Before my usual end of the month book summary, let me begin by saying that there is great joy at this momentous time at Lone Mtn. Homestead. What, you may ask, has caused such feelings among the inhabitants? Our wood pellet stove is back in action, and things couldn't be toastier. It would appear that a seized exhaust fan motor was causing our problem, and a few squirts of oil later we were back in business. Today is quite cold, and the wind is howling. However, inside it's Pina Colada time, and Hawaiian shirt day! Woo hoo! Bring on your worst, Monsieur Bonhomme. We laugh at your pitiful attempts to chill our blood. At least as long as the exhaust fan keeps working.
In reading news, I got through the usual 8 books related to the Avon/Equinox SF authors, and managed to read 5 unrelated books. So a lucky 13 for this past month. First up came Robert Silverberg's At Winter's End, truly one of his very best efforts. Expanded into an epic novel in 1988, this 404 page novel has been
waiting a long time for me. Appearing first as a novella in Asimov's
Science Fiction pulp magazine, this is truly an epic journey. Ever
since reading Olaf Stapeldon's First and Last Men, I have thought
often of someone trying to write a tiny piece of that story of humankind
that Stapledon simply did not have time for. In his far reaching
history of humans Stapledon blew many people's minds, and it would
appear that Silverberg, among many others including myself, was one of
them. At first it would seem that his leap of imagination into the far
future of a very different Earth was so far fetched as to almost be
completely off the rails. But putting things into a Stapledon
perspective, what we have here is simply a tale of Earth 700,000 years
after a meteor bombardment ended all life and froze the planet solid. A really brilliant story, which I awarded a full four stars. Another book in this series awaits me, I am happy to say.
Many of Piers Anthony's early short stories are quite good, though as time goes on they become more and more unreadable. Anthonology is a collection of short stories from the years 1963-1985. Though none of the stories are truly classic, several are quite good. "The Life of the Stripe," about an army promotion stripe, is one of the best, as is "Quinquepedalian," a dinosaur tale that seems heavily influenced by the movie Gorgo. There are enough good stories in the first half, but by the second half of this group I did not like a single one.
It is with great sadness that I now report on the final novel by Harry Harrison, one of the top writers of highly entertaining SF and fantasy. His Stainless Steel Rat series alone would make him well loved and famous, but nearly everything he wrote is first class writing. It became such a pleasure, after reading something by Piers Anthony, to next come across a book by Harrison, which would always revive my spirits immensely. Harrison's final book is the 11th in the much loved series, and is called The Stainless Steel Rat Returns. Slippery Jim deGriz and his charming (and deadly) wife Angelina come out of retirement for one last heroic mission, and I will be ever thankful that they did. The plot means nothing, as it is always a fight against evil. But the characters are everything, and the humour. Not the best in the series, it is still top quality and great fun to read.
I began a new Dray Prescott series by Kenneth Bulmer (alias Alan Burt Akers), the Havilfar Cycle I. The first book is called Manhounds of Antares, and it revived my interest in this massive pulp fantasy series. Bulmer is back on his game. Things
continue to look up for this series, which I had nearly given up on. I
had left it alone for a year before deciding to come back. I'm glad I
did. The book seems under control, and the story takes its time to
develop. The first few chapters resume the story from where it left
off, and after a few hair raising adventures--all minor stuff for
Dray--he is happily married to his beloved Delia. They spend a happy
year together, and twins are born to the couple, a boy and a girl. But
soon afterwards, Dray is called away by the Overlords to fulfill a
mission. Let the adventure begin!
E. C Tubb's 2nd book of his Dumarest saga is called Derai, which is the name of a woman that our hero has to guard on her return journey to her home planet. Not nearly as good as the first book in the series, it nonetheless checks a lot of the boxes required for a successful pulp SF novel. But this novel seems more like a sketch than a finished story. It could
really have used a rewrite, or perhaps two of them. I hope that Tubb
gets back on track for book 3. I have six of the series books from Kindle, but I
won't go much beyond those unless the writing quality remains
consistently high.
Next I read the 2nd half of the massive hardcover book by Jack Williamson, Book 3 of The Collected Stories. The best of the remaining stories had to be "Galactic Circle," a novella from 1935 that once again shows the influence of Olaf Stapledon (see the Silverberg story, above). A
large group of people make a very unique voyage to the edge of the
universe and beyond. The science given behind such a journey is more than a
little hazy, but at least the author attempts to explain how it works.
It is part adventure story and part romance, and there are a few more
major characters than usual in this kind of tale. This one was fun to
read. The remaining stories are pretty much formula 1930s pulp magazine stuff, which if you've read hundreds of them already, the rest are pretty much the same.
Michael Moorcock's The End of All Songs is the 3rd and concluding (for now) story in a trilogy featuring life millions of years in the future (influenced again by guess who?), and starring Jherek Carnelian and his beloved Amelia Underwood. The first two books I found a bit taxing to read, as Jherek's innocence of how things work in earlier times is quite exasperating. However, in the third book (also the longest of the three), he hits a home run, making all my suffering during the first two books more than worthwhile. I awarded this novel the coveted 4+ stars, the highest rating I give. I don't recommend only reading this book--just be assured as you read the first two that it is all going to be worth your time. The
philosophy, poetry, and earnest discussions that permeate this volume
create a work that holds fascination beyond its mere words, and beyond
what this reviewer could ever convey here. A must read.
Last (and never least) comes a work by Barry Malzberg and Bill Pronzini called Prose Bowl. Imagine if there were no major sporting events as we know them (I am writing this during World Cup 2022 frenzy), but instead, amidst tens of thousands of live fans, and millions of viewers back home, two pulp writers battled it out midfield, writing a novel in competition in real time. At the coin toss, the winner gets first pick of two themes that have been selected at random, while the loser takes the 2nd choice. And they're off! With a half time show and intense press interest, the Prose Bowl is the culminating competition for the two writers who remain after all the preliminary rounds. By making it into a competition sport, the authors elevate pulp
writing into a mass cultural event. It is a brilliant concept, very
funny, and an easy read. Recommended to anyone who has read a lot of
pulp fiction.
Turning now to books off the shelf, and from my vast Kindle collection, I began with the very first novel by Guy Gavriel Kay. So far I have read his most recent novel, A Brightness Long Ago, from 2018, one of the best fantasy novels ever written. And now I have read his first one, called The Summer Tree, from 1984. It is the first in a trilogy (of course) called the Fionavar Tapestry. The book shows heavy influences from Tolkien. There are orc-like critters, a Mount Doom stand in, critters like Elves, and there be Dwarves. There is a Sauron look alike, etc, etc. But no Hobbits. Instead, we have five humans from our own time, transported (like the children in the C. S. Lewis Narnia series) to this other world. Though Tolkien is often scolded for not having more strong women in his books, in my opinion he more than made up for this shortcoming with his creation of Eowyn. I believe that she is possibly the best female fantasy character ever created by a male writer. As for the two girls from C. S. Lewis' Narnia series, the less said the better. Kay includes more women, and gives some of them incredible power. But more doesn't necessarily mean better. To me, none of the female characters met so far come near the greatness of Eowyn, or, for that matter, the lead females in E R Eddison's Zimiamvian trilogy. So while the book is very derivative of Tolkien, so is most of the rest of fantasy writing, especially from the late 70s onward. Having said this, there are glimpses of Kay's originality in virtually every page, and his incredible way of handling complex characters. I am looking forward to reading book 2 next month.
Switching now to my collection of Delphi Classics on Kindle, I began with William Morris' 1888 A Dream of John Ball. Morris has a unique way of looking back to the 1381 Peasants' Revolt in England, and in a supposed dream he travels back in time and meets John Ball, the doomed leader of the revolt. In addition to hearing Ball give speeches to his loyal followers, we attend a preliminary skirmish, and then spend a good deal of time hearing the writer tell Ball of future times, and how he influenced people hundreds of years later. Though the book obviously has a limited readership today, I found it quite fascinating, with a commendable look back at an event in medieval history of which I knew next to nothing.
Arthur Morrison is a writer I collected because of his short detective stories written for Strand Magazine, after the death of Sherlock Holmes at Reichenback Falls. Many critics and readers assumed that the stories of one Martin Hewlitt, private detective, were in fact written by Conan Doyle. I read his first collection, from 1894, entitled Martin Hewlitt, Investigator. Containing seven stories, all of above average quality, it can quickly be ascertained by astute readers that this is not Doyle writing them. Though the cases themselves often reflect ones similar to many of Holmes' cases, the character of Hewlitt is pretty straight forward compared to that of Holmes. Though the mysteries written by Doyle are intriguing to be sure, it is the character of Holmes, and his relationship with Watson, that readers most enjoy. Hewlitt has no Watson per se, and seems to have a higher opinion of the police that Doyle's characters. None of the stories stand high above another here, but they are all satisfying and fun to read.
Next came a collection of 7 short stories by E Nesbit, known mostly for her wonderful children's stories. Something Wrong was published in 1893, and contains some pretty hard hitting tales of violence and abominable behaviour. Though all of the stories are excellent and extremely well written, one of them really stands out for me. "Tim" is the name of a dog that performs tricks for a brutal master who takes a show on the road featuring Tim, a cat, a rat, and a few mice. Told from Tim's perspective, this is likely the most heart breaking story I have ever read. It made me immediately want to go out and adopt a dog and call him Tim, and pour all the love into him that I could. And perhaps a cat, a rat, and a few mice, too.
Next came an early work by P D Wodehouse. The Pot Hunters is from 1902, and was the author's first published novel. It's a light-hearted and pretty funny tale of adventure and misdeeds at St Austin's, a boys boarding school in England. Written no doubt for such an audience, it would undoubtedly be enjoyed by high school aged boys from the time. Though mostly built around indoor and outdoor sporting events, there is enough good story remaining to entertain even those not partial so sports. There are a few passages that presage the great wit that was to descend upon the world during the author's mature period of writing. Certainly not required reading for Wodehouse fans, it's still fun to see where it all began.
Lastly came Edgar Allen Poe's only completed novel, The Narrative of A. Gordon Pym From Nantucket, from 1838. It is mostly a harrowing sea faring adventure, with murder, mutiny, starvation, cannibalism, and other fun adventures uppermost in the plot. Part fantasy and part true life adventure, the hero, near the end of the story and after too many near death experiences, goes on a search for the south pole with a captain and crew that eventually rescued him from shipwreck. I've come to the conclusion that in seafaring fiction, there is never a normal voyage. Only the worst voyage ever experienced makes it to the pages. The main fantasy elements emerge in the final third of the book, when, at 84 degrees south latitude, warm seas, islands with plants and animals, and tens of thousands of hostile natives are encountered, that we leave the realm of the possible. What is most bewildering is that the person writing the memoirs (Mr. Pym) dies suddenly after writing 25 chapters, with about three remaining to write. So we never hear the end of the tale. This is a quite hilarious ending, and must have enraged many readers at the time, as it no doubt still does. The book influenced Jules Verne, among others, though it was not a well liked book in its day. For Poe fans only.
Mapman Mike
