Spider Kiss

caption-width-right:347:Stag Preston, as depicted by Robert McGinnis on the cover of the 2006 edition.

""...Stag Preston manages to capture a sensitivity that marks him as a performer of rare gifts. This is Stag Preston's show, from first to last, and he runs it with assurance, skill, and verve.""

- From a review of Stag's film Rockabilly

""You want to know something, Stag? You stink, kid. You stink on ice!""

- Shelly Morgenstern, Stag's publicist

""I'd do anydamnthing to get away from them self-made, pious assholes, and you'd better know I'll do the same to stay where I am.""

- Stag Preston

First published in 1961 under the title Rockabilly, Harlan Ellison's novel Spider Kiss chronicles the career of Stag Preston, a (thankfully) fictional star from the early days of rock and roll, as (mostly) seen through the eyes of Sheldon "Shelly" Morgenstern, the publicist who discovered him--and came to regret it.

Stag Preston has everything. Thanks to a beautiful singing voice, a commanding stage presence, a lot of determination, and a first-class support team, he's risen from the slums of Louisville, Kentucky, to worldwide stardom. A naturally talented singer and actor, Stag has used his wealth to create a life where any pleasure or luxury is available to him--and he rarely has to deal with the consequences. Yes, Stag has everything, except for two qualities he has never needed nor wanted--compassion and human decency. And those he can fake, at least while he's in front of a microphone or camera.

Stag is, to put it bluntly, a sociopath. He takes self-centeredness and Lack of Empathy Up to Eleven, and he'll instinctively abandon any friend, lover or ally the moment he no longer needs them. Also, with his insatiable appetite for sex and booze, he leaves a career-threatening mess wherever he goes. And the one who has to clean up Stag's messes is Shelly Morgenstern, right-hand man to Stag's current manager, Colonel Jack Freeport.

It was Shelly who discovered Stag (then known as Luther Sellers, "no relation to Peter") when he was just a talented kid working as a bellhop at a fleabag Louisville hotel, making a few extra bucks by leading suckers to illegal poker games, and singing on the side. Shelly recognized Luther's talent and charisma, so he brought him to The Colonel, who effortlessly overpowered the kid's original manager (Asa Kemp, a milquetoast bicycle shop owner) and started him on the road to fame and glory. Shelly renamed him Stag Preston, helped engineer his image, and made the deals that left him a rich, successful icon to millions of teenagers. And whenever Stag goes on a drunken rampage--which happens a lot--it's Shelly who keeps the latest incident out of the gossip columns. Every time he does so, Shelly becomes a little more disgusted with both Stag and himself. However, he's not disgusted enough to get off the Stag Preston gravy train--yet.

Stag thinks the good times will never end, no matter what he does. Shelly keeps warning him that his fans could turn on him in a moment, but Stag never listens. The situation seems too volatile to last forever; how long before Stag does something so terrible and irrevocable that Shelly won't be able to save him?

Tropes:

 * Adaptation Expansion: Spider Kiss is based on "Matinee Idyll", a short story Ellison wrote in 1958.
 * The Alcoholic: Stag, and it just makes his other negative traits that much worse.
 * The American Civil War: Plays a role in Colonel Freeport's Backstory. In Antebellum America, the Colonel's ancestors owned the huge Freeport plantation, only to lose it during the burning of Atlanta. The Colonel has been saving up to rebuild this "tiny empire of regal living", and he expects his share of Stag's profits to put him over the top--at least, until Stag's antics threaten the Colonel's dream.
 * Attempted Rape:
 * Awesome McCoolname: Shelly and the Colonel go through several of them while deciding what Luther Sellers' Stage Name should be. They reject Bruce Barton, Alan Prince, Brick Colter and Matt Gore before Shelly comes up with Stag Preston.
 * Beware the Nice Ones: The Colonel isn't exactly nice, but in public he usually has the manners and demeanor of a Southern Gentleman. However, when he learns that Stag has impregnated a singer named Trudy Quillan, the Colonel snaps and gives the singer a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown. This is mostly because
 * Black and Gray Morality: While Stag is clearly the villain, all the major characters are morally compromised.
 * Blackmail: Stag is subject to it when
 * Dark and Troubled Past: Shelly, trying to bond with Stag, asks the singer about his background. Stag says that his parents were drug addicts "and one day the court just sent me off to the Home, took Pop and my old lady away, and that was it." This gives Shelly a Hope Spot; he begins to think that Stag's dark side is a result of his upbringing, so maybe the singer isn't beyond redemption.
 * The Determinator: For better or (mostly) worse, Stag won't let anything or anyone stand in his way. This becomes especially clear at the end of the novel.
 * Earn Your Happy Ending:
 * Evil Versus Evil:
 * Fictional Counterpart: Averted. Stag signs with a real record label (the now-defunct ABC-Paramount) and movie studio (Universal), and the executives who ran both companies at the time are mentioned by name.
 * Foot Focus: When Jean starts to demonstrate her gratitude to Shelly by making sexual advances to him, she's half-dressed, and Shelly refers to her as a "beautiful barefoot seductress".
 * From Nobody to Nightmare: Stag goes from a shady bellhop to a sociopathic superstar.
 * I Have No Son: It's briefly mentioned that this is how Shelly's estranged father feels about him.
 * In Medias Res: The novel begins by describing one of Stag's concerts after he's made it big, then goes into a long Flash Back showing how Shelly and the Colonel made him a star.
 * It Got Worse: Every time The Colonel and Shelly think they finally have Stag under control, he goes berserk again.
 * It's All About Me: Stag has a horrible case of this.
 * Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: Usually averted, since many movers and shakers from the era's entertainment industry are mentioned by name. However, Ellison resorts to this at least once: Bob Mandle, a Cleveland disc jockey who hosts one of Stag's early concerts, is based on Bill Randle, a Real Life Cleveland disc jockey who played a similar role in Elvis Presley's career.
 * My God, What Have I Done?: Shelly eventually feels this way over his role in discovering Stag, then keeping his bad behavior out of the press.
 * No Celebrities Were Harmed: Ellison claimed in a forward that while many people said Preston resembled Elvis Presley, he was mostly based on the life of Jerry Lee Lewis.
 * No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Stag gets two of these. The first is noted above in Beware the Nice Ones. The second occurs late in the novel, when
 * The Power of Rock: A very dark take on the subject.
 * Sexy Secretary: Jean Friedel, Shelly's Love Interest.
 * Textless Book Cover: The 2006 printing has one, as seen above.
 * Title Drop: Early in the novel, Ellison compares the "ominous, threatening, sensuously compelling" undercurrent of Stag's performances to "the kiss of a spider", among other bizarre, disturbing images.
 * Also, Rockabilly (the novel's original title, which was imposed by an editor) is the name of the movie Stag stars in.
 * Ungrateful Bastard: Stag's demeanor toward the Kemps. Once he's signed with Colonel Freeport, Stag callously shuts them out of his life, as well as making sure they get no financial benefits from his success. Stag never changes his attitude, even when
 * You Have Failed Me: When Colonel Freeport's employee Morrie Needleman gets the worst of a business deal, the Colonel instructs Shelly to have him fired. Never mind that Needleman's wife has breast cancer...
 * You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Stag's attitude toward the Kemps, and later Trudy Quillan, once he's gotten what he wants from them.
 * You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Stag's attitude toward the Kemps, and later Trudy Quillan, once he's gotten what he wants from them.