The Savage Sword Of Conan Volume Three...Dark Horse ComicsThe Riot At Bucksnort And Other Western Tales...Robert E. Howard...University Of Nebraska Press, Bison Books
The Black Stranger And Other American Tales...Robert E. Howard...University Of Nebraska Press, Bison Books
HEARN American Writings...Lafcadio Hearn...The Library Of America
The Quotable Robertson Davies...ed. James Channing Shaw...McClellan And Stewart Ltd.
Wizards: Magical Tales From The Masters Of Modern Fantasy...Ed. Jack Dann And Gardner Duzois...Ace
Beowulf & Grendel: The Truth Behind England's Oldest Legend...John Grigsby...Watkins Publishing
Beowulf: The Script Book...Neil Gaiman & Roger Avery...Harper Entertainment
Witches: True Encounters With Wicca, Wizards, Covens, Cults, And Magick...Hans Holzer...Black Dog And Leventhal Publishers
The Crafting Of Narnia: The Art, Crafting, And Weapons From Weta Workshop...Weta Workshop...HarperOne
These books aren't actually on my shelves yet. When I came home yesterday I had my order from Edward R. Hamilton Bookseller (aka Bargain Books) waiting for me. So I haven't read any of these yet, except the Robertson Davies quotes. So I can't really comment on them yet, except for my reasons for getting them.
The Savage Sword book is a series of collected Conan comics, some of which I read and collected from the late 70's to early 80's. The books are more of my efforts to get Robert E.'s works; cowboy stories are not exactly my thing, but I've always been interested in his take on his local "color". If Scott Gustafson who did the cover was not influenced by the Brothers Hildebrandt, I'll eat my Prussian Blue.
Lafcadio Hearn is a great obscure writer; I'll have a lot more about him later. Roberstson Davies goes without saying. I've always been interested in the Beowulf legend, and got the screen book of Beowulf to see what the hell the idea behind that movie was developed. I love stories about wizards, and I have a lot of anthologies edited by Dann and Duzois. The Hans Holzer book on witches is a companion book to a book on ghosts that he did, on supposedly factual occurences. Weta Workshop always does a great job on developing props (they did LOTR) and books like this are full of great detailed plans and beautifully photographed examples of their work.
I love dealing with Bargain Books. I got $195 worth of books for $70.
I didn't know Howard had ever written any western stories.
ReplyDeleteREH did a lot of writing for the pulps; according to Gentzel he was moving towards working mainly in cowboy stories as the market was wider than wierd tales. Boxing stories (he was a pugilist himself), tales of the Orient, Westerns, and just plain "adventure" stories were all areas he worked in, besides the fantasy and horror he is best remembered for today, almost as a fluke. The fact that writers like Lin Carter and L. Sprague De Camp kept the balloon of Hyborian tales up in the air makes it possible that it is what Howard is most famous for. They even edited some of REH's other stories so they fit in the Conan mold!
ReplyDeleteI thought for sure that was a Hildebrandt painting, too! I guess they have become for the next generation of illustrative artists what N.C. Wyeth was to them!
ReplyDeleteThat reminds me, we had a book that I'm afraid may have been given away without my knowing it, but it was one of Zoe's favorite books when she was very little. It was an oversized kid's book about hippopatamuses (hippopatami?). The first time I saw it, I thought, wow, that looks like a Hildebrandt painting, and sure enough, the whole book was illustrated by them. I was hoping to show it to you sometime, but I haven't seen it in a long time, thus the fear that it may have been given away with some other old kid's books. I don't remember the exact title, either, but it's something you can keep an eye out for.
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