Delos W. Lovelace – King Kong

Delos W. Lovelace – King Kong (Gollancz, 2005: originally Grosset & Dunlop, 1932)

King Kong: The Eighth Wonder of the World!

King Kong, the world-famous story of a beauty and a beast, conceived by Edgar Wallace and Merian C. Cooper, is one of the best-loved films of all time. The original novelization by Delos W. Lovelace is an enduring classic of fantasy fiction, taking us from the seething jungles of Skull Island, a land forgotten by time and civilisation, to the skyscrapers of teeming New York City.

King Kong: taller than a 5-storey building, able to crush an aeroplane with his bare hand, ruler of a lost empire of prehistoric monsters .. .

King Kong: the giant killer ape who falls in love with a blonde waif and makes her the prisoner of his strange passion .. .

King Kong: the giant ape who inspires terror and awe as he is caught in a tragic love story of gargantuan proportions .. .

King Kong: The Eighth Wonder of the World: a story you will never forget!

It will have to wait its turn, but I was pleased to find this in the Spitalfields Crypt charity shop today, ‘specially as I was unaware of its existence. Lovelace’s novelisation of the original King Kong, given a welcome reissue to tie in with the Peter Jackson remake. There’s an afterword by Stephen Jones: The Eighth Wonder Of The World.