I have two David C. Smith books, "Oron" and "The Sorcerer's Shadow." I've heard good things about Smith, but right now these books are not very high at all on the "to read" pile. I think he also may have co-written three Red Sonja books I picked up at a "cheap as dirt" library sale last week, but for now these are "deep storage" material I won't get to for at least another year or so.
I have read all his Red Sonja team-ups, they are ok.
The Sorcerer's Shadow is the one I found, too.
...hi blue...cool,thanks for that little list!...i'll keep my eye out for those lin carter anthologies...i think i've seen them over the years...i desperately want them now!...no doubt there are other gems in there as well!...just got home from our twice-yearly book-fair...you wouldn't BELIEVE some of the classic old stuff i got...Could you possibly be talking about the Friends of the Seattle Library sale on Friday in Seattle?
I was there and snagged 25 vintage SF paperbacks. Pretty good selection this year.
...no man,i'm in canberra on planet australia...the book-fair is run by a charity so you can find some serious bargains...don't know where they get this stuff every year!...among a lot of others,i'm looking forward to reading gardiner f fox's 'kyrik and the lost queen' and 'kothar and the wizard slayer'(both from around 1970 i think)...do you have those?...he had a lot of stories in 'planet stories' in the 50's but i don't think i've read any
I have two David C. Smith books, "Oron" and "The Sorcerer's Shadow." I've heard good things about Smith, but right now these books are not very high at all on the "to read" pile. I think he also may have co-written three Red Sonja books I picked up at a "cheap as dirt" library sale last week, but for now these are "deep storage" material I won't get to for at least another year or so.
I have read all his Red Sonja team-ups, they are ok.
The Sorcerer's Shadow is the one I found, too.
yeah the 'red sonya' ones are pretty cool...he also wrote some 'bran mac morn' books with the same guy (richard l tierney)...they're ok too
Hey Erik
Any chance of seeing the excellent Lin Carter pastiches: the Zanthodon series, and the Green Star series?
Been enjoying the series immensely so far, even though i've read and collected many of them in the past. Keep up the good work.
mal
I have all of those books in my collection, but it will probably be a long while until I get to them. Even within Carter's output there are a half-dozen books I'd probably rather do, and if "underground prehistoric land" is the genre in demand I think there are probably more deserving, less available stuff on the docket.
I'm thinking of stories like "Dian of Lost Land" or "The Radio Flyers" or something like that.
I have recently read a lot of crap Lin Carter stories, though, so I probably need to read a really good one to jolt me into respecting him more as a writer than as an editor.
Any suggestions?
i've TRIED to like lin carter over the years but it's hard work...the only ones i really did enjoy were 'the green star' ones...and as an editor he's pretty painful as well...he ALWAYS includes a story of his own (or 2)...i've got about 30 of his books(a lot of them have cool covers)...most are kind of ok but nothing special
no man,i'm in canberra on planet australia...the book-fair is run by a charity so you can find some serious bargains...don't know where they get this stuff every year!...among a lot of others,i'm looking forward to reading gardiner f fox's 'kyrik and the lost queen' and 'kothar and the wizard slayer'(both from around 1970 i think)...do you have those?...he had a lot of stories in 'planet stories' in the 50's but i don't think i've read any
I've read a couple of Kothar books - fairly ordinary, but if you got 'em for a buck or two no problem there. The Kyrik I haven't seen. I have one of his Llarn books, that was pretty cool.
The Crystal Cave, etc? Not really the thing he is looking for, I think. But that does remind me of something.This is a long shot, but what about Mary Stewart's Myrdden books?
There's a lot of talk of SF, but not much fantasy! :)
Now I will digress, and suggest John Norman's Chronicles of Gor. I'm interested in reading this since seeing the terrible Gor movie on Sci-Fi last week.
Please don't go anywhere NEAR john norman's 'gor' series!!!...i don't know what the movie was like but this is THE biggest load of s#$+ i've ever come across!!!...seriously...i can't believe ANYBODY could think it was good...it's actually second-rate sort of s/m porn!!...poor old john norman the woman-hater(he obviously had problems)...apparently the first couple aren't SO bad but the ones i've got are just rubbish
What about some of the lesser known works of Burroughs. Meaning some of the novels that the estate let slip under their radar and go in to public domain.
Like The Moon Maid.
Hilarious.
I just mentioned The Moon Maid in another thread in this folder!
Have you read Otis Adelbert Kline's "Maza of the Moon"?
For that matter, has anyone on this thread read any Otis Adelbert Kline at all?
--Erik
I've read Man From the Moon.
http://freesf.blogspot.com/2007/12/man-from-moon-otis-adelbert-kline.html
I am completely unfamiliar with Dennis Wheatley. I was excited about Richard Sharp Shaver for about a month as I researched the Shaver Mystery in the complete Amazing Stories archive outside my office, until I actually read I REMEMBER LEMURIA. Saver's writing (filtered through Amazing editor Ray Palmer) is an absolute disaster, with meaningless footnotes, nonsense words aplenty, and a genuine lack of narrative structure.
Wheatley's a horror writer - wrote books about satanists, etc.
I came across another Shaver story other than that - plenty of cool stuff, very bad writing = and I agree on the Lemuria story.
There's a link to it here, if anyone wants to see for themselves :
http://freesf.blogspot.com/2008/05/i-remember-lemuria-richard-s-shaver.html
What about some of the lesser known works of Burroughs. Meaning some of the novels that the estate let slip under their radar and go in to public domain.
Like The Moon Maid.
Hilarious.
I just mentioned The Moon Maid in another thread in this folder!
Have you read Otis Adelbert Kline's "Maza of the Moon"?
For that matter, has anyone on this thread read any Otis Adelbert Kline at all?
--Erik
I've read Man From the Moon.
http://freesf.blogspot.com/2007/12/man-from-moon-otis-adelbert-kline.html
'the moon maid' is cool...there's also 'the moon men' (a sequel i think)...i love 'the swordsman' and the 'outlaws of mars'...i think it's as good as burroughs and you don't have to cringe at john carter!...i have 'the port of peril' but am waiting to find the earlier ones in that series...there's a suggestion...'planet of peril' and 'prince of peril'...and yes 'maza of the moon'
I have recently read a lot of crap Lin Carter stories, though, so I probably need to read a really good one to jolt me into respecting him more as a writer than as an editor.Any suggestions?
The Higher Heresies of Oolimar and Vault Of Silence were pretty cool.
Poul Anderson -- The Broken Sword
Poul Anderson -- Three Hearts and Three Lions
I must confess that I am not a huge fan of Poul Anderson. His work just doesn't sing to me, but then I will admit that I have not read Three Hearts and Three Lions and I've mostly focused on other stuff like Virgin Planet, which I found disappointing.
I am not the biggest fan of Anderson's fantasy, either, does lack that primal something.
What would probably fit best is the adventures of Terran Super Agent Dominic Flandry - but I am pretty sure Baen will be doing those with the rest, too. If you haven't read one, those are worth a go.
Poul Anderson
I find Anderson very uneven. While I enjoyed the Broken Sword, I yawned my way through Three Hearts, Three Lions.
'the moon maid' is cool...there's also 'the moon men' (a sequel i think)...i love 'the swordsman' and the 'outlaws of mars'...i think it's as good as burroughs and you don't have to cringe at john carter!...i have 'the port of peril' but am waiting to find the earlier ones in that series...there's a suggestion...'planet of peril' and 'prince of peril'...and yes 'maza of the moon'
Here's a start - note that what the PS editors have said about the cuts etc. for the Mars books though - wonder if this is the case for Outlaw - which I haven't read.
Planet of Peril
The Prince of Peril
The Port of Peril
Outlaws of Mars
Maza of the Moon
Jan of the Jungle
Stolen Centuries
Man from the Moon
Poul AndersonI find Anderson very uneven. While I enjoyed the Broken Sword, I yawned my way through Three Hearts, Three Lions.
Yeah, I liked the Broken Sword more, too.
'the moon maid' is cool...there's also 'the moon men' (a sequel i think)...i love 'the swordsman' and the 'outlaws of mars'...i think it's as good as burroughs and you don't have to cringe at john carter!...i have 'the port of peril' but am waiting to find the earlier ones in that series...there's a suggestion...'planet of peril' and 'prince of peril'...and yes 'maza of the moon'Here's a start - note that what the PS editors have said about the cuts etc. for the Mars books though - wonder if this is the case for Outlaw - which I haven't read.
Planet of Peril
The Prince of Peril
The Port of Peril
Outlaws of Mars
Maza of the Moon
Jan of the Jungle
Stolen Centuries
Man from the Moon
cool...but like someone else said it's HARD to read a book on a pc!...i need a decent chair!
Poul Anderson -- The Broken Sword
Poul Anderson -- Three Hearts and Three Lions
I must confess that I am not a huge fan of Poul Anderson. His work just doesn't sing to me, but then I will admit that I have not read Three Hearts and Three Lions and I've mostly focused on other stuff like Virgin Planet, which I found disappointing.
I am not the biggest fan of Anderson's fantasy, either, does lack that primal something.
What would probably fit best is the adventures of Terran Super Agent Dominic Flandry - but I am pretty sure Baen will be doing those with the rest, too. If you haven't read one, those are worth a go.
i agree that anderson's uneven...a few i liked were 'satan's world','the trouble twisters' and 'midsummer tempest'...i read 'three hearts..'and 'the broken sword' as a teenager and loved them...second time around they were only ok...also some of his really early ones from P.S. etc. like 'duel on syrtis' and 'garden in the void' were cool
i agree that anderson's uneven...a few i liked were 'satan's world','the trouble twisters' and 'midsummer tempest'...i read 'three hearts..'and 'the broken sword' as a teenager and loved them...second time around they were only ok...also some of his really early ones from P.S. etc. like 'duel on syrtis' and 'garden in the void' were coolPoul Anderson -- The Broken Sword
Poul Anderson -- Three Hearts and Three Lions
I must confess that I am not a huge fan of Poul Anderson. His work just doesn't sing to me, but then I will admit that I have not read Three Hearts and Three Lions and I've mostly focused on other stuff like Virgin Planet, which I found disappointing.
I am not the biggest fan of Anderson's fantasy, either, does lack that primal something.
What would probably fit best is the adventures of Terran Super Agent Dominic Flandry - but I am pretty sure Baen will be doing those with the rest, too. If you haven't read one, those are worth a go.
Yes, A Midsummer Tempest because I am a major Anglophile, and also some of his Thieves' World stories, if I recall. Have you read Mother of Kings?
Yes, A Midsummer Tempest because I am a major Anglophile, and also some of his Thieves' World stories, if I recall. Have you read Mother of Kings?i agree that anderson's uneven...a few i liked were 'satan's world','the trouble twisters' and 'midsummer tempest'...i read 'three hearts..'and 'the broken sword' as a teenager and loved them...second time around they were only ok...also some of his really early ones from P.S. etc. like 'duel on syrtis' and 'garden in the void' were coolPoul Anderson -- The Broken Sword
Poul Anderson -- Three Hearts and Three Lions
I must confess that I am not a huge fan of Poul Anderson. His work just doesn't sing to me, but then I will admit that I have not read Three Hearts and Three Lions and I've mostly focused on other stuff like Virgin Planet, which I found disappointing.
I am not the biggest fan of Anderson's fantasy, either, does lack that primal something.
What would probably fit best is the adventures of Terran Super Agent Dominic Flandry - but I am pretty sure Baen will be doing those with the rest, too. If you haven't read one, those are worth a go.
no but i've got it
no but i've got it
I was just curious if you or Blue Tyson had read it, because somebody recommended it to me at some point.
Hi Erik,
Here are the details:
Author/Creator: Moore, C. L. (Catherine Lucile), 1911-
Title: Shambleau [sound recording] : (abridged).
Published: New York, N.Y. : Caedmon, p1981.
Description: 1 sound cassette (58 min.) : analog, stereo., Dolby processed.
Publisher Number: CP 1667 Caedmon
Summary: A dreadful red-headed Medusa, who feeds off the blood of humans and other races, comes to life in this Martian adventure.
Participants: Read by the author C.L. Moore.
Notes: Source: The best of C.L. Moore. Published: New York : Ballantine Books, 1976.
Program notes by Ward Botsford and C.L. Moore on container.If (as I suspect might be the case) you have a hard time tracking down a copy, let me know. Since Paizo is making an effort to get out-of-print items back into print (including the works of this author), in my opinion getting something to you would fall under scholarly use, especially if it looks like a recording of this significance is getting ready to vanish permanently.
how cool...can i have one too?
no but i've got itI was just curious if you or Blue Tyson had read it, because somebody recommended it to me at some point.
Mother Of Kings? Nope, never even seen that one.
His Conan book was ok. Operation Chaos/Luna/Afreet are fun.
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This seems like as good a place as any for this:
My wife's grandmother (87 years old) was recently put in a home. As they were cleaning out her house (where she has lived since around 1940), they foudna box full of her husband's old sci-fi books. I never met the man (he died when my wife was a kid), but he seems to have been a big genre fan.
Anyway, my wife's family asked me if I wanted the books, and I agreed to take them all. The only thing I know about the books so far is that they were likely printed during the 60's and 70's (maybe a few from the 50's). We are driving down to New Orleans for Christmas this year, and I'll be picking up the books and bringing them back to Philly with me.
After I go through the books, I plan to post a list of them here.
Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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...no man,i'm in canberra on planet australia...the book-fair is run by a charity so you can find some serious bargains...don't know where they get this stuff every year!...among a lot of others,i'm looking forward to reading gardiner f fox's 'kyrik and the lost queen' and 'kothar and the wizard slayer'(both from around 1970 i think)...do you have those?...he had a lot of stories in 'planet stories' in the 50's but i don't think i've read any
I was there and snagged 25 vintage SF paperbacks. Pretty good selection this year.
I have all of Gardner Fox's Kothar and Kyrik stories, and if I want to jump through some major hoops involving a drive to an out-of-state library, I'm pretty sure I could even get the rights to republish them based on conversations I've had with the family.
I haven't yet been able to find the time for that trip, and there is other stuff I'd prefer to focus on in the meantime.
But I hope to get to Gardner F. Fox in the middle-future.
--Erik
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Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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i've TRIED to like lin carter over the years but it's hard work...the only ones i really did enjoy were 'the green star' ones...and as an editor he's pretty painful as well...he ALWAYS includes a story of his own (or 2)...i've got about 30 of his books(a lot of them have cool covers)...most are kind of ok but nothing special
You can't blame him too much for that. Many (if not most) anthologists tend to do this, as it allows them to make more money off the book's sales.
Granted, many of the self-selected stories by editors do not match the power of stories by truly great authors, but that's just the way of the world, I'm afraid.
And while I think Carter did the world a service with his many fantasy anthologies, his greatest contribution came in the form of the "Adult Fantasy" series from Ballantine, which rescued a lot of excellent novel-length tales and short stories from oblivion in the late 1960s/early 1970s.
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Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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Please don't go anywhere NEAR john norman's 'gor' series!!!...i don't know what the movie was like but this is THE biggest load of s@#% i've ever come across!!!...seriously...i can't believe ANYBODY could think it was good...it's actually second-rate sort of s/m porn!!...poor old john norman the woman-hater(he obviously had problems)...apparently the first couple aren't SO bad but the ones i've got are just rubbish
I don't think much of the sexual politics that go into the Gor books, nor does the writing sing to me (at least from my ancient memories of having read some of the books in the 1980s). Since other publishers are big Gor fans, I'm just not worrying about it. If you want Gor, I suspect plenty of other people will give it to you.
I suggest not letting your wife read the books, though, unless she really likes being chained up in a cage or something.
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Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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This seems like as good a place as any for this:
My wife's grandmother (87 years old) was recently put in a home. As they were cleaning out her house (where she has lived since around 1940), they foudna box full of her husband's old sci-fi books. I never met the man (he died when my wife was a kid), but he seems to have been a big genre fan.
Anyway, my wife's family asked me if I wanted the books, and I agreed to take them all. The only thing I know about the books so far is that they were likely printed during the 60's and 70's (maybe a few from the 50's). We are driving down to New Orleans for Christmas this year, and I'll be picking up the books and bringing them back to Philly with me.
After I go through the books, I plan to post a list of them here.
Sounds exciting! There's probably some really fun stuff in that box of books.
i've TRIED to like lin carter over the years but it's hard work...the only ones i really did enjoy were 'the green star' ones...and as an editor he's pretty painful as well...he ALWAYS includes a story of his own (or 2)...i've got about 30 of his books(a lot of them have cool covers)...most are kind of ok but nothing specialYou can't blame him too much for that. Many (if not most) anthologists tend to do this, as it allows them to make more money off the book's sales.
Granted, many of the self-selected stories by editors do not match the power of stories by truly great authors, but that's just the way of the world, I'm afraid.
And while I think Carter did the world a service with his many fantasy anthologies, his greatest contribution came in the form of the "Adult Fantasy" series from Ballantine, which rescued a lot of excellent novel-length tales and short stories from oblivion in the late 1960s/early 1970s.
hi yes i totally agree with all you say...especially about that ballantine series!...i was probably a bit harsh about lin carter...(mike moorcock is a lot more harsh in 'wizardry and wild romance'...i also agree with moorcock about lovecraft...unreadable)...i thank carter for introducing me to william morris,dunsany,hope mirrlees etc. and i actually just scored 'khaled' by f.marion crawford at that book-fair...and yeah some of his stuff is pretty cool...good call about not giving any 'gor' books to your wife,let alone say your 14 year old daughter or your grandma...i'm reading 'ambassadors from venus' by someone called kendall foster crossen from PS mar.'51...a beauty!...it's in 'from other worlds' ed.august derleth '52...there's a c a smith one in it that i haven't seen before called 'the metamorphosis of earth'
no but i've got itI was just curious if you or Blue Tyson had read it, because somebody recommended it to me at some point.
i haven't read it but it's from 2001...a viking/fantasy epic...it sounds kind of cool but i've not read anything of his that was written after like the 70's so who knows?
i haven't read it but it's from 2001...a viking/fantasy epic...it sounds kind of cool but i've not read anything of his that was written after like the 70's so who knows?no but i've got itI was just curious if you or Blue Tyson had read it, because somebody recommended it to me at some point.
Thanks, good to know. I wonder if he is one of those writers that got better or worse with the years.
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Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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Love to hear some examples of each class of writer, in your opinion.
I think Edmond Hamilton's earliest Weird Tales stories (which embarrassed him) are better than a lot of the stuff he wrote in the late 1930s. I hear his 1960s material shows a new side to his writing, but I wonder how much of that is true and I don't know because I haven't read much of the more recent material.
The earliest Robert E. Howard stories I've read are several grades below the standard set by Conan stories like "Queen of the Black Coast" or "Tower of the Elephant".
C. L. Moore and Abraham Merritt seem to have hit homers at almost every at bat their entire careers.
I think Lovecraft took a while to get started.
Many people believe Edgar Rice Burroughs got much worse as he went on, but I've only really read the earlier stuff.
Thanks, good to know. I wonder if he is one of those writers that got better or worse with the years.i haven't read it but it's from 2001...a viking/fantasy epic...it sounds kind of cool but i've not read anything of his that was written after like the 70's so who knows?no but i've got itI was just curious if you or Blue Tyson had read it, because somebody recommended it to me at some point.
Very few people have written as much as Anderson, so perhaps hard to compare. To me, he improved as time went along to the 60s/70s etc. as things changed. Then you have the usual gradual decline into old age I think. Fairly standard sort of pattern I would think.
Love to hear some examples of each class of writer, in your opinion.
Yeah, me too!--because I am not sure that I am a very good candidate to answer your question in the realm of pulp writers (I am widely read, but not in this area). All the Lovecraft I have read came from two anthologized volumes, except for the one he wrote with Derleth, so I imagine they may have left out any early dudes I would have compared them too. John Carter is the only ERB I have read, back when I was probably 17 or 18. I read them because I wanted to slow down my trek through the Dray Prescott series. While Aakers could sometimes seem like more of the same, and wasn't the best writer, I was hooked and it seemed to me like he continued with the same steam (having not read the later books only published in Germany.) I tried Gor, and gave it up pretty quickly.
I didn't read Howard because I decided early on I would not enjoy "dumb barbarian" stories, an impression that was strengthened when my college DM, who turned me on to D.P., read me an unfortunate poem of Howard's. But I loved "The Whole Wide World," and having run across an appreciative comment in either Tolkien's (or Lewis'?) correspondence, I decided to give Conan a chance and am glad I did. However, here I decided to read it according to the Rippke chronology, not the order Howard wrote them in (and I am not very far in) so I have no judgment for Howard's development either. My Poul Anderson opinion is probably based on too small of a sampling, although is seems to fit with what I'm hearing here. Others I definitely don't have enough of a sampling to hazard an opinion. (Mostly out of genre, I would say that Sir A. C. Doyle just got better--but I haven't read his last novel.)
I am also almost done with Moore, who has been a real gem of a discovery, so I can agree with you on Moore. How is that for a whole lot of nothing?
Love to hear some examples of each class of writer, in your opinion.
I think Edmond Hamilton's earliest Weird Tales stories (which embarrassed him) are better than a lot of the stuff he wrote in the late 1930s. I hear his 1960s material shows a new side to his writing, but I wonder how much of that is true and I don't know because I haven't read much of the more recent material.
The earliest Robert E. Howard stories I've read are several grades below the standard set by Conan stories like "Queen of the Black Coast" or "Tower of the Elephant".
C. L. Moore and Abraham Merritt seem to have hit homers at almost every at bat their entire careers.
I think Lovecraft took a while to get started.
Many people believe Edgar Rice Burroughs got much worse as he went on, but I've only really read the earlier stuff.
it's a hard one...a lot of people are sort of hit or miss i think...it's also kind of very subjective (for me anyway)...i sort of like a STORY or not...it's like 'what's a good song and what's a bad one?'...a lot of people like the ones that you think are bad...but yes howard just got better(even though all the 'kull' is still excellent, in fact i've never read a story by howard that i didn't like!),i much prefer c.l moore in the 30's (jirel,northwest etc.)to what she did later in astounding and with kuttner,(except 'earth's last citadel'-a true classic),leigh brackett was just awesome from start to finish,same with merritt(although 'seven footprints to satan' and 'burn witch burn' did nothing for me),anderson's all over the place,guys like moorcock,simak,rider haggard,william morris and vance stand out to me as consistently good...in fact moorcock has gotten better i think...'the dreamthief's daughter' and 'silverheart' were both classics...and he's still going!
think...'the dreamthief's daughter' and 'silverheart' were both classics...and he's still going!
You are the only person I have seen say that!
I read them because I wanted to slow down my trek through the Dray Prescott series. While Aakers could sometimes seem like more of the same, and wasn't the best writer, I was hooked and it seemed to me like he continued with the same steam (having not read the later books only published in Germany.)
There are more now, if you are really keen :
think...'the dreamthief's daughter' and 'silverheart' were both classics...and he's still going!You are the only person I have seen say that!
lol...what have you heard?...do people hate it or something?...have you read them?...i love lady rose iron!,one of my favourite characters ever...i've got 'the white wolf's son' near the top of the pile as well...really looking forward to that one!
lol...what have you heard?...do people hate it or something?...have you read them?...i love lady rose iron!,one of my favourite characters ever...i've got 'the white wolf's son' near the top of the pile as well...really looking forward to that one!think...'the dreamthief's daughter' and 'silverheart' were both classics...and he's still going!You are the only person I have seen say that!
Yeah, I've read close to everything he has written, barring some odd short stories and a mainstream book here or there.
The White Wolf's Son is pretty much the one I have to get to, actually. :)
lol...what have you heard?...do people hate it or something?...have you read them?...i love lady rose iron!,one of my favourite characters ever...i've got 'the white wolf's son' near the top of the pile as well...really looking forward to that one!think...'the dreamthief's daughter' and 'silverheart' were both classics...and he's still going!You are the only person I have seen say that!Yeah, I've read close to everything he has written, barring some odd short stories and a mainstream book here or there.
The White Wolf's Son is pretty much the one I have to get to, actually. :)
yes,oonagh von bek and gaynor the damned...i'm saving it for a special treat!...if you had to pick one book or series what would you go for?...after considerable anquish i'd probably have to take the 'dancers at the end of time' trilogy i think?
I read them because I wanted to slow down my trek through the Dray Prescott series. While Aakers could sometimes seem like more of the same, and wasn't the best writer, I was hooked and it seemed to me like he continued with the same steam (having not read the later books only published in Germany.)There are more now, if you are really keen :
Thanks, eventually I will pick these up. (They will probably always be in the category of "books that I like a lot more than I can explain why.") I think Mushroom/Bladud is eventually supposed to reprint them all, but I have seen D.P. projects fold before, so who knows if they'll make it.
I am spurred to ask a Moorcock question. I have only read the original six novels, and I enjoyed them, but at the same time he increasingly wore on me (ideology? mood/tone? both?) and I decided that he wasn't for me. (It probably didn't help that I read some of his criticism which riled me up so as to stick a couple of characters is one of my campaigns to parody him.) With the recent reflections on writers' development over time, it made me wonder: how much has Moorcock changed, and in your opinion, for better or worse?
I am spurred to ask a Moorcock question. I have only read the original six novels, and I enjoyed them, but at the same time he increasingly wore on me (ideology? mood/tone? both?) and I decided that he wasn't for me. (It probably didn't help that I read some of his criticism which riled me up so as to stick a couple of characters is one of my campaigns to parody him.) With the recent reflections on writers' development over time, it made me wonder: how much has Moorcock changed, and in your opinion, for better or worse?
well as i said earlier i'm not sure what is good or bad (i so often disagree with the critics,like if lovecraft,de camp,leiber and heinlein is good i know nothing) but i think he's gotten better!...i think you got it right when you mention ideology,mood/tone...these are the things that draw you to certain authors (or repel you!)...there's also that famous quote from asimov (i think?) 'the golden age (of sci-fi)was when you were 12'...probably more like 15-16 but you know...early 70's for me so moorcock was the man!...i can see that his criticism would be really hard to take if about one of your faves!...he doesn't hold back eh?...i have to say though,i fully agree with just about everything i've read of his criticism...don't hate me!...i have one tiny criticism of MM...and it's relevant here too...i wish he hadn't mentioned leigh brackett's political leanings in the intro to 'the secret of sinharat'...i HATE intro's but i always bloody read them!!...i'd much rather not have politics mentioned at least...you can make up your own mind about the authors ideology etc...(if you want to)
i can see that his criticism would be really hard to take if about one of your faves!...he doesn't hold back eh?...i have to say though,i fully agree with just about everything i've read of his criticism...don't hate me!...i have one tiny criticism of MM...and it's relevant here too...i wish he hadn't mentioned leigh brackett's political leanings in the intro to 'the secret of sinharat'...i HATE intro's but i always bloody read them!!...i'd much rather not have politics mentioned at least...you can make up your own mind about the authors ideology etc...(if you want to)
Heh, yeah, it is especially galling (I wouldn't say "hard to take," as I usually think I could take a critic pretty easy : ) ) when you are ideologically close to the faves in question and ideologically far from the critic and the criticisms are delivered in certain ways.
I usually try to skip intros, or at most, go back and read them afterwards.
No hatred here, I appreciate hearing your opinion. Just a small point: you say he has gotten better. Is it easy to say how? (And I realize that it would be unreasonable for you to try and figure out if he has changed in a way that would make him more likable to me, so I thought I might glean something from knowing *how* he improved with the years...besided the fact that it seems he moved to TX.)
i can see that his criticism would be really hard to take if about one of your faves!...he doesn't hold back eh?...i have to say though,i fully agree with just about everything i've read of his criticism...don't hate me!...i have one tiny criticism of MM...and it's relevant here too...i wish he hadn't mentioned leigh brackett's political leanings in the intro to 'the secret of sinharat'...i HATE intro's but i always bloody read them!!...i'd much rather not have politics mentioned at least...you can make up your own mind about the authors ideology etc...(if you want to)Heh, yeah, it is especially galling (I wouldn't say "hard to take," as I usually think I could take a critic pretty easy : ) ) when you are ideologically close to the faves in question and ideologically far from the critic and the criticisms are delivered in certain ways.
I usually try to skip intros, or at most, go back and read them afterwards.
No hatred here, I appreciate hearing your opinion. Just a small point: you say he has gotten better. Is it easy to say how? (And I realize that it would be unreasonable for you to try and figure out if he has changed in a way that would make him more likable to me, so I thought I might glean something from knowing *how* he improved with the years...besided the fact that it seems he moved to TX.)
hmmm yes as i said earlier i think all this is very subjective...like i personally thought 'silverheart' (with storm constantine,btw) and 'the dreamthief's daughter' were just brilliant stories (and clever and funny and quite sort of profound even!)...god if moorcock sees this he'll freak!...also his 90's ones (revenge of the rose,blood and sequels)were excellent...maybe i like these later ones because he seems to be kind of more able to wrap the thing up in a satisfying way or something...i don't know!...anyway for me it's always about the story, rather than the 'writing'...and, you know, age doesn't necessarily diminish one's imagination (i hope)...in fact i would have thought the opposite...ok,i'm 50 and i seriously feel more inspired,motivated,etc. with my music than ever before...(if anyone cares check out 'agent of vega' on myspace,you should get a laugh out of it at least) also,like i quit school at 15 and spent 35 years in underground rock bands etc. so i literally don't have the education to recognise 'good writing' anyway!!...a lot of so-called 'literary' stuff i have read over the years i found horribly tedious and virtually unreadable (lovecraft,cormac macarthy,that 'voyage to arcturus' guy,...shudder)when i said if lovecraft,heinlein etc. was good,i should have ended with,'well i just basically PREFER bad'(not to say mm and leigh brackett etc. are bad!)...see you just end up tying yourself in knots with this stuff!...it's like trying to justify why you like 's.o.s' by abba to the punks and the death metal kids and that...does any of that make any sense at all???
Thanks, Johnny. Yep, it makes sense: I was both entertained and informed! Good story-telling vs good writing - I'm going to take this to heart.
Seven Footprints to Satan is the book I keep in my car in case I get stranded on a drawbridge or stuck waiting for someone somewhere. It's fun.
I expect to announce something Merritt-related soon.
Woo hoo! Just what I was hoping to hear.
Sunday I was looking through the "Inspirational Reading" list in the 1E DMG, and realized that I had no idea who this A. Merritt guy was. Gygax credits deCamp & Pratt, Robert E. Howard, Fritz Leiber, Jack Vance, H.P. Lovecraft, and A. Merritt as being "the most immediate influences upon AD&D." (It's odd to me that Lovecraft made the cut, while Tolkien didn't.)
So, I checked the local library--no A. Merritt anywhere to be found. I checked Amazon.com for CREEP, SHADOW, CREEP (recommended by Gygax), but all they had were used paperbacks, most from more than 50 years ago.
Then I thought, "This sounds like just the kind of thing that would make a good Planet Stories book!" (Of course, having never read any Merritt, I don't know that for sure.) So, I came here... and... good news!
Planet Stories must continue! I had picked up a few volumes here and there in the past (and was pleasantly surprised by Moorcock's Mars books, especially the second book), but now I am a subscriber.
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Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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And bless you for that.
There is no better way to support the continued existence of Planet Stories than to subscribe.
Look for a Merritt announcement next week.
(One, I might add, that is a lot closer to the spirit of D&D than Creep Shadow, Creep.)
Gary was always pushing me to add Merritt to Planet Stories. He would have liked this one.
A buddy of mine just loaned me Lyndon Hardy's "Master of the Five Magics". This is a pretty good fantasy read with an interesting take on magic, and it appears to be out of print since 1988. He wrote two follow-ups, "Secret of the Sixth Magic" and "Riddle of the Seven Realms". I haven't read them yet, but they also appear to be out of print for over a decade.
Those were great!
Here's a little fantasy gem that I bet no one has heard of: Darkworld Detective. My brother and I read this to each other on a trip cross country almost 25 years ago. Then I found a copy in that giant used book complex in Portland OR (name escapes me), and re-read it with trepidation. Many things of towering childhood memory are not as good the second time 'round.
It was better! No dissapointment.
Some other notions:
Philip Jose Farmer's excellent Burroughsian works "Hadon of Ancient Opar" and "Flight from Opar", which DAW published many years ago with luscious Roy Krenkel covers and some cool maps.
Stanley G. Weinbaum - EVERYTHING...
What about a groovy eye-candy book of the Pulp Solar System?
Those Opar books rocked! I'm not sure if it's in or out of print, and its not pulp era, but Farmer's Three Hawks from Earth was also an excellent goes-to-other-worlds, pulp-style work.