Monthly Archives: May 2020

Talbot Mundy’s Tros of Samothrace: Lud of Lunden

9 Replies

So I did a birthday post on Talbot Mundy not long ago which generated a side conversation on Twitter about this series.  The end result of which was I decided to give it a try.

Based on that conversation and an email exchange with someone who is too smart to be on Twitter (waves at John), my opinion seems to be in the minority on this one.

The general consensus was that these books are slow. I have to agree; they don’t move as quickly as most books of this type would if published today, nor do they have the pace of the story I reviewed for Mundy’s birthday, “For the Salt he Had Eaten”. The style is an older style of adventure story writing where things move at a more sedate pace.  But the first volume, Lud of Lunden held my interest all the way to the end. Continue reading →

The Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series: Zothique by Clark Ashton Smith

16 Replies

A few years back, I was writing a series of posts for Black Gate in which I was reviewing each volume of the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series (mostly) in order. The reasons why I stopped are several, and I’m not going to get into them here. Nor do I plan to restart that series here, at least not without getting John O’Neill’s blessing. He’d asked for the series, IIRC, and as a courtesy, I would want to make sure he was okay with me moving the series to my blog. I’ve got too many irons in the fire right now, though, to pick up another project.

For those not in the know, or stumbled upon this post because of the word “Adult” in the title, Ballantine published a series of books under the editorial direction of Lin Carter of fantasy aimed at grown-ups. If you’re in the latter group, this isn’t going to be that type of “adult” post. And the type of fantasy you’re probably looking for isn’t what we deal with here.

Zothique was the first of four collections of Clark Ashton Smith’s short fiction that appeared in the BAF series. The wrap-around cover is by George Barr. (One of the best things about this line of books was their covers.)

Zothique is the last continent on a far future Earth in which much science and history has been forgotten, and magic has returned.  If this reminds you of Jack Vance’s Dying Earth, keep in mind Smith did it first. Some of the stories are better than others, but all are well-done.  Here are a few of my favorites. Continue reading →

Three by Wellman

17 Replies

Manly Wade Wellman

Today, May 21, marks the birth of Manly Wade Wellman (1903-1986). Wellman is best remembered for his stories of the John the Balladeer, set in the Appalachian mountains. But he wrote a lot of other things, as well.

I first discovered Wellman’s short stories in the pages of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.  He had a number of  stories published there in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. Someone who had had a subscription had sold an almost complete run to the local second hand bookstore when I was in high school. Wellman’s stories were among the first I read when I picked up an issue with his name on the cover.

If you haven’t figured it out by now, Wellman is a favorite around these here parts, so in honor of his birth, in addition to raising a glass in his honor later this evening, I’m going to look at three of his stories that feature the same  character, Sergeant Jaeger. Continue reading →

Retro Hugos: “When the Bow Breaks” by Lewis Padgett

4 Replies

Anyone who hangs out around here for any length of time and doesn’t know that Lewis Padgett is one the the pen names used by Henry Kuttner and his wife C. L. Moore clearly hasn’t been paying attention.  Written under the Lewis Padgett by-line, “When the Bough Breaks” was first published in the November 1944 issue of Astounding.

The spring before I started high school, my parents gave permission for me to join the Science Fiction Book Club. So I had a source of hardcover science fiction and fantasy to read that summer.  This was in the days before science fiction was regularly published in hardcover. Most books were mass market paperbacks.

At the time, the SFBC offered a number of titles from Ballantine’s Best of series. This was a way I could discover new writers, and I took full advantage of it.  I mean, if these writers weren’t good, why was there a volume entitled The Best of followed by their names? I was making money mowing lawns, so I had the funds to afford to buy some books. I was already familiar with the series because I had found The Best of Jack Williamson at a flea market about eighteen months earlier, and I bought every one the SFBC offered at the time.  (For some reason, they never offered The Best of C. L. Moore while I was a member, although they had published such a volume a year or three earlier.) Continue reading →

A Visit to Redbeard’s Place

3 Replies

Gene Wolfe

The Retro Hugo post I was too tired to write last night will have to wait another day, because today, May 7, is Gene Wolfe’s birthday. The more I read Gene Wolfe (1931-2019), the more I appreciate him as a writer.

Tonight’s story is “Redbeard”.  It’s a short tale, not really fantasy unless you count reference to a haunted house, the Redbeard place. It’s certainly not science fiction.  It’s definitely horror, with a bit of noir thrown in for good measure. It was devilish fun. Continue reading →

Retro Hugos: “City” by Clifford D. Simak

1 Reply

Published in the May 1944 issue of Astounding, “City” launched the series that was later collected in book form under that title.  Although I read it last year in The Ghost of a Model T, I reread it for this series.

The story takes place in what would have been considered the relatively near future, although it would certainly be considered our past. It’s set in 1990.

Cities have mostly been abandoned, with the bulk of the population moving out to country estates. Most neighborhoods have been abandoned, with only a few holdouts of the originals residents remaining. Farming is all done by hydroponics now. So the farmers have moved into the abandoned houses. They live a subsistence life by hunting, small gardening, and scavenging. Continue reading →