I managed to get through nine books, including one that was over 800 pages long. Five books were by the Avon/Equinox SF authors, 2 were from the Delphi Classics on Kindle, one was from the shelf, and one was from a recommendation by another author.
First up was a really terrific book by Robert Silverberg. From 1991 comes The Face Of The Waters. At 486 pages, it is an epic read, but worth every page. Like Jack Williamson, Silverberg is getting better and better as he ages. This story concerns 77 colonists on a planet that is 99.9 % ocean, with all manner of nasty things living in it. Islands are created by native inhabitants, a queer breed of being that wants nothing to do with humans, but does allow them to live on their islands in certain numbers, apart from them. But when one of the colonists (there are many colonies, all small) does something to get on the bad side of the natives, the humans are told to leave for good. They have 30 days to prepare, and then depart. The front of the book has a short quote from Genesis, and one from Conrad, both fitting. The sea voyage takes up a greater part of the story, and it is a harrowing one. The novel works as pure adventure, as SF, and as many other things, as Silverberg does a decent job of fleshing out characters. Like in Lem's novel Solaris, the ocean here is sentient. But not only sentient.... Quite an astounding novel, one of the best SF reads I've had in ages. It has flaws, but what book doesn't?
I continued reading about the adventures of Commander Fox. #11 in this very enjoyable series is called Fireship, and is from the mid 1970s. Fox, having lost his last ship during battle, has to undergo a court martial hearing. When he is acquitted, he is given command of a fireship, a ship that is intentionally set afire in order to break a blockade. The novel ends a few seconds after the ship explodes, and just as Fox has leapt overboard. Fun times for all, except for poor Mr. Fox.
Technos is the 7th book of E C Tubb's highly readable Dumarest series. Talk about limitless imagination working within the confines of a pulp SF series! This author reminds me a lot of Haydn, cranking out symphonies by the dozens, all of them good (and many great). Dumarest, the adventurer/hero, does find a clue about Earth's location in this story, in the form of a kind of rhyme that includes the signs of the zodiac in their proper order. Now he merely needs to compute which planet lies in the centre of that view. Only 26 books to go! The frustrating part is that Tubb never wrote the final book before he died, so the series will never have a conclusion.
Next came Michael Moorcock's fifth volume in his End of Time series, called The Transformation of Miss Mavis Ming. This was the British title, which more or less gives the ending away. The American title is A Messiah At The End Of Time, which seems much better. Either way, this a truly terrible book. Moorcock revives a character from a much earlier book (The Fireclown), and the whole thing just turns into one big mess. This series has had its ups and downs, but this is a big down. Like much of this novel, many things don't make much sense. The ending is ridiculous, and I don't think I've ever come across a book more sexist than this one. The Fireclown's insistence on conquering Mavis, and her so-called benefactor trading her away for another fake Grail cup, is really a bit much. It is meant, I think, to be funny and ironic. All in all, a huge disappointment.
A decent collection of collaborative short mystery stories was next. Barry Malzberg and Bill Prozini have teamed up for several crime novels and short stories, and this collection was a good discovery. Published in 2003, Problems Solved contains older stories of mystery and crime, as well as an introductory essay by Bill Pronzini, detailing his relationship with Barry Malzberg. There is an afterword by Malzberg, where he gives his side of working as a collaborator. There are 22 stories, most of them quite short. They were written in the 70s and 80s, except for a few that were written for this collection. The stories are of consistently high quality, and well worth seeking out for mystery fans.
We turn now to non-Avon/Equinox writers, of which four made the list last month. I finally summoned up the courage to finish the Fionavar Tapestry trilogy by Guy Gavriel Kay. And The Darkest Road has sealed the fate of most post Tolkien fantasy writing for me. I am giving it up. I mostly had, anyway. Really, it's all become just a bit too much. Listen to some of the most used words in this third book, which, like Tolkien's works, influenced so many later writers. Here we go; ready? "Pain, suffering, bitterness, sorrow, tears, grief (pangs of), guilt, fear and terror, bleak, shadowed places, moonlight, wolves, wintry, dark wood, unending black army." Who the hell would want to read any book with an overuse of those words in it? I have stayed away from Game of Thrones and all of its off shoots, and most of the post-Tolkien fantasy I've read has been similar to Gavriel's set. Having read the Ballantine adult fantasy series, I long for writers like Dunsany, William Morris, Cabell, E.R. Eddison, Kuttner, Hope Mirrlees, and dozens of others. The thing is, the Fionavar Tapestry trilogy is probably one of the best post-Tolkien fantasy series ever written. But I simply cannot stand up under the unrelenting pessimism and desperation and desolation that the books strive for. Also, there is simply way too much "magic" in these books, going way over the top. Why put readers through this stuff, which is all fake anyway? Though readers do clamour for it. Get a life! Not for this reader. I'll take a great SF novel any day, or sword and sorcery, even a good mystery. But my fantasy reading will now be strictly Tolkien and earlier, when writers knew how to invent a good story, with good vs evil balanced a bit better than today's writers seem willing to achieve. If you are in to self flagellation (figuratively speaking), you might enjoy this series. Ironically, I have not given up on Kay's writing. This was the only full fledged fantasy series he wrote. His other stuff is all loosely based on historical periods mixing with fantasy. A different kettle of fish entirely.
I felt the need for one more children's novel before embarking on my next epic of darkness. Thanks to Delphi Classics, I have the complete works of Enid Blyton on my Kindle (for only $3). Not that I want all the works of Blyton, but I did enjoy some of her books when I was younger. Her plots are simple, with few ingredients, and her characters are often predictable, especially adults. This one has the usual kids on summer holiday going to the seashore, where they have an uncle, aunt, and oddball female tomboy cousin (she is actually a pretty good character). Add in an island with a ruined castle on it, an old shipwreck believed to have been carrying gold ingots, a treasure map, a slurpy big lovable dog, and we are set for Five On A Treasure Island, from 1942. Whether they still do or not, children loved these books, and Blyton is the third most translated author of all time. Being the first of a long running series, this one likely has more originality in it than many that followed. After the nightmare that was Kay's book, this one seemed to refresh me further.
Now we come to the epic of epics, Norman Mailer's The Naked and The Dead. At over 850 pages, this took me a week to get through. Malzberg pegs it as the best book from the 1940s. I have my doubts. It concerns itself with a platoon of American soldiers during WW II, fighting the Japanese for an island in the Pacific, somewhere near the Philippines. The island (Anopopei) is fictional, as is the story. Did I mention that it is long? I could have read four short SF novels in that week. However, it is a terrific novel in many ways, though I really can't see too many women getting through it. There are no female characters, but some do appear in flashbacks as we learn about the background of the lead characters, all soldiers. There is a general, a major, a "lootenant", several sergeants, a corporal and many privates. The enlisted men are mostly brutish, very crude in their speech, and hold a disdain and hatred of the army, officers, and women. Mailer was not allowed to use the "f" word, so he had to go back through the manuscript and change all of the usages (hundreds and hundreds of them) to "fug." It inspired a modern day band to choose that for a name!
The story essentially follows the lives of 13 men in a short handed platoon (there should be 20 men). We follow their terrible suffering through steamy days of jungle labour, a bit of fighting against the Japanese (there is actually very little of that), and then on their thankless and ultimately useless and terrible mission to scout a mountain pass to see if an American battalion could make it over and surprise the Japanese from the rear.
There are some heavy problems with the storytelling, which overall is quite good. The biggest problem is how slow things are to develop. We follow the landing on the island, the setting up of camp, the building of a road to the front line where the Japanese await, etc. While this is slow enough in itself, a huge amount of the book takes us via flashback into the lives of each of the fifteen or so men important to the story. At these frequent points, the story comes to a complete halt, which is unfortunate in many ways. Another problem is the amount of minute detail included. Nothing is left out. While it's a good thing to write what you know about, telling readers everything you know is not so good.
Mailer was a cook in the Pacific army in WW II, and likely heard many stories. The suffering the men undergo during the story is mostly inhuman, degrading, spiritually empty, but quite believable. After a time it just becomes the way things are. The only other book that can really tell it like it is is Harry Harrison's Bill, The Galactic Hero. Harrison nails down exactly what it must be like to be in the army, and his story is even more entertaining (and very, very funny) than Mailer's. While Mailer's book is every bit as miserable and depressing as Guy Gavriel Kay's, above, at least there is no magic here, and the story is rooted in some form of reality. The combat scenes are very realistic and believable, especially the fear of the men during a battle. No one here is brave; they are all afraid of catching a bullet. The characters suffer just as much here as in Fionavar, and also die; but without dignity or nobleness, or even purpose, to their deaths. This is a real war, not a pretend one. And there is a big battle, but it is anti-climactic, as the Japanese are starving and almost out of ammunition when the Americans finally breach their defence and attack. And all that struggle with three lives lost to complete their reconnaissance mission? It was for naught. Reality bites, most of the time. Was reading the book a waste of time? Hardly. But had I known what I was getting into, I might have just given it a pass.
Mapman Mike
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