The Stark Collection
By R. T. STark
If you like your magic Bizarre, and you like your books out of the ordinary, then this book set is for you.
Imagine a long lost Diary and sketch book which chronicles the life and times of a man named Stark. In this diary you read of the amazing, bizarre, dark, magical goings on that Mister Stark put his old friend Strombil Trodworthy through, and are left to guess how he did it.
NOW, imagine that diary fell into the hands of Dean Montalbano who has written a follow up book entitled “Stark- The Man And His Methods”- in which he teaches you how to do all 30+ of the miracles found within this old diary.
Imagine this second volume includes BONUS material in the form of ”Cipher Speak” a two person code act system developed by Dean many years ago, presented here for further development for the FIRST TIME to the public.
Volume 1 hard covered “reproduction” of the original “Diary.” 6 X 9 over 115 Pages
Volume 2 is soft covered 6 X 9 over 80 Pages
This two volume set is yours for only $45.00 Plus $5.00 post within the USA, but don’t blame US if it gives you nightmares!
$45.00 for the TWO book set
Stark Chronicles/ Man and Methods Set
Two book set, 1 perfect bound hardcover (Missing two pages) and one soft cover.
Order The Stark Collection $45
A review from Oracle magazine.
THE STARK CHRONCICLES, The Diary and Sketchbook of Strombil H.
Trodworth III, and STARK, THE MAN AND HIS METHODS are companion books written by Dean Montalbano featuring bizarre magic.
The first, hardbound with 112 pages, contains 33 short stories, or vignettes, and the second, softbound, with 85 pages, presents the methods for accomplishing the magical and magickal happenings described in the stories (and a two-person code system). I suppose this way you could leave The Stark Chronicles on the coffee table and when, and if, someone browsing the pages wonders about the strange contents you can “explain” by performing one of the bizarre routines.
The “methods” book allows you to do this. Rothchild Stark is a weird, bizarre character, and reminds me a little bit of Tony Andruzzi. I picture him wearing all black with silver amulets and perhaps a shaved head. He is an occult kind of guy! His experiences chronicled in Trodworth’s diary in the mid-1800s are definitely strange, sometimes spooky, sometimes dangerous, and sometimes a bit gross.
In his attempt to capture a ghastly beast with a voracious appetite, Stark necessarily uses maggots from a rotting corpse. These are dropped into the pool of life and are seen to be apparently swimming. Suddenly out of the frosted bowl a maggot-colored tentacle emerges, but Stark quickly slams the lid. The effect is called “Maggot, maggot, who’s got the maggot.” Sorry about that, but that is what it is called. Then there is the fortune teller “Madame Gorgonzola,” who somehow becomes Stark, who creates a green ooze out of a handful of creepy crawlies and worms, forms it into a ball, and with a flash of light causes it to move mysteriously and change into a large worm. In “Knock Knock, You’re Dead,” a doorknob mounted on a small square of wood mysteriously turns by itself! And, Larry White and I agree that “The Stark Experiment” is the best piece of “magick” in the book. Randomly selected pairs from the Minor Arcana of two different decks of Tarot cards are found to match. In “Total Rune” a scroll of parchment has a column of runes printed on it. The spectator moves a small box along the column to an apparently free selection. Such is not the case, however, since the mark on the clay inside of the box matches the selected rune. The above give you a pretty good idea of the kinds of stories and effects in this set of books.
In Larry White’s review on Shadow Digest he suggests that you read through the Chronicles and try to guess the methods used, then check your guesses with the methods book. You will be surprised at how often you will be wrong. Also in the methods book is Montalbano’s two-person code act. At first glance it seems rather simple, only requiring considerable practice. However, as I tried to read through it I realized that I would, or maybe could, never learn the thing. But, maybe that is why there are so few good two-person mind-reading acts out there. Montalbano has certainly put considerable time into the code, and if you have any interest in such things, it is worth reviewing. On the negative side, the Chronicles are typeset in a kind of script that I do not care for. I guess it is supposed to give some semblance of a written diary.
That is a personal concern, however, and you may like it. I did note several spelling and grammatical errors in the text, but perhaps this is by design to lend realism to the diary.
However, as I came across them they stopped the flow of my reading. The stories are bizarre, in the old sense of the word. I liked some, I didn’t like others, and my guess is you will have the same experience. But, if traditional bizarre is what you are looking for, here it is.
