The Resurrectionist: The Lost Work of Dr. Spencer Black Author: Visit Amazon's E. B. Hudspeth Page | Language: English | ISBN:
1594746168 | Format: EPUB
The Resurrectionist: The Lost Work of Dr. Spencer Black Description
Review
“Color us captivated. This collection seems a treat for anatomy enthusiasts and creaturephiles alike."—
io9“E.B. Hudspeth’s The Resurrectionist is PFA (that’s pretty freaking amazing)”—
ComicsBeat.com “These detailed and fantastical drawings will intrigue any reader curious about the hypothetical anatomy of mythical creatures such as mermaids, minotaurs, and harpies. In the context of the story that precedes them, they prompt disquieting thoughts about the extreme lengths to which the fictional Dr. Black may have been willing to go to prove his assumptions, and what—or who—may have served as his models.”—
ForeWord Reviews “…a bit of Charles Darwin and a bit of P.T. Barnum.”—
Inked Magazine “Doctors Moreau and Frankenstein should make room for a new member of their league of extraordinarily grotesque gentlemen, for there is a new mad scientist in pop culture.”—Aaron Sagers,
MTV Geek“The vivid imagery unveiled becomes the dark fantasy response to
Gray's Anatomy...”—
Filter Magazine“The book is a welcome addition to any library of dark fantasy, with its beautiful portraiture and gripping description of a man’s descent into perversity.”—
Publishers Weekly, “Pick of the Week”
“Disturbingly lovely . . .
The Resurrectionist is itself a cabinet of curiosities, stitching history and mythology and sideshow into an altogether different creature. Deliciously macabre and beautifully grotesque.”—Erin Morgenstern, author of
The Night Circus
“A masterful mash-up of Edgar Allan Poe and Jorge Luis Borges, with the added allure of gorgeous, demonically detailed drawings. I’ve never seen anything quite like
The Resurrectionist, and I doubt that I will ever forget it.”—Chase Novak, author of
BreedAbout the Author
E. B. HUDSPETH is an artist and author living in New Jersey. This is his first book.
- Hardcover: 192 pages
- Publisher: Quirk Books; 1st Edition, 1st Printing edition (May 21, 2013)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1594746168
- ISBN-13: 978-1594746161
- Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 7.9 x 1 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
This is a really promising premise: Brilliant young 19th Century surgeon becomes convinced that creatures of mythology were actual once-living creatures based upon contemporary genetic mutations and birth defects "showing" dormant, archaic traits. Increasingly obsessed with the idea, when he cannot find fossil evidence, he begins to create the creatures themselves in his laboratory, using living and recently dead specimens for his experiments. While he is at it, he begins to make detailed, extensive anatomical drawings of the creatures based, he claims, on actual specimens. Increasingly obsessed and persecuted, he and his experiments disappear.
The book is divided into two sections. The first is a sort of thumbnail biography of the mysterious Dr. Black; the second is his illustrations. Both have their charms, but both fall just short of the ambitious mark they set.
The "biography" has the makings of a very good short story - the premise is good and interesting and there are some very nice details. The problem is that the very nice details are not enough to sustain momentum and the characters come across mostly as ciphers. No one really emerges to care about, and while it is interesting, it is not gripping. It is perfectly readable, but not involving.
The second part, the Codex Extinct Animalia, is a lot of fun to look at, but again, there is something that keeps it shy of being absorbing. In part, I think, it is that while the drawings are very good, they lack a certain quality that imbues the best anatomical drawings. They don't quite live, the way the best scientific drawings (19th C or contemporary) do.
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