10 Books A Day: #155

A Spell For Chameleon...Piers Anthony...Del Rey

The Source Of Magic...Piers Anthony...Del Rey

Castle Roogna...Piers Anthony...Del Rey

The Dark Tide...Dennis L. McKiernan...Signet

Shadows of Doom...Dennis L. McKiernan...Signet

The Darkest Day...Dennis L. McKiernan...Signet

Trek To Kragen-Cor...Dennis L. McKiernan...Signet

The Brega Path...Dennis L. McKiernan...Signet

The Year's Finest Fantasy...ed. Terry Carr...Berkley

The Year's Finest Fantasy, Vol. 2...ed. Terry Carr...Berkley

The Source of Magic was one of the first three books I ever bought for myself. It was okay, and since I am rather obsessive-compulsive about what I read, I kept reading Xanth books until they degenerated into completely repetitive, formulaic garbage. I dumped most of my volumes, but kept the first three as being fairly good; also for the memories.

Back in the early 80's I put together a little "fanzine" called The Broadsheet of Fantasy Literature (a distant ancestor of this blog, I suppose) that included reviews, essays, and original material from my friends and relations. I wrote my most scathing review ever on The Iron Tower Trilogy; it was and remains the most terrible wad of tripe I've ever read, a terrible rehash of The Lord of the Rings strained through the most unimaginative game of D&D ever played. Why do I still have it? It is as fascinatingly horrible as a train wreck: it's sickening to watch, but impossible to look away. And somehow it rated Alan Lee covers! The sequel, The Silver Call "duology", was that return to Moria ("Kragen-Cor") that all Tolkien fans have thought about, but had the good sense to keep their hands off of. McKiernan has written many more books, and one can only hope he has got better with experience. I'll never know because nothing will ever make me read another one of his works.

The Year's Finest Fantasy volumes aren't. But they have a couple of Carl Lundgren covers.

Book Count: 1864.