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by E. M. Schorb (Author)
The five tales in Malum in Se share the theme of evil--sometimes the evil of deliberation and action, sometimes the evildoer is only vaguely aware of his or her moral misprision; but more often fully aware and purposeful. Even so, there is humor in evil. Murder is perhaps the greatest evil, but in the largest sense, it is ridiculous, solving nothing.
Immediately after the story "Legacy" was written, a larger version of the piece appeared to the author. This was Fortune Island, the novel subsequently published by Cherokee McGhee. Malum in Se offers the reader this earlier, shorter, and somewhat different version of the story. In "Manslaughter" a careless and aging party-girl mother inadvertently causes doom while seeking fun. "A Man of Conscience" seeks world revenge and realizes that he has become the evildoer. In a pulp fiction pastiche suggested by the New York Journal-American columnist Jack O'Brian, "Haydn's Head," two gamblers solve a mystery of international espionage while pursued by a mobster who wants his losses back. In this story evil smiles.
In the final story, a man and woman attempt escape from a statistical, fascist world of the future to "The Devil's Tavern."
