Darker Than You Think

Jack Williamson's "Darker Than You Think" is a one-shot horror-novel excursion for this science fiction Grand Master, but has nonetheless been described as not only the author's finest work, but also one of the best treatments of the werewolf in modern literature. It has been chosen for inclusion in David Pringle's overview volume "Modern Fantasy: The Hundred Best Novels" ("a relatively disciplined and thoughtful work," Pringle writes, in comparing it to the author's earlier space operas) as well as in Jones & Newman's "Horror: Another 100 Best Books" ("the most unique and original take written on...lycanthropy," illustrator Randy Broecker tells us). The novel originally appeared in a "short," 48,000-word form in the December 1940 issue of "Unknown" magazine (the fantasy sister of "Astounding Science-Fiction"), and was later expanded by the author for a 1948 book edition. Though dealing with werewolves, the novel presents us with a very different sort of monster than readers of earlier horror tales and viewers of Universal horror pictures were perhaps accustomed to. Williamson's werewolves are actually shape shifters, capable of becoming wolves or any other creature that strikes their fancy. Roaming at night, free of their corporeal bodies and invisible to human eyes, they have existed since the first Ice Age and for thousands of years dominated prehistoric Homo sapiens. Hidden and desperate by the mid-20th century, they await their so-called Black Messiah, the Child of Night, who will lead them to their long-awaited reconquest of man. But "Darker Than You Think" (a strangely unsatisfying title for me, somehow; "Child of Night" might have been preferable) is mainly the story of Will Barbee, an alcoholic newspaperman living in the fictitious city of Clarendon (somewhere in the southeast U.S., I infer). Barbee meets a ravishing fellow reporter, April Bell, whilst covering a story at the Clarendon airport. Professor Mondrick and his three young colleagues, all old friends of Barbee, have just returned from the Gobi Desert with news of a monumental discovery. But as Mondrick and the others begin to die one by one over the course of the next few days, in exact conformity with some rather bizarre dreams of Barbee's--in which he assumes the forms of a wolf, a saber-toothed tiger and a giant constrictor, alongside April Bell--the befuddled reporter must riddle out what is real and what, if anything, is fantasy. It is not a simple thing for me to write about this novel's story line without giving away any of the book's many surprises, and indeed, perhaps I have already said too much. Suffice it to say that poor Barbee is thrown into an increasingly noirish and nightmare-filled world, and that Williamson keeps the suspense quotient ratcheted very high. Though not a science fiction novel per se, the author does manage to come up with a scientific explanation for the shape shifters' powers that invokes such disparate subjects as the Rhine experiments

I'm very happy to see Tor return an old favorite of mine to print -- Jack Williamson's novel of shapeshifters, witches and the seductive power of evil. I don't use the term "classic" lightly, but DARKER THAN YOU THINK certainly deserves it.Yes, the book's pulp origins are apparent. But modern readers should not let it distract them from this dynamic and highly original novel (which includes some great plot-twists that must have been very shocking in the 40's). My only complaint with this new edition is the cover, which is pretty darn ugly. However, the book does contain David G. Klein's black and white illustrations from the 1980's Bluejay edition, which is a nice bonus.

It is great to have this pulp classic (first published in the pages of "Unknown" in the early forties and expanded in 1947) back in print. This is the best in "epic horror"; every chapter has a new suprise, a new shock, a new monster -- but Williamson keeps it all together in his focus on a tortured and confused protagonist, caught between his friends and his confusing "lust". Although supposedly a werewolf novel, the author expands the story into a titanic struggle of humanity and the dark unknown, a struggle that lasts through all time and infects all of us. Impossible to put down, and worth it for the surprising emotional climax that reverses all conventions of horror (at least as horror was known then). Get it now!

I've read this book at least half a dozen times, and always found something new. It has a beautiful period flavor -- sort of a noir-ish tinge -- yet hasn't dated at all. The evil presented is horrifying, yet seductive in a ghastly way; and it speaks to the divided soul of humanity, where demon and angel wrestle.A classic!

A chance encounter is about to lead Will Barbee into a confrontation with ancient evil. It will change him forever. This wonderfully inventive novel will twist your expectations, with writing that remains fresh despite its pulp magazine origins. There are many marvels to be found herein, and enough action to put most Hollywood blockbusters to shame. It remains my favorite novel of shapechangers (not strictly werewolves, since the characters can change into snakes, sabre-tooth tigers and even pterosaurs), and a book that desperately needs to come back into print. I'd give it 10 stars if I could!