January Books Read

I read 13 books last month, including the 7 authors remaining from my Avon/Equinox SF Rediscovery Series, and 6 from the miscellaneous shelf.

 

Volume 7 in The Collected Stories of Robert Silverberg is called We Are For The Dark.  Each of the ten stories is introduced by the author, and he also has written a 5-page intro to the volume.  The finest tale is the title one, a novella.  One of my very favourite kinds of SF stories has to do with found ancient alien technology, art, and/or music.  Silverberg has written a masterful story about true exploring, which is usually a search within oneself.  But he has done both types here, by combining it with an outward search.  We visit several planets, and learn why humans are going beyond the 100 light year radius decreed when colonization began.  One of his best stories, it is from 1988.  Lion Time in Timbuctoo is from 1990, also a novella.  The African story setting takes place in the same world as the author's 1967 novel The Gate of Worlds.  In that alternate history story, the plague decimated Europe until only about 10% of the population survived.  As a result, there was no European colonialism in the new World or in Africa or Asia.  The Turks rule a huge swathe of Europe, the Aztecs and Incas are still in control on their side of the ocean, and China remains a small player in world affairs (as does England).  This is the second of what Silverberg had planned as three stories set in that world, and it's a good one, more political intrigue that anything else, but very well written and fun to imagine.  Also noteworthy is Enter A Soldier. Later. Enter Another One, from 1989.  It is a novelette built around a discussion between Pizarro and Socrates about right and wrong.  

 

Under A Velvet Cloak, from 2015, is Piers Anthony's 8th and final book in his Incarnations of Immortality series.  This is not a slight series by any means, though Anthony often treats the material very lightly.  The series is needlessly complicated as it backtracks through time, moves into the future, and sees events from the perspectives of many different characters.  Most of the time reading I was not exactly lost, but in so deep that I didn't really care very much, except for wondering when the book would end.  If you like the first book you will probably enjoy reading the others, but beware.  Things get overly complicated.

 

Bulmer's 7th Dray Prescott novel is called Arena of Antares, and is from 1974.  This new adventure sees Dray captured (yet again) and made a fighting slave of an evil queen.  Yawn.  On it goes, with the remainder of the novel set in a gladiatorial arena, with fight after fight, usually uneven, for the delight and satisfaction of the bloodthirsty populace.  I was quite bored soon after the arena scenes takes over the plot.  Luckily for us, Dray and Delia are saved at the last second by their friends in an airship, who rescue them from the arena and take them to safety.

 

Tubb's 4th Dumarest novel is called Kalin, and is from 1969.  So far this is a pretty good series. 

Dumarest has a habit of ending up on dead end worlds, those that are depressing, have no honest work or way to earn money, and are nearly impossible from which to escape.  This time he hits a poisonous mining colony, worked by slaves.  The few free men have to scramble hard to find enough food to eat, and enough warmth to keep them alive over the winter.  The local wildlife is on the dangerous side, too.  He and Kalin, a psychic woman, arrive there after their passenger ship explodes, and they manage to escape in a life pod.  They are picked up by a slaver, but luckily for Dumarest he has enough money to buy his way to freedom, and Kalin's.  Her story becomes more complicated the further one reads, and by the end we are left dazzled by Tubb's plot.  Making their usual beneficial appearance are the religious brothers; making their usual harmful appearance are the Cyclans.  This is one of the better entries so far, in a series that will run for a very long time.

 

Cover of the month for January 2023.  The artist is John Schoenherr.

 

I finished up the 4th volume of The Collected Stories of Jack Williamson, reading the first half in December, and finishing it up in January.  There are volumes in the series that I do not have, but they cost hundreds of dollars and I have no interest in getting them.  His early stuff is mostly so much juvenile crap anyway.  So this ends my affair with Jack's fiction, except to read his highly anticipated autobiography in February.  The volume of short stories I finished up is called Spider Island.  The only decent story of his from the January reading is called Released Entropy, from 1939.  The story raises the question of how strongly was Williamson affected by Olaf Stapledon's writing.  A lot, it would seem.  Worlds within worlds, and universes within universes.  Despite the cop out ending, this is a fun story to read.

 

Stormbringer by Michael Moorcock contains four linked novellas from 1963-64 (updated slightly more recently) on the further--and final--adventures of Elric.  While none of the stories really stand out, they are fun to read.  Elric is certainly a unique sword and sorcery type of hero, so different from Conan, the heroes of Edgar Rice Burroughs, or even from Fafhrd and Mouser by Fritz Leiber.  All of Elric's adventures are tied up with sorcery, and especially with his soul stealing sword.  If this is your thing, then Moorock and Elric are for you.

 

Malzberg and Pronzini teamed up for their final novel in 1979.  Night Screams is a bit frustrating to read as a murder mystery.  The reason is that the story is written so that virtually anyone could be the murderer.  The writers wouldn't even have to make up their own minds until the last chapter.  So it's a cheat if you want to try guessing who did it.  And it you are correct, then it is likely that you guessed, or drew the name from a hat.  The story uses psychics as the victims of gruesome murders, with the setting a snowed-in village in New England.  As usual, there are too many victims for one novel.  The authors have collaborated on a few books of short stories, which will be reviewed here someday soon. 

 

Turning now to the six books from the shelf, five of them were taken from my Delphi Classics collection on Kindle.  Only one book actually came off a (dusty) shelf.  Black Cloud Rising came from an honest to goodness bookstore in Detroit (Source).  I went in and asked if they had anything on the American Civil War from a Black perspective.  I was shown this book by D. W. Falade from 2022.  A work of fiction, it has many truths to tell.  We follow a Black sergeant and a Black regiment of soldiers as they go about their day to day marching and fighting in the South during the Civil War.  There were no surprises to this reader regarding the rampant racism in the North and South (but especially the South), and to the higher standard that the Black regiment was held.  Though led by whites, the leaders (the colonel, anyway) are willing to learn about their men as they go.  There are no major battles, but there are opportunities for the regiment to show their stuff, and as they did in real life, they accounted themselves very well.  One does not have to have an interest in the Civil War to read this wonderful story about growing up Black, becoming a freed slave, and enlisting in the Union army.  Highly recommended.

 

Next came a truly delightful and slightly mad story by H G Wells called The Wonderful Visit."  From 1895, an angel accidentally crash lands on Earth, is shot and wounded by the vicar (a nature lover and collector who thought it might be a rare flamingo), then brought home to rest and recuperate.  This is not an angel of God, but one of art, like a muse.  This one is a violinist.  The story stabs at the heart of Christian society, however, and almost every page sends out a zinger or two.  I had not expected much from this story, but it turned out to be a real gem.  Chapter Two, where the author discusses English gentlemen scientific nature "collectors," has never been bettered.  Definitely worth a read.  Apparently Joseph Conrad loved the book.  Marcel Carne made a filmed version in 1974, which I have yet to track down.

 

Vera is from 1892, an early play by Oscar Wilde.  Loosely based on a real Vera, it tells of the Nihilists in Russia who wish to overthrow the Czar.  Political intrigue, hard socialism, and the defeat of monarchy is at the heart of this adventure tale, in four acts.  It was performed for a week in New York around the time it was written, before closing suddenly.  I doubt if it ever sees the light of day much anymore.  It certainly isn't a terrible play, though I doubt that Americans would have cared for the plot.

The Voyage Out was written between 1912-15, and was Virginia Woolf's first novel.  A lot of this novel is sticking with me.  It's one of those books where nothing much happens, but everything happens if one is aware.  A little bit autobiographical, a woman of 24 years ships out with her father, who owns a shipping company.  They are off to Brazil.  Also on board is her uncle, who is a scholar, and her aunt, who takes the girl under her wing.  The young Rachel Vinrace has been raised by maiden aunts in Richmond, and is pretty much clueless about life, men, and about love.  The novel traces her slow awakening, and of her first love.  The novel is slow to grip the reader, and it didn't really happen to me until we'd been in Brazil for some time.  There are a lot of minor characters, and we even get a brief trip up the Amazon.  But most of the action takes place in a small town not far from the river, in the villa where Rachel lives with her aunt and uncle, and in the hotel where the other British travelers stay.  Born in 1882, Woolf is about the same age as Rachel, and was obviously a thoughtful and observant woman.  Her first few drafts were heavily revised on the advice of friends, who found her original story too harsh an attack on society.  It's easy to read between the lines to see what she often meant, however.  It is an amazing first novel, and well worth reading.  It is a long one, at just over 500 pages. 

Next came a volume of poetry by W B Yeats.  The Wandering of Oisin and Other Poems was published in 1889.  The title poem is an epic ballad from Irish mythology, and is quite good.  Having read the Mabinogian, this one recalls similar doings.  It is about a normal man who falls in love with an eternal spirit, and they dwell in happiness for many a hundred years.  Eventually, however, he wants to return home, somehow expecting everything to be as it was.  Though warned that he would never be able to return, he heads for home.  It is the only early poem that Yeats liked in years afterward, and I must say that the rest were not very memorable at all.

Lastly came Sherwood Anderson's first novel, Windy McPherson's Son, published in 1916.  Divided into four books, the first deals with Sam's youth, growing up in a small town in Iowa.  He sells newspapers, and his enthusiasm and flair for selling and getting ahead impresses the locals.  He is guided by an artist, and a former school teacher.  His father is the town drunk, and his mother is the local washerwoman.  In book two he heads for Chicago to earn his fortune in sales, and indeed he prospers beyond anyone's wildest expectations.  He becomes a ruthless businessman, working tirelessly to make more and more money.  In book three he chucks it all and heads on the road, becoming a (rich) wandering vagabond.  He is in search of meaning to his life.  He and his wife had planned to raise children as their main goal, but their attempts result in three failures, all nearly killing his wife.  And so he goes in search of the big something.  Book four is very short, and brings him to the end of his journey, and at least a partial answer to his still burning questions about life, the universe, and everything.  The book will not be everyone's cup of tea, but for those lost souls who still haven't found what they seek (luckily, this reader has), the book will be a welcome journey into oneself.  Surprisingly good writing, though the novel is not critically acclaimed.

Mapman Mike

 

 

 

October Books Read

With five clear nights in October used for observing with my telescope, I basically lost 5 days/nights of reading.  My daytime reading is used to write up observing notes and prepare for the upcoming night.  My nighttime reading is...well, spent at the telescope eyepiece.  I still managed to read 10 1/2 books, so all is not lost, and a few were quite long.

The month began with a Robert Silverberg book.  I am now reading novels and stories he wrote in and around his gigantic Majipoor series, but not related to those books.  So his writing has matured and really developed.  Even so, his short time travel novel Project Pendulum might not appeal to all readers of such stories.  His concept involves wending twins forward and backward in time simultaneously, in a sort of Powers of Ten manner.  One brother goes forward 5 minutes in time, while the other goes back 5 minutes.  The next jump is 50 minutes, then 500 minutes, etc.  The final jump takes them 950 million years from their starting time!  At the end of the book, they begin their trip homeward.  It's a very strange idea, and though the book, like the time jumps, begins slowly, it gradually gathers momentum and interest the further the brothers travel in time.  I enjoyed the book, and it would make a fantastic basis for a TV series.

Next came a dreary fantasy novel by Piers Anthony and Mercedes Lackey called If I Pay Thee Not In Gold.  This is the type of book I try to avoid at all costs.  Based on an idea by Anthony, it was penned by Mercedes Lackey.  Then Anthony went over it with a fine tooth comb, adding ten thousand words.  The first two hundred pages take place in a city ruled by women, who make slaves of the men.  Women can conjure magic, but men can't.  That part is never really explained very well.  The Queen is a bitch and tries to kill the young girl, Xylina, who shows much prowess in magic.  She tries to kill her over and over again, but somehow always fails.  This is too bad, since the story could have ended much sooner.  From 1993, this 398 page waste of time is one of the most boring books I have ever read.

Harry Harrison finishes his USA versus England trilogy with Stars and Stripes Triumphant.  It's a delicious series to read (and the third book is no exception), except by the English.  But Harrison, who lives in Dublin, is writing here for the Irish and the Scottish reader, as well as other countries colonized by England back in the good old days.  It really is a fun series, and looking at England's standing in the world at the present moment, it resembles the situation where England ends up at the end of the series.

Bulmer's Fox #8: Battle Smoke keeps up the humour and adventure in his epic sea going series,with Lieutenant Fox spending time back in Limehouse, London, with his family.  But he is itching to get back to sea, and after some local exploits, off he goes, finally aboard a class 1 battle ship, under Captain Staunton again.  this means that Fox is virtually in charge of everything aboard the ship, a de facto captain in all but name.  The climax is another great sea battle, this time between four English ships and seven French and Spanish ones.  With an incapacitated admiral aboard, Fox takes command of the fleet and leads the charge!  Great stuff for sea loving adventure fans.

I finally began E C Tubb's mammoth series featuring the adventures of Dumarest.  The Dumarest Sagas contains about 36 novels, and I am now underway.  The first book, published in 1967 as one half of an Ace Double, is called The Winds of Gath.  The lead character is a space wanderer and adventure seeker, and through mischance he ends up on a planet from which it is virtually impossible to leave.  He undergoes some hardships, but gets a big break when he defeats a strongman in an entertainment battle.  He earns a ticket off the planet.  But many more adventures await him on Gath, in itself a totally fascinating planet.  I like how the story stayed focussed on the one planet, and seems to cover nearly every aspect of its (limited) possibilities.  Very well written, and a very promising start to the series.

I am reading three huge volumes of stories by Jack Williamson.  Wizard's Isle contains 16 stories by the author, published between 1933 and 1937.  I read half of this vast volume last month, and will read the rest of it in November.  Lots of fun stories about mad scientists, and good people who just won't listen to reason.  The Wand of Doom has a nice bayou atmosphere to it, and The Plutonian Terror is a good horror story with a neat surprise ending.  Using an original pulp magazine cover as its cover for the this hardbound volume, I have awarded the prestigious Cover of the Month to this book.

SF cover of the month for October 2022.  

Next came Michael Moorcock's 2nd book in his Dancers At The End Of Time series.  Called The Hollow Lands, it is from 1974, and takes up where volume one left off.  Jherek Carnelian is still in search of his time lost lover, Mrs. Underwood.  He is able to return to her time in London, and finds his way to her house.  Before that are some truly bizarre adventures involving a robot nanny and a homicidal alien, he meets up with H G Wells in London and is soon off on more hilarious adventures.  The entire London adventure reminds me somewhat of a Carry On movie.  Overall the book is quite readable.  If you don't like something you are reading, it will soon change to something else, so carry on....

Lastly came a long volume of 37 short stories by Barry Malzberg.  There is a wide range of tales here, some SF and some not, some almost beyond classifying.  A Galaxy Called Rome is the novelette version of his novel Galaxies (see above).  It is a brilliant concept, about a story that a writer might or might not actually write, but if he did write it this is what he would do, and what he would include.  Very well done.  Agony Column is a very funny, but very devastating, story that contains nothing but various letters written by a Mr. Martin Miller, and the various replies he gets, mostly form letters.  A real gem!  Corridors is about Ruthven, an older, tired SF writer from the pulp days.  He has finally had some financial success, but it came too late to help with the bitterness he feels about his life and his writing.  This is a very moving tale about the "golden" days of SF pulp writing, and its effect on one writer.  Recommended.  A valuable collection for fans of this highly underrated writer.

Next came a book off the dwindling book shelf, and two Kindle books from my nearly endless Delphi collection.  With The Tale Teller, Anne Hillerman comes closest so far to equaling her father's writing.  This is her best book of the series, in which Joe Leaphorn returns to action, after she nearly killed him off in her first book.  Intertwined with the mystery story is more Navajo lore, including things about the Long Walk they were forced to undertake when the US government forced them off their sacred lands.  Tony and Anne Hillerman are both recognized by the Navajo as true friends, and in a book like this it is easy to see why.  Highly recommended, and the empty landscapes of Arizona and New Mexico resonate strongly in this novel.

Next came a short novel by one of my favourite Ballantine Adult Fantasy authors, George Meredith.  His first novel was The Shaving of Shagput, an Orientalist fantasy that I read and reviewed on my Ballantine blog page.  His second novel is called Farina, written in 1857, a year after Shagput.  It is in every sense a minor effort, though still fun to read.  It is a medieval fantasy that takes place in Germany, and concerns the beautiful daughter of a merchant who is the centre of attention of most young men in the vicinity.  It has humour, an easy-going story, and some supernatural events.  It is a bit of a let down after Shagput, but then that book is unique in the literature to begin with.  I look forward to his third novel, and didn't mind reading this one.

A. Merritt is one of the great fantasy writers from the late teens and early twenties, influenced by H Rider Haggard and Edgar Rice Burroughs, who in turn went on to influence a whole generation of writers, including H P Lovecraft.  His first novel was The Moon Pool, from 1919.  I had never read this one before, and while I found the fantasy element imaginative and somewhat engrossing, his writing style is quite poor.  Expanded from two novellas, the book often bogs down in descriptive detail.  When there is action, the book is fun to read.  When the descriptions go on for page after page, not so much fun.  The climax is exciting, and the ending is well thought out.  There is considerable humour, too, as Larry O'Keefe, an Irish American and the adventure hero of the story, woos Lakla, handmaiden of the Silent Ones.  The story begins at the ruins of Nan Madol, off the island of Pohnpei, in Micronesia.  It is narrated by Dr. Goodwin, who sets out to investigate the disappearance of a good friend and his family.  I really liked the gradual development of the story and the action,which eventually leads to a massive underground kingdom.

Mapman Mike

 

 

August Reading Summary

First, a note about the weather, and cutting grass.  It's been a dry summer, with very occasional rain that doesn't really soak into the ground.  While areas around us received an occasional deluge, we never did.  The last time I cut our grass was June 25th.  It finally got cut again yesterday, August 31st.  It was mostly straggly weeds that I cut, but things do look better today.  Our last rain was Monday, when again giant storms just missed us.  We still got some healthy, badly needed rain, though.  And a rainbow--a double one, actually.

Last Monday evening's double rainbow, as seen from our back deck. 

And it's been almost a week since our driveway cement was laid down.  Tomorrow night the car can finally return to the garage!  The final big project for this year is the large poplar tree in the far backyard, across the creek.  First, the leaves need to come off, and the bank account return to the black.  Hopefully early October, as that tree tends to lose its leaves early.

In reading news, I managed to finish 15 books, very assorted.  As usual, I continued my Avon/Equinox reading project, where I still have 8 authors works to complete.  And I dove into my Delphi Classics Kindle library, where I have now collected over 40 authors' complete works.  Of course I won't live long enough to get through most of those, but I will die trying.

It seems more than a month ago that I read Star of Gypsies by Robert Silverberg, an intriguing SF novel that takes the Roma and their culture into the far future.  Though the premise is worthwhile, the execution falls short, in my opinion.  The story is a very simple one, and it's a good thing, as it gets constantly interrupted by the main character's reminiscences and dream journeys.  Some of the best planet descriptions in SF are to found in these pages, as well as some fun adventures.  But after a while it gets to be a bit much, and we just want the main story to progress.  But it barely creeps along. And at 467 pages, it is a long creep.

Piers Anthony's And Eternity was meant to be his final book in his Incarnations of Immortality series, but he eventually wrote one more (which I will read in October).  It would be impossible to read this book without having read most of the others.  Even having read most of the others, it's still a pretty difficult road to follow as so many threads are tied together at last. Things that happened way back in the first book (this is Book 7) now finally come to fruition.  Though the series is pretty silly overall, it does have many moments that show the author's genius for plot, setting, and character.  Even so, this is a weak book overall, and not a little confusing.  Anthony is one of those writers who does not believe anything an editor tells him, so his books essentially are published as written, or sent to a different publisher.  Must be nice.

Next came Galactic Dreams, a short story collection by Harry Harrison.  However, there were only 4 of the 12 stories I had not read and reviewed already.  "Famous First Words" is a very funny tale about a professor who manages to find words once spoken by famous people that would eventually become prophetic.  "The Pad" is a sexist but very funny story about a rich man attempting to seduce an unwilling young woman.  Think of a Pepe Le Pew cartoon, only much funnier.  And a newly written (for the collection) story about Bill, the Galactic Hero, is also quite hilarious.

Fox 6 by Kenneth Bulmer, continues the saga of Abernathy Fox, a ship's officer in the British Navy during the Napoleonic wars.  Even though this one is just another pot boiler, it's still great fun to read.  I can easily handled on of these per month.  This adventure is enlivened by the appearance of a group of Turkish warriors and a horde of harem girls brought aboard, with their eunuch.  The girls add humour to the proceedings, and end up surprising Mr. Fox with their ability to help out his short handed crew on deck.

Only One Winner is an interesting collection of minor works by Tubb, including the novella of the title.  There is a long speech that Tubb gave at a SF convention in 1970, and though a bit rambling, it brings up some interesting points from one of the greatest pulp masters of the genre.  The three short stories it contains have already been read and reviewed.  Philip Harbottle also contributes a short essay.  The novella itself is standard pulp fare, and not Tubb's best.  4 losers attempt to take over a space liner filled with rich people on a cruise.  One of them is an alcoholic, and one is a female.  They are thieves and murderers of the worst sort, and they all come to their expected end, after causing much mayhem and death.

Wolves of Darkness is the 2nd of 8 or 9 hardcover books containing most of the shorter fiction of Jack Williamson.  Published in suburban Detroit, these are collectors editions, now long out of print.  I managed to get Vols. 2, 3, and 4 at somewhat decent prices, but the remaining volumes, when available, are way out of price range.  This volume is a 549 page collection of stories from 1931 and 1932.  There is a 23 page preface, followed by 509 pages of stories, and then an afterword of 40 pages.  The preface contains images of old pulp magazine covers, and an essay by Harlan Ellison.  The afterward contains some essays by the author about some of the works in this collection, as well as a short modern piece for this edition.  This volume also wins Cover of The Month, depicting an original magazine cover from back in the day, illustrating one of Jack's tales contained herein.  The cover story is very much in the Lovecraft tradition, and rather spooky at times.  Another story, "The Lake of Light", seems also influenced by Lovecraft, namely his Antarctic tale "Mountains of Madness."

Cover of the month, by pulp artist H. W. Wesso, from 1932.

It took Michael Moorcock 7 years to get around to publishing the third Captain Bastable story, called The Steel Tsar.  I enjoyed my stay on Rowe Island, discovering traces of Ballard in the writing setting, and some of the lost characters.  Most of the action and dialogue take place in the island hospital and in the lone remaining hotel.  Eventually, the Japanese arrive and capture the whites.  More adventures ensue, but the writing becomes more philosophical, as the author and his characters ponder the purpose of the multiverse and their place in it.  The Steel Tsar is a ruthless socialist, based on Stalin, and is also named after a giant creation that Harryhausen would have happily animated: a giant, scimitar-wielding robot created by one of the oddest characters to ever appear in a novel.  My edition is amply illustrated, and I enjoyed this third and final Bastable novel as much as the others in the series.  Recommended for the adventure, and the philosophical discussions.  Here is a quote from near the end which I particularly liked: Mrs. Persson is speaking.... "We have only institutions and a crude, fragile kind of democracy standing between us and absolute Chaos.  That is why we must value and protect those institutions.  And be forever re-examining them."  Well said!

Malzberg At Large is a story collection of his from 1979, containing a previously read short novel and 5 stories.  I had also read two of the five stories.  And one of the stories eventually became the first chapter of his brilliant novel, Overlay.  There is also an essay by the author, offering insights into his life that really brings a lot of his writing into much clearer focus.  The short story "Gaheena is From 1971" has been called Malzberg's Rashomon.  A very brief and tragic love story is told from 3 different perspectives, with a coda.  Interesting story telling.  And A Soul Song to the Sad, Silly, Soaring Sixties sums up so much of Malzberg's writing.  Very powerful.  If you have no time or patience to read any of his assassination novels, this story would be a good substitute.

And now we turn to books off the shelf, and from Kindle.  First up was another Anne Hillerman mystery, set in New Mexico's lava fields called El Malpais. Deb and I are very familiar with the area through hiking and exploring, and it is one of many unique and highly memorable landscapes in the state.  Cave Of Bones is perhaps her finest novel to date, getting very close to her father's love of the land, and his ability to transfer that to writing.  Like any modern mystery story, it is perhaps a bit too complex, filled as it is with characters.  But it was a fun read, and it is now off my shelf.

I managed to finish a large art book which I have been perusing for many months.  Towards A Modern Identity is the 3rd book dealing with the Detroit Institute of Arts' American painting collection.  This one has 129 paintings, each one discussed in detail and illustrated in colour.  It has been a multi-year journey reading all three volumes.  This one features many of my favourite artists, including Thomas Dewing, James McNeil Whistler, along with many American impressionists and tonalists.  I have now read all the published catalogues of paintings from the museum.  Others include Flemish and German Paintings from the 17th, Dutch paintings from the 17th Century, and Italian baroque art.  I'm still awaiting publication of early Flemish and early Italian catalogues.

I read 5 books from the Delphi Classics series.  First up was a reread that I first came across in paperback at least 40 years ago, probably more.  I don't know what ever became of my copy, but I have it now on Kindle, along with William Hope Hodgson's Ghost Pirates.  This is one of the better early ghost stories, written in 1909.  It was the 3rd book of a loose trilogy of terror by the author, which also included The Boats of the Glen Carrig, and The House on the Borderland.  All three are remarkable books, and a must read for lovers of early fantasy and horror.  The present novel builds nicely from corner of the eye sightings to a full fledged attack on a ship by ghost pirates.  Good late night reading, if you are all alone in a creaky house (or boat).

Fergus Hume's first novel, and the one he is still most famous for writing, is called Mystery of a Hansom Cab, and was first published in 1886.  Delphi has the 1898 corrected edition by the author, as well as his original intro to the updated version.  Hume was a new Zealander, though he lived mostly in Australia, where this novel takes place (Melbourne).  He had studied many different mystery stories before he wrote this, and it shows.  He has all the necessary ingredients for a good murder mystery, and then some.  With the success of this novel, he eventually went on to write about 130 books.  Highly readable, and though the Victorian morals do dominate the mystery and the story, they are not nearly as hard to take as in works by other authors of the time.  Well worth a read for mystery fans.

Next came a real treat, M. R. James' first collection of ghost stories, called Ghost Stories of an Antiquary, from 1904.  My Delphi edition contains 8 stories, each one chilling and quite scary.  If some of his stories were ever literally transferred to screen, they would prove as violent and hard to watch as something by Stephen King, or directed by Del Toro (he would actually be a perfect director for these stories).  For example, in "Lost Hearts", children are murdered by a madman trying to follow an ancient formula to help him live forever.  Their beating hearts are cut out while they are still alive. Imagine what Del Toro could do with that!  And in "The Ash Tree," your worst nightmare regarding giant spiders will haunt you for many days after.  Ohter storeis are just plain scary, without too much violence.  In "The Mezzotint", an old architecture print without any people in it gradually acquires a frightening entity that is seen to move slowly across the print and into an open window.  This story reminded me of the Doctor Who episode called "Blink."  "Oh, Whistle and I'll Come To You" is yet another example of good, old fashioned pure blood curling horror.  Great stuff!!

Next came Jerome Jerome's sequel to Three Men In A Boat, called Three Men on the Bummel.  The same characters (minus the dog) go on a bicycle tour of parts of Germany.  Published nearly 10 years after the first book, this one is also rich with side splitting humour.  Even though there are many parts where things don't really come off too well, there is enough entertainment in these pages to keep me reading passages to Deb for the entire winter.  His observations on marriage are priceless, and still give me pains in the chest when I think of them.  At one point I simply could not read any further; I was hurting too much from laughing.  The best parts are in the first three chapters, which are among the funniest things ever to be written down.  There are stories about sailing holidays, too, as well as many walking and bicycling tales.  Very rich reading.

With one day to spare before resuming my Avon/Equinox SF books, I turned to the next story by Frank Baum, entitled The Road To Oz.  Dorothy sets out from Kansas one day, as she agrees to show the wandering Shaggy Man the correct road to take.  They meet up with Button-Bright, and with Toto following along, are soon lost in another strange world.  The first half of the book details the usual scary adventures one seems to have in trying to reach Oz safely.  Along the way they meet the lost Poly Chrome, daughter to the Rainbow Man.  They are also helped out by Johnny Do-It at one point, in trying to cross that impenetrable desert.  He builds them a sand sleigh to sail across it!  The second half of the book has the group safely in Oz, and soon meeting up with old friends.  By the end of the book, virtually every character we have met so far in the entire series is present, for it's Ozma's grand birthday party, and everyone is coming to help celebrate.  While there is very little adventure in the 2nd half of the book, there is spectacle.  A good addition to the series.

I'll be back soon with film updates. Stay tuned.

Mapman Mike

 

 

 

 

January Reading Summary

We are currently in line for the first big snowstorm of the season.  It appears we will take a direct hit, and up to 18" of snow is predicted on Wed. and Thursday.  Not my favourite thing to report, especially as it has been such a dry winter so far.

Our county is in the direct path of the worst of the snow.  It is going to be very unpleasant. 

This past month I seemed to have a lot of very long books in the queue.  I managed to get through my 8 Avon/Equinox authors by the 19th, and then continued on to read three others, as well as a chapter of the Beethoven biography by Swafford.

As usual, the month got started with Silverberg.  I read his Dying Inside, from 1972.  Silverberg continues to have problems with his writing, and it is not difficult to see why he lost so many of his readers in the early 70s.  His lead character is quite awful, being morally suspect, unimaginative, and quite boring.  He also continues to write poorly regarding female characters.  He mustn't have known very many women.  They are either far background characters, or mere sexual objects there only for the pleasure of men.  This time he does insert an important female character, but she is not treated as such.  The novel is about a man born with the gift, or curse, of being able to read other people's minds, even those of animals.  What he chooses to do with his powers is what really drags down the novel.  He becomes a mere voyeur, probing unsuspecting people's minds to get his thrills.  We are supposed to sympathize with him when his powers wane and then fade out.  Not recommended.

Next up was volume four in a fairly interesting series by Piers Anthony.  Wielding a Red Sword puts Mars, Incarnation of War, into the crosshairs, and the story is actually pretty good.  For one thing, the page count is shorter than most of Anthony's later novels, and this helps keep the story uppermost.  Anthony tends to wander off into infinite explanations of why things happen, and as a result his story is often bloated by a hundred pages or more of needless trivia.  This time he sticks closer to the tale at hand, as Mars has to visit Hell to rescue someone, and then find a way to escape.  There is some good imagery and pacing, making this a successful entry in his Incarnations Of Immortality series (8 books, I believe).

Next up was The Hammer and the Cross, a gargantuan epic novel by Harrison from 1993.  It deals with 8th and 9th C. England, and imagines the vikings ruling the land.  It is alternate history at its finest, and only veers off from fact very, very slowly.  In fact, it is difficult to say exactly when the fantasy element enters the story.  I am a sucker for a good Viking story, and this is a great one, ranking up there with those told by H Rider Haggard and E R Eddison.  There are actually three groups battling it out.  The Vikings have split into two camps, one being your basic rape and pillage gang, and the other, far more interesting, being a splinter group that follows old Nordic religious beliefs.  Of course there are the Roman Catholics opposing all heretics, but it would appear that they are going to lose out in this series.  Yes, it is a series, with three giant books in all.  Can't wait to get at the 2nd one in a few more days!

Following on the heels of the Viking saga came a dashing and daring pirate novel, the 2nd and final one of a series written by Kenneth Bulmer.  Captain Shark: Jaws of Death takes up where the previous novel left off, and the swashbuckling action comes fast and furious.  There is a very funny episode when the captain, dragged overboard and presumed drowned by his crew, finds them again months later drinking in a tavern.  He disguises himself as a man back from the grave and enters the tavern.  One of the best scenes Bulmer ever created!  Good jolly fun.

The inexhaustible source of stories written by E C Tubb continued last month, with I Fight For Mars, another 1950s pulp novel that is much better than its title.  This story brings back memories of Quatermass and the Pit at times, and I continue to enjoy reading Tubb's SF.

Once again Frederik Pohl and Jack Williamson team up for a fine novel.  The Singers of Time is from 1991, and was pretty long (I consider books with small printing over 300 pages to be pretty long--this one was 340).  There is a lot to like about this story of the future.  Earth has been invaded by merchant aliens resembling turtles.  They trade their technological advances for Earth's raw materials.  They have eliminated war on Earth, and seem to be able to bargain for anything they want, since humans are hungry for technology.  Before too long we have left Earth and are traveling in space and time.  There are many unusual features to this story, not the least of which is that the humans are constantly bickering and fighting among themselves.  I feel the story is missing something that would have made it even better, and by the end I found myself wishing there would be a sequel (I don't think there ever was).  The book is good enough to recommend, and the wrap around cover wins best cover for January.

Best SF cover for January 2022.  Art by Michael Whelan.  

I finally got around to starting on Michael Moorcock's Elric stories.  There are a lot of them.  The first was Elric of Melnibone, supposedly the author's rebellious comeback to Tolkien, whom he claims to abhor.  It's not unusual for writers to claim to dislike Tolkien, as he was so successful a writer, and so brilliant at creating a fantasy world, and still remains unequaled to this day in his field.  There are certainly some problems with his writing, but they pale in comparison to the problems of most fantasy writers, such as Robert E Howard and Edgar Rice Burroughs, who Moorcock takes his cues from.  And so there is very little that is original in this first book, from 1972.  Anyone at the time reading the Conan stories and series by Burroughs would not have seen much different in Moorcock.  However, his hero is quite different, very non heroic.  He is pale, sickly, needs magic to keep up his strength, and doesn't really want to do much about anything.  His evil cousin tries to kill him and take over his kingdom more than once, but Elric forgives him each time, and somehow manages to survive.  At least this plot device keeps the story (a rather short one, indeed) going, though it does tend to repeat itself.  This would not be a great introduction to Moorcock's writing.  Most Conan and Burroughs adventure stories are much better than this first effort.  And then there is Fritz Leiber, in a class all by himself.  

I entered a new phase of writing with Barry Malzberg, who collaborated with Bill Pronzini for several murder mystery books.  The Running of Beasts is a gripping story about a serial killer in a small summer resort community, during the off season.  Literally anyone in the town could be the murderer, and in a tour de force ending you will not know the criminal until the very last page.  The book is fast paced and mostly, if not all, believable.  Malzberg has always been the best writer about insanity that I have ever come across, and there are several such people in this story.  Overall, very well done.

That takes care of my required reading for the month.  I had time for three other books, one of them a very long and confusing, rambling tale by Sherry Tepper.  The Waters Rising is mostly one big mess, though it has a few redeeming qualities.  At slightly over 500 pages, this was a tough one to get through, and I believe that many of her readers do not make it very far.  The basic story is almost directly lifted from Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.  There is no Sauron or Mordor; however, there is The Old Dark Man and The Old Dark House.  I kid you not.  There is a journey with a fellowship.  There are no Hobbits, but there is a child of 7 or 8.  And she suddenly transforms into a 19 or 20 year old woman part way through the story.  There is a long journey, with a sort of Bree pub stop along the way (with a Bill Ferny character to go with it).  There is a monastery that serves as a Rivendell.  There is no ring bearer, but the child is a soul bearer.  And so on and so on.  The real problem with the book is the historical detail and the workings of society that the author cannot free herself from.  The actual story would take about 200 pages to tell.  The rest seems like it should be a massive (though hopefully shortened) appendix explaining how things work.  Take the monastery, for example.  We learn every single detail about how it functions, down to how the cooking is done, how tables are served, and how the dishes are done and stacked afterwards.  This is only one example among pages of them I could list.  The history of the lands is also very confusing, though it is a time of rising oceans, and the only chance people have of surviving is to turn into fish really soon.  And they do.  So go read this book if you really want to, but I suggest readers stay away.

Next up came Tales From Earthsea, by Ursula LeGuin.  There are five stories, some of them of novella length and some novelette, as well as a description of Earthsea, in which she does what Tepper should have done, taking about 30 pages to describe all manner of things about Earthsea, including history, language, magic, dragons, etc.  Though I did not like all of the stories, I really enjoyed most of them.  Having said that, I have always been somewhat unsatisfied with LeGuin's Earthsea stories.  She focuses so much on magic and wizards etc it seems as if much of the real goings on in her little universe never make it into print. A few of these stories help out somewhat in this regard, but not very much.  And while it's true that not all great writers can create something as believable as Middle Earth, or Majipoor, but if they are going to attempt such a feat they must go all the way.  LeGuin begins this process in her concluding description chapters, and in some of the stories found in this collectors' hardcover volume.  Her wonky map of Earthsea is included, something else that needs quite a bit of work.

P G Wodehouse was my sugar treat for the month.  I read Right Ho, Jeeves!, one of the funniest books I have ever read.  This was my first Jeeves and Bertie Wooster book, and hopefully it won't be my last.  The climax of the book is the ringing of the fire bell, and the events that follow.  A master craftsman of humourous writing, his characters are rich and full of fun cliches, his plots are as well woven as Shakespeare's, and his upbeat outlook on life is the icing on the cake.  Sadly, there are a few racist jokes and references amidst all the fun.  These very few parts would undoubtedly have seemed funny to some people in its day (1934), though today they remind us of our sad and woeful past.

I read Chapter 22 of Swafford's Beethoven biography, dealing mostly with his 5th and 6th Symphonies.  Our listening project currently has us attending to the three Op 31 piano sonatas, so we are still a long way from hearing those two symphonies again.

I  will be back soon with a winter storm report, and some movie posters.  Today is sunny and mild, our first day above freezing in 13 days.  After today, it's all downhill till who knows when.

Mapman Mike

 

December Books Read

 2021 is well underway--the newest wall calendars are in place, and a new crop of Criterion movies are arriving (and leaving).  And Britain is free of Europe, and the US is almost free of Trump.  And we are all still stuck with covid for a long time yet.

In movie news, we watched a fascinating Egyptian film from 1969 called The Night Of Counting Years.  A while back we had watched a short film by the same director, based on an ancient papyrus scroll that was found and translated.  In this full length feature, the director tackles an episode in 1881, where the Cairo authorities are trying to locate the tombs and mummies from the 21st dynasty for preservation and knowledge.  A fierce mountain tribe has located the horde, and has been systematically robbing the tombs and selling pieces on the black market.  The picture is a quiet one, with stunning location photography and settings.  The film has been restored and looks positively breathtaking.  So many great films, and we actually have time for some of them!

                                                            Now showing on Criterion.  

 

Next came The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, a movie I have likely seen at least 20 times, mostly at the Plaza Theatre in Sudbury, where I would attend a triple feature every Saturday, for 25 cents.  This was Harry Harryhausen's first colour feature, and it's a special effects circus.  There are cyclops, a dragon, a dancing snake woman, a baby two-headed roc, a mama roc, a sword fighting skeleton, a magic lamp with genie, a shrunken princess, and the wonderfully evil magician, Sokura.  There are parts of this film that terrified me as a child, when I would sneak out to the candy counter for a 5 cent treat, taking just long enough to miss the offending scene.  Criterion had a wonderful print of the movie to show us, but it is now left the building.  We waited till the last minute to watch it.

                                    This film showed on Criterion Channel until Dec. 31st/20

 

 Turning now to books read last month, I managed to get through 11 tales related to my Avon/Equinox SF Rediscovery Series project.  In addition, I read two "outside" books, and four more chapters of Beethoven's biography by Jan Swafford.  By reading count was higher this month, as there was virtually no astronomy program due to cloudy nights.

 

I began and ended the month with works by Robert Silverberg.  First came Across A Billion Years, an unusual story of space age archaeology.  A group of scientists are exploring a site of The Old Ones, a mysterious civilization that vanished millions of years ago.  Their artifacts, which remain puzzling and unexplainable, keep turning up of different planets.  A young digger hits the motherlode object, which opens up the field of study like nothing ever before.

 

Silverberg is famous for his books on archaeology, and in fact it was through one of his science books that he first came to my attention as a young reader.  He knows a lot about the subject, and obviously has fun with this well written adventure story.  The ending disappointed me, as it was bound to do when dealing with such a subject, but I really enjoyed the book.  At the end of December I read my 2nd Silverberg story of the month, called Three Survived.  As the author explains in his introduction to my volume, he was asked to write a book for the Pacemaker Series in the late 1960s.  This series of books was aimed at poor readers who wanted access to fun stories.  So Silverberg took a story he'd written many years earlier and reworked it for young but willing readers.  It is actually a novella, and not too bad a one, at that, with several good points to make.  My only complaint, a frequent one with Silverberg and other authors of the time, is that there is not a single female character in the entire story!  Obviously the book was intended for male readers, an opportunity missed yet again to involve females in the genre.  The character Leswick could easily have been switched to female.

 

Next came Blue Adept by Piers Anthony, Book 2 of his Apprentice Adept series.  Anthony tries to build a bridge between SF and Fantasy genres, and while he can be praised for trying something new, the book (and series so far) is more successful as fantasy.  The chapters alternate between two worlds, one where rich people rule a planet decimated by pollution, living under domes and enjoying The Games, and its opposite world, where magic rules and things are still very green.  In my opinion, since discovering his preference for writing fantasy (which at the time was vastly outselling SF), Anthony has been on a downhill treadmill.  One reads him, enjoying certain situations, characters, and settings, but overall it is just a matter of passing time.  I enjoyed the 2nd book more than the first one, but nothing would inspire me to reread either book.

 

Harry Harrison's thrill-a-minute conclusion to his 3-book series To The Stars was up next.  The series (for me) began badly with a frustrating ending to book 1.  However, things improved vastly in the 2nd book, and continued on in like manner till the final page of book 3.   This book deals with the rebellion of the outer planets against Earth, and is a nail-biting story in the best pulp tradition.  There are several highlights, including the author's comparison of how the UK works compared to the USA, and an older, wise black character that owns one of the last great hidden libraries of books, amidst the slums of LA.  A recommended series, after you are finished throwing book one against a wall after reading it.

 

Bulmer's Blazon in a tale of extremely violent and cruel aliens suddenly attacking Earth colonies, and ruthlessly destroying people, animals, crops, etc.  At first Earth is helpless against this unlooked for enemy, and their finest ships go down to defeat in any face to face encounter.  Time for a secret weapon, one that can destroy the aliens and bring peace to the galaxy.   From 1971, the story continues Bulmer's tradition of writing a good tale, and then something beyond.  He always has something interesting to say about humans in his stories, both good and bad.  In this story, the ultimate weapon gets a bit out of control, causing as much of a problem as the alien enemy once did.

 

My readings of E C Tubb have lately centred around books of his that were unpublished in his lifetime, but have finally seen print more recently.  The Freedom Army is from 1953, and is a good old fashioned pulp novel.  Debracey's Drug has caused all humans who take it to lose their emotions and unwilling to tolerate any level of freedom.  The original purpose of the drug was quite different, a story all too familiar today with many fine drugs on the market.  Three freedom loving men are trapped in a bunker, being bombarded to death by the raging mob who hates them.  Luckily (or we wouldn't have had a story at all) one of these men is a brilliant old professor, who is just finishing up his invention, which can lead them all to safety by sending into a different dimension.  Same planet, but different.  Away they go!  To land in the fire from the frying pan they just left behind.  Cruel aliens rule this Earth, and must be defeated and killed.  Again, no females in this story at all.  Sad but true.  A good example of traditional SF pulp, it is one breathless adventurous moment after another.

 

Rogue Star, by Jack Williamson and Fred Pohl, is the concluding novel of their Starchild trilogy.  This volume can be read without any knowledge of the first two books, as it takes place centuries after those stories, in a time when the past events are considered more myth than fact.  In this story, star loves girl, girl hates star, star vows revenge on its elders (other stars).  This is certainly one of the most unique stories I have ever read, and most certainly the strangest love story I have ever come across!  There are some fine moments here, though overall it is a pulp SF novel at heart, with plenty of action, explosions, and heart-thudding adventures.  The hero is quite a comical figure, like something out of an Iain Banks novel.  I had expected the ending to somehow be twisted into a happy one (like so many Star Trek episodes), but I was pleasantly surprised at how original and suitable it really was.  A good read if you want something off the beaten path.

 

The Distant Suns, a novel, and Flux, a 35 page story, were next, authored by Michael Moorcock.  The novel is from 1975, but is a throwback to the pulp era.  Three people leave for Alpha Centauri to find a planet suitable for overcrowded Earth to colonize.  With references to the Morlock and to Neil Armstrong, and a hero named Jerry Cornelius and his wife Catherine, this is a fun read.  There are some inexplicable moments (Asians came to the planet they discover first, many centuries earlier), but overall this is a fun SF novel, filled with strange people and things, and first rate adventure.  Flux is Moorcock's tribute to H. G. Wells' The Time Machine, and in it he reveals the true secret of time travel.  Quite a good story, which covers a lot of ground in very few pages.

 

Next came Miracles of Life, Ballard's autobiography.  At last we get to separate fact from fiction.  Ballard writes as well here as in any of his novels, and his sense of humour keeps things from becoming too serious.  Completed just a year or so before his death, it is essential reading for fans of the author.  His Shanghai experiences during WW II have seeped into every aspect of most of his novels, but he had many other experiences that also deepened his outlook, no the least of which was the death of his young wife.  It is not a book that should be read before his major novels, but it is one I will come back to again.

 

The month's crowning achievement was reading Barry Malzberg's Herovit's World, a novel about a SF pulp writer slowly going crazy.  All of Malzberg's novels feature someone going off the deep end, but this one really takes the cake!  One of his best works, it is dark, very funny, and all too true.  It is a book that should be read by every SF author (it likely has been!) and fan of the genre.  Too incredible, and a must-read!  Book of the month, if not the year!

 

Concluding my cycle of Avon/Equinox books (before starting over with Silverberg--see above) was James Blish's All The Stars A Stage, about a generational life ship heading for the stars with its hopeful human colonists.  The story is slow to begin, but once in space things pick up a lot.  First one planet is visited, but hope is abandoned after several unforeseeable obstacles prevent them from staying.  One of these obstacles concerns insects, and is quite a fascinating take on alien life.  A second planet is reached, again with not much hope of colonizing.  The reasons this time are military, but too late the crew realizes that they could have made this one work.  Will there be a third planet?  By now most of the original crew have passed away, and it is the 2nd generation running things now.  A good, solid SF story, sometimes reminding me of Aniara.

 

I had time for two books off of my 'normal' shelf of books to read.  The first was given to me by Amanda, finally managing to work its way to the top of the pile, after a wait of several years.  The Map and The Territory, a novel by Michel Houellebecq, concerns a successful artist and his sad life.  The character is bland, uninteresting, and unemotional, and halfway through the book I didn't think I would finish it.  He is supposed to be a great author, so I won't judge him by this book.  But it seems to be a stinker.  The book is so unmoving and uninvolving that suddenly, about two thirds of the way through, it becomes a murder mystery.  Even the author must have realized he had dug himself into a nasty hole.  Not recommended.

 

I finished off the month with a wonderful youth novel, Black Jack by Leon Garfield.  This is a first rate adventure novel for young readers (early teens), and I ordered the book a while back after seeing the excellent film based on the book.  Some authors are just so good at writing for young people that it makes me want to give up in despair.  A joy to read!

 

Finally, in art news, I will begin the new year pretty much like the old one ended, with a Utopian painting that allows me some escape from this brown winter, where we are mostly stuck inside the house.  This one involves the sea at sunset, with a ship waiting to take us away from here (though in this case, 'here' doesn't seem too bad).

 

        A Seaport At Sunset, 1643, Claude Gellee, French (1600-1682),  Oil on copper; 16" x 21".  

 

                                                                    Detail of left side.

 

        Detail of right side.  I can see Jan Brueghel and David Teniers enjoying this painting.

 

I have two astronomy articles to write before my next post here, and another challenging vocal task for one of Deb's film series.  After tackling these, I will return with more time filling excitement.  Happy New Year!

 

Mapman Mike 

 

September Books, and A Few Purchases of Note

On December 16th it will be the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth.  We had already planned to incorporate many of his works into our nightly listening program next year, and in addition I am embarking on a 1,000 page biography written by Jan Swafford of Beethoven, published in 2017.  A few years ago I read his work on Brahms, and was enthralled for the several months it took me to finish it.  It was like reading a novel, rather than a biography, and I am hoping for much the same with Beethoven.  There are 33 chapters, and I will read one in between every two novels I finish in my Avon/Equinox project.  So far I have read the Introduction, Chapter One (his grandfather, father and mother, and his birth) and the Appendix, which has to do with musical forms used by the composer.

 

Now part of my on-going reading.

I was getting ready to buy the complete works of Bach on CD, something I've wanted to own for some time now.  We have purchased and listened to the complete works of Delius, Britten, and we are just finishing up Brahms.  But at the last minute I put the Bach project on hold, and purchased the Beethoven collection instead.  This makes more sense just now, even though I doubt we will listen to everything (though I am stubborn and persistent).  The collection gets rave reviews, consists of 118 CDs, including multiple recordings of some works, and vintage recordings of many others.  Also, the piano sonatas and string quartets and symphonies are not by all the same people, but a mix of top performers, which I like.  Combined with my own Beethoven collection on vinyl and CD, we are pretty much set for a fun year of Beethoven! 

This set is on the way to our house!

BTHVN 2020 ‐ Beethoven The New Complete Edition (118 CD + 2 DVD +3 Blu-ray Audio) 

 

On to my September reading.  I read ten books related to my Avon/Equinox project, which now stands at 495 books read and reviewed online, and one book unrelated.  I also began the Beethoven biography, a mammoth undertaking.

 

First up was a Piers Anthony novel, as I began yet another one of his series.  Split Infinity is the first of his Apprentice Adept series, which tries to lead his SF fan base into his world of fantasy.  The novel begins as SF, and then changes to fantasy, as we hop back and forth between two worlds, though existing on different planes of the same planet.  An interesting concept, but he doesn't pull it off very well.  I really like Piers Anthony's SF writing, among the best I've ever read.  But after three of his fantasy novels, I am not a fan of his writing in that genre.  I might try one more in this series later, or not.

 

Next came a Harry Harrison non SF novel, called The QE2 Is Missing.  This is a very taut tale about the great ship being hijacked at sea, then found later with all crew and passengers missing.  The novel has a great opening, and a satisfying ending, and in between is some nail biting adventure.  Another winning combination of husband/wife team up (Harrison is great at this) to help catch the baddies.

Next came Bulmer's 1969 Stained-Glass World, a 160 page distopian novel of a drug-filled escapist future, with the world divided between Workers and Uppers.  If the workers don't work, they don't get access to their off duty dream worlds, which is the only reason they work to keep the world running in the first place.  The Uppers have access to better drugs and dreams, and whenever they want.  There are various kinds of security forces, including the toughest of them, the Revenue men.  The streets are mean, and no one ventures out alone.  Very grim, and worth a look.

An early work by E. C. Tubb was next, from 1953, called The Price of Freedom (alias Space Hunger; alias Earth Set Free).  Coincidentally, this story makes an excellent pairing with the Bulmer novel, above.  Tubb gives a very honest and grim look at a truly free society of the future, one that a good deal of Americans are always screaming for.  It is a world filled with private security and bodyguards, assassinations, raids, robberies, and mostly jungle law.  It would no doubt appeal to a certain type of weapons-loving personality, but most people would prefer what we have now, flawed as it is.  A somewhat strange book, though not nearly as strange as the Bulmer one mentioned above.  Fun to read and think about.

 

Next comes Jack Williamson's highly readable adventure story, a retelling of Theseus and the Minotaur, called The Reign of Wizardry.  If, like me, you have always been fascinated by Crete and the Minoans, then this fun novel will be right up your alley.  It gets silly from time to time, and there is one (for me) big disappointment, but all in all this is a good book to seek out in a used book store on a rainy day.

Michael Moorcock's The Quest for Tanelorn concludes his Castle Brass series (3 novels), and Hawkmoon series (4 novels).  It's only 155 pages and easy to read, and in addition to wrapping up the two series mentioned, it also sums up all of his Multiverse writings up to that time (1975).  The three Count Brass books have been added to my all-time list of favourite series, though the four Hawkmoon books, which are good but not great, must be read first.  Highly recommended!

Next came Super-Cannes: A Novel, by J. G. Ballard.  Several of Ballard's books are my favourite books of all time, and this one is right at the top of the list.  Absolutely amazing writing, the book, at 340 or so pages, left me wishing it had never ended.  He hits so many things right on the head in this book that it could provide me with an infinite number of quotes, enough for several years of those little daily tear-away calendars.  One of the best modern novels, without question.  Not SF, but worth it for SF fans anyway.

Cinema by Barry Malzberg is another novel he wrote in the early 70s for a publishing house trying to upgrade itself from publishing standard porn novels.  They got way more than they bargained for with Malzberg.  Despite the sex, which is not pornographic at all, this is great literature, and reminds me of the joke of why blokes used to buy Playboy magazine back in the day ("for the articles, man").  A young woman, a recent college grad, wants to become an actress, and instead gets herself involved in the porn film industry.  Like his previous book for the same publisher, called Screen, this one is tragically hilarious, as we watch the poor heroine get ground down until she has a breakdown.  Doesn't sound very funny, but black humour is hard to explain.  This stuff is jet black.

Last in the cycle comes James Blish, who co-wrote A Torrent Of Faces with Norman L. Knight.  Published in Galaxy Magazine as three novelettes, and expanded and published here as a linked novel, we are taken to a future where Earth is home to 1 trillion people!  Now that's what I call trying to tackle a true population nightmare!  This is a nearly perfect story, so well done and so highly readable, from 1967.  One of the great SF novels, to be sure!

Before resuming my next iteration of the Avon/Equinox authors' books remaining, I now always take a break and read something different.  I returned to my childhood again, reading The Time Machine by H. G. Wells. It is a very well crafted novella, and my only regret is that the author never returned to the theme.  How I wish he had written a sequel!  One of the greatest stories every written, and I was suprised by how well the 1960s feature film followed the author's writing.  The movie did add more things, and left out the far future segment, but overall did a great job of bringing the story to the big screen.

Lastly for September came a novel by Robert Silverberg, as I start over in my reading cycle.  To Open The Sky, like the Blish book discussed above, also consolidated some works previously published in SF magazines in the mid-60s.  Five novelettes tell the story of how interstellar travel was achieved, over a period of some 90+ years.  Many of the same characters return in each story.  It is a very imaginative and unique look at how the speed of light might someday be breached.  Sometimes the writing is a bit too straight forward and not that engaging, but overall this is a well done project.  I wish there had been one more story at the end.

 

I am currently reading a 532 page SF novel by Piers Anthony called Mute (for mutation).  Next month I'll talk about it a bit.  If this or any of the novels mentioned above are of interest, refer to my Avon/Equinox blog.  There should be a link at the top of this page, in the left margin.

Too tired right now to include art from the DIA.  Hopefully next time.  Happy October, and Happy Full Moon!

Mapman Mike