Background
Finney was born in Sedalia, Missouri and served in China with the United States. Army 15th Infantry Regiment (East Company) from 1927 to 1929.
(The Circus of Dr. Lao is an irreverent, licentious, insol...)
The Circus of Dr. Lao is an irreverent, licentious, insolent and most amusing book. For sardonic gaiety under fire, for the relief of a good guffaw, here is a circus of legendary creatures (with illustrations by Boris Artzybasheff) which is at once a play, a dream (if not a nightmare), a fantasy of science fiction that is horrifying, disgusting, intriguing, scintillating. And between the lines of its imaginative orgies, you will find food for thought in its satirical comment on civilization. Charles Finney is the actual creator of the genre of "dark fantasy". Not being a particularly prolific writer, he wrote the novel that became the most famous and popular in his oeuvre. Finney by himself became a significant representative of the pre-war fantasy and horror literature. The world renowned Satanist philosopher - the "Black Pope" - Anton Szandor LaVey was quoted in an interview with the line of The Circus of Dr. Lao, calling it one of the favorite "Satanic novels".
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/4871876640/?tag=2022091-20
( Abalone, Arizona, is a sleepy southwestern town whose c...)
Abalone, Arizona, is a sleepy southwestern town whose chief concerns are boredom and surviving the Great Depression—that is, until the circus of Dr. Lao arrives and immensely and irrevocably changes the lives of everyone drawn to its tents. Expecting a sideshow spectacle, the citizens of Abalone instead confront and learn profound lessons from the mythical made real—a chimera, a Medusa, a talking sphinx, a sea serpent, witches, the Hound of the Hedges, a werewolf, a mermaid, an ancient god, and the elusive, ever-changing Dr. Lao himself. The circus unfolds, spinning magical, dark strands that ensnare the town’s populace: the sea serpent’s tale shatters love’s illusions; the fortune-teller’s shocking pronouncements toll the tedium and secret dread of every person’s life; sensual undercurrents pour forth for men and women alike; and the dead walk again. Dazzling and macabre, literary and philosophical, The Circus of Dr. Lao has been acclaimed as a masterpiece of speculative fiction and influenced such writers as Ray Bradbury.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0803234945/?tag=2022091-20
(The Magician Out of Manchuria is pure fantasy -- and it i...)
The Magician Out of Manchuria is pure fantasy -- and it is pure fun! It is the tale of a not-so-simple magician whose curious and meandering wanderings are directed toward the peaceful and prosperous villages of the South. Here he hopes to entertain and amuse -- to his profit -- the local populaces with his magic and chicanery.His companions are the youthful chela, who is unnamed, and the black ass Ng Gk. This robust company is quickly supplemented by no less a figure than the Lustful Queen of La who has been outlawed by the devious conniving and politics of Khan Ali Bok. And there the real fun begins!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0937986925/?tag=2022091-20
Finney was born in Sedalia, Missouri and served in China with the United States. Army 15th Infantry Regiment (East Company) from 1927 to 1929.
His complete name was Charles Grandison Finney, evidently after his great-grandfather, the evangelist Charles Grandison Finney. In his memoirs, he notes that Lao was conceived in Tientsin during 1929. After the Army, he worked as an editor for the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson, Arizona from 1930 to 1970.
Some of Finney"s papers, with correspondence and photographs, are collected at the University of Arizona Main Library Special Collections, Collection Number: Arizona 024, Papers of Finney, 1959-1966.
The archive includes typed manuscripts of "A Sermon at Casa Grande", "Isabelle the Inscrutable", "Murder with Feathers", ""The Night Crawler", "Private Prince", "An Anabasis in Minor Key", "The Old China Hands", and "The Ghosts of Manacle". Finney"s work, especially Lao, has been influential on subsequent writers of fantasy.
Arthur Calder-Marshall"s The Fair to Middling (1959), Tom Reamy"s Blind Voices (1978), Peter South. Beagle"s The Last Unicorn (1968) and Jonathan Lethem"s Chronic City (2009) were all influenced by Finney"s work. 7 Faces of Doctor Lao is the corresponding movie adaptation.
(The Magician Out of Manchuria is pure fantasy -- and it i...)
( Abalone, Arizona, is a sleepy southwestern town whose c...)
(Outrageously illustrated.)
(The Circus of Dr. Lao is an irreverent, licentious, insol...)
(No. X-1818. Cover art by Jack Gaughan.)