Kill the Dead

From Fanlore
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Fandom
Name: Kill the Dead
Abbreviation(s):
Creator: Tanith Lee
Date(s): September 1980
Medium: book
Country of Origin: USA
External Links:
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Kill the Dead is a 1980 book by Tanith Lee. It follows the adventures of Parl Dro (ghost killer) and Myal Lemyal (musician and pickpocket) as they journey towards the ghost city of Ghyste Mortua. Ciddy Soban (former witch, now powerful ghost) is the antagonist - who shares a bond with/attempts to seduce Myal and who is out for revenge against Dro.

Blake's 7 Avatars

See Blake's 7 Avatars.

Tanith Lee is the author of two episodes of Blake's 7: 'Sarcophagus' (1980) and 'Sand' (1981). Paul Darrow reputedly claimed the main characters from 'Kill the Dead' were based on Avon and Vila[1], which seems very likely given the names of the characters in question are Parl Dro (Paul Darrow) and Myal (Michael). The chief characteristics of both characters (and in Vila's case, special skills i.e. thieving) and dialogue patterns are also very familiar:

The original cover of the 1980 edition depicts Parl Dro in a black and silver-studded costume much like the most iconic costumes worn by Kerr Avon in Blake's 7. Cover art by Don Maitz.
"You could pretend to be astounded," said [Myal] the musician. "It wouldn't kill you."

"It might have killed you," said Dro.

The musician shrugged and trudged the rest of the way up the slope. When he stood directly over Dro, he produced the bag of pebbles he had thieved the previous night. He threw it dramatically at Dro's feet.

"That was a nasty trick," said the musician.

"Stealing isn't particularly wholesome, either."[2]

Lee herself claims that Parl Dro was only based visually on Paul Darrow:

Although I had much enjoyed examining Avon's character a little, inside the legitimate bounds of Blake's Seven, I would not have dreamed of trying to reproduce him elsewhere. So, it is Paul Darrow the actor, who is acting Dro in these pages. A man damaged both physically and mentally by his bizarre and tortured trade, a man who, frankly would have, I think, earned both Avon's contempt, and Avon's complete horror. ... The last misunderstanding that has added itself to Kill the Dead is that Michael Keating (Vila in Blake's Seven) plays the part of Myal Lemyal. Sorry, he doesn't.[3]

It seems probable that most of the fannish interest in 'Kill the Dead' is a result of interest in Blake's 7.

Fan Reactions: Blake's 7 Avatar Use

See Blake's 7 Avatars.

This is the story of Parl Dro, the ghost slayer (look at Paul Darrow's autograph and you will see where the name comes from). His eventual sidekick, Myal Lemyal, bears a strong resemblance to Vila. Although I don't like all of Tanith Lee's books, I did enjoy this one. It has a strong plot and an extremely novel twist at the end. (Judith Proctor)[4]

The earliest and best- known example of this sort of thing. A fantasy featuring ghost- killer Parl Dro and minstrel and pickpocket Myal Lemyal, with plot elements suggestive of "Sarcophagus," one of the two B7 episodes written by Lee herself. Parl Dro is plainly an Avon clone, and his name is said to derive from Paul Darrow's scribbly signature. Furthermore, the book is dedicated to "Valentine," P.D.'s middle name. Fans generally see Myal as Vila, but in this case the resemblance is less obvious. (Sarah Thompson)[5]

[Nightwood Rest]: The first Blake's 7 zine I ever read was SOUTHERN SEVEN 6. The first real story was "Nightwood Rest" by Adrian Morgan and Brendan O'Cullane. As far as I could tell, it was about two characters who had absolutely nothing to do with B7 (Parl Dro and Myal). The accompanying illustration made it clear that these characters bore a strong resemblance to Avon and Vila, but the characterization in the story wasn't strong enough for me to tell there was supposed to be a direct correspondence.

I've now seen several stories involving these characters, and they keep leaving me confused. It's like reading random chapters of a book, out of order, without a synopsis. From comments in the lettercol, I've gathered that the series is called "Kill the Dead," which makes sense, since one of the characters appears to be undead.

So:

Is there some initial story that explains what's going on? And what this has to do with Blake's 7? Or is this supposed to be straight SF that just landed in B7 zines?

Beth Friedman, who is seriously confused [6]

"To Kill the Dead" is a book by Tanith Lee (writer of "Sand" and "Sarcophagus"), and dedicated to Paul Darrow. Tanith admits that Parl Dro is based on Paul (actually, Avon), but claims in the face of all evidence that Myal is her point-of-view character, rather than Vila. However, the relationship between Parl and Myal bears more than a little resemblance to that between Avon and Vila. Anyway, in the book Parl is a famed "ghostkiller", who wanders around dressed in black putting the vampiric dead to rest. Along the way, the itinerant musician Myal joins up with him and persistently tags along. It has some really good writing in it, and a rather nice twist toward the end...

[...]

It's quite worth reading just as fantasy; for B7 fans of Avon and Vila it's quite a nice read. [7]

Yeah, "Kill the Dead" is a good book (novella, actually, I think), and it's DEFINITELY Avon and Vila--there's no doubt there. The "Avon" character is named "Parl Dro", the "Vila" character has a name similar to Restal, as I recall, and they are physically and temperamentally so close as to be fan fiction by any other name. Tanith Lee wrote two produced scripts for B7, and she also dedicated "Kill the Dead" to "Valentine", which is Paul Darrow's middle name. It's a well-written, fairly gripping fantasy with tons of good character relationship stuff between "Avon" and "Vila". Suzan Lovett did at least one lovely piece that I've seen prints of, with Darrow and Keating's features used for the characters. I'm not sure if it's still in print--I had to dig thru the used bookstores for my copy. Our public library had a hardback version where it was put with another novella and together the two were titled "Sometimes, After Sunset", so you might find it that way, too. [8]

"Kill The Dead" by Tanith Lee has the characters of Avon and Vila redepicted as Pari Dro and Myal Lemyal, a ghostslayer and a minstrel. Complicated plot where each character's story blends into another tale. The interaction between Pari and Myal is Avon and Vila at their best. [9]

Fans' Comments Regarding the Novel Itself

Other reviews of the novel can be found in the following Blake's 7 fanzines:

Fanzines & Fanfiction

Some time between 1991 and 2007, Deborah Walsh of Vendredi Press planned a 'Kill the Dead' only zine called Ghyste Mortua (after the ghost city from the book). On her own site, Walsh explains:

[This] zine was going to be my masterpiece. I had amazing stories - oh, fabulous stuff. Gorgeous art. It was going to be massive. I was exploring special black mailing envelopes, and I was designing a special insignia to use for wax seals on the envelopes. [10]

The zine was closed down after its potential existence was mentioned to Lee by her publisher.

[Lee] was very concerned at that moment in time that any hint that her novel - which was currently out of print - might be construed as stepping on BBC copyright. The zine died a sudden and definitive death. Much of the work I'd accepted found its way into other zines, but I could not publish it.[11]

It seems likely that the 'other zines' mentioned by Walsh include Southern Seven, which had two 'Kill the Dead' covers and at least two KtD fics:

  • "Sojourn at House Thanos" by Diana Smith & Pat Dunn (11 pages) in 'Southern Seven' 9 (1994)
  • "La Belle Mort sans Merci" by Liz A. Vogel in 'Southern Seven' 11 (1998)

The multimedia zine Banzine also features a 'Kill the Dead' fic from "Ghysete Mortua."

Fanart Gallery

References

  1. ^ From list of 'Planned Titles That Didn't Happen' on Vendredi Press
  2. ^ From Kill the Dead, by Tanith Lee, published by Arrow Books in 1990. First published by Daw Books in 1980. Page 25.
  3. ^ Lee's introduction to the 2013 edition of Kill the Dead, published by Immanion Press.
  4. ^ List of 'avatars - books with characters based on Blake's 7' on Hermit.org
  5. ^ Ibid
  6. ^ Beth Friedman, from Lysator (23 Sep 1994)
  7. ^ Mary Alice Wuerz, from Lysator (23 Sep 1994)
  8. ^ from Alexfandra, quoted from Virgule-L with permission (January 19, 1993)
  9. ^ from Aspects #4 (1989)
  10. ^ From list of 'Planned Titles That Didn't Happen' on Vendredi Press
  11. ^ Ibid


Retrieved from "https://fanlore.org/w/index.php?title=Kill_the_Dead&oldid=2700956"