Lansdale’s short fiction has been collected and
recollected several times. The best of them are By
Bizarre Hands (1991), Bestsellers Guaranteed
(1993), The Long Ones(2000), and Bumper Crop
(2004). His strongest assets are his very polished
and readable prose style and his ability to mix ex-
treme and original images with everyday events
and characters, so that the reader is left with a lin-
gering uncertainty about the real world that sur-
rounds us. His recent suspense novels, while not
fantastic, are often more chilling than are overtly
supernatural tales in the hands of less talented
writers.
The Last BattleC. S. Lewis(1956)
The CHRONICLES OF NARNIAconcludes with this
title, set so far in the future that the human chil-
dren who visited during the earlier volumes have
all died, and the land of Narnia itself has become
worn out and less vital. The novel is also the most
obvious Christian allegory in the series, and the ef-
forts by the author, C. S. LEWIS, to draw his paral-
lels are occasionally intrusive.
We are told in the opening sentence that the
days of Narnia are drawing to a close. An ape
named Shift lives in a remote region with his only
friend, Puzzle the donkey, who he treats very badly.
When an empty lion skin turns up, Shift convinces
Puzzle to wear it, hoping that he will be mistaken
for Aslan and thus become a powerful puppet in
Shift’s hands. Thus, poor Puzzle is cast in the role
of the Antichrist. Tirian, the last king of Narnia,
hears rumors and rejoices at the prospect of the re-
turn of Aslan, who has been absent for many gen-
erations, despite words of caution from many of his
advisers. He acts rashly and is troubled by reports
that Aslan has favored the neighboring kingdom of
Calormen, that the talking animals are to be sub-
ject to the humans’ will, and that the sacred trees
and their mystical inhabitants are to be destroyed.
The Calormens worship the god Tash, who
eventually is cast in the role of Satan as the two
countries go to war, and Narnia is conquered. The
title refers to the final efforts by the good Narnians
to resist their enemies, even though their own faith
has been shaken by the absence of either Aslan or
the children from our world who saved them in the
past. Just as everything seems at its bleakest, Aslan
finally intercedes, but only to allow his followers to
escape into heaven, for Narnia itself is doomed to
endure its final destruction. As with the previous
books, the implied lesson is that only through be-
lieving in Aslan even when it seems he has utterly
abandoned his people can salvation be found, and
since Aslan is another aspect of Christ, the impli-
cations for our own world are meant to be obvious.Lauria, Frank(1935– )
Frank Lauria is not often mentioned within the
horror field because his stories of the supernatural
are more akin to the occult adventures of Seabury
QUINNand Dennis WHEATLEY, a style of story that
has largely gone out of fashion. Most of his novels
feature Doctor Orient, a student of the occult who
has devoted his life to mastering the secrets of the
dark arts in order to thwart those who would use
this power for their own benefit. He made his
debut with Doctor Orient(1970), freshly emerged
from a prolonged retreat to wage war against the
minions of the devil. Although somewhat old fash-
ioned even for 1970, the novel is entertaining and
occasionally inventive.
Orient returned, now fully established as a
psychic investigator, in Raga Six(1972). Having es-
tablished himself in Manhattan, he promptly finds
himself locked in battle with a coven of witches
whose powers he underestimates with nearly disas-
trous consequences. The sequel is noticeably more
polished than the previous book, a progression that
would continue in small increments over the next
few titles. Lady Sativa(1973) is an even more so-
phisticated supernatural mystery. Orient is drawn
to a beautiful young woman who appears to be the
target of malign forces, but the reality is much
more complex than that, and Orient once again
barely escapes disaster because of his misjudgment
of the true state of affairs.
A murder attracts his interest in Baron Orgaz
(1974), one that the authorities believe to be
purely mundane but that Orient suspects is just a
symptom of a more serious problem. Voodoo magic
is nearly his undoing in The Priestess(1978), in-
voked by the lover of a prominent gangster. In The
Seth Papers(1979), the best novel in the series,204 The Last Battle