James Blish - Black Easter: The Day After Judgement

Pros: The greatest black magic story ever written
Cons: Spawned a dreadful sequel not worth the paper it was written on.

Of all the great writers of science fiction, James Blish is the one who shouldn't have given up his day job. He used up his ideas with such prodigality that they ran out, and he finished his career hacking formulaic scripts for the most over-rated sci-fi...

Pros: Makes black magic interesting by using research instead of fantasy cliches
Cons: Uneven characterization.

An extremely successful arms dealer (In a modern day setting, or almost so, the book was written 1968) hires a black magician to loose as many demons as possible on Earth for a night to see what they do. The Plot At a Catholic monastery on ...

Pros: "Black Easter" is a novel looking for salvation but, finds paranoia instead.
Cons: "Dated" is the bi-word here. Until "dated reers its ugly head.

Black Easter by James Blish
Black Easter by James Blish
In 1968-- hippies were still spreading their trite "Love-in" philosophy. Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy's sunny philosophy of a new, more civilized world, were shot dead in their tracks-- both killed by a bullet to the head.
James Blish (at the time, a poor-man's Arthur C. Clark) was busy trying to make ends meet writing disposable "Star Trek" fan novels.
Then he wrote the operatic doomsday black magic epic "Black Easter." It stands alone as a compendium of that dark year.

Many writers of "doomsday-lore" have followed in his footsteps. Stephen King marks this slim novel as one of his main influences when he wrote "The Stand."
Dense, corny and utterly fascinating, "Black Easter' is not to be missed by anyone who thinks "black magic" is a silly confection used by writers as a conceit.

Pros:
"Black Easter" is a novel looking for salvation but, finds paranoia instead.

Cons:
"Dated" is the bi-word here. Until "dated rears its ugly head.