Gerald Biss, an English author, writes about an American millionaire that finds himself in contention with an unimaginable evil emerging into modern (at the time of writing), post-World War I England.
The edition under consideration was published by Black Heath Editions in 2014. Black Heath Editions republishes lesser known works of supernatural fiction from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in the Kindle format for incredibly reasonable prices. I would not have even heard of many of these authors (and their works) had it not been for Black Heath Editions.
This Black Heath edition has a few minor editing issues. It is as if OCR software missed the mark on some words in the text. For example, “Line” is used instead of the correct “Linc”–short for “Lincoln.” To make matters worse, this error is repeated in each and every appearance of the word.
The Door of the Unreal, an early twentieth-century entrant into the werewolf sub-genre of horror fiction, was originally published in 1919 by Eveleigh Nash & Grayson Ltd of London. This was followed the next year with the publication of the book in the U.S. by G. P. Putnam’s Sons.
The Door of the Unreal considered here is a reprint of the 1920 U. S. release. The only difference that I have been able to discern between the 1919 U. K. release and the 1920 U. S. release (aside from the dust jackets) is the inclusion of a Foreword, in which Biss expresses how pleased he is that The Door of the Unreal will be released in the U. S.
Born in Cambridge in 1876, Edwin Gerald Jones Biss was well-known for his serialized tales in journals and newspapers. That he was also a motoring enthusiast was made abundantly clear in the story considered here.
Gerald Biss died a few years after The Door of the Unreal was published. At the time of his death in 1922, he was 46 years old.
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The story of The Door of the Unreal is made up of three parts.
The first part begins as a series of recollections, statements, depositions and documents by various witnesses. Up till this point, the narrator, aside from introducing himself, only made rare comments. A little more than half way through this part, the narrator makes his appearance in the tale and then becomes an active participant in it.
The second part is more investigative. The narrator and his associates start to put the pieces together. Progress into really comprehending what is going on, is slow. It is more than half-way through this section before the link between the attack and the full moon is made. The narrator has to explain to men of Scotland Yard that the killings are being done by two werewolves! He recounts events from the beginning of the story to the current point, everything falling into place. In light of these new revelations, together, they come up with a plan to attack and kill the werewolves.
The third and final part revolved around the execution of the plan to kill the werewolves. The ambush is carried out and the werewolves killed. Two interesting things about this: Firstly, when the werewolves make their appearance for the first, and the last, time in the story, they are as large wolves. Aside from their larger than average lupine size, nothing supernatural was evident. No mention was ever made of a hybrid man/wolf creature, what today is traditionally thought of as a werewolf. Second, in shooting the werewolves, there was no mention of silver bullets or indeed of any silver at all; not what one expects in a werewolf tale! Once the snipers fired, it was all over in a moment, evil was vanquished and all ended well.
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As a change of pace from how I normally do things, a few weeks following my reading of The Door of the Unreal, I decided to listen to an audio narration of story from Librivox.com as well. The narration was performed by Alan Winterrowd.
To my pleasant surprise, it was good . . . very good. And yes, while the material was the same, hearing the spoken word after having already read the book made for a far richer experience of the book.
I heartily recommend this approach.
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Biss, a great admirer of Stoker’s Dracula and influenced by it, used a similar style in order to firmly place his tale in contemporary England. Interestingly, in this story, it is an American who comes to the aid of the British against some German horror. Written less than two years after the end of the First World War, this can be no coincidence.
References
Print Resources
Digital Resources
Biss, Gerald. The Door of the Unreal. Black Heath Editions. 2014. Kindle Edition.
https://www.amazon.com/Door-Unreal-Werewolf-Sensation-Supernatural-ebook/dp/B00PMC343Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1525536636&sr=1-1
Biss, Gerald. The Door of the Unreal. Internet Archive. 02 September 2008. PDF.
https://archive.org/details/doorunreal00bissgoog
Biss, Gerald. The Door of the Unreal. LibriVox. 24 August 2015. MP3 Audio.
https://librivox.org/the-door-of-the-unreal-by-gerald-biss/
Online Resources
Evans, Dewi. “The Door of the Unreal (1919) by Gerald Biss.” Mystery and Imagination. 23 June 2013. Web. 03 May 2018.
https://gothictexts.wordpress.com/2013/06/23/the-door-of-the-unreal-1919-by-gerald-biss/
Holland, Steve. “Gerald Biss.” Bear Alley. Steve Holland. 21 August 2007. Web. 04 May 2018.
https://bearalley.blogspot.co.uk/2007/08/gerald-biss.html
Terry, Mark. “Door of the Unreal, The.” Facsimile Dust Jackets. Facsimile Dust Jackets, LLC. Web. 30 April 2018.
https://www.dustjackets.com/pages/books/32696/gerald-biss/door-of-the-unreal-the
Wikipedia contributors. "Edwin Gerald Jones Biss." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 10 January 2018. Web. 30 April 2018.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Gerald_Jones_Biss
[i] https://www.dustjackets.com/pages/books/32696/gerald-biss/door-of-the-unreal-the
[ii] https://www.dustjackets.com/pages/books/46680/gerald-biss/door-of-the-unreal-the
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