Palma, Clemente - Malevolent Tales
Late to the Decadent Party, and penned in a country (Peru) where the consequences could well be dire, Palma’s stories shy away from the conte cruel, and blasphemy is more a flirtation.
“The Last Faun” shows the Olympian gods displaced from the earth, with a young faun overlooked. He matures into a satyr, without any congenial nymphs. Until he spies an attractive group of novices, and he fails to grasp the difference between a nymph and a nun.
Ernesto long courted Suzón. He is melancholy, serious, while Suzón is vivacious. An ideal match. In “A Vulgar Story” hopes and aspirations are dashed, in a sordid reveal.
Do we really live? Or is life an illusion? In “The White Farm” our narrator is pledged to Cordelia, even after she is stricken with malaria. After fevered prayers, she recovers, and the pair flee to his isolated rural estate. Again, do we really live? Or is happiness itself a dream?
Fortunately, the doctor recognizes the tell-tale signs. Punctures on the neck, the ebbing of life force. His young man is troubled by “The Vampires”. His recommended prescription – get married? For many, isn’t that merely changing one vamp for another? If viewed that way, this can be comical.
“The Tragic Day” is the longest yarn, an apocalyptic doom that approaches with Halley’s Comet. You Lifeforce fanatics, please settle down. Death lies in the dust of the tail that will sweep and engulf the planet, killing all life within seconds. Humanity reacts predictably: prayer, pillage, suicide. Yet, our narrator, perhaps like others, has a survival plan. This is a gripping story, although it feels like Palma wrote himself into a corner as the ending is a brick toss.
My copy is from a new press, Strange Ports, specializing in obscure or forgotten decadence.