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Blood
Three short stories by the author of the Sorcerer's Apprentice trilogy.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1930
3 people are currently reading
53 people want to read
About the author
Hanns Heinz Ewers
220Ìýbooks122ÌýfollowersGerman actor, poet, philosopher, and writer of short stories and novels.
While he wrote on a wide range of subjects, he is today known chiefly for his works of horror, particularly his trilogy of novels centered around the adventures of Frank Braun, a character modeled not too loosely on himself.
The best known of these is Alraune
While he wrote on a wide range of subjects, he is today known chiefly for his works of horror, particularly his trilogy of novels centered around the adventures of Frank Braun, a character modeled not too loosely on himself.
The best known of these is Alraune
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 28, 2023
There are four short stories in this collection, and they are all tremendous.
The titular, Blood, or Mamaloi
The White Maiden
Tomato Sauce
and The Spider.
In Mamaloi, Ewers relates the details of a scandalous occurrence involving voodoo by a corrupt, depraved and aging German missionary in Haiti. It is in the format of a letter from the emigre, deliberately intended to scandalise the his reverent relative, containing casual remarks about sexual abuse, including that of young children. The narrator believes his Haitian slave, Adelaide, may be a Voodoo priestess, and there is a harrowing account of a ceremony in which a child is sacrificed and cannibalised at the height of an orgy.
Tomato Sauce is a vivid account of cock and bullfighting atrocities, building up to the main spectacle of two men hacking each other to pieces with knives before a cheering audience, at the forefront of which stands a vampiric English clergyman nicknamed 'The Pope'.
I’ve only just encountered Ewers, and I am smitten.. Most of his horror writing took place just after the Great War, during which he had spent most of the time in an American Interment Camp, accused of spying, though was never actually tried as such. He is considered a big influence on Lovecraft, and I can see why. His writing is highly original, and experimental in the manner that he was prepared to go places where his contemporaries, and indeed all other writers in the genre, feared to go.
The titular, Blood, or Mamaloi
The White Maiden
Tomato Sauce
and The Spider.
In Mamaloi, Ewers relates the details of a scandalous occurrence involving voodoo by a corrupt, depraved and aging German missionary in Haiti. It is in the format of a letter from the emigre, deliberately intended to scandalise the his reverent relative, containing casual remarks about sexual abuse, including that of young children. The narrator believes his Haitian slave, Adelaide, may be a Voodoo priestess, and there is a harrowing account of a ceremony in which a child is sacrificed and cannibalised at the height of an orgy.
Tomato Sauce is a vivid account of cock and bullfighting atrocities, building up to the main spectacle of two men hacking each other to pieces with knives before a cheering audience, at the forefront of which stands a vampiric English clergyman nicknamed 'The Pope'.
I’ve only just encountered Ewers, and I am smitten.. Most of his horror writing took place just after the Great War, during which he had spent most of the time in an American Interment Camp, accused of spying, though was never actually tried as such. He is considered a big influence on Lovecraft, and I can see why. His writing is highly original, and experimental in the manner that he was prepared to go places where his contemporaries, and indeed all other writers in the genre, feared to go.
March 20, 2010
Though these three stories aren't traditional horror, in fact they read more like the early 20th century exoticism of Joseph Conrad or Ernest Hemingway, the main thrust of each narrative is towards a sort of introspective terror, where the horrible events of the world are reflected in the narrator's perspective, where the numbness of the characters becomes unbearable and horrifies the reader.
In "Blood" a strange, racist fetishist delves into Voodoo rituals and falls in love with a mamaloi and, of course, carnage ensues. Ewers has a firm grasp on the doom of these relationships.
In "The White Maiden" a group of bohemians and aristocrats watch a naked girl kill a pigeon and bathe in its blood, and the most disturbing part is the nonchalant dinner they have afterwards.
"Tomato Sauce" portrays a weird, ultramodern violent voyeurism that rivals Videodrome in its insensitivity, its fascination with the color of pain, of blood.
In "Blood" a strange, racist fetishist delves into Voodoo rituals and falls in love with a mamaloi and, of course, carnage ensues. Ewers has a firm grasp on the doom of these relationships.
In "The White Maiden" a group of bohemians and aristocrats watch a naked girl kill a pigeon and bathe in its blood, and the most disturbing part is the nonchalant dinner they have afterwards.
"Tomato Sauce" portrays a weird, ultramodern violent voyeurism that rivals Videodrome in its insensitivity, its fascination with the color of pain, of blood.
May 27, 2015
Bought the Heron press edition 4 years ago and its content still makes me cringe, especially the last and most gruesome tale, "Tomato Sauce." Finding the three stories to be within the realm of subversive writing, Ewers undoubtedly, obsessed with mutilation, gives the reader a bloodied smattering of his macabre world. The last story in particular is worth mentioning due to its implicit cultural references concerning taboo and Western bourgeois values. Without saying more than needed, two men enjoy a mutual slaying similar to cock-fights (almost a sacrifice), rendering hubris and humanity back to the level of bestial violence.
August 12, 2020
Every once in a while I read something that just isn’t any good.
I’ve never read anything by Hanns Heinz Ewers but knew of his works such as The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Alraune and Nachtmahr.
I found this edition which only had a run of 1,000 copies and it has set on my shelf for a few years. I now know why I never jumped at the chance to pick it up.
The first short story’s protagonist, which is written in first person, very smugly and pretentiously speaks about having sex with children as young as 8 years old with no scruples whatsoever.
The rest of the story is filled with him fathering Mulattoes, taking part in a child torture-sacrifice, and saving his own half-breed child from being eaten by Blacks in these Voodoo rituals.
The second story revolves around Aristocratic types being privy to an adolescent, virginal show which seems to end in a little girl’s sacrifice.
Need I go on?
Off the bat I was reminded of Chuck Palahniuk, Bret Easton Ellis and the like, in the transgressive vein. I was put off by the arrogant and decadent tone of the writing mixed with the ecstasy and delight of degenerate violence and perversion.
I thought to myself... where along the way did I get the inkling to buy this man’s literature. And I remembered that during the Third Reich Ewers joined the party, but only briefly. I failed to do my homework and it all makes sense; this is taken from The Jewish Daily Bulletin on Feb. 6, 1934; it reads:
“Loyalty, gratitude and honesty are qualities that come in for a lot of tossing about these days. Old Staats-Zeitung employers are now reminiscing back to the days of the War when Hans Heinz Ewers, shabbily clad and penniless, was peddling his verses in the hope of a square meal. Neither his verse nor his prose earned him many square meals until the two Jewish sisters and their millions discovered him, took him to their home, lavished their attention, care and money on him and gave him his first push up the ladder to fame as a writer and poet.�
It makes perfect sense that Jews would promote this pedophilic smut to the masses. It also turns out he was prone to homosexuality.
No wonder I was reminded of the Homo-Decadent writings of Palahniuk and Ellis because Ewers himself was a Homo-Decadent. It’s too bad I’ve seen websites and companies that I'm fond of promote and sell his pedo-garbage.
Hopefully, this serves as an eye-opening warning to people that wish to avoid such filth.
I’ve never read anything by Hanns Heinz Ewers but knew of his works such as The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Alraune and Nachtmahr.
I found this edition which only had a run of 1,000 copies and it has set on my shelf for a few years. I now know why I never jumped at the chance to pick it up.
The first short story’s protagonist, which is written in first person, very smugly and pretentiously speaks about having sex with children as young as 8 years old with no scruples whatsoever.
The rest of the story is filled with him fathering Mulattoes, taking part in a child torture-sacrifice, and saving his own half-breed child from being eaten by Blacks in these Voodoo rituals.
The second story revolves around Aristocratic types being privy to an adolescent, virginal show which seems to end in a little girl’s sacrifice.
Need I go on?
Off the bat I was reminded of Chuck Palahniuk, Bret Easton Ellis and the like, in the transgressive vein. I was put off by the arrogant and decadent tone of the writing mixed with the ecstasy and delight of degenerate violence and perversion.
I thought to myself... where along the way did I get the inkling to buy this man’s literature. And I remembered that during the Third Reich Ewers joined the party, but only briefly. I failed to do my homework and it all makes sense; this is taken from The Jewish Daily Bulletin on Feb. 6, 1934; it reads:
“Loyalty, gratitude and honesty are qualities that come in for a lot of tossing about these days. Old Staats-Zeitung employers are now reminiscing back to the days of the War when Hans Heinz Ewers, shabbily clad and penniless, was peddling his verses in the hope of a square meal. Neither his verse nor his prose earned him many square meals until the two Jewish sisters and their millions discovered him, took him to their home, lavished their attention, care and money on him and gave him his first push up the ladder to fame as a writer and poet.�
It makes perfect sense that Jews would promote this pedophilic smut to the masses. It also turns out he was prone to homosexuality.
No wonder I was reminded of the Homo-Decadent writings of Palahniuk and Ellis because Ewers himself was a Homo-Decadent. It’s too bad I’ve seen websites and companies that I'm fond of promote and sell his pedo-garbage.
Hopefully, this serves as an eye-opening warning to people that wish to avoid such filth.
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October 21, 2024The White Maiden is also printed in the Big Book of the Masters of Horror
Tomato Sauce is also printed in the Big Book of the Masters of Horror
Tomato Sauce is also printed in the Big Book of the Masters of Horror
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