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The Universal Library #1
The Mummy's Quest
The Mummy's Quest is the first of a series of horror/comedy books inspired by the classic horror films of the 1930s (and by Universal Studios attempt to reinvent them as a single universe - this is my version). The stories are set in the present but with a classic feel, a tongue in cheek delivery, and many references to the originals for horror film fans to spot. In a basement gallery of the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, is displayed the Mummy known as the Priest with Turquoise Eyes. It is believed to be the mummy of Ramose, High Priest to Queen Amunet, ruler of Ancient Egypt's Lost Dynasty. Amelia Evans (Egyptologist, bookworm and tea enthusiast) has been trying to decipher the cryptic hieroglyphics on the Priest's sarcophagus for many years, but her work takes an unexpected turn when she arrives at the museum one morning to find a dead body on the floor and the Mummy gone.At the same time, Arthur Banning - a young archaeology graduate, embarking on his first dig in an attempt to impress his girlfriend - joins a top secret excavation in Egypt's Western Desert. The dig is run by Arthur's old mentor, Professor Andoheb, and tough, 'seen-it-all' site manager, Maggie Moran, a woman who sleeps in a Wham! T-shirt with a gun under her pillow. They believe they have located the lost tomb of Queen Amunet. But they do not seem to be alone out in the desert. The two sides of the story are brought together by Boris, the suave, panther-like agent of a shadowy organisation called Universal Egyptology. Boris has a he thinks the Mummy is going home.Now it's up to Amelia and Arthur to track down the Priest with Turquoise Eyes and stop him from resurrecting a Witch Queen and her army of the dead. It's an adventure to which neither is well-suited, and the Mummy's story may yet prove not to be as simple as it seems.
- GenresHorror
215 pages, Paperback
Published September 27, 2017
21 people are currently reading
46 people want to read
About the author
Robin Bailes
16 books27 followersRobin Bailes is the writer and presenter of the web-series Dark Corners, based around comic reviews of old B movies and serious retrospectives of cult classics. Robin's love of old movies, and particularly the Universal horror cycle, was established by an old collection of Famous Monsters of Filmland (the seminal fanzine created by Forrest J. Ackerman), nourished by a film buff family, and is now inspiring a series of comedy/horror novels beginning with The Mummy's Quest and now running to 4 titles. The books are informed by classic horror, and are peppered with references to old movies and cult literature. The books are also a reaction to Universal Studios' baffling and uninspired efforts to turn their legacy into a comic book franchise. The latest title is The Immortal Dracula.
Outside of Dark Corners, Robin has written and directed the comedy/drama web-series Coping (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5XG...), among many other intriguing and diverse projects, as he attempts to make a living from writing. He also volunteers at the Cinema Museum at Elephant and Castle in London, and can be found behind the cafe for most silent film screenings. You can learn more about Robin (if you really want to) on his website, robinbailes.com.
Twitter: @DarkCorners3, @robinbailes
Facebook: Dark Corners of This Sick World
Outside of Dark Corners, Robin has written and directed the comedy/drama web-series Coping (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5XG...), among many other intriguing and diverse projects, as he attempts to make a living from writing. He also volunteers at the Cinema Museum at Elephant and Castle in London, and can be found behind the cafe for most silent film screenings. You can learn more about Robin (if you really want to) on his website, robinbailes.com.
Twitter: @DarkCorners3, @robinbailes
Facebook: Dark Corners of This Sick World
Ratings & Reviews
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
June 9, 2023
I have been watching Dark Corners Reviews for some time now and just realized that the host has written a series of novels inspired but the Universal Monsters and the Hammer films. After having read one now, I can see his love for these films on every page.
Amelia Evans a post-grad at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge is on the verge of a breakthrough in Cryptoglyphic writing when she gets kidnapped by a group who wants her to translate it fir them, she is subsequently rescued and thus starts the journey of her lifetime.
Filled with high adventure, resurrected mummies, grave robbers who will stop at nothing to reach their goal a legendary Queen who has been lost to time.
For fans of the old Universal films and even their misguided attempts and remaking them. You will be hooked from the first to the last page.
Amelia Evans a post-grad at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge is on the verge of a breakthrough in Cryptoglyphic writing when she gets kidnapped by a group who wants her to translate it fir them, she is subsequently rescued and thus starts the journey of her lifetime.
Filled with high adventure, resurrected mummies, grave robbers who will stop at nothing to reach their goal a legendary Queen who has been lost to time.
For fans of the old Universal films and even their misguided attempts and remaking them. You will be hooked from the first to the last page.
September 9, 2021
I had been watching Robin Bailes on the "Dark Corners" YouTube channel for several years but didn't know that he had also written several books featuring some of my favorite monsters from the Universal pantheon. Much like with the ill-fated Dark Universe reboot, I decided to start with his Mummy story which is also the first of the series.
The novel turned out to not be what I expected and exactly what I expected.
Since the success of the Stephen Sommers 1999 remake of the Universal classic, mummy stories these days do seem to devolve into more action-packed adventure than spooky, spine-tingling horror. Perhaps the exotic settings of such tales predisposes us to images of swashbuckling archeologists battling tomb robbers and ancient curses just like Indiana Jones. But I was surprised that Robin Bailes tended to go this route with his own mummy story.
Considering his love for the original Mummy series and the first Hammer films, I expected this book to be more of an homage to the creaky chills of those stories rather than an epic joyride from Cambridge to Egypt featuring an armed cult trying to resurrect an ancient witch queen and her army of the undead to take over the world. One of the elements that really frightened me about the older mummy stories was the silent stalking killer zombie that could not be reasoned with or stopped, the prototype for the slasher villains like Jason Voorhees in the 80s, mixed with the very alien mysticism of ancient Egyptian mythology. In this case, however, we have a rather verbose mummy who largely takes a backseat to the antics of a trio of "strong" female heroes who are more snarky than strong, along with their pet weakling male comedy relief--a nerdy bookworm, a demented ex-professor, an obese and Sherlock-obsessed archeologist, and a dashing soldier who is largely incapacitated for the entire story. As they get sucked into a series of adventures following the opening of a hidden tomb, we are treated to evil cats, plane crashes, gun fights, and a climatic wrestling match between all characters involved filled with sardonic dialogue. Not what I was wanting at all.
Yet it worked! Honestly, Universal should revitalize their Dark Universe concept and get Robin to write their scripts. I don't exactly know why I ended up liking this book as much as I did, but everything clicked together quite nicely. The "snarky" female characters I mentioned earlier actually were quite endearing rather than irritating, and I especially loved the relationship between Amelia and Izzy who had both started off as rival lovers over the same sleazy university professor only to become best friends. I look forward to their appearance in other adventures from this series. Similarly, in lesser hands the whole story would have amounted to a mess of offal, but Robin's quirky sense of humor really shines in the writing, making this a book that is self-aware in it's B-status but also far more intelligent and fun than it had a right to be. I know that most readers will have a jolly good time with this little romp in the desert.
The plot ties together every disparite element together quite tightly and even manages to throw in a twist ending. Now, I can't really explain why the twist doesn't quite work without spoiling anything, but let's just say that it makes the whole Mummy character quite impotent and silly rather than a powerful force of which we should stand in awe. But overall, I enjoyed the story on the same level as any piece of blockbuster adventure comedy, even if I wasn't ever scared in the slightest.
The book also explores some pretty deep themes, and though the messaging at the end was a bit too on the nose, I was impressed that these ideas were able to be interwoven in the story.
So for you lovers of classic monsters like the Mummy, this is a no-brainer. Go get a copy of Robin's book and enjoy. I do plan on checking out the other books in this series at some point, so stay tuned for more of my thoughts from this "dark corner of this sick world."
The novel turned out to not be what I expected and exactly what I expected.
Since the success of the Stephen Sommers 1999 remake of the Universal classic, mummy stories these days do seem to devolve into more action-packed adventure than spooky, spine-tingling horror. Perhaps the exotic settings of such tales predisposes us to images of swashbuckling archeologists battling tomb robbers and ancient curses just like Indiana Jones. But I was surprised that Robin Bailes tended to go this route with his own mummy story.
Considering his love for the original Mummy series and the first Hammer films, I expected this book to be more of an homage to the creaky chills of those stories rather than an epic joyride from Cambridge to Egypt featuring an armed cult trying to resurrect an ancient witch queen and her army of the undead to take over the world. One of the elements that really frightened me about the older mummy stories was the silent stalking killer zombie that could not be reasoned with or stopped, the prototype for the slasher villains like Jason Voorhees in the 80s, mixed with the very alien mysticism of ancient Egyptian mythology. In this case, however, we have a rather verbose mummy who largely takes a backseat to the antics of a trio of "strong" female heroes who are more snarky than strong, along with their pet weakling male comedy relief--a nerdy bookworm, a demented ex-professor, an obese and Sherlock-obsessed archeologist, and a dashing soldier who is largely incapacitated for the entire story. As they get sucked into a series of adventures following the opening of a hidden tomb, we are treated to evil cats, plane crashes, gun fights, and a climatic wrestling match between all characters involved filled with sardonic dialogue. Not what I was wanting at all.
Yet it worked! Honestly, Universal should revitalize their Dark Universe concept and get Robin to write their scripts. I don't exactly know why I ended up liking this book as much as I did, but everything clicked together quite nicely. The "snarky" female characters I mentioned earlier actually were quite endearing rather than irritating, and I especially loved the relationship between Amelia and Izzy who had both started off as rival lovers over the same sleazy university professor only to become best friends. I look forward to their appearance in other adventures from this series. Similarly, in lesser hands the whole story would have amounted to a mess of offal, but Robin's quirky sense of humor really shines in the writing, making this a book that is self-aware in it's B-status but also far more intelligent and fun than it had a right to be. I know that most readers will have a jolly good time with this little romp in the desert.
The plot ties together every disparite element together quite tightly and even manages to throw in a twist ending. Now, I can't really explain why the twist doesn't quite work without spoiling anything, but let's just say that it makes the whole Mummy character quite impotent and silly rather than a powerful force of which we should stand in awe. But overall, I enjoyed the story on the same level as any piece of blockbuster adventure comedy, even if I wasn't ever scared in the slightest.
The book also explores some pretty deep themes, and though the messaging at the end was a bit too on the nose, I was impressed that these ideas were able to be interwoven in the story.
So for you lovers of classic monsters like the Mummy, this is a no-brainer. Go get a copy of Robin's book and enjoy. I do plan on checking out the other books in this series at some point, so stay tuned for more of my thoughts from this "dark corner of this sick world."
April 7, 2023
Can an ancient legend be true
I'm familiar with Bailes from his Dark Corners reviews on YouTube. He covers cult, horror, science fiction, and genre films, humorously. He's mentioned several of his novels at the end of his videos prompting me to pick up the six-issue series on Kindle. The books attempt to create a connected world based on the classic Universal monster films. Since Universal itself has dropped the ball several times in creating its "Dark Universe", this might be the closest we get.
Mysterious events in London and an archaeological dig in Egypt are connected by an ancient legend. Two young archaeologists happy with the life of quiet study find themselves pulled into an adventure that neither might survive.
Here too we are introduced to the mysterious Boris, an agent for the Universal Agency which investigates supernatural and mysterious events around the world. Reading a synopsis of the other books it seems that some of the characters introduced in this first book will be reappearing in later novels.
I'm familiar with Bailes from his Dark Corners reviews on YouTube. He covers cult, horror, science fiction, and genre films, humorously. He's mentioned several of his novels at the end of his videos prompting me to pick up the six-issue series on Kindle. The books attempt to create a connected world based on the classic Universal monster films. Since Universal itself has dropped the ball several times in creating its "Dark Universe", this might be the closest we get.
Mysterious events in London and an archaeological dig in Egypt are connected by an ancient legend. Two young archaeologists happy with the life of quiet study find themselves pulled into an adventure that neither might survive.
Here too we are introduced to the mysterious Boris, an agent for the Universal Agency which investigates supernatural and mysterious events around the world. Reading a synopsis of the other books it seems that some of the characters introduced in this first book will be reappearing in later novels.
January 14, 2020
This book was an absolute delight! I have been a fan of the Dark Corners YouTube channel (bad movie reviews weekly, good movie reviews monthly) for a while now and when I heard that Robin had written some books, I knew I had to read them. I just have to say that I haven't had this much fun reading a book in a while. It has adventure, mystery, humor, the undead, everything you could ask for in a great story. It was well written and thoughtful. The characters were likeable and acted like real people. I tore through it and enjoyed every second of it. I am also a huge fan of the classic Universal Studios monster movies and the book is sprinkled with little winks and nudges referencing the films. Although, you do not have to be familiar with the films to enjoy the book. They are just fun little Easter eggs. All in all, this was a fantastic read and I highly recommend it.
June 21, 2020
Like the Authors show on YouTube (My dark corner of
this sick world) and really like this book.
have already purchased the other two he
has done and am looking forward to them.
It is a monster movie in book form
done by someone you understands the
genre and loves it.
MUST BE MADE INTO A MOVIE
GET ON THIS
ARE YOU LISTENING NETFLIX?
P.S. Wonder if the cat makes another appearance.
just thinking out loud
this sick world) and really like this book.
have already purchased the other two he
has done and am looking forward to them.
It is a monster movie in book form
done by someone you understands the
genre and loves it.
MUST BE MADE INTO A MOVIE
GET ON THIS
ARE YOU LISTENING NETFLIX?
P.S. Wonder if the cat makes another appearance.
just thinking out loud
February 7, 2019
This book was a lot of fun! Egyptian mummies coming to life, evil, murderous cats (I never liked cats), and some unlikely archaeologists trying to beat the tomb robbers and deranged cult members to open the tomb of the ancient queen who is waiting to be woken up so she can take over the world...! It was easy to read, gripping and funny.
April 24, 2019
Oh, wow! I can’t even remember why I purchased this book, but it was not what I expected. If you are looking for a great adventure story with a dash of humor and the occasional hidden insight... Get this one!
May 21, 2022
This was a very good story. A little light on humour and horror, but as an action-adventure story, it was awesome. I have read very few books about mummies that have resonated - that has now changed. Recommended.
September 1, 2022
Having enjoyed and sponsored Robin's YouTube channel for some years now, I was initially reluctant to read these books as I worried that a self published book might not live up to my expectations. How wrong I was. This first book in a series is a fantastic debut with fully rounded, occasionally flawed, but always interesting characters. The story archs resolve well and it has made me excited to read the next inthe series.
Jf you are hesitant like I was, go ahead pick this up. You will enjoy it.
Jf you are hesitant like I was, go ahead pick this up. You will enjoy it.
August 14, 2022
A ripping good yarn
Everything you want in a mummy story, and more. Likable characters and a twist I didn’t see coming. Read it!
Everything you want in a mummy story, and more. Likable characters and a twist I didn’t see coming. Read it!
October 17, 2024
I've been following Robin Bailes "Dark Corners" YouTube channel for a while, so I was pleased to see that the humor and love of old films carried over into this delightful little novel. The basic story draws inspiration from Universal's 1932 Mummy, but other works as well (Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World contributed one key character arc, and the characters also see themselves through the lens of Sherlock Holmes and The Lord of the Rings). Various character names and dialog are fun little homages to old horror movies.
The story has a modern setting, which adds to the incongruity of the scenario. The two main viewpoint characters, though they interact only late in the book, are paralleled in how out-of-place they are; they are scholarly, bookish, and accustomed to settled circumstances, not a world of kidnapping, secret societies, and walking mummies. The humor is mostly subdued, and the book never devolves into burlesque; the characters take the situations seriously and the stakes are significant enough to justify that. Nonetheless, there are plenty of laughs in the situations and in the winking nods to the golden age of horror films.
The story has a modern setting, which adds to the incongruity of the scenario. The two main viewpoint characters, though they interact only late in the book, are paralleled in how out-of-place they are; they are scholarly, bookish, and accustomed to settled circumstances, not a world of kidnapping, secret societies, and walking mummies. The humor is mostly subdued, and the book never devolves into burlesque; the characters take the situations seriously and the stakes are significant enough to justify that. Nonetheless, there are plenty of laughs in the situations and in the winking nods to the golden age of horror films.
February 14, 2024
Absolutely loved it! This is what a certain cinematic universe SHOULD do. Characters you give a damn about and hope to meet again, motivations for what they're doing AND character development for (most of) them, some of which is a good old fashioned Hero's Journey "freedom to live" resolution. Even within the confines of the genre and playing up the tropes we all know and love, there were twists that were a treat to run into in the course of the read. I read this in two sittings and have the sequel queued up. Very happy with my purchase.
January 26, 2022
Outstanding!! Can't wait to read the next book in the series! This was exciting, entertaining and wonderful throwback to the mummy movies of old! Highly recommend!!
April 6, 2024
Good start but lost it's way
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews