There were 8 novels completed this past month, one of them a graphic novel.
From 1985, Bulmer's 121 page novel Omens of Kregen continues the main line of two plots that have been on-going for several volumes now. Firstly, the battle for freeing Vallia from its enemies from within gets settled, with several key battles being won and the rogue "king" of the northlands vanquished at last. More importantly is Dray Prescott's return to the lair of the witch Csitra and her evil spawn Phunik. Dray and Seg join yet another doomed treasure seeking expedition into the hellish cave system of Coup Blag, a trap-laden maze that would challenge the greatest player of the Lara Croft games. Hardly anyone ever comes out alive, and this expedition is no exception. At long last, however, the witch is finally dealt with, and Dray now needs to reunite with his own expedition, which was separated when they were attacked on route to the caves. However, at the very end of the story Dray is recalled to face the anger of the Star Lords. We will have to wait till next month to see how that encounter turned out. A good entry in the series, finally closing some of plot lines that have been around for a long while.
Haven of Darkness is from 1977 and is 173 pages long. Two
story threads eventually intertwine in Tubb's 16th entry in the Earl Dumarest series to form a highly entertaining
novel. The thread with Dumarest is pretty much like so many of his
other adventures. For one thing he starts out on a run down planet with
virtual slave labour. He is being hunted by the Cyclans, and there
happens to be one on that planet. To earn money to hire computer time
to find the location of Earth he has a knife fight with a viscous
killer. But we are soon off that planet and en route to another one,
again familiarly traveling in a beat up old spacecraft trading goods. His arrival
on planet 2 allows his story to unite with strand number two. That
story features a beautiful woman on the high council of a peaceful
planet, but a planet where it is only safe to travel during daylight. With
two suns, a unique event termed Delusia causes hallucinations when they align, and after
dark sudden death comes by the mysterious creatures that rule the planet
then. A pact has been arranged between the human daytime inhabitants
and the aliens that take over at night. One man is threatening that
pact by attempting a coup. Dumarest is just in time to put a stop to
it. This story has a different ending; it appears that Dumarest is going
to stop off for a time, something that hasn't happened yet in this
series. Perhaps we will learn more about the mysterious deadly night
inhabitants in the next story.
And now it's on to Delphi Classics! I keep buying single Kindle novels but I get so engrossed in reading the classics that I seldom have time to consider reading something more contemporary. So I am limiting myself to four classic authors per month, with any time left over for more recent literature. We'll see how that works out.
First up were the tales of the Brothers Grimm. The first English translation of the fairy tales was published in 1826, 55 stories in all told by Edgar Taylor. By no means complete, this first foray into the collection covers most of the basic tales many of us grew up with. The Cinderella story is the real deal, with the step sisters cutting off a big toe and shaving their heel to fit into the slipper. Of course at the time the Brothers assumed they were collecting only German stories. Not till later was it even suspected that most of these tales had origins far beyond Germany and even of Europe, many of them coming to us from the Near East and India. Many of the tales share similarities, for instance three sons setting out to seek their fortune, with only the youngest succeeding. We meet many kinds of folk critters, from elves, witches, talking animals, evil step mothers, imps and kindly old people who give magical gifts to the right person. Having read the complete Joseph Jacobs collections (see the books read blog entry for May 2025), many of these are very familiar in some form or other. I may not read more into this collection for a while because of this. Still great fun, mostly for all ages.
Next came one of my favourite books from high school reading days. H Rider Haggard is still a favourite of mine, and his first Ayesha novel, She (1886) is the one that helped start possibly the biggest fictional tradition in literature--the fantasy adventure novel. Taken up by Edgar Rice Burroughs (whom I read as a youth before I discovered Haggard), and even influential with Tolkien's writing, this remains one of the great adventure novels of all time. Lasting 28 chapters, the first three are taken up with preparations for a great journey into unexplored East Africa. Chapter 4 is the great storm that washes the heroes upon the beach, from which they must make their way into the interior, first by small boat, and finally as prisoners. Chapters 5-10 tells of the adventures they underwent (4 men) in the great swamp that must be crossed, and the terrible fever that ensued for some of them. We finally meet She herself in chapter 13. The setting is in an abandoned Kor, a vast group of cities built thousands of years before the Egyptians built their great monuments. Canals that once reached to the sea and vast hollowed out mountains are only a few of the achievements of this once great society. It ended in a plague, so that the ruins have not been destroyed by war or natural disaster, but were left to age more naturally. We are given some information about this ancient society, whose survivors fled and likely founded Egypt. She herself is 2000 years old when we meet her, and Kor ruled long before her time. We spend several chapters among these caves and ruins. One of the more interesting things to come from the novel are the discussions about philosophy and religion that She and Holly, one of the male adventurers, have. She wins most arguments, as she has had a lot of time to develop her theories of religion and philosophy. Her reason for wanting to live for so long is so that she can be reunited with the reincarnation of her one true love. Leo fits the bill nicely, the other main member of the adventurous party. In chapter 24 the journey to the great life-giving cave is made, and the final chapters tell how Holly and Leo managed to escape their doom, something that Ayesha was unable to do. She tried to double dip in the flame of life, and things did not go well at all. Great fun to read, with excellent pictorial descriptions, some lively and interesting dialogue, and main characters not too hard to swallow (compared to many modern fantasy novels).
The Maltese Falcon was first published in 1929. This was my first reading of the Dashiell Hammett novel. I had one major problem while reading the book: I could not help hearing Bogart's voice in the part of Sam Spade. Spade looks nothing like Mr. Bogart, as he is blonde and has features that make him look almost satanic. But as Bogart speaks many of the same lines, it is his voice I hear. Same with the fat man, played by Sidney Greenstreet, and the kid, played by Elisha Cook, Jr. I have seen the film so many times that the actors' voices speak the lines while I read. The film does a credible job of making the story and characters come alive, too. A bit more time is spent in the book explaining what exactly the Falcon is, but otherwise things pretty much follow the course of the movie plot. Of course there are many more subtleties in the book, and it is a must read for lovers of the film. Hard-boiled detective fiction and Noir film itself owe so much to this very story. An easy read and great fun!
Kwaidan is a series of collected Japanese ghost tales translated and retold by Lafcadio Herne and published in 1904. Once again we have a top knotch film of the book, or at least some of its stories, this time from 1964. I will mention a few of the best tales. The first story, "Mimi-Nashi-Hoichi", is the first story told in the movie version as well. It is a great story about a blind ballad singer who is requested by a powerful lord to visit his palace and sing of times before his clan was wiped out by enemies. The film version calls it "Hoichi the Earless," perhaps giving too much of a hint of what is to follow. An all-time great ghost story.
"O-Tei" tells about a young couple engaged to be married, but the girl dies before it can happen. She makes him a promise on her death bed, and in a creepy scene manages to fulfill her promise.
"Of A Mirror and a Bell" is somewhat humourous, but "Mujina" returns to the pure horror format, as a man wandering late at night encounters not one but two spirits, either one of which would be enough to destroy a man.
"Jikininki" tells of a priest's visit to a village just when their head man had died. The villagers, by tradition, leave the village for a night, but the priest agrees to remain with the body. An evil spirit comes and eats the corpse and the food left as offering. The priest is able to solve the mystery of the hungry ghost, freeing the village from its curse and rescuing the man who had been cursed.
"Rokuro-Kubi" tells of a priest's encounter with five evil spirits who wish him harm. When their heads separate from their bodies at night he listens in to their conversation and thus learns how to thwart them. The story continues in a bizarre fashion with the head of the lead rogue fastened to the priest's cloak, until a robber takes it from him.
"Yuki-Onna" is another of the filmed stories, this one a winter scene. A woman in white saves a man from freezing to death during a bad snowstorm, but makes him promise not to ever tell what has happened. Years later he opens his big mouth and tells his beautiful never-aging wife. As usual in such fairy tales, there is no penance for the mistake, only sorrow and hardship.
"Aoyagi" tells the sad tale of three willow trees, two old and one quite young.
"The Dream of Akinosuka" takes us deep not only into the dream world, but the story leads to a further discussion of ants. Yes, ants. Don't ask yet. Just read. This is a pretty good story.
"Horai" is a brief story that reminded me of some Dunsany tales.
The book is rather short, and perhaps to lengthen it enough for publication he includes three essays: Butterflies, Mosquitoes and Ants. The butterfly chapter discusses butterflies in Chinese and Japanese lore, and is quite fascinating. A few more tales are included as well. The mosquito chapter is fairly amusing, as Hearn discusses ways of eliminating the pests, which particularly bother him where he lives. Then comes the chapter on ants, one of the more unique essays I have ever read. The author compares ant society to human, wondering if humans will ever learn to work together the way ants do. A good followup to reading this chapter would be to read T. H. White's 2nd volume in his Arthurian tales, The Queen of Air and Darkness, the darkness referring to life as an ant. All in all, a most remarkable book, and highly recommended. Make certain that the three extra chapters are included in the edition read.
In 1986 writer Frank Miller collaborated with artists Klaus Janson (inker), Lynn Varley (colorist) and John Constanza (letterer) to create the new and much darker Batman. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns was a 4 series comic that changed forever the direction that comics would go. My edition was the 30th anniversary one, with all 4 comics contained within one graphic novel volume. The comics spawned the new Batman series and spinoffs. This story features a Bruce Wayne who is now 55 years old and has been out of the loop for some 30 years. Most civilians have forgotten him or think he was just a myth. His comeback is at a time when Gotham city is at its lowest, most crime-ridden era. He is soon joined by a new Robin, a 13 year girl gymnast. Superman plays a major role in the story, and even Green Arrow makes appearances. The story is darker than almost anything I have ever read. Batman is hunted as a cruel vigilante by the police, and public opinion is turned against him. Gangs of young people calling themselves Sons of Batman roam the streets acting against crime in his name. The city is a complete mess, and then things get worse. The Joker escapes prison and goes on a major killing spree. Superman fights against Russia in a war, but after defeating them they unleash a nuclear bomb, a neutron bomb, that devastates the planet.
Many people still think that Batman is a superhero; he is not, and he has no superpowers. His inventions are all science based, his luck in escaping dangerous situations is supreme, and he has good help. But he is human. I was never much into superheroes in my day. My comic reading trended towards Tarzan, Conan, Magnus Robot Fighter, and their ilk. The only other comic I have read on this return of Batman level of literary value and artistic quality has been The Watchmen. Both graphic novels are well wroth seeking and reading.
Finally comes a novel from 2004 (trans. English 2007) by acclaimed Japanese writer Haruki, Murakami called After Dark. It's a strange novel and hopefully far from the best by this prolific author, whom I am just discovering. To me it seems like one of those novels that could fool readers into thinking they are reading something profound, when actually it's all rather prosaic with a few puffs of mist and smoke to dazzle us. A 19 year old girl spends a long Tokyo night in family restaurants. A young man who barely knows her and her sister invites himself to her table and they talk. He is a jazz trombone player on his way to an all night practice session. This meeting leads to most of the other events that occur in the novel, which is fairly short and easy to read. I find very little to recommend this novel, though it won't stop me from trying a few of his more famous ones, such as Norwegian Wood and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. While it's common for great authors to write works of lesser quality, it's a bit disheartening when one of them is the first one read. The novel might work for younger readers who are ready to try something different than young adult novels or Harry Potter. A 19 year old reader could possibly find this novel mysterious and fascinating in so many ways. But not this old buzzard.
Sometimes at the end of a month I have a day or two extra, not enough time to begin a new novel. In the past I have used the Oz stories and other quick reads, or the massive volume of fairy tales by Joseph Jacobs, taking many months to complete. This month I began reading Stephen J Gould's 8th book of science essays, called Leonardo's Mountain of Clams and The Diet of Worms, compiled in 1998 from monthly articles he writes for Natural History magazine. In the past I have read some of his earlier collections and found them fascinating and highly readable. I don't know why I got away from them, but I am happy to be back. The book is divided into six sections, and I read section 1 which contains three essays. There is also a long intro by the author. "The Upwardly Mobile Fossils of Leonardo's Living Earth" discusses how the great thinker discovered the fact that fossils, often found on high mountains, were once beneath the sea. Leonardo's greatest efforts were towards proving the connection between man and planet, something he worked on till his dying day but never solved. His fossil discovery, however, proved half of his theory. Quite a fascinating read. "The Great Western and the Fighting Temeraire" discusses how technology often progresses at the cost of earlier ways of achieving goals. But of even greater interest is his discussion of Turner and artists in general, and how they are remembered as compared to great engineers or scientists. Though a fun argument to read about, Gould forgets the fact that many artists, musicians and writers are totally forgotten today, though were once the talk of the town. Finally comes "Seeing Eye To Eye, Through a Glass Clearly." Here he points out how the invention of the aquarium not only popularized the study of sea and lake creatures, but how our point of view affected the study of natural history. Seeing fish eye to eye was a new perspective and it revolutionized how we study such creatures today. Before that, scientific illustrations usually showed the sea creatures looking like they do, but washed up on shore or leaping up out of the water. All three essays make for a fascinating beginning and I look forward to continue with part 2 next month.
Mapman Mike
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