The Bloodwind (1982)

Approaching Charles L. Grant (1942-2006)

Readers unfamiliar with The Bloodwind (1982) by Charles L. Grant may prefer to read these notes only after reading the novel.

Both as a novel of campus faculty politics, and as a novel of occult onslaught motivated by sexual jealousy, The Bloodwind (1982) is unexceptional

For the first two-thirds of the story, narrative softness and banality hold sway. Grant's shorter works are typically graced with snap and sharpness. Here the to-ing and fro-ing of the heroine and her cohort do not rise above the soporific. When showdown and climax come, the style remains perfunctory.

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As The Bloodwind begins, all is not well at Hawksted College, Oxrun Station, Connecticut.

Protagonist Dr. Patrice Lauren Shavers, an accomplished sculptor, is appointed full professor and head of the newly launched fine arts school. But her satisfaction is short-lived: professional and personal relations quickly turn sour.  And typical of a Grant protagonist, Patrice comes already over-determined: family money, div…