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Kurt Barlow
Kurt Barlow is a fictional vampire and the main antagonist of Stephen King's 1975 horror novel '''Salem's Lot''. The character is a powerful vampire who moves to the Maine town of Jerusalem's Lot with the intent to form a vampire colony of its residents. Due to his own predations as well as those of the residents he turns, the entire town is ultimately overrun by vampirism; only a few of the residents escape. Although his true age is unknown, he claims to be so old that he predates the founding of Christianity by centuries. History '' Salem's Lot'' According to government records, he previously used the name Kurt Breichen in his guise as an Austrian nobleman. As Breichen, he corresponded for twelve years with Hubert "Hubie" Marsten, a former Depression-era Boston hitman living in the town of Jerusalem's Lot, Maine, or "The Lot". Marsten murdered his wife and committed suicide, but not before burning his letters with Breichen. The novel strongly implies that Marsten entered into ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reggie Nalder
Reggie Nalder (born Alfred Natzler; 4 September 1907 – 19 November 1991) was a prolific Austrian film and television character actor from the late 1940s to the early 1990s. His distinctive features—partially the result of disfiguring burns—together with a haunting style and demeanor led to his being called "The Face That Launched a Thousand Trips". Life and career Born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary, he was the son of actor and operetta singer Sigmund Natzler. He was a cousin of actresses and singers Grete Natzler and Hertha Natzler. As a young man he performed at second-rate Vienna theatres and from the 1930s in several cabarets in Paris. After World War II he worked for the German language service of the BBC. Nalder is perhaps best remembered for his roles as an assassin in Alfred Hitchcock's 1956 remake of '' The Man Who Knew Too Much'', the vampire Kurt Barlow in the 1979 TV adaptation of the Stephen King novel '' Salem's Lot'', and the Andorian ambassador Shras in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeastern United States. It has an area of and a population of 675,647 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the third-largest city in the Northeastern United States after New York City and Philadelphia. The larger Greater Boston metropolitan statistical area has a population of 4.9 million as of 2023, making it the largest metropolitan area in New England and the Metropolitan statistical area, eleventh-largest in the United States. Boston was founded on Shawmut Peninsula in 1630 by English Puritans, Puritan settlers, who named the city after the market town of Boston, Lincolnshire in England. During the American Revolution and American Revolutionary War, Revolutionary War, Boston was home to several seminal events, incl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mutant (fiction)
The concept of a mutant is a common trope in fiction. The new phenotypes that appear in fictional mutations generally go far beyond what is typically seen in mutants in reality, and often result in the mutated life form exhibiting superhuman abilities or qualities. DC Comics In DC Comics, the term was first used in the 1980s by a fictitious race of extraterrestrials known as the Dominators when they appeared in the '' Invasion!'' mini-series. For instance, Captain Comet manifested his powers at birth when a comet activated his "metagene", gaining his abilities by the time he was eight. Marvel Comics In Marvel Comics, genetic mutation has been used as an explanation for super-powers since the 1950s. Mutants have played a major role in Marvel Comics, particularly the X-Men and related series. In the Marvel Comics Universe, they are a persecuted minority where most people fear and hate them. Marvel Comics redefines the term to beings who are in a higher stage of evolution known ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Berkley Books
Berkley Books is an American imprint founded in 1955 by Charles Byrne and Frederic Klein owned by the Penguin Group unit of Penguin Random House. History Berkley Books began as an independent company in 1955. It was founded as "Chic News Company" by Charles Byrne and Frederick Klein, who had worked for Avon; they quickly renamed it Berkley Publishing Co. The new name was a coinage, combining elements of their surnames, unrelated to either the philosopher George Berkeley or Berkeley, California. Under their editor-in-chief Thomas Dardis, over the next few years Berkley developed a diverse line of popular fiction and non-fiction, both reprints and mass-market paperback originals, with a particularly strong history in science fiction (books of Robert A. Heinlein and Frank Herbert’s ''Dune'' novels, for example). The company was bought in 1965 by G. P. Putnam's Sons and in years to follow undertook a hardcover line under the Berkley imprint, chiefly but not only for science fic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Danse Macabre (King Book)
''Danse Macabre'' is a 1981 non-fiction book by Stephen King, about horror fiction in print, TV, radio, film and comics, and the influence of contemporary societal fears and anxieties on the genre. When the book was republished King included a new Forenote dated June 1983 (however not all subsequent editions have included this forenote). And when the book was republished on February 23, 2010, it included an additional new forenote in the form of a longer essay (7,700 words) entitled "''What's Scary''". ''Danse Macabre'' examines the various influences on King's own writing, and important genre texts of the 19th and 20th centuries. ''Danse Macabre'' explores the history of the genre as far back as the Victorian era, but primarily focuses on the 1950s to the 1970s (roughly the era covering King's own life at the time of publication). King peppers his book with informal academic insight, discussing archetypes, important authors, common narrative devices, "the psychology of terror", ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Count Orlok
Count Orlok (; ; ) is a fictional character who first appeared in the silent film ''Nosferatu'' (1922) directed by F. W. Murnau. Based on Bram Stoker's Count Dracula, he is played by German actor Max Schreck, and is depicted as a repulsive vampire descended from Belial, who leaves his homeland of Transylvania to spread the plague in the idyllic city of Wisborg in Biedermeier-period Germany, only to find death at the hands of a self-sacrificing woman. Count Orlok would reappear in subsequent remakes, played by Klaus Kinski, Doug Jones and Bill Skarsgård, as well as in comic book adaptations and sequels. He is also a character in ''SpongeBob SquarePants'', debuting in the season 2 episode " Graveyard Shift". Orlok's distinct appearance, which is closer to that of vampires of Eastern European folklore than to traditional depictions of Dracula, influenced numerous later vampire designs, including those of '' Salem's Lot'', ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' and the ''Blade'' film ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Dark Tower (series)
''The Dark Tower'' is a series of eight novels, one novella, and a children's book written by American author Stephen King. Incorporating themes from multiple genres, including dark fantasy, science fantasy, horror, and Western, it describes a "gunslinger" and his quest toward a tower, the nature of which is both physical and metaphorical. The series, and its use of the Dark Tower, expands upon Stephen King's multiverse and in doing so, links together many of his other novels. In addition to the eight novels of the series proper that comprise 4,250 pages, many of King's other books relate to the story, introducing concepts and characters that come into play as the series progresses. The series was chiefly inspired by the poem " Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" by Robert Browning, the full text of which was included in the final volume's appendix. In the preface to the revised 2003 edition of '' The Gunslinger'', King also identifies ''The Lord of the Rings'', Arthurian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Father Callahan
Father Donald Frank Callahan is a fictional character created by Stephen King. He originally appeared in the 1975 novel '''Salem's Lot'' and later '' The Dark Tower'', appearing in '' The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla'', '' The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah'' and finally '' The Dark Tower''. He is at first an alcoholic with a troubled faith, but he seems to find his peace in ''The Dark Tower'' novels, and his faith is restored. History ''Salem's Lot'' Father Callahan is the local Roman Catholic priest of the small Maine town of Jerusalem's Lot. An alcoholic, Callahan presides over the funeral of Danny Glick, a young boy who was, unbeknownst to the townsfolk, killed by the vampire Kurt Barlow. Life appears to go on as normal, but more and more of the populace are turned into vampires by Barlow and the new vampires he creates. Local writer Ben Mears, schoolteacher Matt Burke and a young boy named Mark Petrie discover what is happening. Joined by doctor Jimmy Cody and Susan Nort ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cuckold
A cuckold is the husband of an adulterous wife (or partner for unmarried companions); the wife of an adulterous husband is a cuckquean. In biology, a cuckold is a male who unwittingly invests parental effort in juveniles who are not genetically his offspring. A husband who is aware of and tolerates his wife's infidelity is sometimes called a wittol or wittold. The slang term bull refers to the dominant man who has relations with the cuckold's partner. History of the term The word ''cuckold'' derives from the cuckoo bird, alluding to its brood parasitism, or tendency to lay its eggs in the nests of other birds. The association is common in medieval folklore, literature, and iconography. English usage first appears about 1250 in the medieval debate poem '' The Owl and the Nightingale''. It was characterized as an overtly blunt term in John Lydgate's ''The Fall of Princes'', . William Shakespeare's writing often referred to cuckolds, with several of his characters suspe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Human Sacrifice
Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more humans as part of a ritual, which is usually intended to please or appease deity, gods, a human ruler, public or jurisdictional demands for justice by capital punishment, an authoritative/priestly figure, spirits of veneration of the dead, dead ancestors or as a retainer sacrifice, wherein a monarch's servants are killed in order for them to continue to serve their master in the next life. Closely related practices found in some tribe, tribal societies are human cannibalism, cannibalism and headhunting. Human sacrifice is also known as ritual murder. Human sacrifice was practiced in many human societies beginning in prehistoric times. By the Iron Age with the associated developments in religion (the Axial Age), human sacrifice was becoming less common throughout Africa, Europe, and Asia, and came to be looked down upon as barbarian, barbaric during classical antiquity. In the New World, Americas, however, human sacrifice cont ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Familiar
In European folklore of the medieval and early modern periods, familiars (strictly familiar spirits, as "familiar" also meant just "close friend" or companion, and may be seen in the scientific name for dog, ''Canis familiaris'') were believed to be supernatural entities, interdimensional beings, or spiritual guardians that would protect or assist witches and cunning folk in their practice of magic, divination, and spiritual insight. According to records of the time, those alleging to have had contact with familiar spirits reported that they could manifest as numerous forms, usually as an animal, but sometimes as a human or humanoid figure, and were described as "clearly defined, three-dimensional... forms, vivid with colour and animated with movement and sound", as opposed to descriptions of ghosts with their "smoky, undefined form . When they served witches, they were often thought to be malevolent, but when working for cunning folk, they were often considered benevolent (a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
