The Weirdstone of Brisingamen; The Moon of Gomrath; Elidor; and The Owl Service, by Alan Garner.
I have chosen to lump these four books together, as I have the same thing to say about all of them. I bought them in the early 1980’s, all at once, because there seemed to be good indications they were right up my alley, and I was afraid they’d be bought up if I got them one by one. I was only able to read “Weirdstone” all the way through, with difficulty; “The Dark is Rising” had done it so much better. I tried the other books with diminishing returns. I was never enthusiastic about them, but they were okay, and I always felt I shouldn’t part with the books – my fantasy archive, as it were. Now Garner has written a final sequel to WB and MG; “Boneland”, where Susan has disappeared, and Colin is old and perhaps insane: were their adventures only a cover memory for some trauma? I don’t know and at this point I don’t care.
Ranking: Meh.
File Code: Fantasy. Novel. Paperback.
The Well at the World’s End, Volumes I and II, by William Morris.
A Ballantine Adult Fantasy, the reprint series of classic fantasy book chosen and directed by Lin Carter in the wake of Tolkien’s success. People wanted more of the same, and Ballantine (the American publishers of “The Lord of the Rings”) complied. Tolkien and Lewis both read Morris, but I have to confess that, after all these years, I have not been able to. I find his style … well, not impenetrable, but dull. Still, I cling to these books for historical reasons, I suppose.
Ranking: Essential for the collection.
File Code: Fantasy. Novel. Paperback.
The Wood Beyond the World, by William Morris.
C. S. Lewis said the title was perhaps the best he had ever heard. A Ballantine Adult Fantasy, the reprint series of classic fantasy book chosen and directed by Lin Carter in the wake of Tolkien’s success. People wanted more of the same, and Ballantine (the American publishers of “The Lord of the Rings”) complied. Tolkien and Lewis both read Morris, but I have to confess that, after all these years, I have not been able to. I find his style … well, not impenetrable, but dull. Still, I cling to these books for historical reasons, I suppose.
Ranking: Essential for the collection.
File Code: Fantasy. Novel. Paperback.
The Worm Ouroboros, by E. R. Eddison.
Now this is the Del Rey Fantasy Classic by Eddison I did read, albeit skippingly. A book favored by Lewis and Tolkien, the author was once hosted to a meeting by the Inklings. “James Stephens writes in his introduction: "In reading this book the reader must a little break his way in, and must surrender prejudices that are not allowed for. He may think that the language is more rotund than is needed for a tale, but, as he proceeds, he will see that only such a tongue could be spoken by these colossi; and, soon, he will delight in a prose that is as life-giving as it is magnificent." … Another peculiar detail is that Eddison's various warring factions – the Demons, the Witches, the Goblins, the Imps – are all basically humans and not at all goblinish or implike or demonic … Eddison's Worm was an inspiration to Tolkien, who wrote in a letter that he enjoyed his books "for their sheer literary merit", and CS Lewis was also a fan, judging that "no writer can be said to remind us of Eddison". But Tolkien wasn't entirely uncritical. He "disliked his characters (always excepting the Lord Gro)" – Alison Flood. So you can see I have it mainly for its importance to the genre and Inklings history.
Ranking: Essential Keeper.
File Code: Fantasy. Novel. Paperback.
The Mezentian Gate, A Fish Dinner in Memison, and Mistress of Mistresses, by E. R. Eddison.
Published by Ballantine Books, when their Adult Fantasy series began appearing under the rubric “Del Rey Adult Fantasy”. Now I find Eddison’s prose in these volumes to be impenetrable and muddied by mysticism. I had to buy them for “historical reasons” and on the off-chance I might like them; Lewis did. Besides, they were fairly cheap at old Half’s little store. In all the years I’ve had them I’ve never been able to read them.
Ranking: For the collection.
File Code: Fantasy. Novel. Paperback.
The Traveler in Black, by John Brunner.
1971 ‘novel’ (four linked short stories) about a mysterious wanderer, cloaked and carrying a staff, who is sent forth to overlook the land. With obvious influences from James Branch Cabell, it was well spoken of, but I couldn’t get into it at the time I bought it … or since. Still has an insert of an advertisement for The Science Fiction Book Club. Ah, the old world. Binding kind of mischancy.
Ranking: For the collection.
File Code: Fantasy. Novel. Paperback.
The King in Yellow, by Robert W. Chambers.
Recommended to me by H. P. Lovecraft, at least for the short story that gives this anthology its name. Save for the poem, “Lost Carcosa”, I found very little to enjoy here. Perhaps I should give it another chance; tastes do change, over time.
Ranking: Essential for the collection.
File Code: Anthology. Short Stories. Paperback.
Tales from Gavagan’s Bar, by L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt.
A batch of cronies hang around the local bar, and they and chance patrons tell tales of unusual encounters with the supernatural in the modern world. A rollicking, enjoyable anthology, quick to amuse, and I find years later, quick to leave my mind, leaving only a pleasant aftertaste.
Ranking: Keeper.
File Code: Anthology. Short Stories. Paperback.
The Compleat Enchanter, by L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt.
A Del Rey Fantasy. Cover by the Brothers Hildebrandt. Harold Shea figures out a mathematical formula to visit other worlds, and goes to the Norse myths, Spenser’s Faerie Queen, and Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso. An entertainment, as Grahame Greene would class it, and I found it a fun one.
Ranking: Keeper.
File Code: Fantasy. Novel. Paperback.
The Land of Laughs, by Jonathan Carroll.
Before he died, an author of children’s books found he had the power, through his writing, to affect reality. He used it to preserve a vision of his town, writing provisions for its future. But now his written matter is running thin, and the town needs a new writer to keep it going. Enter a number one fan, to write the life of the author. He undergoes an “ominous small-town secret” experience as he figures out the unusual situation. I love the cover by David Mattingly. Something of a meditation on the power of imagination.
Ranking: Keeper.
File Code: Fantasy. Novel. Paperback
Silverlock, by John Myers Myers.
“Silverlock [was] published in 1949. The novel's settings and characters, aside from the protagonist, are all drawn from history, mythology, and other works of literature … While on a sea voyage, a ship named Naglfar founders. One passenger, A. Clarence Shandon, is washed ashore in a fictional land known as "The Commonwealth of Letters". He is befriended by Golias, who nicknames him "Silverlock" and who becomes his guide. Silverlock and Golias encounter figures from history, literature and mythology.” - Wikipedia. I used to have the ‘sequel’, “The Moon’s Fire-Eating Daughter” (1981), but I sold it. Entertaining to a degree, another ‘classic’ in the genre, with obvious nods to James Branch Cabell and “Jurgen”.
Ranking: Expendable.
File Code: Fantasy. Novel. Paperback.
