Scorpio Ablaze is #41 in the Dray Prescott series of fantasy novels by Kenneth Bulmer, who writes as Alan Burk Akers. This is one of the poorer entries in the series, as Dray attempts to unify the rest of Paz against the evil fish heads. The fish heads are the Daleks of this world, mostly one-dimensional mass murderers. This reader is growing quite sick of them. Once again there are epic battles, including a pretty decent air ship versus airship one. The highlight of the book is the reunification of Dray with Delia and the rest of his main buddies, an invincible group of allies if ever there was one. But Bulmer once again relies on yet another evil wizard to thwart Dray's plans, as if the fish heads weren't enough. How many times has Dray had to defeat an evil sorcerer or sorceress in this series, one who is backing the bad guys? It grows thin after six or seven times. And, unashamedly, there is no ending to this book. Dray is once again captured by the Star Lords and whirled out of his most recent crisis--Delia has been captured by the fish heads and he was giving chase. Really? Yawn. ** stars.
Next up came another ten stories by Edgar Allen Poe, one of them a novella. Many of these stories from the 1830s aren't that famous, though a few are and a few more should be. Several of them show Poe's predilection for humour at the time, though a few are very serious from beginning to end. Lionizing was a quite funny account of a man born with a unique nose, which he puts to his advantage during his life.
There follows a SF adventure novella in what would inspire Jules Verne. Using junk science of his day Poe writes The Unparalled Adventures of One Hans Pfall, a humourous account from 1835 of a man's journey to the moon via balloon. Filled with some very funny parts, the more serious science bits often resembles Verne's later writing. I enjoyed this story a lot!
The finest story of the ten came next. King Pest is a macabre tale of two sailors, one extremely tall and thin and the other very short and stout. They stumble into a meeting of a very unique society, barely escaping with their lives. Part horror and part fantasy, we again see a direct connection between Poe and a future writer: this story could be called the origin of Fritz Leiber's Faffrd and Gray Mouser tales, among the best fantasy every written.
The Shadow is a very short story about the shadow of death visiting a group of carousing friends. Yet again we can see from this tale Poe's influence on yet another future writer: Lord Dunsany.
Four Beasts In One is a very funny tale of a time and place long ago (Antioch), in which the king in full giraffe costume parades for his people. Elsewhere, the tame lions and panthers stroll among the people without causing alarm or harming anyone. Until they spot that prancing giraffe...
Mystification is classic Poe showing his wit and humour to great effect. The writing is high level. When a certain Baron Ritner is insulted by a fool of a guest, he gets back at him in a most unique and refined way. Rich reading.
Silence is the tale told by a Demon to the narrator about a dreary region in Libya where he watched a man amidst the solitude. The description of what occurs there stirs the narrator greatly, but he incurs the anger of the Demon by not laughing at the tale. Strange but very atmospheric.
Ligeia is from 1838 and is one of Poe's most famous tales. It is a true horror story, and as I read it I could clearly hear the voice of Vincent Price. This helped rather than hindered the reading. The final few pages are still among the best horror events ever written.
Finally come two linked stories, both very funny. How To Write A Blackwood Article is followed by the article itself, called A Predicament. An enterprising young woman, very well dressed and highly educated, talks with Mr. Blackwood about getting an article published in his magazine of strange events and occurrences. He is very specific about how this should be handled, and the woman dutifully takes hasty notes, not always accurate. This meeting is very funny in itself, as the things that Mr. Blackwood indicates would make for a successful article include the writer having to die some strange and original horrible death. In the follow up story the woman does indeed die (in her article, at least) in a most strange way. This is very original writing, however, it is also very racist as there is a black servant involved in the woman's escapade.
Swallowdale is from 1931 and is the second book in the Swallows and Amazons series by Arthur Ransome. John, Susan, Titty (Titania) and Roger are back for another summer vacation at the lake. They waste no time returning to their beloved island to camp out and rough it in the wild. Roughing it in England is a bit different than in Canada. These kids would likely be eaten by a bear on their first night camping in Ontario, but on an island in England's Lake District they are free to store their food near their tents, and even travel each day a short distance across the water for fresh eggs and milk. Roughing it indeed. Nancy and Peggy, the two pirate girl friends of the children, are back, too. What is amazing about this story, which is over 400 pages long and would likely take a child the entire summer to read (unless it rained a lot) is that there are no robbers or criminals of any kind. Just six kids having fun and small adventures during their summer holiday. While parts of the story might seem quite dull to older readers, the book does teach children all about camping, cleaning up after yourself and leaving your campsite as if no one had ever been there, responsibility towards one's siblings, and even quite a bit about sailing a small boat. My favourite parts of the book had to do with the foggy day adventures the children had, including Roger's foot injury. The injury is turned into pure gold for Roger, and he has his own adventure. The children discover a cave, climb a mountain, have a sailing boat race and eat a lot of food. It sounds like the perfect summer holiday. Remember those? *** stars.
In the bottom right corner Roger (the youngest) is not being spanked. He is having his
pants sewn from wearing them out sliding down a rock.
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