The Black Herald, that stalwart Parisian literary revue run by Paul Stubbs and Blandine Longre, is proud to feature in its fifth issue Yves & Ada Remy’s fantastical tale, “The House of the Nightjars” from their classic collection of intertwined tales Les Soldats de la mer.
Husband and wife Yves and Ada Rémy are writers and filmmakers, best known for their classic alternate European history Les Soldats de la mer [The Soldiers of the Sea], first published in 1968 and multiply reprinted since. Together they have authored short stories, radio plays, and three other novels, one of which, La Maison du Cygne [The House of the Swan] won the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire at Utopiales in 1979.
Here’s an excerpt:
Listen, my child, those are nightjars. They come and go and turn about the house and swoop down past fences to suckle at goats. Listen, my child, and do not frighten them away.
Back then, war was among us. Nothing is more beautiful than war, my dear; nothing more beautiful has ever been invented. Then why, child, must it be so cruel and deadly? Still, there is nothing as beautiful. See the baker with his blond mustache? See the postman with his red sideburns? They are but men. But back then, the lieutenants had blonde mustaches and what a sight they were when they were watching you, twirling one end or the other: to the right, My respects, Mademoiselle, to the left, My heart is yours! Back then, all the sergeants had black beards, the colonels grey hair, and the lieutenants blonde mustaches, and long curved sabers that struck the cobblestones with each step, didn’t they, turning your heart upside down, and such roar of cannon fire from o’er the hills you were likely to die from love and fright. Ah yes, those artillerymen, those jolly lads, redheads one and all and notorious drinkers.
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