Background of Study
Ray Russell (1924-1999) was an American writer and editor, known for his contributions to the genres of horror and science fiction. Born in Chicago, he developed an early interest in these genres through pulp magazines. After serving in the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II, Russell studied music and theater, which influenced his literary work. He began his writing career with a sale to Esquire in 1953 and later became an influential figure at Playboy magazine, where he served as associate and executive editor and helped elevate fantasy and science fiction within mainstream literature.
His best-known short story, “Sardonicus,” exemplifies his gothic style, exploring themes of guilt and the supernatural, and was adapted into a film. In addition to short stories, Russell authored novels that often delved into macabre subjects, with works like *The Case Against Satan* foreshadowing later horror classics. Throughout his career, he received recognition for his work, including the Sri Chimnoy Poetry Award in 1977. Russell’s legacy endures through his extensive body of work, which continues to influence the horror and fantasy genres.
Raymond Robert Russell was born on September 4, 1924, in Chicago, Illinois. As a child he discovered science fiction and fantasy through pulp magazines, which he read regularly. He served in the U.S. Army Air Force from 1943 to 1946, and upon returning from active duty enrolled at the Chicago Conservatory of Music, studying there from 1947 to 1948. He also attended the Goodman Memorial Theater from 1949 to 1951. He married in 1950 and he and his wife, Ada, had three children. Russell composed some music for piano and performed in summer stock theater productions. These experiences laid the foundation for a number of his short stories which featured musical themes and actor characters.
Russell contributed fiction, poetry, and essays to the Paris Review and other prestigious literary magazines. His first fiction sale, “The Lesser Sin,” was to Esquire in 1953. Within a year he was working at Playboy magazine, where he served as associate and executive editor from 1954 to 1960, and then as consulting editor for many years after. Russell’s literary inclinations and his preference for fantasy and science fiction helped shape the contents of the magazine. Many leading genre writers of the postwar years, including Ray Bradbury, Richard Matheson, and Charles Beaumont, appeared regularly in its pages during his tenure, and their association with the magazine and the roster of prestigious mainstream writers it published helped give fantasy and science fiction a respectability with a general readership that it might not otherwise have enjoyed at that time. While at Playboy, Russell served as the unnamed editor of more than forty anthologies of fiction distilled from the magazine, including The Playboy Book of Fantasy and Science Fiction (1966) and The Playboy Book of Horror and the Supernatural (1967).
His own stories appeared sporadically in science-fiction digests such as Imagination and Fantastic in 1955. He wrote his best-known work of short fiction, “Sardonicus” (1961), in conscious emulation of classic gothic fiction. A period piece about a man so smitten with guilt over robbing his own father’s grave that it causes his grotesque facial deformity, it showed an astute grasp of the classic gothic’s juggling of the psychological and supernatural. The story anchored Russell’s first collection, Sardonicus, and Other Stories (1961), and Russell wrote the script for director William Castle’s film adaptation of the story, Mr. Sardonicus, released in 1961.
“Sardonicus” set the tone for much of Russell’s writing thereafter, including the old-fashioned gothic tales “Sagittarius” (1962) and “Sanguinarius” (1967), which he would combine in collections Unholy Trinity (1967) and Haunted Castles: The Complete Gothic Tales of Ray Russell (1985). He worked on screenplays for The Premature Burial (1962), X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes (1963), and several other horror films. Although he was best known as a writer of short fiction and published more than a hundred stories in his lifetime, he also wrote novels. His first, The Case Against Satan (1962), anticipated William Peter Blatty’s best-seller The Exorcist (1971)in its account of a child’s demonic possession. His novels Incubus (1976) and Absolute Power (1992) were also on macabre themes, while Princess Pamela (1979) was a historical romance with fantasy overtones. In 1977, Russell won the Sri Chimnoy Poetry Award. He died on March 15, 1999, at a nursing home in Los Angeles, California, from complications following a series of strokes.
Literature Review
Unholy Trinity
A Collection of three longish short stories from the mid-1960s that hark back to the glory years of Gothic and exist somewhere between homage and pastiche.
The first, ‘Sanguinarius’, is a reworking of the story of Countess Elizabeth Bathory, the 16th century Hungarian aristocrat who became one of history’s most notorious mass murderers. Told from her perspective, it takes on the sheen of an apologia, but is somewhat constrained by Russell’s decision to write it as though it were an authentic 16th century text, translated contemporaneously into English. It’s a nice idea, but not one that he pulls off:
Now stretch’d a span of time bereft of bliss, like to an arid desert waste which one traverses without hope, on bleeding feet, one’s skin aflame , the flesh and humours parch’d beyond endurance, the very soul a festering cicatrix. Such was my lot, with Ferencz gone. (p.27)
The final story, ‘Sagittarius’, also bounces ideas off a psychopath from history – in this case, Gilles de Rais, but there are also elements of Jekyll & Hyde, Jack the Ripper and the Théâtre du Grand Guignol. And it’s a fun little historical romp, framed in the traditional manner by an elderly man recounting tales of his youth.
And in the middle there’s the strongest of the trio. ‘Sardonicus’ is the story of a wealthy Polish man whose face is frozen into a horrifying grin akin to that of the risus sardonicus found in extreme cases of lockjaw. Told by the eminent English doctor summoned to try radical treatments to cure this chronic affliction, it’s got a very Poe-lite feel that can’t help but entertain fans of traditional horror.
It was filmed in 1961 by William Castle as Mr Sardonicus and proved to be one of Castle’s better efforts, i.e. it was still total rubbish but it was at least watchable. Russell adapted the story for the screenplay, which was the strongest element in it. The weakest was the traditional Castle gimmick, which in this instance was an appearance by the old charlatan himself asking the audience to vote on whether the villain should be punished or not. The result of the so-called Punishment Poll was clearly known in advance, since no alternate ending, with Sardonicus getting away with his crimes, was ever filmed.
Anyway, the appeal of the book is the gleefully dated quality of the writing. This is the 1960s, after all, when the past came up for grabs, when playing with history was hip. Pure froth, but cool.
First published back in 1964, US author Ray Russell’s ‘Unholy Trinity’ offers up three short stories of that hark back to the dark years of gothic horror and exist somewhere between homage and pastiche.
The book begins with a four page introduction by the author entitled ‘The Haunted Castle: A Confession’ in which Russell provides the reader with a brief insight into the three short stories included in the book; telling of his deep love for “good old aromatic baroque tales” and his inspiration for their subject matter. For a short little introduction this four page addition serves as a delightfully mood setting beginning for the delightfully gothic treats to follow.
Sanguinarius – 42 pages
Incarcerated in the Castle Csejthe, Countess Elisabeth Bathory ponders the horrors that she was led into after becoming the young virgin bride of Count Ferencz Nadasdy. As a mere fifteen year old girl, Elisabeth was swept up by the handsome and masterful twenty-one year old Count.
At first Elisabeth was overwhelmed with love and desire for the man. She basked in the warmth of his embrace and worshipped the deeply charismatic lover that he was. And following their marriage the young couple became near reclusive, wishing instead to spend all their time with each other. But when the Count is called away to war, Elisabeth is left alone in the great castle with just her loving maid Ilona Joo to aid her. But that all changes when the gypsie woman Dorottya arrives to offer her assistance. Their friendship quickly blossoms and the Countess’ longings for her departed husband soon subside.
However, when the Count Ferencz Nadasdy returns to his castle, to be greeted by his loving wife and her new bosom friend, something more sinister starts to stir. And as the days pass by, a dark and blasphemous cloud begins to descend over Castle Csejthe and its inhabitants…
Written in the first-person-perspective of Countess Bathory herself, Russell offers up an intriguing alternative of the notoriously bloodthirsty tale of the 16th century Hungarian aristocrat Countess Elizabeth Bathory who later became known as one of history’s most notorious mass murderers. Somewhat uniquely told from the Countess’ perspective, the short takes on a daring breath of defence for the young woman’s bloody actions, painting a picture of coercement and deflected blame. The story is ultimately resigned to a hellish tragedy, with a thriving gothic misery engulfing our narrator as the horrors spiral towards the Countess’s pitiful end. Russell adopted a particularly 16th century prose to the writing of the short, giving an added historical and credible atmosphere to the storytelling and ultimately making a much more befitting and honest backdrop for this cruel and gloomy tale.
Sardonicus – 42 pages
Upon receiving a letter from his ex-lover Maude Randall (now Madam Sardonicus) whom he hasn’t seen for over seven years, Sir Robert Cargrave decides to take up her offer of a fortnight stay at the now married couple’s Castle in Bohemia. And so Cargrave leaves his home in London and journeys to Paris, then on to Berlin, until finally arriving at Castle Sardonicus. There the highly revered doctor is met by a downcast Maud who introduces her withered and deeply disfigured husband. Cargrave is told of the wealthy Polish man’s misfortune in receiving a seemingly permanent ghastly grin across his face after exhuming his father’s corpse for a winning lottery ticket that was buried about his person. In order to correct the terrible infliction that Sardonicus had received – akin to that of the ‘Risus Sardonicus’ found in extreme cases of lockjaw – the doctor will have to perform surgery upon the desperate man’s face. Surgery that Sardonicus is very persuasive in receiving…
Russell’s second tale in his ‘unholy trinity’ is certainly a bizarre one. The strange summoning and acceptance of Maude’s invitation to Castle Sardionicus introduces what is to slowly become a surreal and creepily unusual tale. This time Russell adopts a purposefully nineteenth century prose to the writing, setting a quietly atmospheric mood that gradually enwraps the reader in a smothering case of odd misfortunes and utterly out-of-place demands. The warped nature of the tale works well with the gothic setting, creating an altogether chilling and frightfully compelling read.
The short was later made into the feature length film ‘Mr. Sardonicus’ (1961) which was directed by William Castle, in which Russell himself adapted the story for the screenplay.
Sagittarius – 42 pages
Back in 1909, when he was only around twenty-three years old, the Earl Terrence Glencannon (better known as Lord Terry) was living in Paris and enjoying the culture that the great city had to offer. Back then two names in particular ruled the theatre floorboards – Sellig and Laval. Lord Terry followed the performances of the two actors closely, having only just discovered Laval’s dominating performances of frightful monsters and beasts of horror. In direct comparison Sellig was a man of the arts. Prone to classically heroic performances within highly revered plays. However, neither actor held each other in particularly high esteem. But they had their own connection. Their own unspoken bond. And it will take the gruesome slaughter of a young and innocent girl to reveal the true horror of the theatre…
Much more modern-day in feel and atmosphere, this rich and doting homage to theatre and the artistry of horror serves up a wickedly endearing storyline. Admittedly somewhat slow in getting underway, the storyline instead builds upon tight characterisation from our narrator – Lord Terry and the two highly revered but very much conflicting actors. Once all of our principal pawns in the plot are met and appropriately established, Russell begins embarking on an elaborate storyline that weaves in the plots of classic horror stories to form a magnificently celebratory horror story. Expect twists and turns that throw the reader from one conclusion to the next until the final curtain ends this triumphant homage to the dark arts.