Skulls in the Stars

I was digging through my collection of horror novels and came across an excellent but mostly forgotten classic: Graham Masterton’s The Manitou.  The 1975 book was Masterton’s first novel, and launched a prolific and ongoing career in horror writing.  Nowadays, you will almost certainly find his works on the shelves of your local bookstore, but The Manitou itself is not usually among them.  This is a shame, because it is a lovely, creepy novel and a great example of the often-mentioned but rarely-done-well ‘science vs. sorcery’ subgenre.

The story, told from the point of view of a second-rate mystic who get involved in the mess, centers upon a woman who finds a large growth on her neck, which moves.   It is gradually discovered that the growth is actually an ancient Native American shaman who is reincarnating himself by growing himself a new body on the poor woman.  Furthermore, this shaman is really pissed off at the white man for invading his homeland.  Our second-rate mystic seeks the help of a genuine Native American mystic to save the poor woman and fend off the angry shaman, and a battle of science (and a little sorcery) vs. pure sorcery is launched.

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