Robert Silverberg got things rolling again, though now I only have two of his SF books remaining! I have not included his non-fiction books, but might add one in from time to time. There are some of his early pulp fiction being republished now, too. First published in 1998, this epic 488 page SF novel has undergone many reprints since. The Alien Years
takes two effective short stories and transforms them into a fairly
wonderful novel, all things considered. I have already voiced my
opinion on writers who expand short stories into full length novels, so I
was admittedly biased going into this read. However, I emerged at the
end convinced that for this time, Silverberg had scored a big win. "The
Pardoner's Tale" is a short story from 1987 that pits a human computer
hacker against the might of alien invaders who have taken over the
Earth, erected enormous walls around major cities (LA in this case), and
are receiving a lot of help from humans who have accepted the aliens as
their masters and work for them. The second story comes first
chronologically in the novel, as well as being written first. "Against
Babylon" from 1986 tells of the invasion day in California, and how
tremendous fires are accidentally ignited from the engines as the aliens
land their huge ships. All in all it's quite a splendid book, and should make us think
seriously about not attracting attention to ourselves from out there.
Let's face it--if aliens have technology to get here, they are going to
be rather superior to us in many other ways. And maybe their intentions will
clash with ours. Silverberg seals the door nicely in this novel, making
resistance more a thought game that a real life killing game. What if
we can't resist? Human ingenuity did not save us in this book, at
least. Could it ever happen? You bet it could.
Renegade of Kregen is the 13th book in a very long fantasy series written by Kenneth Bulmer. From
1976 comes the 192 page continuation of the story of Dray Prescott, a
man who seems to get little rest and relaxation. He has previously been stripped
of his membership in an elite warrior society, and realizes that he will
never get home to Delia unless he somehow regains his status. He
hatches a plan to capture an enemy king and his #1 striker. Some of
Dray's plans work really well. This is one of those that doesn't. One
of the things about reading a series that is already published is
knowing that the hero will never die, at least until the final volume.
So no matter what Dray has to put up with, we know that somehow he will
come out of it okay. But as we learn in this volume, not all of his
friends and or family receive the same guarantee. Someone very close to
Dray dies in this book, and it is quite shocking. And yet again he has
to pretend to be loyal to an enemy by infiltrating it and serving the
wrong side. That part seems to go okay. But with this sudden
unexpected death at the end of the book, Dray has entered a new and
deeper region of emotion than he is used to. We can be certain of one
thing; someone will pay dearly for his loss.
Next, I began another series by E C Tubb. Galaxy of the Lost is the first book of the Cap Kennedy, Secret Agent of the Space series. If that sounds somewhat juvenile, the first book really isn't. From
1973 comes the 125 page first novel. He
seemed to toss these stories off at least one per month. What a guy!
Cap Kennedy is an agent, or investigator, for F.A.T.E, Free Acting
Terran Envoy. He works with a small team, but has the backing of the
major Earth intelligence and defence organizations. In this first
exciting adventure, he is trying to solve the mystery of why space ships
are disappearing from space, leaving no trace behind of what happened
to them or where they went. Now this sounds like a typical SF pulp
adventure plot. But wait. 1973 is not the 1950s, and Tubb, despite his
writing speed, is not a hack writer. And besides, this is the post
Star Trek years, so stories had to have some substance to them. And
Tubb (writing as Kern) gives us our money's worth (75 cents back in the
day, and $3.99 Can. today). The adventure begins like many another
tale, even ones by Tubb. But it quickly heads off into true SF
territory. An unmanned, very ancient alien device in another dimension
is malfunctioning, drawing in ships from our universe, where they end up
crashing and being used by scrap robots to feed energy to the machine.
Our hero and his small company of survivors go through quite an ordeal
to find out this information. I'm hoping more will be learned about
this ancient alien civilization as more books are read. Apparently the
same aliens left some traces of their technology in our galaxy, but no
one can make heads or tails of what remains. Again, as with so many
of Tubb's stories, this would make a terrific SF film, simply by adding
at least one major female character (alas, they are all males here). A
good read, and a promising beginning to this new to me series.
From 1991 comes another adventure, The Revenge of the Rose, featuring everyone's favourite albino sword and sorcery hero.
This 233 page novel features a traditional story arc, with Elric having
to retrieve a casket containing his father's soul. And so he goes on a
quest featuring a dragon, the lords of Chaos and their underlings, a
family of clairvoyants, a poet (who lived in the time of Gloriana!), and
Rose, Moorcock's answer to Red Sonja. While the story arc follows a
traditional path (including the inevitable battle between Elric and the
main bad guy, Gaynor), the story ingredients are anything but
traditional. While in the same general league as Tolkien, Peake, and E R
Eddison, Moorcock has always been more a sketch artist than a true old
master. He seldom takes enough time with his characters and situations,
choosing instead to move things along almost at the pace of a pulp
writer, forgoing details for action. That is not to say there is no
introspection or good conversation in his stories, but these features
are not the main reason one reads Moorcock. Having said this, Revenge
of the Rose seems to probe deeper than other Moorcock novels, and along
with the lovely plot twists, turns, and revelations, proves again that
Moorcock can write literature when he wants to take his time and do so.
Besides being a very good writer, this novel shows off his incredible
imagination, as the places Elric and company visit are certainly on
another plane of existence. If the story seems to begin like any other
old tale of sword and sorcery, hang on a bit. You will enjoy this epic
tale, guaranteed.
Usually, Malzberg's porno novels (written under various pseudonyms)
are less about sex and more about literature. A Bed of Money has more graphic
sex than the other two put together, but still manages to come out
strongly as literature. From 1970, this 141 page novel, only recently
re-released, concerns a certain Mr. Foster, another in the long line of
losers who devote their life to the racetrack. Malzberg's racetrack
stories are incredibly detailed accounts of the psychology of players,
getting so far into their heads that we end up knowing literally
everything about the person involved. I was never the least bit interested in horse racing until I discovered Malzberg. The author's gift for black
humour is also on full display here, as Foster relives many of his past
sexual experiences, besides being involved in his current round with
Dolores, a woman he picked up at a bar after finally winning big at the
track. She goes back to a hotel room with him, but of course has two
male accomplices who soon make it clear that they want his $23,000.00 in
winnings for themselves. The novel has a certain madcap keystone cops
element to it, but the rapid deterioration of Foster's mind after he
wins is the real story. Most people, myself included, might profess a
dislike or disinterest in racetrack stories. But Malzberg, if no one
else, might convince you otherwise. At least I am a full convert.
Turning away from these five remaining Avon/Equinox SF Rediscovery Series authors, my first free choice read came again from the Delphi Collection of books on Kindle. These books include the complete works of various authors, many of them early writers of SF and Fantasy. They are professionally edited, and usually illustrated with original covers and any interior art that may have been published with the earliest editions. It was time again for a novel by A. Merritt, the early 20th C. SF and Fantasy writer, who has as large a cult following today as Lovecraft. I read The Metal Men, published in 1920. The same protagonist who appeared in his The Moon Pool from the year before is back, this time wandering amidst the Himalayas. This time he encounters an alien race made from metal, that uses the Sun's energy to grow and develop, that happened to find itself on Earth one day. They seem to be under the control of a woman who was once human, but has now become a very different sort of being.
Cover art by Glen White.
Also involved is a Saracen horde led by Xerxes and his son, somehow surviving up here for over 2000 years. Whatever. Though much of the storytelling is merely wide-eyed description of the fantastic aliens, how they function, and what they do, there are still many fine and memorable moments from this early science based story. The very earliest and best SF writers clung earnestly to real science to make their case for their stories, and though the science is a wee bit outdated, once can still be amazed at Merritt and how well read he must have been, not only in science but in ancient history! This is a movie in the making, and would be a truly stupendous undertaking. Now that special effects are finally caught up to 1920s story telling, perhaps someone will take one of Merritt's novels and bring them to the big screen. Even an animated version of this story would be welcome. A fun read, though the descriptions at times give one a headache, like hearing about someone's long dream.
Steven Saylor writes fiction that takes place in ancient Rome, and is a master at it. For a while, a long time ago, we carried on an e-mail discussion about Sword and Sandal movies. It took me awhile to get around to read his books, but when I finally did I was hooked! Roman Blood is the first book of his Rosa Sub Rosa novels, featuring the detective Gordianus The Finder, published in 1991. More of Saylor's books get high reviews, and for good reason. Along with fictional characters, Saylor uses real historical figures. In this book, for instance, the young Cicero is the lawyer who defends the accused murderer. He hires the (fictional) Gordianus to gather information for him. Sulla the Dictator is ruling (an actual person), and there are several other real characters in the story. But Saylor goes even further, taking an actual case of murder that Cicero accepted, and uses parts of his actual summation in the story. The interweaving of fact and fiction is seamless. The best parts of Saylor's books are his ability to bring day to day life in Rome to life in a way that even a good movie cannot. This happens to be a very hot summer, with a merciless sun beating down upon the city every afternoon. The flies, are there, the rats, the filth, the low life, a spectacular tenement fire, and or course the crime. The injustices heaped upon slaves and the poor are also in the forefront, in case anyone wants to glamorize life in the Rome of around 70 B.C.E. My only complaint about the book is the large number of violent and bloody episodes it contains, including several assaults on Gordianus. Would someone who came so near death by misfortune so many times within just a few days still be happy to carry on his work for 15 more volumes in the series? Not if he had half a brain. Anyway, the series does not have to be read in any order, and all that I have read so far are very good reading.
William Morris created some of the best fantasy novels ever written (see my Ballantine blog), and was a huge influence on Tolkien and other writers who took up fantasy. His earliest fantasy tale was published in 1889, called The House of the Wolfings. Morris translated many of the northern sagas, and here he has written one of his own. Told mostly in prose, there still is a good deal of rhyming couplets to keep authenticity. The first part could easily be drawn from an earlier time in Middle Earth, when the men of the Mark were divided into clans though allied against trouble makers from outside their range. Morris includes a magic hauberk, as well as women, men, and a boy who can "see" what might befall. Once we realize that these Goths are about to fight the Romans, we are somewhat brought back to our own Earth. The river that Tolkien eventually called the Anduin is here called the Mirkwood, since it runs in and out of dark woodlands, mostly bordering them. The various clan houses are arrayed along this river north to south. While the story focuses on the Wolfings, several other clans also feature prominently in the tale. The story tells the story of the preparation for battle, continues with the several major battles that occur, and follows up with the aftermath. All in all it is a rousing tale, filled with myth-making heroes and great deeds, including the bravery and strength of the enemy Roman legions. Originally meant to be the first book of a trilogy, Morris did write one more, but not the third. Looking forward to reading it!
Next to last came the second collection of detective stories by Arthur Morrison, the 1895 The Chronicles of Martin Hewitt. There are six stories featuring the great detective, who mostly works alone, or in concert with the police, and are related to us by his friend and confident. In "The Ivy Cottage Mystery," Hewitt solves a murder and a jewel theft, using much the same method as Holmes. Indeed, this is one of the stories that might have led people to believe that it was Doyle writing under a different name, as was the case when the original series was printed. In the next story Hewitt gets into 19th C. diving gear to solve "The Nicobar Bullion Case." When a ship sinks off the coast of Cornwall carrying gold bullion, a crime of opportunity presents itself to one of the salvage workers. Try to picture Sherlock Homes in diving gear and going underwater to look for clues. Unfortunately, the whole plot is too far fetched to be believable, but it makes a nice change from the streets of London. "The Holford Will Case" is involved with hypnotism upon an innocent though weak willed woman by the conniving nephew of her deceased step father. She has been left the bulk of the estate in her father's will, but the nephew attempts to steal and destroy the will, which would leave everything to him. Fortunately for one and all, Hewitt saves the day again. "The Case of the Missing Hand" adds a touch of gruesomeness to the collection. A cruel and conniving man is found hanged in the woods with his right hand missing. Two brothers are arrested for murder, until Hewitt proves otherwise, and is able to explain what really took place. Next up is "The Case of Laker, Absconded," a straight forward case of robbery. That is, until Hewitt gets involved, proving that the man thought of as the guilty one is quite innocent. Lastly comes "The Cost of the Lost Foreigner", about anarchists attempting to set off a series of bombs in London. One of the gang backs out at the last minute, and they don't take kindly to his change of heart. One never knew that bread could be so dangerous.
The last book completed in December was E Nesbit's first childrens' book. Called The Story of the Treasure Seekers, from 1899, it is almost as much fun to read as the slightly earlier masterpiece by Kenneth Grahame, The Golden Age. Writing as if a 12 year child had written the story, it is mostly a charming tale of five children trying to raise money to help restore the Bastable fortune. Oswald Bastable tries to keep it a secret that he is the one writing the book, but of course his slips and oversights quickly give away the secret. The children first try digging for buried treasure in their garden. No luck. One of them, an 8 year old, is a poet, and they try to sell his poetry to a major London newspaper. Very minor results. They kidnap Albert-next-door and hold him for three thousand pounds ransom. A ransom note is sent to his family. Alas, it just doesn't work out for them. They try to sell mail order sherry. Another flop. But the best chapter of them all tells of the newspaper and its contents that the children create, in hopes of selling 100 copies at a shilling apiece. Some very rich writing here, indeed. All in all the short book is great fun to read, especially for an adult. A 1996 British film of the book can be seen on Youtube--it will be reviewed soon in the next blog entry. Unfortunately, girls are not rated very highly by Oswald as persons in this story. He is a complete misogynist. And there is a single use of the "n" word, which hopefully is expunged from modern editions (not used by the children, but by an adult) Michael Moorcock used the name of Oswald Bastable as the storyteller for three of his connected alternate history novels, in an effort to help capture that time in the late Victorian period when men ruled in the house and beyond.
Mapman Mike
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