Fiction – Fantasy Interlude Part 2

When I wrote that the David Lindsay Violet Apple was a rarity, I didn’t realise that my edition which I paid $6.20 for in 1976, is now worth something like $150.00.  Something to remember when I’m down and out.

Anyway, that’s beside the point…

To continue and conclude, for now, the stray Fantasy books, among which there are Science Fiction titles, I present first up Sylvia Engdahl’s Enchantress From The Stars and its sequel The Far Side of Evil, highly regarded young adult fantasy/SF novels, published in the early 1970s.

Also in the juvenile fantasy category is Ursula Le Guin’s  Earthsea Trilogy. I have the three books in hard cover editions, published by Gollancz and acquired by me in 1974. Only The Farthest Shore is a first edition, the other two are second impressions, but as a set they look very handsome.

A couple of oddities to follow this well known series are John Fuller’s Flying To Nowhere, which won the Whitbread Best First Novel Award in 1983, and A Dark Horn Blowing by Dahlov Ipcar.

Sheri S Tepper’s Beauty won the Locus Award in1992.

In the above Sheri S Tepper link, which is an interview with the author, she mentions that one of her favourite books was Islandia by Austin Tappan Wright. Naturally I have a copy…though it is years since I last opened its covers.

The next two novels are once again oddities, and deal interestingly with gender. Childe Rolande, is a most unusual fantasy by Samantha Lee wherein the hero/heroine is a hermaphrodite, and Donald Kingsbury’s Courtship Rite set on a planet where polyandry is a way of life.

And finally for this post another Newcastle Forgotten Fantasy, The Fates of the Princes of Dyfed by Kenneth Morris, a Welsh fantasy based on the Mabinogion.

I’ll get back to general fiction in the next entry.

Fiction – A Fantasy Interlude

Long time, no post, but I have been thinking about it, but failing to summon up the energy to do anything about it.

To make up, here are some stray Fantasy & Science Fiction books, which were hiding in the general books collection.

For a start, this Dover edition of Jurgen by James Branch Cabell with fantastical illustrations and decorations by Frank C Papé.

Joy Chant was the author of the highly regarded young adult fantasy Red Moon and Black Mountain which was included in the Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series. The Grey Mane of Morning is a sequel to the aforementioned book.

Another author who was featured in the Ballantine series was Lord Dunsany. He also made it to the spin off fantasy series, The Newcastle Forgotten Fantasy Library of which series I have a few, including The Food of Death.

A couple more in the Newcastle series… The Haunted Woman by David Lindsay of Voyage to Arcturus fame, Aladore by Henry Newbolt, The Glittering Plain and Golden Wings by William Morris.

And to finish this post a rare David Lindsay, The Violet Apple & The Witch, published by Chicago Review Press in 1976.

A few more Fantasy novels will follow shortly.

Fantasy Trilogies & Other Related Books

I must admit that this blog has certainly brought to light books I have not looked at for decades. They have mostly all been hidden behind other books more recently purchased. No wonder I hardly buy anything new these days, I've got enough to keep me going until the day I die.

This post will concentrate on fantasy trilogies, the foremost of which is the Riddlemaster of Hed trilogy, a superior fantasy trilogy by Patricia McKillop. It has worn well through the years and I do enjoy rereading it every so often. As usual my sets are a mix of US and UK paperbacks.

I still reread Meredith Ann Pierce's Dark Angel trilogy, as I have always loved it. The paperback covers are quite lovely. I could never find the final volume Pearl of the Soul of the World anywhere in paperback, so eventually bought the hard cover in order to know the end of the story.

I discovered the following Marian Zimmer Bradley books in the Science Fiction part of the bookcase. They are more fantasy than Science Fiction, so I'm including them here - more DAW paperback originals. They are part of the Darkover series, which I failed to read in any order and didn't collect in any way.

Marion Zimmer Bradley did write a best seller, that being The Mists of Avalon, a fictionalised biography of Morgan Le Fay.

Another Arthurian type trilogy is Gillian Bradshaw's Gawaine trilogy. Very well written, I remember being very impressed with this series way back in the 1970s

This post basically concludes the adult fantasy section of my bookcase - or the selected bits I've revealed here.

The next few posts will cover a selection of children's fantasy paperbacks - Tove Jansson, Joan Aiken etc.

Old Style Fantasy - Fletcher Pratt, A Merritt, Hope Hodgson etc.

I'm drawing to the end of my fantasy shelves, though there are probably more mixed up in my Science Fiction section of the bookcase, which I'll get to fairly soon.

This post will display covers from old fantasy writers like A Merritt, Fletcher Pratt, L Sprague de Camp, Charles Finney and William Hope Hodgson.

I did read all these books at one time or another, but not for years, so I can't tell you much about them. I'll let the covers speak for themselves. The Dwellers in the Mirage cover should delight all giant squid fans. These editions were all published in the early 1970s by Collier (Moon) and Futura.

Next Charles Finney's Circus Of Dr Lao and The Unholy City published by Avon and Panther.

The following edition of The Nightland, a wondrous strange fantasy by William Hope Hodgson, first published 1912, is the 1979 Sphere Books edition.

And finally, a couple of books by Fletcher Pratt and L Sprague de Camp.

Next - various interesting or unusual fantasy novels

Fantasy Short Story Collections

For some reason or another I have quite a few short story collections, the first of these being those entitled Fantastic Imagination books 1 and 2 edited by Robert H Boyer & Kenneth J Zahorski.

Then there are two others edited by Terri Windling & Mark Alan Arnold, illustrated by Terri Windling.

Next is The Phoenix Tree and Visions Of Wonder, both edited by Robert H Boyer & Kenneth J Zahorski.

Finally, Basilisk , a collection edited by Ellen Kushner with illustrations by Terri Windling and Hecate's Cauldron, stories about witches edited by Susan M Shwartz with cover art by Michael Whelan.

Next - Heroic Fantasy, Swords & Sorcery etc.