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Sarban (1910–1989)

Autor de The Sound of His Horn

13+ Obras 426 Miembros 11 Reseñas 6 Preferidas

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Obras de Sarban

Obras relacionadas

Chillers for Christmas (1989) — Contribuidor — 49 copias
Season of Wonder (2012) — Contribuidor — 40 copias
Nursery Crimes (1993) — Contribuidor — 24 copias

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Conocimiento común

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John William Wall ('Sarban') was primarily a British diplomat in the Near East who wrote few books in his lifetime. He writes beautifully and crafts his stories in an unrushed manner with such breadth of detail about all subjects and intelligence and love of language. You cannot rush through these stories. They build slowly, beginning with a geographic setting, a very long introductory windup, and only when everyone is tucked into their chosen places, he begins to tell The Story. There are usually comfy chairs, a fire and drinks involved and you absolutely feel as though you are in the room, too. My favorite in this book is A Christmas Story, but the journey of the story is the point as much or more than the ending. I only wish he had written more, but he was a perfectionist, as you will see. I can't imagine a contemporary fiction writer that could match his talent. They have just the right amount of supernatural slant to make them odd and compelling.… (más)
 
Denunciada
SusanTahiti | Jan 22, 2024 |
The book begins with Alan Querdilion relating the tale of his escape from a prisoner-of-war camp in Eastern Germany during WWII.

He ends up in a slave world, 100 years later, where some slaves have been genetically altered. And hunted for sport. And then he time travels back. Or does he? Actually, I'm being serious. I don't quite understand the timeline in this story, or why it happens. I was definitely frustrated at the end.

The book cover has this written at the top - “If The Nazis Had Won Their War". Honestly, I didn't really get what that title was referring to, as the action in the 'future' is only confined to the one area that is described, and there is no mention of the Nazi's ruling the world, or running it, or any such thing. Which was a disappointment to me, as the idea of an alt-history "what if" story was part of the reason I bought this.… (más)
 
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Stahl-Ricco | 7 reseñas más. | May 10, 2023 |
This volume was definitely better than the Ringstones volume. I took it from the Afterword that these were the last things Sarban ever wrote, much to our loss. As such it has the touches of a more mature writer. Note however, all of Sarban's writing is crafted by a very talented writer and all of it should be read.

The story itself is way creepier than Ringstones and we really become anxious about Clare's plight as things about the Sterne family, mother and son, don't appear to be quite right and Niall becomes a bigger part of Clare's story. The element of the overtly supernatural, as it is in all Sarban's stories, is introduced rather abruptly with the puppet show. We've been waiting for this for awhile, wondering what it will consist of, and its weirdness doesn't disappoint. From that point forward in the story we are certain that things are not going to be alright for Clare and she is pretty much out there by herself. Clare finally realizes her situation and the suspense continues to build as we wonder, along with Clare, how she is going to deal with the situation and get herself out of life threatening peril.

The suspense really builds in three phases. First we are anticipating the puppet show. There have been enough hints that things are not quite right and we rightly assume this is going to be a turning point. It is, but only really for the reader. Next we begin to fret about when Clare is going to wise-up (or if she will) and realize that there is real menace here. Niall already has a lot of control over things by this point. Once she becomes ill and realizes what is going on, we agonize over how or even if she is going to get out of this alive and intact, all on her own (nobody is going to believe her story).

I would say the ending is a little bit of a letdown. Escaping ends up being just too easy and goes flawlessly for Clare.

The characters are great. We really relate to Clare and Niall is truly creepy, but not at first.

Women may balk a bit at the story since it turns out to be a typical women menaced by a man story, but I thought Clare was drawn as a fairly independent character although naive, very intelligent, she just hates where she is that and lacks the confidence to get out of it. The things that happen are going to force her to mature and take control of her life in a hurry, if she has the strength, to overcome the evil and enslavement that has occurred. She is ultimately more than a survivor and although her innocence is gone, we feel like this experience has made her a stronger, more self confident, and even happier person.

The other two short stories are great as well. The Trespassers being the stronger of the two and visiting some of the same themes explored in Ringstones. A House of Call was a good old-fashioned ghost story.
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Gumbywan | Jun 24, 2022 |
A good quick read but definitely the weakest of Sarban's outings. Its a sort of jacked up Most Dangerous Game set in a sketchily defined alternate future. All you really need to know is that the Nazi's won and its about 2047.

It doesn't partake of much of Sarban's real skill for depicting subtle weirdness although the setting is certainly unique. It gets a trifle sentimental towards the end by introducing a hardly believable romance angle. It in no way tries to explain how the protagonist gets to the future and gets back so it seems almost like an idea that Sarban didn't know what to do with, a problematic beginning and ending, so he tagged a framing story to it so we wouldn't notice.

However it was a good suspenseful quick read. I still liked it a lot.

Having read most of Sarban's published output I think it is a shame he didn't decide to write more in his life. All of his stuff is top shelf, everything. It seems that from his biography he treated writing as a hobby when he had free time during his civil service stint overseas. Its kind of sad to think of the fact that with so much natural writing ability that Sarban just considered it a hobby to dabble in and as soon as he found he was too busy or just lost interest in it he stopped, forever. Almost worse than a life cut too short in a way.
… (más)
 
Denunciada
Gumbywan | 7 reseñas más. | Jun 24, 2022 |

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Obras
13
También por
5
Miembros
426
Popularidad
#57,313
Valoración
3.8
Reseñas
11
ISBNs
45
Idiomas
5
Favorito
6

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