Book Hauls!

[GOLLUM]

Today I picked up.....


Oscar Wilde and The Candlelight Murders - Gyles Brandreith *Set in Victorian London, Arthur Conan Doyle and Oscar Wilde join forces to track down a serial killer.

 

[ravenus]

Today I picked up.....


Oscar Wilde and The Candlelight Murders - Gyles Brandreith *Set in Victorian London, Arthur Conan Doyle and Oscar Wilde join forces to track down a serial killer.

I just hope it's not Jack The Ripper they're chasing. That's become the most overused plot device for these fantasy / alternative history pastiches. Let me know if it's any good. I'm interested in Victorian/Steam era fantasy fiction with this kind of referencing, but I have also been disappointed by various efforts in this regard.

 

[GOLLUM]

I shall let you know Sir....

Meantime I received 2 genuine showstoppers in the post today....

Weird Tales: 32 Unearthed Terrors 1923-1954
Punktown - Jeffrey Thomas

 

[Nesacat]

GOLLUM ... I'd like to know how The Candle Light Murders goes to. I have read one with Holmes chasing down the Ripper and another with Holmes up against Dracula.

I recently got a book which sets Holmes firmly in Lovecraft's realms. And there is another that puts him in Tibet where he finds he is an incarnated lama.

Am always keen on books involving Holmes as he is my favourite Victorian detective.

And tell me about Wierd Tales??

 

[GOLLUM]

GOLLUM ... I'd like to know how The Candle Light Murders goes to. I have read one with Holmes chasing down the Ripper and another with Holmes up against Dracula.

I recently got a book which sets Holmes firmly in Lovecraft's realms. And there is another that puts him in Tibet where he finds he is an incarnated lama.

Am always keen on books involving Holmes as he is my favourite Victorian detective.

And tell me about Wierd Tales??

I've started reading the first few chapters and it's quite a bit of fun. The dialogue b/w Conan Doyle and Wilde seems a little too contrived at times but the pacing is good so far and I'm intrigued enough to want to finish the book. It's a debut novel, so one can't always expect consistently good prose.

That Weird Tales, which is a HC is a real Gem. It basically contains 32 stories, one for each year of this legendary mag's existence and all the "big names" are included. Lovecraft's contribution is The Case Of Charles Dexter Ward and the only novel length contribution. Each tale is supposed to represent the best story for that year. I'm lovin' having this in my hot little hands.... I'm sure JD will have something to say about this soon enough...

 

[Nesacat]

GOLLUM .... and the contents are ..... aside from The Old Gent?

 

[GOLLUM]

Already PMed you and JD dear....

 

[Connavar]

Hehe despite my promise to not buy books for a month or two i couldnt help myself and got these yesterday :


Darker Than You Think - Jack Williamson (Fantasy Masterworks), first SF/Fantasy Masterworks that arent Jack Vance

Gates of Rome - Conn Iggoulden first book of Conn, my brothers are huge fans of him but they didnt have the first book in english so i got this.

 

[GOLLUM]

Dragons Of The Highlord Skies (Lost Chronicles Vol II) - Weiss & Hickmann

Graphic Novels:

The Complete Preacher Series Vols I - IX

 

[AdzeybuB]

recently i have purchased

Heroes Die
True Grit
His Dark Materials Boxed set

and on loan from library i have

Drawing of the dark
The Knight
To Ride Hell's Chasm
Gormenghast Trilogy

 

[Connavar]

From the Library i have :

Gateway - Fredrick PohlThe Bicentennial Man and Other Stories - Isaac Asimov
Tinker,Tailor,Solider,Spy - John Le Carrè
The Dead Zone - Stephen King
Different Seasons - Stephen King
Cell - Stephen King
Vagabond - Bernard Cornwell
Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson
Flow My Tears,The Policeman said - Philip K. Dick

 

[HoopyFrood]

Oh, yeah! That's weird! I was going to suggest to you, in the King section, that if you were enjoying his work and thought that The Dead Zone was a much stronger, then you could try something even more recent by him like...ahem...Cell! I hope you like it, I really enjoyed Cell.

Different seasons is a very good book as well. The Breathing Method is particularly eerie.

 

[Connavar]

Different Seasons i choosed cause of Shawshank story.

I heard the short novel was even better than movie who i think is by far the best SK movie. Apparently many people think that too since it shares the nr.1 spot in imdb.com best movie of all time list

 

[j d worthington]

Well, if we're including library hauls....

H. P. Lovecraft: A Critical Study, by Donald R. Burleson (I've read this one before, but it's one of the better books I've come across; well-written, enjoyable, and thought-provoking)

Specter or Delusion? The Supernatural in Gothic Fiction, by Margaret L. Carter
American Horror Writers, by Bob Madison (a slim book of brief biographies from Poe to King)
H. P. Lovecraft, by Peter H. Cannon (an entry in the Twayne's Authors Series)
New England's Gothic Literature: History and Folklore of the Supernatural from the Seventeenth through the Twentieth Centuries, by Faye Ringel
Science and Destabilization in the Modern American Gothic: Lovecraft, Matheson, and King, by David A. Oakes

 

[Connavar]

We can geuss who you wanna read most of right now

I wonder if our Library has Lovercraft.

I tried once buying him in a second hand store just to see what he was about. But they only had Poe in swedish, i dont read translation of english books.

 

[HoopyFrood]

Well, I gave into temptation and bought Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows while out and about. I knew I would. Useless . I'll probably read it tonight.

Well, I've started the first chapter, so I might just finish that, and leave the rest for tonight..................

 

[GOLLUM]

Go HOOPY!.....

Today I got some classics second hand....

Red Moon and Black Mountain - Joy Chant
Beyond The Golden Star - Hannes Bok
Excalibur - Sanders Anne Laubenthal
The Silver Stallion - James Branch Cabell
Figures Of Earth - James Branch Cabell
The Cream Of The Jest - James Branch Cabell
Camouflage - Joe Haldeman
The Face In The Abyss - A. Merritt
Deathbird Stories - Harlan Ellison
The Gates Of Noon - Michael Scott Rohan

 

[j d worthington]

Go HOOPY!.....

Today I got some classics second hand....

Red Moon and Black Mountain - Joy Chant
Beyond The Golden Star - Hannes Bok
Excalibur - Sanders Anne Laubenthal
The Silver Stallion - James Branch Cabell
Figures Of Earth - James Branch Cabell
The Cream Of The Jest - James Branch Cabell
Camouflage - Joe Haldeman
The Face In The Abyss - A. Merritt
Deathbird Stories - Harlan Ellison
The Gates Of Noon - Michael Scott Rohan

Save for the Haldeman and Rohan, I've read these, and you're right... they are classics; although I'd caution about the Bok -- it's very good, but very wonky, and you sort of have to accept a very strange approach and some stylistic oddities (about the way you do with Lindsay's A Voyage to Arcturus. Also, I may be a bit unusual in this, but I find The Face in the Abyss (along with Dwellers in the Mirage) to be among my favorites of Merritt -- though I tend to like most of his work. (As for Face... I guess I'm a bit like Phil Farmer... I've had a crush on the Snake Mother since I first read the thing; wonderful character, that one....) I'd also say to pay attention to Ellison's caveat in Deathbird. Great collection, but take too much at one go, and it can be emotionally exhausting. I'll be very interested to hear your thoughts on these....

 

[GOLLUM]

Thanks for the insights JD, looks like I did well, that haul cost me only $50 AUS, which I'm pretty pleased with. Better watch out for the cat in case she gets jealous......

No-one's picked it up yet but all of these and several recent hauls have been inspired by the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series from the '70s I know you're familiar with..... I'm working dogmatically to have the entire Ballantine series (got about 70% now) & Vandermeer's list of recommendations (have about 75% now) to go with my collection of all World Fantasy Award winners since 1975 and the entire Fantasy Masterwork set plus a good percentage of the SF Masterworks too. Let's face it I'm a man on a mission ahead of WorldCon.

 

[j d worthington]

Of course, you shouldn't forget the Newcastle Forgotten Fantasy series, either.....