With Allies of Antares
(1981) now behind me I am halfway through the Dray Prescott series by Kenneth Bulmer, writing as Alan Burke Akers.
Yikes! At about 150 pages per book, I have read nearly 4000 pages so
far. That's much more than Tolkien wrote of Middle Earth (how I wish
there were more!). In the last book Dray's Vallians had finally
defeated the hated enemy that had invaded and spoiled their country.
That war was all thanks to a nasty empress. Now that she and her evil
wizard are both dead, a true king is being raised in her stead, with the
full support of Vallia and her allies. But a rogue band of enemy
soldiers will not bow to the new king and are set on destruction of all
Vallians, and wish to usurp the throne with their own ninny king.
The
book opens with the comical equivalent of Tolkien's long chapter "The
Council of Elrond," as a massive peace conference is underway. The
opening paragraph of the novel is a classic one, and sets the tone for
the impossibility of the task at hand. Dray tries to keep out of it, as
he gets too easily frustrated. He is a warrior and not so much a
diplomat. The novel details the roundabout and dangerous way that
events take before things are finally settled. There are several
exciting chapters filled with action, including the assassination
attempt on the new King in the public baths, and of course the climactic
battle scene. All along Dray has been passing himself off as one of
the enemy, so the book is filled with surprised friends of his who did
not know he was Emperor of Vallia. A lot of politics gets settled here,
as well as battle outcomes.
Dray
has become a very engaging hero, somewhat like his Mr. Fox from his sea
adventure books (see below). His relationships with his sons and
daughters have mostly been clarified. Some of the disguises he had to
use in earlier volumes made them think he was a coward and an enemy, but
that has mostly been cleared up. With one exception. He still has a
rogue daughter out there somewhere who is out to kill him due to more
misunderstandings. So the adventures will continue for another 26
books. See you then!
From 1974 comes The Gholan Gate,
the 7th book in the Cap Kennedy series by E. C. Tubb. It's 124 pages can be read at
one sitting. Throughout the special agent series we have heard of the
Zheltyana, an extinct civilization that spread throughout the galaxy
perhaps a million years ago. One of Cap's team, the old professor, has
made a special study of any traces left behind from these people. At
last we discover one of those artifacts. The Gholan Gate is likely one of these leftovers
from a vastly superior race. The gate, once entered, can make a
person's wishes and beliefs come true. If someone, for instance,
fantasized about living in Camelot, then that fantasy would be recreated
by the mind's link to the powers of the gate. No one knows what the
purpose of the gate originally was, but now it is being used by a
sinister religious cult to recruit assassins. Potential victims are led
to the gate, and allowed to experience it several times. They are told
that if they commit their assassination they will be allowed to remain
permanently within the world of the gate. It's up to Cap and his team
of three assistants (the old professor, a strongman, and a
chameleon-like person) to put a stop to things. Of course that means
destroying the gate and the cult, something that the professor is
against. A good entry in the series, but with a very abrupt ending
(it's all about word count in pulp fiction).
This is very little of Phoenix, and certainly no inferno in Malzberg's next book in a series about a lone vigilante taking on the drug empire. The
denouement takes place outside of Mexico City. The 12th book in the
Burt Wulf series is from 1975 and is 165 pages long. Called Phoenix Inferno I admit to be
getting quite sick of Wulf, and I'm sure Malzberg was, too. The series
was supposed to be ten books, but that got pushed to fourteen. Two more to
go. We don't get as much about Wulf in this book as in many of the
other ones, though his sad story does get retold in some detail, with a
few new nuggets added. A lot of the book gets into the heads of the men
Wulf is after, notably Carlin, who has control of the heroin scene in
the southwest US. Carlin's fear gets the better of him when he learns
that Wulf is again on the prowl, and he sends men out to hunt him down.
But he knows that will never stop Wulf, and he panics. He murders his
girlfriend and one of two bodyguards he keeps at his house, then heads
for Mexico City, thinking he will be well looked after there by his
supplier friends. Malzberg is quite the expert at describing people going insane,
and the way they rationalize their outrageous actions. This is another
good entry in the series, especially the part where Wulf buddies up with
one of the failed assassins sent out to get him. His sympathy for the
two bodyguards of the Mexico City boss also pays off, and provides an
unusual moment in the story.
The Skraling Tree is from 2003, another Michael Moorcock fantasy featuring Elric, The Albino. I am reminded of so many Dr. Who series that feature the Master.
After a few appearances he became nothing but a TV trope. He would
appear with new allies, a new evil plot (to take over the universe, or
some such idea), and was completely invincible until the final 4 or 5
minutes of the final episode of the series. After being defeated
soundly (for the upteenth time) he would somehow escape, ready to go
again in a new series. Yawn. And so we have Elric, Oona, and Count Bek
out to save the universe yet again (or rather, all of them) from the same old bad
guys we have seen in several past Elric stories. These bad guys have
been defeated so many times, but they do have stamina, since they keep
reappearing like the Master, ready with a new and surefire scheme.
Yawn. This time Moorcock tries to set his story in North America, sort
of. He does a lousy job of it. Mixing in Indian mythology with Norse,
and several layers of his own invention, the book is a sketch of a
book, and nothing more. The author doesn't bother to give us any real
feel for where we are or what our heroes are doing, or are supposed
to do. We follow along as if on a journey where we not only do not know
where we are or where we are going, but why we are going. This gets
old very quickly. He tells his story from three different perspectives,
adding to the confusion and overall senselessness of his tale.
Moorcock can be a very good writer, and often is. But he can certainly
turn out poor and boring work, too. The story will appeal to people who
really don't want any idea of what is happening or why. My favourite
part of the story is when an old dinosaur is located and killed; we get a
sense of Moorcock's ability to really hit home with strong feelings and
sympathy. And my favourite character in the book, by far, is Bes the
mastodon. Her appearances are always welcome additions, since most of
the other characters are made of pure cardboard. Not a recommended
Elric story.
We now leave the Avon/Equinox SF Rediscovery authors and move on to the Delphi Classics series. I keep adding authors to my collection, and this month I read a collection of early short stories by H. C. McNeile, or "Sapper" as he was often called. We'll get to Bulldog Drummond eventually, so hang in there. The Lieutenant and Others is from 1915 and contains a dozen stories. Written during WWI, the first story sets the mood, offering readers a glimpse into the degradation and inhuman pastime of trench warfare. Called "The Lieutenant: A Fortnight In France May 10-24 1915," it tells of a young man with privileges due to a rich father becoming an officer in the Great War and heading over to the trenches near Ypres. His short-lived experiences are harrowing enough to change his entire outlook on life, and on the 14th day he is wounded and sent back home. This is one of those stories that makes one really wonder why there are still wars. Haven't we had enough yet? A truly solid and very good piece of writing. Next came a much shorter tale along the same lines, as a man visits Ypres before and after the bombardment. Called "The End of Wipers," today it might be called The End of Kiev, or The End of Palestine, or even The End of Khartoum. Etc. very effective in a very short story. Third came "The Black Sheep," about a lowlife man who enlists, but still remains a lowlife. His end, however, is not different from any number of fine upstanding young men who also enlisted.
"James and The Land Mine" details how a soldier who doesn't care much for what is going on around him sets off a land mine charge ahead of schedule." "The Sixth Drunk" describes an Irish soldier whose highlight of the week is his ration of rum, and how a dying colonel got that soldier's character so wrong. "The Mine" is the story of Davy Jones, a Welsh miner tasked with building an underground cavern beneath a German trench, in order to set explosives. A lot of the stories, such as this one and the one before, are not only poignant but quite humourous. "Driver Robert Brown" is one of the best war stories I've ever read, about an average guy who enlists, wins no medals, but whose humanity strikes at the heart of what it means to be compassionate. A truly wonderful tale. "The Coward" is the type of story that most writers would foul up, as they would simply revile the character. But McNeile gets deep, and instead of pouring scorn on the man who deserts his company as they head once again into the trenches, he gets into his head to see what exactly is going on there. While no one can really like a coward, it helps to understand exactly where he is coming from. This story manages to do that, in a few short pages.
"Ebeneezer The Goat" is the humourous account concerning Driver Robert Brown, whose demise occurred in the previous story. Brown was a man who was kind to animals, and he inherited a goat. Somehow the goat always intersected violently with the major, drawing the ire of the officer. Brown tries to hide the goat in an underground unused mine, but this leads to the Belgians believing that the Germans are tunnelling beneath. And so forth. Whereas the story of Ebeneezer is humourous, "The Pepnotised Milk" is truly hilarious. A bottle of special milk is sent to the men in the trenches, courtesy of an aunt of one of the men. Very, very amusing. "Will You Take Over His Horse, Sir?" is another hard hitting tale of the death of a young officer. McNeile manages to almost casually tell stories that are truly heart-rending. In this one the author speaks mostly to a cavalry horse that outlives his master. Truly devastating. "The Aftermath" is the final story, and it details what happens after a battle has been one and the clean up crew takes over. For one thing, there are a lot of human and horse bodies and less complete remains to be buried. Told quietly but with effect. All in all this is a first rate collection of stories of the Great War, told in small doses that are much more effective than describing big battles. Not a bad story in the lot, and quite a few are among the best I've ever read. Highly recommended.
George Meredith is an author I first came across in reading and reviewing the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series (see separate blog). He is one of the wittiest writers I have ever come across, certainly on a par with Oscar Wilde and Shaw, though his style is very different. Readers of his 1861 novel Evan Harrington have to read a lot between the lines, and fill in some blank spaces between events. This is a very long novel which took me 8 1/2 days to read. I likely read it too quickly, as I am certain that a reread would showcase even more of the author's genius in dissecting the hypocrisy, contradictions and two-faced lives of the born aristocrat. Evan is the son of a tailor, and when his father dies he must assume debts and pay them off. His father was a wannabe gentleman, and Evan's three older sisters are trying to raise him as a gentleman. The eldest sister, Louisa, is really the star of the show here, and Meredith throughout the narrative describes her as a military General leading her forces into battle, building allies and fighting off enemies as she tries to insert her brother into an aristocratic family (who really are not any such thing) by marrying him to the daughter. Skirmishes, battles, setbacks and more setbacks are encountered by Louisa, yet each time she seems to emerge able to handle the new challenges ahead. There is really no other character quite like her in literature, and though vile, untrustworthy, and scheming, she does it all for the good of her family, especially Evan. This is a true wonder of a novel, and why it has not been adapted as a mini-series is a gross oversight that I hope someday will be rectified. Perhaps it's still too scathing for believers in an English class system to swallow. Highly recommended.
**** stars.
A. Merritt's Seven Footprints To Satan is from 1927, a crime thriller that has elements of fantasy. Arch criminal "Satan" kidnaps Kirkham and forces him to undertake a museum robbery. Satan is a mastermind on the level of Moriarty and Fu Manchu, and his isolated mansion is a warren of secret doors, elevators, and passageways. Through drugs he controls the minds of many henchmen, but he has also attracted many intelligent and faithful followers. His main claim to fame is his stairway with seven steps leading up to his throne, each with a footprint on it. One takes one's chances by choosing any four footprints to step upon. Step on the correct ones and Satan promises happiness and riches beyond belief. Step on the wrong ones and one might expect to do a single service for the master, or owe him a year's service, or a lifetime of service, or instant death. What his followers don't realize is that the footprints are rigged, so that Satan chooses the outcome he desires for each person. It's up to Kirkham and his few allies to outwit Satan and prove to his followers that he has cheated them all along.
Satan's other claim to fame is the vast number of world treasures he has stolen, keeping them in his mansion for his own pleasure. This is a cut away from the usual master criminal. In Kirkham's words, "It came to me that he loved beauty even more than he did power; that he considered power only as a means toward beauty. And that, evil though he was, he knew beauty better than any one alive." Merritt has written a pretty decent crime novel, and it was made into a film in 1929. I will be on the lookout for it. The novel is certainly great fun to read, certainly one of the author's better efforts.
Kwei Quartey is a practicing M.D. who has written several mystery novels set in Ghana, mostly Accra. His first novel is from 2009 and is called Wife of The Gods. Not having too many scoops into central African daily life and customs, I found this book as refreshing as the Navajo mysteries of Tony Hillerman. Like all good Hillerman mysteries, the reader walks away from the finished book with a lot more than just a solved mystery. While Quartey does not have the skills in this first book to really draw characters well, he does have a gift for story telling, and for holding our (mostly white) hands as he leads us through the good and the bad of African life. Wife is set mostly in a very small town several hours away from Accra, where Detective Inspector Darko Dawson lives with his wife and six year old son. So we learn much about village life in modern day Africa, and not so much about Accra (yet). The mystery revolves around the murder of a young female medical student in a forest, volunteering at a local Aids clinic. We meet many characters who are suspects, as well as ones who are helpful in tracking down the real killer. We come across superstitious belief in witches, purveyors of traditional medicines, two bully local policemen, as well as a distrust of people from the city. The book is crammed with local colour, and was an eye opening read for me. Darko is a flawed character, too often flying off the handle and beating arrested suspects. But he has good friends around him, including a retired detective that inspired Darko to become one himself. More than one murder mystery gets solved in this book, too. Fun to read and recommended for those mystery readers who need to be somewhere besides London, New York, or LA.
The Moth Presents All These Wonders is the first of three hardcover collections of true stories told by various people, many of them professional writers, actors, comedians, or celebrities in other fields. The Moth is a type of club where people meet to tell their stories to one another in many different locations across the world. From 2017, this collection contains 45 stories told by the people that they happened to. Each of the 45 stories is worth hearing/reading, but there will be some that really strike to certain people's hearts. I had a number of favourites including the first story, "The Moon and The Stars Talk." A teenage girl has her mind opened up by conversations she has with Mark, a millionaire whom her mother worked for. In "The Girl From Beckenham," a school dropout turned hairdresser gets to leave her own mark upon the world in a very unique manner. "God, Death, and Francis Crick" again pairs a young person with a venerable older and wise person. "Fog of Disbelief"tells the story of a nuclear plant engineer at Fukishima, and what happened to him on that fateful day. "Walking With RJ" tells of a mother and son relationship after he has a terrible and debilitating accident. "Go The %&# To Sleep" tells how a dad became a professional writer after putting down his inner monologue when his young daughter takes hours to fall asleep at night. The stories vary between almost unfathomable tragedy to hilarious comedy. "Stumbling In The Dark" is told by John Turturro, and the relationship he has with his mother and his brother, the latter of whom lives inside an asylum. It recounts his experience during the great blackout of 2003, which affected us here at the Homestead as well. "On Approach To Pluto" tells the story of what a female mission specialist felt when the Pluto mission encountered severe problems just before its arrival. The final story is "California Gothic," a very funny tale of life as a 12 year old in LA during the early 1970s.
I will be ordering the other two volumes soon. In the meantime, the Moth website is filled with podcasts and a library of stories to hear. I cannot recommend this book, and the website, highly enough. It is a life changing experience to hear these stories.
The Three Mulamulgars is a children's story from 1919 by Walter de la Mare. Recommended by my friend Thierry in Paris who publishes fantasy novels at his French press Callidor, it's taken me a while to get to it, but I finally got around to reading it. First off, let me say that this must have been a real challenge to translate into French! There are so many nonsense words in the vocabulary that reading it in English is challenging enough. The story of three monkey brothers leaving their homeland to follow in their father's footsteps is an epic tale of hardship in the tradition of The Hobbit and Wizard of Oz. The journey undertaken by large-sized Thumb, skinny bones Thimble, and youngest and smallest Nod will certainly appeal to lovers of Bilbo and Dorothy. It seems unlikely that this tale would have been as good without Baum's tales. And it seems unlikely that Tolkien's novel would have been as good without de la Mare's classic. Having said this, of course all three novels mentioned above are among the most original children's fantasy novels ever written. That de la Mare's can stand up there with the best of them will be evident to anyone having read the book. There are unforgettable adventures along the way, including meeting characters such as Andy Battle, Ghiba, and the Water Midden. The usually warm jungle is suddenly hit with a winter that no one has ever seen, greatly complicating the expedition. The way the author blends real geography with fantasy geography is quite a marvel, especially through the sailor Andy Battle and his songs and stories. All in all this is one of literature's great adventure novels, suitable for young and old, and worth reading more than once. It was a great choice for Callidor, too.
Anouk Faure. Check out their website!
Mapman Mike
