The Talisman [Hardcover]

Jonathan Aycliffe (Author), Jason C. Eckhardt (Illustrator)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1899562850 | ISBN-13: 978-1899562855 | Publication Date: November 19, 1999 | Edition: Limited

A statue, unearthed in ancient Babylon during the course of an archaeological dig, is transported to London. Once there, it quickly exerts an evil influence over those with whom it comes into contact; an influence which threatens to spread throughout London and beyond, and which pits the living against the dead in a battle for all mankind.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

British author Aycliffe (Naomi's Room) generates some genuine fear in the early chapters of this briskly paced if meandering horror novel, but he reveals too much too soon, rendering the rest of the story anticlimactic where tension should be mounting. After a prologue in which medieval Muslims hide a satanic idol in a soon-to-be-buried Babylonian sanctuary, the action shifts to modern-day London, where Tom Alton, a Mesopotamian scholar, has just taken a job as a British Museum curator. An archeologist friend, Ed Monelli, arrives in town to donate to the museum an extraordinary and eerie statue of Satan, discovered by Ed's archeologist wife shortly before her mysterious death. Tom accepts the gift, though the statue, kept briefly at the Alton home, has troubling effects on his wife, Nicola, and his young stepson, Adam. In dramatically muddled ways, the author introduces elements reminiscent of The Exorcist and Rosemary's Baby Adam suffers an unaccountable fall that leaves him mentally and physically precocious and possessed by the devil, while Nicola becomes pregnant with a fetus that grows at supernatural speed. The protagonists, Tom and Nicola, are unconvincing in part because they lack a sense of proportion, as when Nicola, amid all the horrors, objects, "Adam can't afford to miss school." A padded plot that fails to cohere, as well as often trite or hackneyed prose ("The snow continued falling, unaware of grief or happiness"), makes for a book likely to please only Aycliffe loyalists.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

All in all, this is one of the best books of its kind I've ever read - Gahan Wilson -- Realms of Fantasy, April 2000

The pace is fast and fun, and, yes - chilling. -- All Hallows, The Journal of the Ghost Story Society, February 2000

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 216 pages
• Publisher: Ash Tree Pr; Limited edition (November 19, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1899562850
• ISBN-13: 978-1899562855
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,294,668 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ancient Babylonian Evil Haunts Modern London, January 15, 2001

By 

E. A. Lovitt "starmoth" (Gladwin, MI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Talisman (Hardcover)

The author of "The Talisman" studied English, Persian, Arabic and Islamic Studies at the universities of Dublin, Edinburgh, and Cambridge, and lectured at the universities of Fez in Morocco and Newcastle-upon-Tyne. In his introduction to this book, Aycliffe assures us that, "The Babylonian bits(for the most part) are accurate, as are the Arabic and Persian references. I share with (M.R.) James the tendency to give in to temptation and provide my readers with authentic incantations and and historic personages."

For this reader, at least, the author's authenticity is what made "The Talisman" so fascinating and frightening. The ancient Babylonian demon Shabbatil is made to come alive (or was it ever dead?) through a combination of archeology and evil intent. The resulting plagues of blindness and demonic children form a mystery that is slowly unravelled by Tom, a museum curator and his wife Nicola, a doctoral student. Their son, Adam is one of first children to fall under the influence of Shabbatil. "The Talisman" builds to a horrifying crescendo of evil, and its end is not a tidy gathering-in of loose ends. As the protagonist comments in the final pages, "The past is not dead, it merely sleeps."

Incidentally, Jason C. Eckhardt is the illustrator of "The Talisman", not its co-author.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Babylon is Become the Habitation of Devils", May 24, 2001

By 

Marc Ruby™ "The Noh Hare™" (Warren, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Talisman (Hardcover)

Having recently read and reviewed Aycliffe's "A Shadow on the Wall," I was interested in investigating more of Aycliffe's horror work. A friend of mine came to the rescue and produced a very nicely bound and presented version of the text. For the record, the text is the same in the 'unlimited' edition, which, unfortunately for those of us on smaller budgets, is just about has hard to find.

Thomas and Nicola Alston, recently moved to London with their son Adam, have set up living in a fine old house previously owned by Peter Lazenby. Lazenby had an excellent reputation as an archeologist, but was also noted for a fondness for female undergraduates and wierd rituals. Tom Alston has taken a position at the British Museum where he runs into and old friend, Edward Monelli. Monelli's wife recently died at a dig in Babylon, and he has returned home grieving, with her last, very unusual find. It is a very ancient statue of Shabbatil, who was the prototype for legends of Satan and other equally unpleasant netherworld characters.

In no time at all, Alston discovers that there is some tie between Shabbatil and the spirit of Lazenby, and that something strange is happening to Adam. When Monelli shows up dead, Alston moves the statue to the Museum, but it is far too late. Atmospheric tension builds as children fall victim to demonic possession, and a plague of blindness begins to afflict the populace. Specters of evil and the dead haunt Tom's family, and this is just the beginning. Alston and his wife seem caught up in a whirlwind as they struggle to find some way to overcome Shabbatil's baleful influence.

It is impossible to resist the tale of pre-Babylonian evil, full of eerie chants, amulets and ghosts. Even though the demonic possession plot has been a bit overused in the last decade or so (blame it on Buffy), Aycliffe does a good job of weaving traditional and original elements together to make a strong tale. "The Talisman" is not as tightly written as "A Shadow on the Wall" though, and some errors are introduced because Tom, the usual narrator, sometimes steps out of his role to comment on another part of the tale. Otherwise, this is as good a ghost story as you might want to read.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "The past is not dead, it merely sleeps.", November 2, 2007

By 

E. A. Lovitt "starmoth" (Gladwin, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Talisman (Hardcover)

The author of "The Talisman" studied English, Persian, Arabic and Islamic Studies at the universities of Dublin, Edinburgh, and Cambridge, and lectured at the universities of Fez in Morocco and Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

In his introduction to this book, Aycliffe assures us that, "The Babylonian bits(for the most part) are accurate, as are the Arabic and Persian references. I share with (M.R.) James the tendency to give in to temptation and provide my readers with authentic incantations and and historic personages."

For this reader, at least, the author's authenticity is what made "The Talisman" so fascinating and frightening. The ancient Babylonian demon Shabbatil is made to come alive (or was it ever dead?) through a combination of archeology and evil intent. The resulting plagues of blindness and demonic children form a mystery that is slowly unravelled by Tom, a museum curator and his wife Nicola, a doctoral student. Their son, Adam is one of first children to fall under the influence of Shabbatil. "The Talisman" builds to a horrifying crescendo of evil, and its end is not a tidy gathering-in of loose ends. As the protagonist comments in the final pages, "The past is not dead, it merely sleeps."