Book Hauls!

[dask]

There are several nice looking Steampunk anthologies on the market but
this is the only one I feel justified for not waiting to find used. All the others I've seen contain new stories specifically written for the genre, but the stories here are from the era that inspired it. Or as the cover blurb states: Extraordinary Tales Of Victorian Futurism. Two stories are worth pointing out, one is "The Plunge" by the master of high tension adventure, George Allan England, and "Into The Deep Of Time" by George Parsons Lathrop, Nathaniel Hawthorne's son-in-law.

 

[j d worthington]

Laurence Manning - The Man Who Awoke

You know, that's another I've always meant to track down. I've only seen one copy, and that was some years ago. I really should look that up, as the initial story in that series, I thought, was quite good... and the concern about ecology was so strongly dealt with even at that early period....

 

[dask]

Read it a few years ago and really enjoyed it.

 

[Southern Geologist]

You know, that's another I've always meant to track down. I've only seen one copy, and that was some years ago. I really should look that up, as the initial story in that series, I thought, was quite good... and the concern about ecology was so strongly dealt with even at that early period....

The strong concern about ecology is what initially drew me to finding more of his stories. Well, that and a general taste for exploring this era of sci-fi that Asimov's damned anthology has left as a burden upon me. p) As for tracking it down: It can be had quite cheaply on Amazon if you're willing to go that route.

 

[Connavar]

Now that is a fierce, awesome cover. This is the Swedish version of The Sailor of Who Fell from Grace with the Sea


I also bought 3 books by James Crumley a modern legend in hardboiled PI:

The Wrong Case
Dancing Bear
The Mexican Tree Duck

 

[dask]

Found this at the library book sale today for $1. Looks interesting.

 

[Southern Geologist]

Now that is a fierce, awesome cover. This is the Swedish version of The Sailor of Who Fell from Grace with the Sea

I can't speak to the Swedish translation of the work but in the English translation that is an excellent novel.

 

[GOLLUM]

I can't speak to the Swedish translation of the work but in the English translation that is an excellent novel.

I'll third that on Mishima's novel.

Temple of the Golden Pavilion is also worth reading as is Forbidden Colours.

I've not yet bought into his renowned Sea of Fertility Quartet.

Have you read your copy of The Sailor of Who Fell from Grace with the Sea yet Conn? or have you literally just purchased it?

 

[j d worthington]

dask: I would imagine that it will be very interesting indeed. Anything which tends to break down the barriers between different types of fiction tends to have my vote anyway, as I find strict genre definitions stultifying and, ultimately, barren, useful only in certain specific circumstances.

Could you refresh my memory on the name of the artist whose work graces the cover there? For the life of me, I can't remember it, but I know his work, and a bit of trivia which, if true, is really quite remarkable....

 

[dask]

dask: I would imagine that it will be very interesting indeed. Anything which tends to break down the barriers between different types of fiction tends to have my vote anyway, as I find strict genre definitions stultifying and, ultimately, barren, useful only in certain specific circumstances.

Could you refresh my memory on the name of the artist whose work graces the cover there? For the life of me, I can't remember it, but I know his work, and a bit of trivia which, if true, is really quite remarkable....

"The Juggler" by Michael Parkes. Must've painted it while riding his Harley down the long lonesome highway --- whoops! Wrong Michael Parks.

Neglected to mention one other book I'm extremely happy to have found: FAMOUS GHOST STORIES edited by Bennett Cerf, a 1944 Modern Library hardback. Doesn't have a dust jacket but still in beautiful condition. The gangs all here again, Bierce, Kipling, Blackwood, Benson, Onions, you get the idea, and I need another copy of "The Monkey's Paw" like I need another "First Contact." But it has something I've never seen before, a story by Brander Matthews. Remembered chiefly as a literary critic of the first water, he was also a novelist and short story writer. This is the first one I've seen of his and what a bonus to find it's a ghost story to boot: "The Rival Ghosts." Only cost a buck but I would have paid more.

 

[Mangara]

All second hand on ebay.

 

[Lobolover]

My copy of Stefan Grabinski's The Dark Domain arrived recently.

Wish his novels were more readily availible.

 

[GOLLUM]

My copy of Stefan Grabinski's The Dark Domain arrived recently.
Wish his novels were more readily availible.

Indeed. Although Grabinksi has been called 'The Polish Poe' that's something of an overreach although certainly a number of his stories are Poe-like and he was certainly an admirer of Poe. His focus, even more than Poe's, was on the working of the mind from both an internal and external metaphysical perspective, a term Lipniski has coined as 'Psychofantasy'.

To quote something I posted on Grabinski a couple of years back....
Briefly then, Grabinski’s genius or indeed most intriguing aspect, to expand upon China Mieville’s observations, lies in the fact that for this writer, the supernatural horror is manifest in the practical realities and modernity of modern life itself. More than this though, Grabinksi not only uses these physical manifestations such as trains, structures, lighting etc. to great effect but also delves into metaphysical issues and particularly psychological aspects of the enigma we term the human mind, the ‘Dark Domain’, to highlight what he saw as society’s move away from a fundamental sense of self and the natural world as part of his anti-authoritarian and anti-materialistic world view.

The Dark Domain is a very fine collection and recently the same translator Lipinski released On the Hill of Roses, Grabinski's first collection, available from Hieroglyphic Press. One of his final collections, Book Of Fire is also slated for release possibly by 2014.

I have no knowledge of anyone planning to translate any of Grabinski's novels into English, which is shame that will hopefully be rectified sooner rather than later!! as I for one would love to read one of his longer works.

 

[j d worthington]

"The Juggler" by Michael Parkes. Must've painted it while riding his Harley down the long lonesome highway --- whoops! Wrong Michael Parks.

YES! Thank you. Love his work, but it has been so long since I encountered it, that the name had simply slipped my (ever decaying, it seems) memory. *sigh*

Neglected to mention one other book I'm extremely happy to have found: FAMOUS GHOST STORIES edited by Bennett Cerf, a 1944 Modern Library hardback. Doesn't have a dust jacket but still in beautiful condition. The gangs all here again, Bierce, Kipling, Blackwood, Benson, Onions, you get the idea, and I need another copy of "The Monkey's Paw" like I need another "First Contact." But it has something I've never seen before, a story by Brander Matthews. Remembered chiefly as a literary critic of the first water, he was also a novelist and short story writer. This is the first one I've seen of his and what a bonus to find it's a ghost story to boot: "The Rival Ghosts." Only cost a buck but I would have paid more.

Yes, it's a fine anthology of tales. I've come across one or two things by Matthews before, and thought they were quite good. Incidentally, did you know he was one of the proponents of "simplified spelling"? HPL frequently went after this idea hammer-and-tongs, but in one instance he did it with a satirical poem where the final punchline revolves around Matthews himself (see "The Simple Speller's Tale")...

 

[Grimward]

Not exactly a "haul", but did pick up William Gibson's Spook Country and Stephen R. Donaldson's The Man Who Fought Alone. It's been a while since I've picked up Gibson's stuff, but the first couple chapters of Spook County opened with that familiar nerve's edge discomfort that I recall from Neuromancer, so I'm looking forward to this read.

It's also been a long time since I read anything new (to me!) from Donaldson that wasn't Covenant (you'd have to go back to the Gap series), so that one should be interesting, too!

Picked up both for a total of $3.50 US at my daughter's High School used book sale. Price was definitely right!

 

[dask]

Yes, it's a fine anthology of tales. I've come across one or two things by Matthews before, and thought they were quite good. Incidentally, did you know he was one of the proponents of "simplified spelling"? HPL frequently went after this idea hammer-and-tongs, but in one instance he did it with a satirical poem where the final punchline revolves around Matthews himself (see "The Simple Speller's Tale")...

I didn't know that. Thanks for the info. I'll see if that poem is in my only volume of HLP's verse.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

We took a trip to the city of Carrollton, Georgia (about fifty miles west of Atlanta) to see an exhibit of quilts at the museum there, and wound up finding a pretty nifty downtown square with a used book store and a new book store just a few steps away from each other, along with other shops and restaurants. I got a collection of Ronald Searle at the used book store, and a book about the imbalance in male and female births in Asia at the new book store.

 

[Mangara]

My wife just got back from London where she got me two much loved books by their previous owner:

Spellsinger (Spellsinger #1)
by Alan Dean Foster

and

The Hour of the Gate (Spellsinger #2)
by Alan Dean Foster

Anyone read these? They sound pretty cool!

 

[J-Sun]

Spellsinger (Spellsinger #1)
by Alan Dean Foster

and

The Hour of the Gate (Spellsinger #2)
by Alan Dean Foster

Anyone read these? They sound pretty cool!

Bizarrely enough, I have. I recall almost nothing about them but think they were kind of pleasant enough whimsical fantasies - I mean, I'm sure the world was in peril (or maybe two - I'm pretty sure this was one of those dual-world things) and the title character had to save it/them (because don't they always?) but I seem to recall it being pretty pastoral and sunny with weird critters - talking animal sorts of things. Seems like there were more than two volumes - maybe five. Anyway - nothing epoch making but I liked them well enough at the time.

 

[j d worthington]

As with J-Sun, my memory of them is vague, though I recall them being quite enjoyable reading... just not memorable. As for the length of the series:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spellsinger