The Green
Knight, by Vera Chapman.
“Vera Chapman, also known
within the
Tolkien Society as
Belladonna Took, was a British author and founder of the
Tolkien Society in
the United Kingdom, and also wrote a number of pseudo-historical and Arthurian books. Chapman wrote three
fantasy novels based on Arthurian legend: The Green Knight (1975),King
Arthur's Daughter (1976), and The King's Damosel (1976).” – Wikipedia. I bought
The Green Knight for the Hildebrandt cover (I got the other two some years
later; they also had Hildebrandt covers, but I sold them eventually), and it
influenced some of my first ever drawings. Read the book, too, but wasn’t very
impressed. They based that animated movie “Quest for Camelot” on “The King’s
Damosel”. Go figure.
Ranking:
Keeper.
File Code:
Fantasy. Novel. Paperback.
The Face in
the Frost, by John Bellairs.
“Many years
ago (evidence suggests it was 1979 or so) there came the first time I bought
books with my own money. Before then I had to beg Mom long and hard. But I had
made $10 doing yard work, and I was ready to step out on my own booking
adventures. There was no local bookstore, only the racks in the grocery store, drugstore,
and convenience stores. I chose to go to Gibson's, our small local department
store, and while Mom combed the clothes aisles, I browsed the racks, looking
for fantasy in the Tolkienian vein. With my bill and some loose
change I was just able to buy three paperback books (wondrous times!), and
I chose The Source of Magic by Piers Anthony (a
dragon on the cover), The Illearth War by Stephen R.
Donaldson (two cool wizardy guys on the front, and a comparison
to JRRT), and The Face in the Frost, by John Bellairs (good
things by Lin Carter and Ursula K. LeGuin quoted, and again a
cool wizardy guy). Now thirty years later I have given up on Anthony
after following the Xanth series for twenty or so sequels, wait patiently
for Donaldson to grind out the ninth (and last) book of the Thomas Covenant
series, and mourn that there is no more genuine Bellairs forthcoming,
ever. Thirty years on I am grateful that my instinct and luck led me to buy
that first Bellairs.” – Power of Babel. The Carl Lundgren cover is sweet,
and it has illustrations by Marilyn Fitschen inside. I have since bought a
newer copy, and its included in the hardback “Magic Mirrors”. Used to have a
silly little sticker of a dragon on it.
Ranking:
Keeper and Essential
File Code:
Fantasy. Novel. Paperback.
The
Abominations of Yondo, by Clark Ashton Smith.
Macabre
tales by Lovecraft’s old pal. This secondhand edition is from 1974. Never read
it.
Ranking:
Dispensable.
File Code:
Horror. Anthology. Paperback.
Incubus, by
Ray Russell.
A trashy
supernatural novel later made into a trashy supernatural movie. What can I say,
it was the 70’s and we were young. I remember I transcribed some of its
‘spells’ into my red spiral notebook ‘grimoire’. I must have thrown that away,
after taking any drawings out.
Ranking:
Nostalgic Keeper.
File Code:
Horror. Novel. Paperback.
Sherlock
Holmes vs. Dracula; Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Holmes, “By John H. Watson, M.D.” as
Edited by Loren D. Estleman.
Both Penguin
books. You’d think a match-up between Holmes and Dracula couldn’t fail, right?
But it’s basically a retelling of Stoker’s book with Holmes jammed into the
lacunae and offstage interstices. Couldn’t bring myself to read the Hyde book
after the first few pages.
Ranking:
Dispensable.
File Code:
Horror. Detection. Pastiche. Novels. Paperbacks.
Interview
with the Vampire, by Anne Rice.
Mike bought
this at Pic-n-Pac, the first of what became the Vampire Chronicles. I had tons
of Anne Rice once upon a time, but then I sold them all; this is the only one I
have left. I got tired of her cult and her personal vacillations. Basically,
this is vampire erotica and meditations on mortality (sex and death), that old
teen stew.
Ranking:
Keeper.
File Code:
Horror. Novel. Paperback.
Merlin, by
Robert Nye.
The cover
says, “A Very Adult Fantasy.” A cross between Arthurian lore,
Rabelaisian scholarship, medieval demonology, and a dirty joke, it is withal a
heady and amusing brew. I read this book before I read “Falstaff” in college.
I’ll always give a book about Merlin a try.
Ranking:
Keeper.
File Code:
Fantasy. Novel. Paperback.
The Book of
the Dun Cow, by Walter Wangerin, Jr.
Another book
from Eckerd’s and the high school period. It has been compared to a cross
between “Animal Farm, Watership Down, and The Lord of the Rings”. A religious fable that deals with a sort of
paradise, a fall, a flood, a struggle with evil, and ends with a redemption,
and all told with … chickens. And other animals. Long after reading, the
characters of John Wesley Weasel and Mundo Cani Dog still resonate. Told in an
oddly poetic, simple, incantatory style. It has a sequel, “The Book of Sorrows”
that I bought and found disappointing, and then an inevitable 3rd
book, “Peace at the Last”, that I only just found out existed. Still, this
initial book can stand on its own and is great; I’ve read it many times.
Ranking:
Essential.
File Code:
Fantasy. Novel. Paperback.
She, by H.
Rider Haggard.
A Del Rey
fantasy book. I tried to collect the other three in this series, but when I
found the two that I could get were tedious, I sold them and stuck with the
original classic. Besides being a good read, it is culturally significant
within the fantasy genre, as his works were read and enjoyed by C. S. Lewis,
and even Tolkien was able to draw a few gems from Haggard’s mines and polish
them up.
Ranking:
Keeper.
File Code:
Adventure. Novel. Paperback.
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