
ages that culminated in the European invasion bringing the downside of
Christianity to the Americas. Christ being one of the bird tribes or angels
that keep in contact with human life, ultimately incarnating so that the
birdtribe teachings could be kept alive even if it would nail his body
to the cross.
Avram must have tuned into some of this thought force during his Mexican
experimental stay, his reasoning fits in surprisingly well with contemporary
published birdtribe information. The clash at the end of Avram's book where
"open" humans, descendants of the original spiritual Native Americans,
assist the "good" star kings to defeat the "bad" star kings helped by remnants
of the fear-driven upstart violent Aztecs.
When I flew past the mountains protecting Mexico City (hidden by its
cloud of pollution) I could feel their power, just as Avram describes it
in his "potboiler".
Ever since I came to the Americas I have been curious about what went
and goes on here. The ground we live on now was the site of an Indian village
and is supposed to have a vortex of power that was revived within a medicine
wheel set up by a Mohawk shaman who comes once a year from her retreat
in Chiapas, and who claims to be a birdtribe, a member of the circle of
light, a nucleus of spirits preparing humanity to quantum leap into a new
kind of being that will gradually people other planets. Supposedly they
can do that now because humanity, aware of its suicidal course, and in
constant immediate touch with itself by website and E-mail, is willing
to "open up."
I never became her immediate student (my wife did) but I have been
accommodating her and her group for many years now, wondering what the
hell is going on here. "More bullshit by the bogus captain" as George Carlin
has it, or a genuine powerful ray of hope and beauty?
Thanks again for sending me the Star Kings book.
Best wishes
Star Kings continued
Date: 98-07-26 08:33:36
From: Janwillem van de Wetering
Amazing how Avram picked up on that Mexican material. Since then I have
done a little more research. From what I can gather (I am reading a manuscript
written by a contemporary shaman, a Mohawk lady, who lives in Mexico with
her Maya shaman husband, I met them both there, in Chiapas, and she has
stayed with us several times), from what I can gather is that this universe,
that we happen to be in, is all stars and so far uninhabited planets. The
only planet with conscious physical life so far is Earth where the Star
Kings, direct projections of the creating divinity, started an experiment,
blending spirit and material. The experiment went bad, because of the Revolution
of the Ego, but is coming to an end now, in a Day of Judgment where the
really dense humans go back into the melting point and the potentially
okay humans join up with their star-dust counterparts and become enlightened.
This quantum leap in being forms a new species that will, with Earth as
the base planet, seek out other planets by space travel and set up happy
colonies, in a process that looks like a benevolent Star Trek series. No
Klingons and other warrior tribes are to be found anywhere in the Universe,
for they would have destroyed themselves because of the incompatibility
of technology and egotism, like we are about to destroy ourselves but we
won't because of the coming interference by the Star Kings.
I never know what to make of all this. It sounds great and could very
well be true. For the time being I watch the human messed-up development
with consternation, attempting to ignore it by rowing between the seal
rocks of Jericho Bay and watching the seals play during their recess time
at low tide.
Best wishes,
Jw
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"Vergil Magus: King Without Country"
by Avram Davidson and Michael Swanwick
Asimov's Science Fiction, July 1998, pp. 80-99.
Genealogy, auguries Oriental and Occidental, marital jealousies and
sorcerous rivalries all figure in the newest fascicle of the Vergil Magus
stories to find its way into print, a splendid tale that unfolds in meandering
sonorous paragraphs. The chief narrative line concerns the desperate wishes
of Emericho, Count Mar, Master of the Ceremonies to the Emperor, to leave
a posterity (an heir to his title and his chastel and "the meadows at which
grazed a flock of grizzled sheep of a race seen nowhere else"). Michael
Swanwick completed this tale from a 23-page manuscript left unfinished
at Avram's death, and has done a faithful and inspired job. Ornate, even
rococo lists of places and objects -- words that leave memories of taste
as well as echoes of sound when spoken -- adorn the circuitous paths of
the tale. In "Vergil Magus: King Without Country," as in stories throughout
Avram's career, words are key to the plot and development of the tale:
precision in meaning, the usage of words, and their effects.
As the tale opens, Vergil Magus has a house-guest, a Chinese wizard
named Ma, sent by the Great Cham of China to the Imperial court:
It is at once fascinating and amazing to see some of the scattered tesserae of Avram's Vergil fragments assembled into a luminous, cohesive and artistically satisfying whole.
-- Henry Wessells
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Signed copies of Vergil in Averno
Elliott Swanson of Washington state has kindly donated three copies of Vergil in Averno, signed by Avram, to the Avram Davidson Society. These will be sold in a sealed bid auction to raise money for future projects of the Avram Davidson Society. Vergil in Averno is an elusive book and this presents a unique opportunity for readers of The Nutmeg Point District Mail to acquire a copy. The three books are as follows:
Item 1. Davidson, Avram. Vergil in Averno. Doubleday & Company,
Inc. Garden City, New York, 1987. First (and only) edition. Octavo, [6]
+ 184 pages, bound in white paper-covered boards, with dustjacket.
Signed "Avram Davidson" on front free endpaper, stamped with VM monogram
and bearing the additional inscription "Vergil Magus His Mark." Signed
again on title page.
As New.
Item 2. Davidson, Avram. Vergil in Averno. Doubleday & Company,
Inc. Garden City, New York, 1987. First (and only) edition. Octavo, [6]
+ 184 pages, bound in white paper-covered boards, with dustjacket.
Signed "Avram Davidson" on front free endpaper, stamped with VM monogram
and bearing the additional inscription "Vergil Magus His Mark."
Slight bump at base of spine, faint shelfwear or transfer along top
and bottom of rear panel of dustjacket. Half-title stuck to front endpaper
at one spot.
Item 3. Davidson, Avram. Vergil in Averno. Doubleday & Company,
Inc. Garden City, New York, 1987. First (and only) edition. Octavo, [6]
+ 184 pages, bound in white paper-covered boards, with dustjacket.
Signed "Avram Davidson" on front free endpaper, stamped with VM monogram
and bearing the additional inscription "Vergil Magus His Mark." Signed
again on title page.
One-inch closed tears at top and bottom corners of front panel of dust
jacket, affecting last two letters of "Davidson" along bottom.
SEND WRITTEN BIDS BY MAIL ONLY. Bids must specify item number,
amount of bid in Yankee dollars (USD), bidder's name and address (plus
telephone number and/or electronym), and should be postmarked before October
1, 1998. Successful bidders will have two weeks to send in payment. Address
all bids to:
The Avram Davidson Society
P.O. Box 43072, Upper Montclair, NJ 07043-0072.
This announcement will be repeated in the September issue of The Nutmeg Point District Mail, and may also be posted at the Avram Davidson Website.
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FINAL CONTENTS OF The Avram Davidson Treasury
Forthcoming from Tor Books:
The Avram Davidson Treasury
A Tribute Collection
Edited by
Robert Silverberg
and Grania Davis
Contents
It's going to be a =wonderful= book.
Best,
Teresa Nielsen Hayden
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The URL of the Avram Davidson Website is: http://www.kosmic.org/members/dongle/henry/
The archive of past issues of The Nutmeg Point District Mail
is now available; other parts of the Website (including the Index to the
Writings of Avram Davidson) have been updated, corrected, and expanded.
Submissions of additional material for the Website are welcome.
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Next issue will be published in September 1998.
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