February's Fabulous Feast Of Fully Formidable Fiction

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Fried Egg said:
I remember reading "The Wizards and the Warriors" (as well as a few others by that author) at the time they came out in the late 80's when I used to lap up everything fantasy that came out. I don't remember it being anything particularly special though, I have to admit.
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Yeah, I saw that your GR rating is a couple of stars lower than other people who have read them. Do you think it was because you didn't realize as the time that they were practically parodies, or at least gentle send-ups of genre convention (maybe you did - I don't know)? I'm also finding that a lot of the absurd fantasy stuff seems to be thinly veiled, real world, political satire. All the characters seem to be in on the joke as well - like they know that they're in a ridiculous fantasy world, and they're acting the part.

The sequence where the prince's bodyguard loses a bet and has to scale an impossible cliff to kill a dragon is masterfully done. Cook's command of the language, and the way he portrays the guards plight while also commenting on the world around him is incredibly well done.
 
To be honest, it was so long ago and I can't remember much about them anymore. I don't even think I still have them (cleared a while back to make some shelf space) so I can't even try them again.
 
I had a terrible time tracking them down. Seems like the UK versions are OOP. Finally found out that they were all re-titled in the US, and then given terrible (I mean some of the worst) cover art here. For some reason, some of the books on Amazon are very expensive, but then I found them on Abe for cheap.

China Mieville presented and introduced volume 4, The Walrus and the Warwolf for Planet Stories, claiming that it's one his favorite novels. I bought that one. Apparently, it's a series in setting only, and the books are all stand alone.
 
Finished Vance's The Servants of the Wankh. I partly can't go into it without spoiling but this was a distinct step down from the first one and the series needs to take at least a couple of steps up. Anyway, since I got all of them at once, on to #3.
 
I've been on a bender of "lighter" reading.
"Bored of the Rings." Still hilarious after all of these years, and many re-readings.

A great way to deflect the cares of the day, at bedtime. Until the sleeping Woman of My Dreams leaps abruptly out of bed, shouting something about "Earthquakes," and I have to calm her down, fetch a mug of warm milk, and explain that the real reason that the bed was shaking was merely my failure to stifle my laughter.

(And this is the selfsame copy which I have treasured since 1972) The best part of this edition is that the cover mimics the Ballantine box-set of LOTR PB's upon which I cut my teeth in the late 60's. The Ballantines were lent to the wrong person, a hundred years ago, and have long since vanished.

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Alex said:
(And this is the selfsame copy which I have treasured since 1972) The best part of this edition is that the cover mimics the Ballantine box-set of LOTR PB's upon which I cut my teeth in the late 60's. The Ballantines were lent to the wrong person, a hundred years ago, and have long since vanished.
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Ah, I never knew the BOTR cover was taking off a particular LOTR one. This is the same edition I bought (new) in about 1985, so it was obviously around for a while.
 
Mouse said:
Please tell me that's a typo. Or some sort of parody?! :eek:
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Alas, no. The slang wasn't known in the US at the time, which is why they could use it in The Simpsons.

My own current reading is Religion for Atheists by Alain de Botton.


(Oops, double post, sorry!)
 
Mouse said:
Please tell me that's a typo. Or some sort of parody?! :eek:
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Nope, sorry. :) That's what I meant in my earlier post (on The City of the Chasch) when I said his "facility for invented terms" sometimes failed him. :D

(It's supposed to be a perfectly innocent, arbitrary name for an alien race. Chasch, Wankh, Dirdir, Pnume.

I'd heard it had been retitled in at least one UK edition but that is apparently myth, as I can't find any evidence of it. A US edition abridges the title of the first two volumes as Chasch and Wankh, leaving the race-names unchanged.)
 
HareBrain said:
Ah, I never knew the BOTR cover was taking off a particular LOTR one. This is the same edition I bought (new) in about 1985, so it was obviously around for a while.
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You made me look: http://lotrscrapbook.bookloaf.net/gallery/bookcovers/pages/04.htm

There have been a couple of more recent editions of the parody with different covers.

****
Now I'm tempted to hunt up my copy of Doon But that one just doesn't have the same spark.
http://lotrscrapbook.bookloaf.net/gallery/bookcovers/pages/04.htm
 
Getting kind of lost here. Vance's Tschai 1 started poorly but, before I could give up, it got good. Then Tschai 2 was not so good and I wasn't looking forward to Tschai 3 (The Dirdir) but I finished it today and it was pretty excellent right out of the gate - the best of the three - until it faltered at the end. So now on to Tschai 4 and I have no idea what to expect.
 
J-Sun said:
Getting kind of lost here. Vance's Tschai 1 started poorly but, before I could give up, it got good. Then Tschai 2 was not so good and I wasn't looking forward to Tschai 3 (The Dirdir) but I finished it today and it was pretty excellent right out of the gate - the best of the three - until it faltered at the end. So now on to Tschai 4 and I have no idea what to expect.
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The Dirdir is my fav book in the series and more quality adventure than the others.

The last book is different,darker. I thought it started slowly but it is a strong ending to the series.
 
J-Sun said:
Nope, sorry. :) That's what I meant in my earlier post (on The City of the Chasch) when I said his "facility for invented terms" sometimes failed him. :D

(It's supposed to be a perfectly innocent, arbitrary name for an alien race. Chasch, Wankh, Dirdir, Pnume.

I'd heard it had been retitled in at least one UK edition but that is apparently myth, as I can't find any evidence of it. A US edition abridges the title of the first two volumes as Chasch and Wankh, leaving the race-names unchanged.)
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Does the slang term "******" go back to the time when Vance wrote the books and his publishers issued them? I don't remember seeing the slang term earlier than the mid-Seventies or so. I should think that, if Vance had any existing word in mind, it was "ankh."
 
Extollager said:
Does the slang term "******" go back to the time when Vance wrote the books and his publishers issued them?
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You can't say it! :eek: It's rude.

It's 1940s British slang, apparently. Must have taken some time to cross the Atlantic. (Perhaps because the seamen were otherwise engaged.)
 
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