In this first book, A Wizard of Earthsea readers will witness Sparrowhawk's moving rite of passage--when he discovers his true name and becomes a young man. Great challenges await Sparrowhawk, including an almost deadly battle with a sinister creature, a monster that may be his own shadow.
]]>For over 120 years John Tenniel's superb illustrations have been the perfect complement to Lewis Carroll's timeless story. This is the first edition of Looking-glass to reproduce Tenniel's exquisite drawings from engravings taken directly from the original woodblocks. Here, Tenniel's fine line work is far crisper, delicate shadings are reproduced with more subtlety, and details never seen before are now visible.
The pictures for the first edition of Looking-glass were created by transferring the artist's drawings to woodblocks. These original blocks served as masters from which metal plates were made for printing. Unfortunately, these plates deteriorated from the repeated pressure applied during the printing process, and over time, many of the fine lines in Tenniel's pictures simply vanished.
The original woodblocks disappeared and were believed lost; then, in 1985 they were discovered in a London bank vault. Now, for the first time, engravings from these woodblocks have been used to produce a deluxe gift edition. At last, readers can see the Looking-glass that Carroll and Tenniel had originally intended.
]]>Discover among these tales the spirits of executed Nazi war criminals who walk Manhattan streets; the damned soul of a murderess escaped from Hell; gremlins writing the fantasies of a gone-dry writer; and the exquisite Dr. D'arque Angel, who deals her patients doses of death...
Contents:
· Introduction: Revealed at Last! What Killed the Dinosaurs! And You Don’t Look So Terrific Yourself · in
· Croatoan · ss F&SF May ’75
· Working with the Little People · ss F&SF Jul ’77
· Killing Bernstein · ss Mystery Monthly Jun ’76
· Mom · nv Silver Foxes Aug ’76
· In Fear of K · ss Vertex Jun ’75
· Hitler Painted Roses · ss Penthouse Apr ’77
· The Wine Has Been Left Open Too Long and the Memory Has Gone Flat · ss Universe 6, ed. Terry Carr, Doubleday, 1976
· From A to Z, In the Chocolate Alphabet · ss F&SF Oct ’76
· Lonely Women Are the Vessels of Time · ss MidAmeriCon Program Book, Kansas City, MO., 1976
· Emissary from Hamelin · ss 2076: The American Tricentennial, ed. Edward Bryant, Pyramid, 1977
· The New York Review of Bird [original version] · nv *
· Seeing · nv Andromeda 1, ed. Peter Weston, London: Futura, 1976
· The Boulevard of Broken Dreams · vi Los Angeles Review #1 ’75
· Strange Wine · ss Amazing Jun ’76
· The Diagnosis of Dr. D’arqueAngel [“Doctor D’arqueAngel”] · ss Viva Jan ’77
The very best are truly horrible, in the most complimentary sense of that word. "His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood" (Poppy Z. Brite), "The Adder" (Fred Chappell), "Fat Face" (Michael Shea), "The Unthinkable" (Bruce Sterling), "Love's Eldritch Ichor" (Esther M. Friesner) and "On the Slab" (Harlan Ellison) are the keen standouts, but all the rest, practically, are of almost equal quality. However, there are a couple of tales that do not deserve to be amongst this company, and the tome would have been better and tighter by their absence. Certainly, at 398 pages, there's no lack of material.
In "His Mouth Will Taste of Wormwood," Poppy Z. Brite deftly invokes a vampric flavor to themes of decay and the forbidden, his writing style as ornate and refined as rococo and in the real spirit of the master. Fred Chappell's "The Adder" draws the dangerous and inimical from the ordinary in a tale delightful for its originality. Bruce Sterling also slings some fresh ideas around in "The Unthinkable," melding modernity and necromancy in a brief, effective story.
Horror gourmands will find a good meal here, but Cthulhu 2000 should have a bit of life outside its traditional genre, for the writing is strong, imaginative and entertaining. --Tamara Hladik
]]>Now, for the first time anywhere, Troublemakers presents a collection of Ellison's classic stories -- chosen by the author -- that will introduce new readers to a writer described by the New York Times as having "the spellbinding quality of a great nonstop talker, with a cultural warehouse for a mind."
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