Ray Russell fu un maestro dell'orrore, le cui storie brevi, romanzi e sceneggiature esplorarono spesso gli angoli più oscuri della psiche umana. La sua opera fondamentale, il racconto «Sardonicus», è considerata un vertice della narrazione gotica moderna, possedendo un'atmosfera così tangibile da essere adattata in una sceneggiatura. Russell eccelse nel creare suspense e terrore che rimangono nel lettore molto tempo dopo l'ultima pagina. I suoi contributi sono celebrati per la loro originalità e la loro agghiacciante efficacia.
Russell James Ray is credited with the first canyoneering descents of the Barrancas Sinforosa and Batopilas. It was an endeavor that spanned several years, and included a self-delusional non-first descent of the Barranca Del Cobre. He currently resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he dreams of other things.
Teenager Susan Garth was "a clean-talking sweet little girl" of high school age before she started having "fits"--A sudden aversion to churches and a newfound fondness for vulgarity. Then one night, she strips in front of the parish priest and sinks her nails into his throat. If not madness, then the answer must be demonic possession. To vanquish the Devil, Bishop Crimmings recruits Father Gregory Sargent, a younger priest with a taste for modern ideas and brandy. As the two men fight not just the darkness tormenting Susan but also one another, a soul-chilling revelation lurks in the shadows-one that knows that the darkest evil goes by many names
First published in the United States of America by Maclay & Associates, Inc. 1985; Edition with a series introduction by Guillermo del Toro pubished in Penguin Books 2013--Title page verso.