Double Act

DOUBLE ACT

A 22000 word novella
June 2007 published by Nyx Books USA.
Cover is by Peter Mihaichuk

The story concerns the jealousies of a double act. It is not autobiographical!

The double act of the title are two English theatre stage comedians.

Excerpt

‘It is you, isn’t it?’

Walter Coker turned to look at the man who had sidled up next to him at the bar of the Feathers. ‘Sorry?’ he said.

‘You,’ the man said, a finger half pointing, half flapping vaguely. ‘Wally Coker. I saw you at the Finsbury Park Empire in ‘48. I never forget a face.’

Coker groaned inwardly, but produced a smile that hovered on his lips like an uncertain memory. It was unusual for him to be recognised off stage. With copious amounts of brilliantine taming his wayward curly red hair, and with the barrier of the heavy horn-rimmed spectacles he always wore when he wasn’t performing, he was virtually unrecognisable as the comedian Wally Coker who trod the boards of the Variety theatres up and down the country with his partner Charlie Hass. Coker and Hass, a laugh a minute, as their bill-matter read.

He inclined his head towards the man. ‘You got me,’ he said, the smile almost faltering on his lips. Laugh a minute wasn't accomplished in life quite as readily as it was on stage.

The man grinned and turned to a woman standing at his elbow. ‘You see, Mabel, I told you it was him.’

The woman eyed Coker suspiciously, narrowing her eyes and bringing her face within inches of Coker’s. ‘You look nothing like him,’ she said aggressively.

‘Sorry,’ Coker said again.

‘No, it’s definitely him,’ the man said to his wife. ‘Go on, Wally tell us a joke. Prove it to her.’

Coker didn’t understand why he should have anything to prove, but he obliged, telling them a story about a farmer and a bull. It was on old chestnut, slightly risqué, which he’d heard first from the lips of Max Miller. When he reached the punch line the man roared with laughter, but the woman’s face was unmoving, not even cracking a smile. ‘I never liked Coker or Hass,’ she said bluntly, and went back to nursing her Mackeson stout.

‘Could I trouble you for your autograph?’ the man said. ‘The boys at the factory will never believe it when I tell them I’ve met Wally Coker.’ He pushed a cardboard beer mat along the bar towards Coker, followed by a stub of a pencil with a chewed end.

Coker picked up the pencil, signed the beer mat with a flourish, and pushed it back towards the man, who snatched it from the bar and studied the autograph closely. ‘Can’t read it,’ he said disappointedly.

‘Sorry,’ Coker said. He was beginning to feel people were staring at him, which, off stage at least, wasn't to his liking at all.

Mabel tugged at her husband’s sleeve. ‘Come away, Ted and leave the man in peace.’

Ted looked at Coker, doubt now evident in his eyes. ‘It is you isn’t it?’

Coker shrugged. 'Possibly.'

Excerpt ends

I picked up Double Act a bit ago. It's a very well written story of a stand-up comedy duo, in which one of the double act dies of a heart attack, leaving a bit of mystery behind. Double Act has a nice insider's perspective of small time show business in its pages.

Double Act is a classically written ghost story and one that I would have readily believed had been published decades ago. If you're in the mood for an old fashioned shivery tale, I urge you to give it a chance. As for me, I'll certainly be looking for more books by this pair of writers in the future.

Highly recommended

Mark Seiber - Horror Drive.

Walter Coker and Charlie Hass are a successful comedy double act in the theatre of 1950’s: England; Coker and Hass, a laugh a minute, as their bill-matter read. Best of friends in life as well as professional perfection on stage.

When Charlie dies unexpectedly it soon becomes obvious the rose tinted view of them was slightly smeared. Gradually as life as a single act becomes reality for Walter the legacy left to him becomes terrifyingly real.

Events in Charlie’s past creep in to haunt his partner; and things Walter has done just add fuel to the flames. Charlie had resentments and death won’t be a barrier to resolving them.

This is a return to the traditional ghost story for Maynard & Sims. This novella would not be out of place in their classic collections, Echoes Of Darkness or Shadows At Midnight. This is a ghost story told with all the enigmatic elements of their work.

"Ghosts of a False Self"

Double Act is a well-written novella from British writing team, LH Maynard & MPN Sims (Shelter, Demon Eyes). As Cocker and Hass, Walter Coker and Charlie Hass were a successful comedy double act in the 1950s London theatre scene in the twilight of their career. Unfortunately, the straight man and primary writer, Charlie, dies of a heart attack, leaving behind his funnier partner to pick up the pieces of his career as well as investigate the strange happenings and mystery in the wake of the death.

A writing duo writing about a comedy duo works almost at a meta level as they explore the secrets of a fairly successful professional and personal relationship.

“But life can’t be lived on what ifs and if onlys. You make choices and stand or fall by the choices you make. Sometimes the choices are the right ones, sometimes not.” –Carol Butler.

The sins of their past comes back on them, from love affairs to pride and jealousy, in the form of a mysterious figure/force. A long time and well known philanderer, Charlie Hass comes to be seen in a new light, a more honest light though it only demonstrates how often we know so little about the people in our lives.

The least mysterious part of the journey of these characters is how easy it is to fall into a spiral of sin. They both begin with a lie that they tell themselves, about each other as well as themselves (because we are all the put upon heroes in our own story). From there, they harden their hearts by degrees to what they know is right. Then they find themselves having to hide the secrets that won’t stay hidden very long because truth has a way of being found out.

“If that’s what you’ve been telling yourself over the years to absolve yourself from blame, then you’ve been living a lie.” –Carol Butler

We know that the best relationships are built on openness and honesty, but we find ourselves creating a “false self”, a mask we wear that becomes part of us, in order to interact with others and the world. This constructed self, is defined by what we do, by what we have, and by what people think about us – and most times is a lie. We believe this lie and try to fix it ourselves, essentially creating a self-salvation scheme as we continue going about trying to re-create ourselves to the world around us. As Carol, one of Charlie’s mistresses puts it, “Once you start holding things back, they build up into an unbreakable wall that’s impossible to break down.”

Charlie’s false self takes form, haunting those he left behind from beyond the grave. This “monster you created”, left unchecked, destroys any good left in him and in his life, and leads to acts of ultimate selfishness.

At its heart, Double Act is an old-fashioned ghost tale, so low-key and without gore, the horrific aspect of the layered story goes almost unnoticed. The authors weave an emotionally intricate tale through the use of a strong, melancholy narrative voice. All about tone and mood, Double Act relies more on its disquieting atmosphere and disturbing, deeply human characters, more so than any supernatural aspects. Its flaw lies more in its abrupt, bitter, and ultimately less than satisfying ending. Until then, it delivers the around the campfire creepiness and a study of compelling intensity, cloaked in the familiar garb of a good ghost story.

http://www.mauricebroaddus.com/2008/01/double-act-review

Mario Guslandi - HORROR WORLD

http://www.horrorworld.org/reviews.htm

It was maybe unavoidable that, after writing, editing and publishing together supernatural and horror fiction for so many years, the British duo Maynard & Sims should produce a novella revolving around a couple of actors, a double act, and exploring the secrets of a fairly successful professional and personal relationship.

After Charlie Hass’ sudden death, his long-time partner and friend Walter Coker gradually discovers that behind their double act there was more than meets the eye and that things in Charlie’s private life things were not exactly what they appeared to be.

For instance Charlie, a well known womaniser, had, unbeknownst to everyone, a secret daughter.

And, although an unfaithful husband, he resented the love affair which had briefly taken place in the past between his wife June and Walter. It also appears that Charlie, the straight man, was very envious of the response that his own jokes, written for Walter’s comic character, elicited in the audiences. And when the elusive traces of a mysterious creature in baggy clothes start to show here and there things become even more puzzling and hectic for poor Charlie, who is trying hard to find out the truth.

Written in the impeachable storytelling style which is the trademark of Maynard & Sims’ short and long fiction , “Double act” has a terrific start, a breathtaking development and a bitter, albeit a bit confused, ending. Labelled as a ghost tale, the story actually disquiets and disturbs more for its deeply human content than for its supernatural aspects. And, unlike Coker & Hass, Maynard & Sims prove once again that their double act is a perfectly oiled machine able to continuously generate pleasurable shivers and unforgettable emotions.

"In tone and mood, it is easy to see why the work of this partnership is often compared to M R James. If James had a crown for the passing, to Maynard and Sims it would have to go."
Richard Wright, UK Writer.