originally published Weirdbook 17, 1983
It's 1946. Titus Crow, having just mustered out of the military, where he served as a specialist in codes and ciphers, finds himself some part-time employment cataloging the library of the ill-reputed Julian Carstairs, a Crowley-like black magician who (of course) lives in a creepy old house.
Not only that, he serves creepy food. Including some very strong wine which seems to affect Crow in odd ways.
Then there's Carstairs' disconcerting habit of entering Crow's room at night, toadie servant in tow, and making post-hypnotic suggestions to enslave his will.
Oh, and maggots keep showing up in the library. Hm.
Well, of course the ever-resourceful Crow calls upon some allies to examine the wine and eventually puts two-and-two together (long after the reader has) that Carstairs is up to some dark magic intending to switch bodies with Crow, thus prolonging his life.
It all comes to a head with the big ritual, where it turns out Crow isn't as controlled, nor such a perfect subject, occult-ly, as Carstairs had thought. Crow turns the tables on him, revealing that Carstairs is actually a skin suit inhabited by armies of worms and maggots, which, tables turned, devour their failed host as Crow flees.
This very pulpy tale is one of the last, and best, Crow stories. In large part that's because this isn't Crow the insufferable know-it-all we encounter in most Crow tales. No, this Crow is young and mortal. To be sure there's a fair amount of silliness, but its all pulled off with a good Weird Tales flair that makes it, ultimately, a good read.
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