It was the beginning of June 2016 that I began my massive Avon/Equinox SF Rediscovery Series project, reading and reviewing in a companion blog not only the 27 books in the 1970s series, but all or most of the books written by those authors. It was a crazy idea, but ultimately it has been very rewarding. I am now beginning my 8th year of the project, down to five authors from 24 (6 this month, due to a Jack Williamson book ordered back in February finally arriving). A few of the authors had written very few books, so they were wrapped up (too) quickly. But others, such as Robert Silverberg, happily go on and on. The only author I gave up on was Piers Anthony, who wrote some of the best books among the 24 authors, but who ultimately became very tiresome and trivial. By his own admission he writes mostly light fantasy, and he does it for the money. So I eventually abandoned him. It shows. So who is left? Read on.
May began with the usual book by Silverberg. This one was a novella, published separately in book form, called Thebes of the Hundred Gates. Silverberg was also a popular historian who wrote many non fiction books, and here it seems that he has taken his passion once again into the field of time travel, this time back to Thebes in its heyday. A man is sent back in time to rescue two time travellers who were mistakenly
sent to the wrong time and location. However, when he finds them, they
do not want rescuing. The novel really gets into the sights and sounds of the city, and will be treasured by lovers of ancient Egypt.
Next came Bladesman of Antares, the next Dray Prescott adventure by Kenneth Bulmer, writing as Alan Burt Akers. Prescott is a direct rip off of E. R. Burroughs' John Carter of Mars, and the stories are pretty similar, too. Written in 1975, Dray
becomes a spy in the midst of the enemy camp in this very engaging
story. He becomes a sort of Zorro figure, imitating a fop as his main
disguise. This brings forth a lot of humour from Bulmer. This turned into a very enjoyable entry in the on-going series.
E. C. Tubb's Dumarest saga continues with volume 8 in the series, Veruchia, from 1973. Whereas Bulmer's series is mostly sword and sandal, Tubb's is pure SF, as Dumarest searches for Earth, a planet no one has heard of. Each episode we get to visit at least one new planet. The present story is quite a bit different from the others, despite there
being an arena fight starring Dumarest, and the usual assortment of bad guys. This
time he gets to use the secret knowledge from his ring for something useful; this is
knowledge that the Cyclans, a human/cyborg race, are after. And another possible clue to
finding Earth is uncovered. But surprise of surprises, at the end of
the book he decides to stay awhile with Veruchia (surprise of surprises,
the girl he loves does not die [yet]). A very good entry in the series.
A book of early stories by Jack Williamson, long overdue in the mail, finally arrived this month. The
volume, The Early Williamson, was published in 1975, and contains 11 stories and two essays by the author. In addition,
Jack introduces each story at the end of the previous one. It is 268 pages long. Unable to afford any more of the hardcover
editions, I found this paperback one on line. I have already
read and reviewed most of the stories it contains, but it does have The
Metal Man, which is a pretty good story, the first of his to be published (back in 1928). I did read all the introductions, even to the stories
previously read.
Elric: To Rescue Tanelorn was my Michael Moorcock selection for last month. There are fifteen stories, five of which I had previously read in other collections. The highlight story The Black Blade's Song is from 1994 and is 32 pages long.
This is a top notch tale as Elric meets up with Von Bek as they witness
the surreal destruction of Chaos. Elric is offered a unique choice. As good as
anything Leiber ever wrote.
Lastly came On Account of Darkness, short SF tales by Barry Malzberg and Bill Pronzini. The volume contains 25 stories and an intro by the authors. My favourite story was Shakespeare MCMLXXXV from 1982, and is 8 pages long.
Shakespeare tries to earn a living as a writer in 20th C. New York. He
doesn't have much luck. Many of today's writers know the feeling.
Turning now to books off the shelf and on Kindle, unrelated to the above series, I managed to read 5 novels. The first was a SF double (counted as one book due to short length), one novella by Theodore Sturgeon and one novelette by Isaac Asimov. Sturgeon's The Widget, The Wadget, and Boff is from 1955, about aliens observing a typical (American) Earth family. It's related to a whole series of type novels about the lives of people living and interacting in a boarding house, though this one is SF. Some fun characters and situations, and a good read. The Ugly Little Boy by Asimov is from 1958, about a prehistoric boy brought through time to be observed by doctors and scientists. He has no hope of ever being released, and so must remain a captive all his life. However, his nurse has different ideas for his future, and hers. Again this is a worthwhile read, a blast from the past by another one of the greats.
Max Carrados is a blind private investigator, invented by author Ernest Bramah. Bramah is represented in the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series by two fabulous Orientalist novels. But he also wrote many short tales about a blind detective who is called in from time to time by the experts. His lack of sight does not seem to impede his detection skills in the least. This first volume contains 8 stories published in 1914, each of them as good as a Sherlock Holmes tale, and about the same length. The Tillling Shaw Mystery was my favourite of the bunch, though none of them are bad in any way. The story can be read for free on-line. But I strongly suggest getting the Delphi Classics complete works of Bramah for Kindle.
My classic literary book of the month was another 600 page super epic. The Invisible Man was published in 1952, and is Barry Malzberg's choice for best fiction of the 1950s. Written by Ralph Ellison, the story is about a young black man attending a black college in the south who is kicked out for an unintentional indiscretion. He makes his way to New York, where he eventually becomes a speaker for the communist party there. The book rambles a lot, and parts of it seem to have no real purpose. I enjoyed the first part of the book a lot, but the narrative slows down often for introspection once in New York. However, it picks up steam again, and ends in a blaze of rioting and mayhem in Harlem, with the hero quite changed by his many experiences. For this novel I would read 75 pages or so, then read a Max Carrados story by Bramah, thus reading both in turn. The story is invaluable for teaching how blacks were/are treated by whites, and as far as walking a mile in another person's shoes, this book certainly provides a very rich experience.
Needing a break from such severe reality, I read The Gods of Mars, E. R. Burroughs' 2nd Martian novel featuring John Carter. Published in 1914, the book begins in a really great way, with good writing, a massive comment on religion and false hopes, and enough action to please the pulp fans. Carter finds himself in a real, live hell, which pilgrims believed to be a holy place to come for rest, never to return to the outside world. But the facts versus the belief are very different, even though to say otherwise is to blaspheme and be condemned to death (sound familiar?). There are layers on layers here, a rich ground for some fine writing. However, the 2nd half of the book becomes a straight forward pulp adventure, with some very poor writing, as Carter tires to rescue Dejah Thoris, his Martian wife. The book actually ends with a cliff hanger, and readers won't know what really happens to the woman until book 3 is read.
I finished up with another masterpiece by James Branch Cabell. The Line of Love was first written in 1905, and spruced up a bit in 1921. My Delphi edition of the complete works of this astounding writer includes a foreword to the newer edition by H L Mencken, as well as ten beautiful full colour illustrations by Howard Pyle. This volume consists of nine novelettes, each one loosely connected by someone from the next generation related to someone in the previous story. One of my favourites features a love story from the life of Falstaff; another takes part of the life of Francois Villon and gives us a dramatic glimpse into his character and why he was the rogue that he was. There is even a very touching one about Christopher Marlowe. Each story is a tiny jewel about marriage, often humourous, sometimes wistful, and other times just very sad. My first exposure to Cabell was through Lin Carter in the Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series, though my first attempts when a younger reader were unsuccessful. Later, when I committed to reading and blogging about the entire Ballantine series, I reread his books and fell completely in love with them.
And now some statistics for the reading year, June 2022 through May 2023. I read 85 books by authors included in the Avon/Equinox SF Rediscovery series, and an additional 56 books by other varied authors, for a total of 141 books since last June 1st. That brings my total since beginning in 2016 to 769 Avon/Equinox authors' books read and 166 other books. This upcoming year should be the first year that "other" books will outnumber those from the 24 SF authors from the Avon/Equinox series. And I do have another SF reading project planned should this one ever finish! Happy reading.
Mapman Mike
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