Monday, August 31, 2009

10 Books A Day: #132










The Annotated Wind In The Willows...Kenneth Grahame, ed. Annie Gauger...Norton

Myth & Magic: The Art Of John Howe...John Howe...Harper Collins

Works Of Mercy...Fritz Eichenberg...Orbis

The Dracula Scrapbook...ed. Peter Haining...Bramhall House

The Wizard's Book Of Spells...Beatrice Phillpotts...Sterling

The Complete Peanuts: 1971-1972...Charles Schulz...Fantagraphics Books

Three Gothic Novels: The Castle Of Otranto/Vathek/Frankenstein...Horace Walpole/William Beckford/Mary Shelley...Penguin

Three Plays...John Ford...Penguin

The Parthenon...Peter Green and the Editors of the Newsweek Book Division...Newsweek

Tower Of London...Christopher Hibbert, &c...Newsweek

Venice...John H. Davis, &c...Newsweek

The Pyramids And Sphinx...Desmond Stewart, &c...Newsweek

Notre Dame De Paris...Richard And Clara Winston, &c...Newsweek


I decided to go ahead and have a second list posted today, to polish off all the rest of the books in the house before starting in on Tolkien (for which September seems an appropriate month: Bilbo and Frodo's birthday, and the beginning of Frodo's journey). Several belong in other lists, like the Peanuts book and The Annotated Wind In The Willows, but were only recently got. Most were discounts and bargains; one (the John Howe) was a very welcome birthday gift. I love the picture of the lady and her pet turkey on the John Ford book.


Book Count: 1575.

10 Books A Day: #131

All books are by James Branch Cabell and published by Robert M. McBride & Company.
Beyond Life
Gallantry
Figures Of Earth
The Silver Stallion
Domnei/The Music From Beyond The Moon
Chivalry
Jurgen
The Line Of Love
The High Place
Something About Eve
The Certain Hour
The Cords Of Vanity
From The Hidden Way/The Jewel Merchants
The Rivet In Grandfather's Neck
The Eagle's Shadow
The Cream Of The Jest/The Lineage Of Lichfield
Straws And Prayerbooks
Townsend Of Lichfield


James Branch Cabell (1879-1958) was an American writer from Richmond, Virginia, and an author of modest success until he was propelled into the limelight by having charges of obscenity levelled against his ninth novel, Jurgen. The notoriety that resulted gave an enormous boost to his sales, not only for Jurgen, but for all previous and subsequent books, and Cabell had to resign himself to being known as "the author of Jurgen." Although the court finally decided that the passages were too literary and ambiguous to be deemed indecent, the notoriety persisted. Cabell says he found himself importuned (by fans who could not distinguish between an author's work and his life) by young men with requests to be taught the Black Arts, and by young ladies with what he called "surprising suggestions."

Cabell enjoyed more than a faddish popularity, although the ballyhoo over the trial lent him much publicity. Mark Twain enjoyed his work, and indeed was reading Chivalry when he passed away. Critics and authors of the 1920's, among them H. L. Mencken, Sinclair Lewis, Ellen Glasgow, and Theodore Dreiser (although themselves now something of a faded crew) praised his craft and significance. Even an obscure pulp writer named Robert E. Howard wrote an appreciative review of Something About Eve. Encroaching age and the onset of World War II put Cabell back on the back burner, although he continued to write almost until his death, producing several books on historical Florida, where he spent his last years. He died in 1958, a relic of a more elegant age, of little use to the writing establishment of a brutally practical post-war era.

But the connoisseurs and practitioners of fantastic literature have long memories. The influence of Cabell was seen and felt in the works of James Blish, Robert A. Heinlein, Fritz Lieber, Jack Vance, and Larry Niven. In the early Seventies Lin Carter introduced a new generation to Cabell's work by reprinting six of his novels in the Ballantine Books line of Adult Fantasy. This is where Neil Gaiman discovered him, and Cabell's style and themes can be seen throughout his work, especially in The Sandman and American Gods. It was the Adult Fantasy editions (under the new imprint of Del Rey Fantasy) that introduced me to Cabell in 1979 with The Silver Stallion.

Over the years I've developed a deepening interest in Cabell, picking up the odd volume here and there from used book stores, but always yearning for the complete Biography Of Manuel, as Cabell came to call the series of books linked by the lives of Manuel (the Count of Poictesme) and his heirs. These were gathered together and published in a uniform binding called the Storisende Edition, consisting of eighteen volumes, and released between 1927 and 1930 in limited numbers. This year I finally got an incomplete set (it lacks Beyond Life and Gallantry, which I was able to obtain in the slightly cheaper Kalki Editions) for about $200 (a complete set was going for about $500). These dark gray-green tomes now sit proudly on my shelves. Each is signed in pencil by James Branch Cabell, in small, neat letters. Some of these books have never been cut, so my eyes are the first in over eighty years to read them. Oddly enough, I'm finding the non-fantastic stories (like Townsend Of Lichfield and The Rivet In Grandfather's Neck) to be the most fascinating to read, both as a look at life in a small southern city at the turn of the century and as a sample of a style of writing now long extinct.

Book Count: 1562.

Sunday, August 30, 2009

10 Books A Day: #130










The Sea Serpents Around Us...Lois and Louis Darling...Little, Brown

Donald Duck Sees South America...H. Marion Palmer...D. C. Heath & Company

Thaddeus Jones And The Dragon...Jerry Hjelm...Oddo Publishing

Walt Disney's The Adventures Of Mr. Toad...adapted by John Hench...Simon and Schuster

Grandpa Bunny...Told By Jane Werner...A Golden Book

Witches, Witches, Witches...ed. Helen Hoke...Mulberry Books

The Visitors From Oz...L. Frank Baum...The Reilley & Lee Co.

The Absolute Sandman Volume I...Neil Gaiman...Vertigo

The Absolute Sandman Volume II...Neil Gaiman...Vertigo

The Absolute Sandman Volume III...Neil Gaiman...Vertigo

The Absolute Sandman Volume IV...Neil Gaiman...Vertigo


The first seven books on today's list are all copies of books I that loved and that were very influential to me in grade school. I suppose their impact at first was mainly visual: in Grandpa Bunny, the blue shadows on white snow, the autumn leaves in yellow, purple and red; the "solid" warm style of The Adventures Of Mr. Toad; the slick skin of sea monsters that the Darlings evoked just by using pencil. I can point to these books and say "This is where this taste started, here is where I first realized something about what I like," but a sort of mystery remains: why do some things call forth responses from your soul, and not others?
The Sandman books are massive tomes (12 1/2" tall by 8 1/2" wide), ribbon book markered, and slip cased. It is the story of Morpheus, the King of Dreams and Lord of Stories, and as such is not only a collection of amazing stories and riveting story arcs, but a meditation on the nature of storytelling itself. It is some of the best of Gaiman's writing, and is unusual in comic book history in that it was conceived and executed as one complete tale with a definite ending: the tragedy of the passing of one aspect of the person of Dream of the Endless.


Book Count: 1544.

Saturday, August 29, 2009

10 Books A Day: #129











The Fantastic Imagination...ed. Robert H. Boyer & Kenneth J. Zahorski...Avon
The Fantastic Imagination II...ed. Robert H. Boyer & Kenneth J. Zahorski...Avon
Gothic Tales Of Terror Volume One...ed. Peter Haining...Penguin
Gothic Tales Of Terror Volume Two...ed. Peter Haining...Penguin
Stories Of The Supernatural...ed. Dorothy L. Sayers...Manor Books, Inc.
Tales Of Horror And The Supernatural Volume Two...Arthur Machen...Pinnacle Books
Boris Karloff Presents Tales Of The Frightened...Michael Avallone...Pyramid Books
Nightmares And Geezenstacks...Frederic Brown...Bantam
Tales Of Terror And The Unknown...Algernon Blackwood...Dutton Paperback
Someone In The Dark...August Derleth...HBJ/Jove Books
More collections of short stories. I think it would be great fun to distill all these books into one great uber-anthology of MY favorites: perhaps a fine subject for a future post. I never found the Volume One of the Arthur Machen set; the Sayers volume is one third of an anthology of tales she put together; one other section, I recall, was dedicated to detective stories.
Book Count: 1533.

Friday, August 28, 2009

10 Books A Day: #128















Masters Of Horror...ed. Alden H. Norton...Berkley

Hauntings And Horrors...ed. Alden H. Norton...Berkley

Great Untold Stories Of Fantasy And Horror...ed. Alden H. Norton & Sam Moskowitz...Pyramid

Horror Times Ten...ed. Alden H. Norton...Berkley

Witches, Wraiths & Warlocks...ed. Ronald Curran...Fawcett Premier Books

A Feast Of Blood...ed. Charles M. Collins...Avon

Stories For The Dead Of Night...ed. Don Congden...Dell

The Pan Book Of Horror Stories...ed. Herbert Van Thal...Fawcett Gold Medal Book

Fiends And Creatures...ed. Marvin Kaye...Popular Library

Red Skelton's Favorite Ghost Stories...sel. & ed. Red Skelton...Tempo Books

Monster Mix...ed. Robert Arthur...Laurel/ A Mayflower Book

Seven Masterpieces Of Gothic Horror...ed. Robert Donald Spector...Bantam
Bunches of good anthologies o' horror and such. The Red Skelton book has some of my favorite stories, such as Lord Dunsany's In A Dim Room, Lafcadio Hearn's The Boy Who Drew Cats, and The Water Ghost, by John Kendrick Bangs. For those who are paying attention, Herbert Van Thal was also the editor of Great Ghost Stories, the scariest book of my childhood.
Book Count: 1523.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

10 Books A Day: #127

All books are by Dorothy L. Sayers unless otherwise noted.



Whose Body?...Avon

In The Teeth Of The Evidence...Harper Perennial

The Unpleasantness At The Bellona Club...Harper Perennial

Clouds Of Witnesses...Harper Perennial

Strong Poison...Harper Perennial

Have His Carcase...Harper Perennial

Gaudy Night...Harper Perennial

Busman's Honeymoon...Harper Perennial

Unnatural Death...Harper Perennial

The Five Red Herrings...Harper Perennial

The Documents In The Case...Harper Perennial

Murder Must Advertise...Harper Perennial

Hangman's Holiday...Harper Perennial

The Nine Tailors...Harcourt Brace Jovanovich

Thrones, Dominations...Dorothy L. Sayers & Jill Paton Walsh...St. Martin's

Religious Drama/1...selected by Marvin Halverson...Meridian Books



I started reading Dorothy L. Sayers while watching the adaptations on the PBS show Mystery! back in the days when Vincent Price was still hosting. Thrones, Dominations was a completion from notes of a novel that Sayers was working on when she died; Walsh has gone on to write another Lord Peter book from whole cloth. It has not been a successful endeavor, I fear. I've included the Religious Drama/1 here because it contains Sayers' play, The Zeal Of Thy House, which is why I bought it.



Book Count: 1511.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

10 Books A Day: #126



The Gospel According To Peanuts...Robert L. Short...Bantam

The Parables Of Peanuts...Robert L. Short...Fawcett Crest

The Sybil...Par Lagerkvist...Vintage

Barabbas...Par Lagerkvist...Vintage

Monsignor Quixote...Graham Greene...Washington Square Press

Christ The Lord: Out Of Egypt...Anne Rice...Ballantine Books

Proving The Unseen...George MacDonald...Ballantine Books

Hostage To The Devil...Malachi Martin...Bantam

The Book Of The Bible...Eunice Riedel, Thomas Tracy & Barbra D. Moskowitz...Bantam

Holy Blood, Holy Grail...Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln...Dell

Catechism Of The Catholic Church...An Image Book/Doubleday


Book Count: 1496.

10 Books A Day: #125









Monsters You Never Heard Of...Daniel Cohen...Archway Paperback


Monsters, Giants And Little Men From Mars...Daniel Cohen...Dell


Supermonsters...Daniel Cohen...Arch/Pocket


The Encyclopedia Of The Strange...Daniel Cohen...Avon


Chariots Of The Gods?...Erich Von Daniken...Bantam


Extraterrestrial Visitations From Prehistoric Times To The Present...Jacques Bergier...Signet


Bigfoot...B. Ann Slate And Alan Berry...Bantam


Fairies: Real Encounters With Little People...Janet Bord...Dell


In Search Of Dracula...Raymond T. McNally & Radu Florescu...Warner


A Clutch Of Vampires...Raymond T. McNally...Warner


Witchcraft And Black Magic...Peter Haining...Bantam


Devils And Demons: A Dictionary Of Demonology...J. Tondiau and R. Villeneuve...Pyramid


Letters On Demonology And Witchcraft...Sir Walter Scott...Ace


The Tarot Revealed...Eden Gray...Signet


Astrology And Other Occult Games...Margaret And Eve Ronan...Scholastic


The Complete Book Of Magic And Witchcraft...Kathryn Paulsen...Signet




The Daniel Cohen books range from kids' books (Supermonsters and Monsters You Never Heard Of) to more serious looks (Monsters, Giants and Little Men From Mars with The Encyclopedia of the Strange topping the most straightforward look at odd phenomenon). A lot of relics from an earlier era of interest in the occult and unknown, much of which has been repackaged and presented anew in all area of popular culture. The Peter Haining book has some of the eeriest illustrations ever, by Jan Parker. If I didn't think the book would fall apart if I laid it open I'd show more, but that portrait of Aleister Crowley is a good sample of the power of the pictures.




Book Count: 1485.

Monday, August 24, 2009

10 Books A Day: #124






Around The World In Eighty Days...Jules Verne...Lancer Books

Journey To The Center Of The Earth...Jules Verne...Scholastic

Frankenstein...Mary Shelley...Bantam

Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula...Loren Estleman...Penguin

The Lair Of The White Worm...Bram Stoker...Zebra

The Jewel Of Seven Stars...Bram Stoker...Zebra

Incubus...Ray Russell...Dell

Mystery...Peter Straub...Signet

Beautiful Losers...Leonard Cohen...Bantam

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead...Tom Stoppard...Grove Press

archy and mehitabel...Don Marquis...A Doubleday Dolphin Book

Animal Farm...George Orwell...Signet

Three Comedies Of American Family Life: I Remember Mama/Life With Father/You Can't Take It With You...Ed. Joseph Mersand

Bevis...Richard Jeffries...Puffin Classics

Getting Even...Woody Allen...Vintage

Without Feathers...Woody Allen...Warner

Side Effects...Woody Allen...Ballantine Books


It's a very mixed bag today. The first two Jules Verne books represent an odd trend that happened from the early 60's to about the middle 70's: there was a little spate of adventure movies made from Verne and Wells and Burroughs books, laced with mild science fiction, lost worlds, and what we might call "steam-punk" action today. It started, perhaps, with Disney's 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea and ended with Disney's The Island At The Top Of The World. It extended from movies to cartoons. I think the Edwardian and Victorian style had a kind of "groovy" appeal, while at the same time harking back to a time when there could be more hidden corners of the earth to seek out freedom and wonder. The Eighty Days book still has my wobbly fourth grade signature in it; I always thought the Phileas Fogg on the cover looked like Jed Clampett in one of his more slicked up moments.


Much of the classic horror here belongs to my brother. But Incubus is a kind of trashy novel from the 70's that belonged to all of us; it was made into a kind of trashy movie in the 80's. Sherlock Holmes vs. Dracula coyly credits itself to Dr. Watson, claiming Estleman "edited" it. There must be something inevitable about the Holmes/Dracula/Jack the Ripper match-up; I've seen several authors toy with it. There is much fine "streaky bacon" in archy and mehitabel and Animal Farm and Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead and You Can't Take It With You: mingled laughter and philosophy and "rough stuff" as Marquis might phrase it.


I leave with a quote from Woody Allen's My Speech To The Graduates: "More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly."


Book Count: 1469.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

10 Books A Day: #123










A Case Of Conscience...James Blish...DelRey

Doctor Mirabilis...James Blish...Avon

Black Easter...James Blish...Avon

The Day After Judgement...James Blish...Avon

Star Trek: The New Voyages...ed. Sondra Marshak & Myrna Culbreath...Bantam

A Canticle For Leibowitz...Walter M. Miller, Jr....Bantam

The Charwoman's Shadow...Lord Dunsany...Del Rey

Once On A Time...A. A. Milne...Signet

The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy...Douglas Adams...Pocket

The Adventures Of Jules de Grandin...Seabury Quinn...Popular Library

The Hellfire Files Of Jules de Grandin...Seabury Quinn...Popular Library

The Skeleton Closet Of Jules de Grandin...Seabury Quinn...Popular Library


The James Blish books form a "trilogy" (with Black Easter and The Day After Judgement forming one long story) that he called After Such Knowledge, in which Blish explores the question of whether the search for secular knowledge is by its very nature prone to evil. Jules de Grandin is a paranormal investigator, who, with his sidekick Dr. Trowbridge, deals with cases of the supernatural and science fictional, in a series of stories that began in Weird Tales in the 1920's. And Star Trek: The New Voyages (1976) was some of the first "fan fiction" ever published professionally.


Book Count: 1452.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

10 Books A Day: #122



















Dune...Frank Herbert...Berkley

Dune Messiah...Frank Herbert...Berkley

Children Of Dune...Frank Herbert...Berkley

National Lampoon's Doon...Ellis Weiner...Pocket

Planet Of The Apes...Pierre Boulle...Signet

Beneath The Planet Of The Apes...Michael Avallone...Bantam

Escape From The Planet Of The Apes...Jerry Pournelle...Award Books

Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes...John Jakes...Award Books

Battle For The Planet Of The Apes...David Gerrold...Award Books

Welcome To The Monkey House...Kurt Vonnegut, Jr....Dell

Slaughterhouse-Five...Kurt Vonnegut, Jr....Dell

Breakfast Of Champions...Kurt Vonnegut, Jr....Dell

Star Trek: The Classic Episodes 1...Adapted by James Blish...Bantam

Star Trek: The Classic Episodes 2...Adapted by James Blish...Bantam

Star Trek: The Classic Episodes 3...Adapted by James Blish with J. A. Lawrence...Bantam


Doon is, of course, a parody of Dune, and contains some of my favorite lines, including "Think on it! he thought on it," and "There is nothing more useless than a mystical busboy."


Book Count: 1440.

Friday, August 21, 2009

10 Books A Day: #121















The first nine books are all in the series Isaac Asimov's Magical Worlds Of Fantasy, edited by Isaac Asimov, Martin H. Greenberg, and Charles G. Waugh, and published by Signet.


1 Wizards

2 Witches

3 Cosmic Knights

4 Spells

5 Giants

6 Mythical Beasties

7 Magical Wishes

8 Devils

9 Atlantis

The Dracula Book Of Great Vampire Stories...ed. Leslie Shepard...Jove/HBJ


Book Count: 1425.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

What I Learned About Tanuki Today

The Tanuki (or Japanese Raccoon Dog) is a basal canid, or primitive member of the canine family, related to dogs and foxes but in its' own separate subgroup. As the name suggests, they are native to Japan and other areas of Asia. In older English translations from the Japanese they are sometimes referred to as badgers, or more recently, raccoons, but they are neither.

In Japanese folklore they are seen as supernatural creatures, not unlike the kitsune, or fox spirits, but are perceived as more bumbling and good-natured. They are supposed to have powers of transformation, activated when they put a leaf on their heads; this is referenced in the video-game Super Mario Brothers 3.

The most outstanding features of tanuki males, in both real life and in popular culture, are their large testicles. These are seen as signs of good fortune and abundance. The supernatural tanuki are said to inflate them and beat them like a drum to scare off enemies.

10 Books A Day: #120















The Dream-Quest Of Unknown Kadath...H. P. Lovecraft...Ballantine Books

The Abominations Of Yondo...Clark Ashton Smith...Panther

The King In Yellow...Robert W. Chambers...Ace

King Solomon's Mines...H. Rider Haggard...Masterpiece Library

The Lost World...Sir Arthur Conan Doyle...Puffin

Topper...Thorne Smith...Del Rey

The Night Life Of The Gods...Thorne Smith...Del Rey

The Eyes Of The Overworld...Jack Vance...Pocket

The Dying Earth...Jack Vance...Pocket

The Blade Of Conan...Ed. L. Sprague De Camp...Ace

The Spell Of Conan...Ed. L. Sprague De Camp...Ace

A Choice Of Gods...Clifford D. Simak...Berkley

The Goblin Reservation...Clifford D. Simak...Daw SF

The Fellowship Of The Talisman...Clifford D. Simak...Del Rey

Enchanted Pilgrimage...Clifford D. Simak...Del Rey

Shakespeare's Planet...Clifford D. Simak...Del Rey

Project Pope...Clifford D. Simak...Del Rey

Inferno...Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle...Pocket

John The Balladeer...Manly Wade Wellman...Baen

The Folk Of The Air...Peter S. Beagle...Del Rey

The Fires Of Windameir...Niel Hancock...Warner Books

So You Want To Be A Wizard...Diane Duane...Harcourt

Deep Wizardry...Diane Duane...Harcourt

High Wizardry...Diane Duane...Harcourt


Book Count: 1405.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

10 Books A Day: #119















Tales From Gavagan's Bar...L. Sprague De Camp & Fletcher Pratt...Bantam

The Compleat Enchanter...L. Sprague De Camp & Fletcher Pratt...Del Rey

The Complete Compleat Enchanter...L. Sprague De Camp & Fletcher Pratt...Baen

The Well Of The Unicorn...Fletcher Pratt...Del Rey

The Blue Star...Fletcher Pratt...Del Rey

Lest Darkness Fall...L. Sprague De Camp...Ballantine Books

The Fallible Fiend...L. Sprague De Camp...Signet

The Goblin Tower...L. Sprague De Camp...Del Rey
The Clocks Of Iraz...L. Sprague De Camp...Del Rey
The Unbeheaded King...L. Sprague De Camp...Del Rey
The Honorable Barbarian...L. Sprague De Camp...Del Rey
The Enchanter Reborn...L. Sprague De Camp & Christopher Stasheff...Baen
Book Count: 1381.