The Undying Monster

Considered one of the most sophisticated and imaginative novels of lycanthropy ever written, Jessie Douglas Kerruish's spellbinder is the story of the Hammand family, which for centuries has been the prey of an undying monster that wreaks a hideous death on its victims and drives survivors to suicidal madness. An ancient rhyme declares; "Where grow pines and firs amain,/Under stars, sans heat or rain,/Chief of Hammand, beware thy bane." Some villagers hold that the monster is the Devil, come to earth to fulfill his part of a grim bargain--giving the family immense wealth in return for untimely death. Others claim that the monster is a Hammand ancestor, kept alive by black magic and human blood. Still others whisper of the occasional birth of some half-human, half-animal creature which would sometimes escape with terrible results. When the monster slaughters a young woman who is out on a walk with Oliver Hammand, the young lord of the Hammands, no one seems safe, not even his sister Swanhild, who would face the monster herself to save Oliver. In desperation, Swanhild turns to the gifted psychic, Luna Bartendale for help. Soon Oliver and Swanhild find themselves accompanying Luna Bartendale on a quest through ancient churches, graveyards, manuscripts, and legends for the clues that can free the Hammands from the curse of the undying monster--before it kills again! It is a mission made all the more desperate by the fact that Oliver and Luna are falling deeply in love. Their quest will lead the three to a place of unimaginable silence--an hour when Death gives up its secrets--a moment when a doomed man will reach beyond the grave to save generations unborn--and finally to a confrontation with the most powerful Gods of Earth's primeval youth. Kerruish's masterpiece is considered to have the most original explanation of the origin of lycanthropy ever written. * First published in 1922 by Heath Cranton as The Undying Monster. A Tale of the Fifth Dimension