the divine intervention is direct and unmistakable,
although it takes a rather unexpected form.
Dreamthorp(1989) is not as impressive, al-
though the relationship between the two protago-
nists fighting a demonic influence is skillfully
done. Reign(1990) is much better, a story about a
doppelgänger. Members of a theatrical troupe are
being attacked by a mysterious figure that appears
to be the protagonist, although we eventually dis-
cover that it is actually a duplicate of him consist-
ing of all of his baser impulses and fears,
reminiscent of DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE(1888),
by Robert Louis Stevenson. City of Iron(1998)
opened a series of novels about a team of occult
investigators who believe that the abduction of an
artist is part of a plot by satanists to introduce
major supernatural evil into the world. They re-
turn to track down a demon in Empire of Dust
(1998) and battle the forces of hell itself in Siege of
Stone(1999). Although their enemies are super-
natural, the series is more adventure than horror.
Williamson has also written fantasy, although
with a noticeably dark tone. Mordenheim(1994) is
set in the shared world Ravenloft series and is essen-
tially a retelling of the story of FRANKENSTEIN
(1818), by Mary SHELLEY, in a different setting. Sec-
ond Chance(1995) is a minor time travel fantasy.
Murder in Cormyr(1996) is a murder mystery set in
another shared world universe, with a wizard as a de-
tective. He also wrote a tie-in novel to the Crow
movies, Clash by Night(1998), with the undead
avenger returning to eliminate a band of brutal ter-
rorists. Although Williamson’s tie-in novels are
much better than most similar efforts, they are not
nearly as impressive as his original work. Hell(1995),
a tie-in to a computer game, is technically science
fiction but is set in a future where technology results
in the creation of what are essentially demons.
Williamson’s short fiction is equally quirky and
interesting, although to date only a single collec-
tion, Figures in Rain(2002), has appeared. Many of
his horror stories have no supernatural content
and involve ordinary people who justify their own
cruelty and avarice to themselves, sometimes in
quite creative ways. Among his best are “From the
Papers of Helmut Hecker” (1990), “The Bookman”
(1991), “Coventry Carol” (1994), and “A Fly
Called Jesus” (1996). His insights into human psy-
chology, his willingness to tackle complex moral
and ethical issues, and his gift for creating novel
situations and images make him one of the most
interesting writers of the last 20 years.Williamson, J. N.(1932– )
J. N. Williamson’s first novel appeared in 1979, but
he soon proved to be astonishingly prolific, with
nearly three dozen horror novels published over
the course of the next 15 years as well as a number
of short stories. The Ritual(1979) introduced Mar-
tin Ruben, a parapsychologist who communicates
with a minion of Satan while investigating a case
of apparent possession. Ruben also appears in Pre-
monition(1981), in which he travels to a remote is-
land where a health resort is offering immortality,
but only in exchange for eternal slavery to a super-
natural being. His final appearance is in Broth-
erkind(1982), which blends the supernatural with
science fiction. The Men in Black, normally associ-
ated with flying saucers, are actually harbingers of
a new form of life, a blend of human and nonhu-
man traits.
The Houngan(1980, also published as Profits)
mixes voodoo with modern business and is proba-
bly the best of Williamson’s early novels, re-
strained and neatly plotted. Other novels from
this period such as The Tulpa(1981) and Queen of
Hell(1981) rather more routinely examine stan-
dard horror themes such as possession and rein-
carnation. Horror House (1981) is the most
interesting of several haunted house novels, this
one set in a building that was at one time investi-
gated by Thomas Edison, with negative results,
but that now appears to be home to genuine angry
spirits. It is less hastily written than most of
Williamson’s other work from the early 1980s and
includes some genuinely suspenseful sequences.
Williamson then launched two series, one in-
volving vampires and the other set within Minni-
field House. The vampire novels are Death-Coach
(1981), Death-Angel(1981), Death-School(1982),
and Death-Doctor(1982), all involving a lamia, or
female vampire, who comes to a small midwestern
town hoping to establish a sanctuary for herself
and her kind. Each book is complete in itself, and
one must wonder why she kept returning to the382 Williamson, J. N.