Fantasy Masterwork Series News

[suupaabaka]

I'm working through the S.F. Masterworks myself. I'm attempting to buy them numerically, but there are some I can't resist getting ahead of schedule. After my exams are done, I'm going to lock myself away in my room with some green tea and a nice big blanket and devour my books.

I wish I were Gollum.

 

[j d worthington]

You dont know? I am a prose fanboy ! It seems the older the famous books are the better the prose, atleast of the ones i have read so far.

So i dont care how old a book is, if the prose is cool and great i'll get it.


I drool of joy when i read REH Conan for example

Vance is like that too. Im reading english words i have never read before in such distinctive style and prose.

Eddison uses a prose style straight out of the seventeenth century... the comparison to Sir Thomas Browne is quite apt -- but he uses it beautifully....

 

[GOLLUM]

Just to bring you all up on these masterwork series. The Fantasy Masterwork series was finished on No. 50 Mark Of The Beast and other Fantastic Tales.

The SF Masterwork series thankfully continues to flourish.

 

[Connavar]

This is cruel Gollum i thought it was news of a new book in FM series

 

[GOLLUM]

Sorry but I have news of a new one in SF Masterworks from one of your fav authors! Just hold on a little longer...

 

[Fried Egg]

I've decided to make a concerted effort to complete my reading of this series over the next year and so, just for the hell of it, I thought I'd post what I've read now with my opinions. Bold = read, Italic = in progress, Underlined = On to read shelf.

1. Shadow And Claw - Vol 1 of Book Of The New Sun Gene Wolfe - Very good (Review).
2. Time And Gods Lord Dunsany - Outstanding (Review).
3. The Worm Ouroboros E R Eddison - Outstanding.
4. Tales of the Dying Earth Jack Vance - Only read the first part (Review) of this quartet which was very good.
5. Little Big John Crowley - Reading at the moment.
6. The Chronicles Of Amber Roger Zelazney - Outstanding (Review).
7. Virconium M John Harrison
8. The People of the Black Circle - Conan Chronicles Vol 1 Robert E Howard - I've read most if not all Conan stories but not this particular collection. Oustanding.
9. The Land Of Laughs Johnathan Carroll
10. The Compleat Enchanter L Sprague de Camp & Fletcher Pratt
11. Lud-in-the-mist Hope Mirlees
12. Sword And Citadel - Vol 2 of Book Of The New Sun Gene Wolfe - I've read part one of this volume (Review), the other is sitting on my to read shelf.
13. Fevre Dream George R R Martin - Very good (Review).
14. Beauty Sheri S Tepper - Very good (Review).
15. The King of Elfland’s Daughter Lord Dunsany - Outstanding.
16. The Hour Of The Dragon - Conan Chronicles Vol 2 Robert E Howard - Again, I've not read this particular collection but most, if not all the stories therein.
17. Elric Michael Moorcock - Outstanding.
18. The First Book Of Lankhmar Fritz Leiber
19. Riddle-Master Patricia A McKillip - Veru Good (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3).
20. Time And Again Jack Finney - Very Good (Review).
21. Mistress of Mistresses E R Eddison - Quite Good.
22. Gloriana or The Unfulfilled Queen Michael Moorcock
23. The Well Of The Unicorn Fletcher Pratt - Very Good (Review).
24. The Second Book Of Lankhmar Fritz Leiber - I've read one of the parts of this volume, "The Swords of Lankhmar", which I thought was below par.
25. Voice Of Our Shadow Johnathan Carroll
26. The Emperor Of Dreams Clark Ashton Smith - Outstanding. I've not read this particular collection but several others that heavily overlap with this one ("Out of Space & Time", Lost Worlds, Genius Loci and Other Tales).
27. Lyoness: Suldrun’s Garden Jack Vance - Outstanding (Review).
28. Peace Gene Wolfe - Quite Good (Review).
29. The Dragon Waiting John M Ford
30. The Chronicles Of Corum Michael Moorcock - Very Good.
31. Black Gods And Scarlet Dreams C L Moore
32. The Broken Sword Poul Anderson - Outstanding (Review).
33. The House On The Borderland & Other Novels William Hope Hodgson - I've read House on the Borderland (very good) and The Night Land (terrible) but have two more volumes to read to complete this.
34. The Drawing Of The Dark Tim Powers
35. Lyoness II: The Green Pearl and Madouc Jack Vance - Outsatnding (Review).
36. The History of the Runestaff Michael Moorcock - Very Good.
37. A Voyage To Arcturus David Lindsay
38. Darker Than You Think Jack Williamson - Outstanding (Review).
39. The Mabinogion Evangeline Walton
40. Three Hearts And Three Lions Poul Anderson
41. Grendel John Gardner
42. The Iron Dragon’s Daughter Michael Swanwick
43. Was Geoff Ryman
44. Song Of Kali Dan Simmons
45. Replay Ken Grimwood - Very Good.
46. Sea King Of Mars and Other Worldy Stories Leigh Brackett
47. Anubis Gates Tim Powers - Quite Good (Review).
48. Forgotten Beasts Of Eld Patricia McKillip - Outstanding (Review).
49. Something Wicked This Way Comes Ray Bradbury - Quite Good (Review).
50. The Mark of the Beast and Other Fantastical Tales Rudyard Kipling

 

[GOLLUM]

Thanks for posting Fried Egg. I'll be following in your footsteps at some stage with a similar attempt at reading and reviewing the entire set on my still-to-be-launched blog site.

 

[Fried Egg]

Right then, I've got a year left to finish off this series. Current state of play:

13 titles I haven't even aquired yet.
2 titles I have aquired but not read.
4 titles in progress.
31 Read and finished.

Looks like I've got my work cut out for me next year...

 

[GOLLUM]

Right then, I've got a year left to finish off this series. Current state of play:

13 titles I haven't even acquired yet.
2 titles I have aquired but not read.
4 titles in progress.
31 Read and finished.

Looks like I've got my work cut out for me next year...

Are you acquiring copies of the Masterworks edns. of any pulbication as long as it is the same work..that is to say have you had to purchase/source non-Orion/Victor Gollancz edns. in some cases?

Also I'm very curious as to which titles you do not own/read yet?..I had quite a challenge acquiring 2 of the SF Masterworks as I recall, one was H.G Wells - The First Men In The Moon (sourced form a Polish website with help from a Polish friend) and I think Ballard's Drowned World (sourced from a French website, which was fortunate as my father speaks fluent French). I'm referring here to the original numbered edns.

I realise it's probably not a major thing if you read an Orion/VG edn. or another equivalent edn.. it's just that as someone who has collected the entire set of both Masterwork streams I was curious if you were embarking on that course or simply acquiring whichever edn. you could get a hold of, as if you were trying to collect like myself I had a professional curiosity as to whether or not you were having any difficulties collecting the final items?

Thank you.

 

[Fried Egg]

Indeed, they are not all Masterwork editions. Sometimes I have collected different editions, sometimes (in the case of omnibuses) I have collected the component books individually and sometimes (in the case of collections) I may not have read each and every story in the Fantasy Masterworks edition but have instead read collections that more or less completely overlap.

I'm not really a collector. My primary purpose here is simply to read the entire series.

 

[Ian Whates]

Must confess that I collected all the Fantasy Masterworks as they came out, on occasion replacing existing books in my collection with these editions. I've still read just 23 (at a quick count) completely though, with four or five others that I've read part of.

I think this is a fabulous series, collecting many of my all time favourite fantasies, including the Vance, Leiber, McKillip and Zelaznys, and introducing me to some wonderful new ones that I might otherwise never have encountered, most notably Mirrlees Lud in the Mist.

Plenty of great reading still to come ... when time permits.

 

[GOLLUM]

II'm not really a collector. My primary purpose here is simply to read the entire series.

I'm not either really. In most cases I'll source whatever edition I can get of a particular publication (some 'translations by reputation' or 'most complete' edns. notwithstanding) but like Ian as I was pretty impressed overall with the series I did go out of my way to source the entire numbered sets...the fact that 95% was available in Melbourne 'off the shelf' probably had a large bearing on this decision as well.

 

[Fried Egg]

It has so far been of a very high standard, I agree. The two books that I rated lowest in this series are William Hope Hodgson's "The Ghost Pirates" and "The Night Land", the latter being the absolute worst! Then again, I liked "House on the Borderland" a lot so he's not all bad.