‘Lin Carter’s Anton Zarnak, Supernatural Sleuth’

I enjoy occult detectives, and am always looking for new ones. It’s interesting to discover new ones. While I’m familiar with a lot of works by Lin Carter (1930-88), I wasn’t aware he had done an occult detective. I guess it doesn’t help that he only wrote three stories with Dr. Anton Zarnak, and all appeared after he passed away.

While the three stories have appeared in a few places, they have been collected into a single collection along with 13 other Zarnak stories by eight authors. Lin Carter’s Anton Zarnak, Supernatural Sleuth was edited by Robert M. Price, who is also the literary agent for Carter. Some of the stories appeared elsewhere, and the rest are original to this collection.

It’s clear from the trio of stories that like many of Carter’s work, he took inspiration from several other occult detectives, though created something more original. One can clearly see the influences of Jules de Grandin, Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Strange, and others, even Robert E. Howard‘s occult detective Steve Harrison (another occult detective I’ve recently learned of, which I need to obtain and read).

And it’s also clear the influence of the H.P. Lovecraft‘s “Cthulhu Mythos” and related works, as several stories of Zarnak are sequels of sorts to other stories.

The three original stories are an interesting group, as the first one, “The Curse of the Black Pharaoh,” is very different from the other two. Set in England, it has Zarnak operating in London and working with a police inspector, who had previously worked with Zarnak on another case that is well-known to most characters. Here Zarnak works to stop an evil, resurrected mummy.

The other two stories, which are much shorter, moves Zarnak to 13 China Alley in Chinatown, New York City, the same stomping ground as Steve Harrison. He also gains a Hindu servant, Ram Singh. And his hair now has a white streak in it from his right temple back.

All the stories cast Zarnak as a kind of “consulting occult detective,” either being engaged by ordinary folk threatened by occult matters, or being called in to assist a police official with some strange manner. Most of the stories that follow use one of these two matters to kick off the story.

From this point, the other authors provide stories that are sort of “take offs” of Zarnak. They make changes and tweaks to him, not trying to tie themselves to each other. One can either like it or not. I prefer stories that are true to the original, though don’t mind additions that seem to fit in. Some work, some don’t. But all are interesting.

Robert M. Price gives us two stories. He adds the addition that Zarnak is a former priest of Zhar (hence his name). And one stories has him teamed up with Steve Harrison and fighting off the Tcho-Tcho people.

Joséph S. Pulver Sr. also gives us two stories. One gives Zarnak an apprentice, who might grow up to replace him? The other is a sequel to a story Pulver completed from a fragment of a REH story.

Pierre Comtois‘s story sets events closer to present day than the 1930s of the originals. He has Zarnak relocated to a new location in New York, and without the aid of Ram (or is it Akbar?) Singh, who has passed away. Oh, and it’s a sort of sequel to a Lovecraft tale.

The late C.J. Henderson gives us four stories! In these, he sets down a “sort of” origin for Zarnak, as well as a future that doesn’t fit with the others. Here Zarnak has been training in a hidden monastery in Asia for decades (or longer?), and comes to replace his predecessor. Ram Singh is already there at 13 China Alley. We also learn how he got that streak of white hair and the mask of Yama that hangs in his office. One story has him teaming up with Inspector Legrasse (from Lovecraft), and another has him meeting Henderson’s occult detective Teddy London (another occult detective I hadn’t heard of previously and now want to find out more about).

John L. French give us a tale of Zarnak helping a policeman against a vampire. We learn that this policeman has worked with Zarnak on previous bizarre cases.

James Chambers provides two stories. The first has Zarnak and Singh helping a pair of sisters being haunted by the death of their father and sister. But things don’t quite work out for all involved. The second is set in modern times, and has Zarnak working without Singh, dealing with a man who has released his darkest desires.

James Ambuehl and Simon Bucher-Jones give us a story that provides some background on Dr. Zarnak’s academic pursuits, and even lets us know he met another well-known Anton. And he deals with an occult threat, of course. Sometimes the revelations and backstory given are more interesting than the main storyline.

This is a great collection of stories. If there is one complaint, I would have liked to have seen some short bios of these authors. While I know most of them, I don’t know all, and other readers might be in a similar boat.

Will we see more Anton Zarnak stories? I think that would be interesting, though I’d like more that are in line with the originals. I did like the team-ups, meetings, and references to other occult detectives (Jules de Grandin is referenced in the tales as a real person), but hope those don’t overwhelm things.