Tag Archives: John O’Neill

Lin Carter’s Legacy: The Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series

Lin Carter was born on June 9, 1930.  He passed away in 1988. I’m not going to review any of his fiction for this birthday post.  It’s been one of those days. I’m going to try to read something by Keith Laumer for Futures Past and Present.

Lin Carter

Today I want to discuss what was arguably his greatest contribution to the field of fantasy. No, I’m not talking about his involvement with L. Sprague de Camp and the Conan revival of the 1960s. I mean, of course, the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series.

BENE NOTE: If you want to do a web search, type “Ballantine Fantasy” in your search engine.  Don’t say “Ballantine Adult Fantasy” unless you want to set off all kinds of bells and whistles. Especially at work. Continue reading

I Look at the Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series

bk_dream-quest_lovecraftI started to refer to this project as Sooper Seekrit Project Number 3, but it will go public too quickly to really have that title.  Number 1 was the Amazing Stories gig.  Number 2 has been put on hold indefinitely, and will thus remain secret for a while longer.

John ONeill asked me about a month or six weeks ago if I would consider doing some posts for Black Gate.  After a brief back and forth, this is what we settled on.  I said I would be glad to do it, but it would have to wait until October was over.  He agreed.

200px-Lin_Carter_DFR

Lin Carter

So here’s the deal.  I’m going to be reviewing the Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series edited by Lin Carter.  The first post will be a brief overview of the series, placing it in its historical context.  Then I’ll start reviewing the books.  I’m going to take them in order of publication at first, but at some point I’ll start jumping around.  Some of the titles I find the most interesting were published later in the run.

KhaledFor those of you who might not be familiar with it, the Adult Fantasy Series was a series of books published by Ballantine Books in the late 1960s through the mid 1970s.  Edited by Lin Carter, the series included a number of works written in the 1800s or early 1900s, many of which had fallen into obscurity or were unfamiliar to American readers.  The books had gorgeous wraparound cover art and are highly collectible today.

I’m not going to be on a regular schedule, at least not for a while.  My intention is to get about one post a month done.  I’m still doing a weekly post for Amazing Stories, and that will continue through the end of the year.  Then I’m going to cut back.  Trying to review an independent work every week is starting to put more of a strain on my schedule than I want.

At the Edge fo the World