January was a very cold month, perfect for plenty of reading. I got through 12 books, one of them a graphic novel. Besides my two regulars (Tubb and Bulmer) I read 4 from my Delphi Classics collection and 6 others.
From 1988 comes the 255 page conclusion to Kenneth Bulmer's Witch War Saga, Warlord of Antares, with the sudden though somewhat expected death of Cistra the evil witch woman. She has lusted after Dray Prescott for several volumes now, and finally, just as she has him within her grasp, she is undone by a jealous wizard who wanted her for himself. One of the many things I like about this series is the unexpected turns. Though many things are predictable, just as many are not. We have seen people get killed who we wish had still been alive, and we have seen battles lost that we wish had been won. Another thing I like about the book is the comaraderie between Dray and his best friends. Though they take seriously events that need to be taken seriously, they are also keen to show light-heartedness as much as bravery. Delia, Dray's wife is once again in the background for this story. This is the first volume where Drak, son of Dray, is Emperor, after Dray's (and Delia's) abdication. And so a new series of adventures will begin with the next volume, as Dray attempts to unite a vast continent of small kingdoms again the dreaded Shanks. A good entry in this remarkable series.
Cap
and his team are up against an old and very evil enemy, one they
thought they had eliminated in a past volume, in this pot boiler by E. C. Tubb. In The Genetic Engineer Cap has to infiltrate the top secret and very hidden laboratory run by this evil scientist, and of
course it must be blown to smithereens once discovered. There really isn't too
much to say about this one. The mad scientist is designing and making
clones with the help of kidnapped scientists. He will program them to
fight to the death, and they will feel no pain so will continue to fight
until unable to do so. His great plan to sell his soldiers to the highest bidder is undone by a female captured
scientist, who programs the clones to run away in fear instead of stand
and fight. So for once a woman helps save the day! Not the greatest of
the stories, but not a terrible one, either.
Turning to four of the Delphi Classics for this month I began with William Hope Hodgson's The Dream of X. The Night Land by Hodgson is a masterpiece of fantasy horror writing that I first encountered in the the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series many years ago. I reread it fairly recently and still loved the book. However, it is 200,000 words and quite a commitment to sit down and read. If you have ever wanted to wander about inside of a hellish painting by Bosch or Bruegel, then this is the book for you. In 1912 the author published a 20,000 word version, which is the above named story. Reduced by 90%, this is exactly what the reader gets: 90% less of everything. This is a very disappointing novella and not recommended. The full version is just that; a full version. Imagine any great novel or film cut by 90%. Read the full version of The Night Land. Please.
The Girl From Malta, an 1889 crime novel by Fergus Hume, also left me quite disappointed. For one thing (spoiler alert), after all is said and done and we have tried for nearly 300 pages to figure out who the murderer is, it turns out there was no murder. What a chicken poop ending! Obviously Hume himself could not decide who killed the victim. It was either one of two sisters (likely the older one with a violent temper), or their male cousin. Obviously too scared to have one of the women as the murderer, the author sets up the male cousin. But in the end it was a suicide! Right. The guy stabbed himself in the heart with a letter opener. Happens every day. Yawn. Moving on....
Daisy Miller is a novella by Henry James from 1878. At times it is quite a brilliant story, though at the end the author cops out (spoiler not provided here). A young American girl is spending a year in Europe with her mother and 9 year old brother. The young boy provides much entertainment for the reader, and also provides a genetic excuse for the young woman. Daisy (likely 15 or 16 in the book) is very immature, very beautiful and talks a lot. She is allowed to go out with men unsupervised by her mother, and this eventually leads to her being ostracized by "society." Our hero cannot make Daisy understand her predicament, and she is incapable of doing anything except flirting with him and especially a handsome Italian musician, with whom she spends most of her time in Rome. Though she likes the hero very much, she is unable to relate to him. They fall out when he attempts to advise her of her worsening social flaws. Rather than try to put a fitting conclusion to the story, James takes the easy way out. It's a shame, as much better endings could be devised. Highly recommended.
M. R. James' final published collection of horror stories is from 1925 and is called A Warning To The Curious and Other Ghost Stories. This was the final published volume of all new stories by James, though his collected short stories (to follow) include four never before published. Of the six stories included here "The Haunted Dollhouse" is certainly worth mentioning. The tiny inhabitants of an old dollhouse enact a gruesome ritual late each night. Very creepy. The five other stories are all good and worth reading, though not particularly scary.
The Con Man is from 1957, and is Ed McBain's fourth 87th Precinct novel. Carella, a detective from the precinct, was badly wounded in the first book. The author wanted to kill him off, but the editor would not allow it (!). So Carella is back in book 4, trying to catch a serial killer. He gets some unasked for assistance from his deaf and dumb wife. This is the best of the series so far, with a lot of tension building towards the end. The detectives from the precinct rotate in each story, which is a pretty cool idea. Hard boiled and top notch big city crime writing.
Akira is a comic from 1988 by Katsuhiro Otomo. It is the second (of three) outstanding comic/graphic novel to recently enter these hallowed walls of bloghood. It is thirty years after an atomic bomb devastates Tokyo, and the outskirts of Tokyo are coming back to life, sort of. This is essentially a Japanese version of the much earlier Mad Max film, though it gets even more cynical and outrageous. Tokyo was bombed because of an out-of-control ESP experiment that went awry. Of course a secret group is trying to revive it. Original art was in black and white, but it was coloured for release as a 36-comic (six volume) graphic novel once its popularity had hit the roof. The author was given a huge amount of control over the animated film version, too. If you enjoy reading about 15 year old sex-crazed male juvenile delinquents on super fast motor bikes, then you are sure to love this series. Watch as they out ride and out fight Japan's military and top secret agents, just like in real life. The plot thickens as we learn that a top secret project has been working with mutants who are psychic deadly weapons. After the first six issues we have not learned what "Akira" is, but it sounds like really bad news. The art and colouring are totally fantastic, and the story shows promise. But it's hard to accept young boys being so adept at nearly everything. How they afford their bikes, repairs, gasoline and how they get so much time away from their reform school is kept a mystery. Let's hope they can save the world, though.
Paul Aster's 1985 novel City of Glass eventually became three books, now known as the New York Trilogy. Paul Quinn writes cheap detective novels. A few years ago his wife and son died and he is becoming a stranger to the world and to himself. When a strange phone call for Paul Aster reaches him and asks for private eye help, Quinn decides to become Paul Aster and accepts the case. A dangerous man will soon be released for prison, and his son, damaged at an early age from his father's social experiment on him, is terrified that his father will find him again and seek revenge for getting him sent to jail for 13 years. Quinn/Aster follows the father, William Stillman, and keeps watch on him. As the case goes on Quinn becomes completely engaged, to the point of eventually losing himself and seeming to disappear eventually into thin air. At the beginning of the book we see Quinn observing street people and rough sleepers and wondering how a man could ever reach such a low point. By the end of the novel he has become such a man himself, one of the worst cases. This is a strange yet engaging story, with many sharp turns and bumpy rides. I am looking forward (next month) to continuing the trilogy. Recommended.
The Night Circus is from 2011 and written by Erin Morgenstern. Deb recommended it, though she liked her second book even more. So I finally got around to the first one. This is not so much a novel as an experience, one that is unlike any other that I have had. First off, it is about a circus, and the circus only opens at night. Now that we have that cleared up, what kind of circus is it? Well, imagine if a circus was controlled by someone (or perhaps two someones) who had strong psychic energies. Imagine that some of the acts are a bit enhanced, to the point where attendees are not only totally amazed at what they see, but are unsure if what they see is real or something else entirely. Imagine a circus that arrives at night in secret, and is fully set up and ready to go the very first night after arrival. After entering, attendees wander at will, visiting smaller and larger tents to see any of the acts available of their choosing. No sitting in one spot and watching a performance. There are dozens of different places to visit, and they are all amazing. There is an overarching story about two dueling wizards using a student each to see who "wins." Filled with interesting characters both in and out of the circus, the novel holds things together really well and our interest never flags. That is a pretty amazing achievement in a book nearly 400 pages long. Though the story bounces back in forth in chronology it is easy to follow thanks to dates supplied with each chapter. Also, the chapters are mostly very short, from 1 minute to 4 minutes in length to perhaps 10 at the outset. This far exceeds Piranesi, another quite special novel read earlier. Now I am very curious to see just what the author can do in her second book. Very highly recommended, especially to fantasy fans looking for something completely different.
Ted Chiang's Stories of Your Life (republished as Arrival after the success of the film) is a collection of short stories and novellas first published in 2002, though most stories were written considerably earlier.
"Tower of Babylon" is from 1990, and is a wonderful fantasy no doubt influenced by Bruegel's paintings of the same name. Imagine a storyteller in ancient Babylonian times relating the tale of not only the building of this miles high edifice, but of its reaching its goal, namely heaven. This is the story of an Elamite miner who was called from afar to break through the ceiling to reach heaven once the tower was finished. They climb for days and days to reach the summit, passing the sun, which shines upward after a time instead of down. There is no science in this ancient tale, at least none we would recognize. A deliriously magical tale! **** stars.
"Understand" is from 1991 and is a story that begins well. A man who had remained underwater for too long is revived and given injections of a new drug. They give him nightmares for a while, but then his intelligence increases by a vast amount. His doctors try a third injection, and once again he receives what might be called a Krell brain boost. The CIA wants him for their own purposes, and he he is forced to go on the lam. He can hack into computers and manages to find a 4th dose, which elevates his intelligence further. this part of the book is a cross between a Jason Bourne adventure and Odd John, a novel by Olaf Stapledon. there is even some Cyril Kornbluth thrown in for good measure. However, the story stakes a nosedive when our hero discovers a 2nd man (of course it's a man) who is 15 days ahead of him with the drugs. So what would the two most intelligent men do when they finally meet. Yup. You guessed it. Fight to the death, mind against mind. Sigh. It's one man who seeks truth and beauty versus the other one who wants to use his knowledge to help humanity. We all know where that one would soon lead. A very disappointing ending. ** stars.
"Division By Zero" is from 1991 and is a story about arithmetic. And empathy. Apparently the statement that 1 equals 2 cannot be disproved by math as we know it. The possibility is there. And does empathy always bring closer together two people who have shared similar situations, or can it bring them more apart? Read and weep. An effective short story. *** stars.
"Story of Your Life" is from 1998 and is the one that the Arrival film is based upon. The film is a great one, one of the better SF films to be sure. As usual, however, the novella is even better. It's a much more matter-of-fact telling of first contact than the film. There is no vast structure, but rather a two way mirror that allows communication to proceed between Earth and the aliens. What sets this story apart from the many other first rate first contact stories I have read (see my Avon/Equinox blog) is the second story that is interwoven with the main story. The female linguist who is tasked with learning the alien language tells a story that happens in the future, and tells it in flashback, if you please. This is a beautifully handled counterpoint to the first contact one, as we soon realize that she can know, with certainty, what will happen to her in the future. How can she do this? It turns out that the alien language(s) is completely different from ours. Their spoken language cannot be properly sounded by humans, so she focuses more on their written language. It is a language that has no bearing on the spoken one, however, and is based upon knowing all about a thing before being spoken. In other words, she learns how to know things, once she has mastered it, before they are finished happening, such as her future life. Her future life, as it turns out, contains much sadness and much joy. She does have free will, and can reject her future life with one simple remedy. What will she choose? The story contains some really great physics and math discussions, not too difficult to follow, and is a highly recommended read. **** stars.
"Seventy-two Letters" is from 2000. It is a tiresome story/novella about nomenclature and Kabbalah. In an altered future world scientists have animated golems to do single menial tasks. A breakthrough came when naming them increased their capabilities. I couldn't wait for this story to end. * star.
"The Evolution of Human Science" is from 2000 and is a three page story. It was first published in Nature. Humans no longer do original research; thanks to genetic engineering this task is carried out by meta-humans. Problems arise when humans can no longer understand the research, so a special branch of research is set up to study ways to interpret results from meta-human research. Prescient if nothing else. *** stars.
"Hell Is The Absence of God" is from 2001. Chang usually takes an alternate Earth existence and builds his story assuming we have lived in it always. In this novelette angels from heaven make occasional appearances in different locations, usually unexpectedly. Their appearance causes a few people to benefit, but more often many others are killed or injured as a result of blinding light, chasms suddenly appearing, hurricane force winds or accidents caused by being the way of the angel. When people die people on scene can watch their souls float up to heaven, or disappear into the earth on their way to hell. This is pretty much a very original story, whose conclusion is that one should not depend upon God to give them salvation; anything that happens to a person is either by their own design or total randomness. God neither punishes nor rewards. An interesting parable of a story. I'd be curious to get a religious person's perspective after they read it. *** 1/2 stars.
"Liking What You See: A Documentary" is from 2002. The story discuss and dissects Lookism, where a person or persons look at someone. Often it is the most beautiful faces that gather the most looks, while plain ones attract very little attention by comparison. Truly unattractive people might gather a few curious looks, while deformed faces might gather even more than beautiful faces. The story tells of an implant that takes away the differences, making everyone look average. A university campus is considering making having this implant a pre-requisite to attending its campus, and the subject is to be put to a vote. The story is enthralling, taking the form of a documentary film with student interviews dominating the pages. Recommended reading, *** 1/2 stars.
Finally came another entertaining tale by the Old Sleuth. Cad Meth, The Female Detective Strategist, or Dudie Dunne and His Lady Pal is from 1895. Old Sleuth wrote over a hundred detective stories that were published cheaply in newspaper-like format, and so far the several I have read have been quite good, in a quaint and humourous way. The dialogue portions of these stories are usually quite fun to read. This one features a very intelligent and beautiful female detective working alongside Dudie Dunne. She saves his neck at one point, after he fell for a villainess' wily story about helping her poor brother. It is refreshing to see a story from 1895 feature a heroine like Cad Metti. She does return later in another adventure, though I don't think I have that one.
See you in a month.
Mapman Mike
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