I purchased a copy of a Dashiell Hammett collection, The Big Knockover. And I’m glad I did. With a single exception, the book is a treasury of several of Hammett’s Continental Op stories. The odd man out is a partially finished novel called Tulip. If one can extrapolate from Lillian Hellman’s introduction, Tulip appears to… Continue reading The Continental Op: The Hardest Boiled.
Category: Reading
Gather, Darkness! Fall Reading.
The creation of the twain, Fafhrd and The Gray Mouser, would be sufficient glory for most any writer. But Fritz Leiber labored long in the genre gardens. Among the other fruits of his mind was the science-fiction/quasi-horror novel, Gather, Darkness! Set in the future, the novel posits a world ruled by an ecclesiastical caste, known… Continue reading Gather, Darkness! Fall Reading.
The Wizard of Lemuria, or Thongor the Bullet Point Barbarian
At this point complaining about the quality of Lin Carter’s fiction is beating a dead horse. Some of it is better than others. I happen to think his ersatz Dunsany is excellent. But in general, if you pick up a Carter book you know what you’re getting. Complaining about it is like going to Taco… Continue reading The Wizard of Lemuria, or Thongor the Bullet Point Barbarian
S.P.Q.R. IV The Temple of the Muses
I believe the John Maddox Roberts splurge has ended for a while with S.P.Q.R. IV: The Temple of the Muses. This is not because I’ve grown tired of his writing or the exploits of Decius Caecilius Metellus the Younger. I’ve simply finished all of Roberts’ books ready to hand. This seems like a good spot… Continue reading S.P.Q.R. IV The Temple of the Muses
The Queens of Land and Sea. Perpetual Cliffhanger.
The Queens of Land and Sea is the fifth — and, unfortunately, final — volume of John Maddox Roberts The Stormlands series. While one of the early chapters adds a trifle to the travelogue of Roberts’ distant future Earth, this book offers a great deal less world building than the previous four. It does open… Continue reading The Queens of Land and Sea. Perpetual Cliffhanger.
Yet More JMR
I appear to be in the midst of a John Maddox Roberts phase. This wasn’t intentional. I simply got caught up in the Stormlands series. Then, during a trip back to Portland and the obligatory visit to Powell’s Books, I picked up the second of his S.P.Q.R. novels. Not wanting to start with book two,… Continue reading Yet More JMR
The Steel Kings: Stormlands Book Four.
The Steel Kings. Cool title, and, not to bury the lede, a cool story. Book four begins almost as a book end to book three. This time Kairn, Hael’s second son is the protagonist, going on an adventure, meeting a woman. The travelogue continues, the exploration of John Maddox Robert’s post-apocalyptic North America, this time… Continue reading The Steel Kings: Stormlands Book Four.
Sword-and-Sorcery and Song and Dance: Steven Brust’s “Lyorn.”
Lyorn is the seventeenth installment in Steven Brust’s Vlad Taltos series. For some reason I’d believed this would the final book, as there are seventeen houses in the Cycle of his fictional universe, and one book title now corresponds to each individual house. I was, apparently, incorrect, as this novel does not tie up loose… Continue reading Sword-and-Sorcery and Song and Dance: Steven Brust’s “Lyorn.”
L. Sprague de Camp’s “The Glory That Was.”
My edition of The Glory That Was is dedicated to Isaac Asimov and boasts an introduction by Robert A. Heinlein. So right up front you have substantial implied attestations of quality. But I’ve learned not to set my sights too high, and tempered my expectations accordingly. I expected an L. Sprague de Camp short novel:… Continue reading L. Sprague de Camp’s “The Glory That Was.”