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I! I am up! I already got it on Kindle!
To get this anthology of 31 stories read in one month means averaging no less (or more) than one story per day, a challenge for me indeed given all the other stuff I'll also be reading in May. But I'm up for it!The Gods of Niom Parma (1970) by Lin Carter ★★★★★
What a fantastic start! Here are the first two sentences: "The gods of Niom Parma met on a mountaintop near the sea. Tremendous, fierce-eyed, robed in glory, they were come to decide the fate of the alabaster city." It's the lament of gods everywhere, even of the one in the Old Testament. People have turned away and dare worship newer gods. Their destruction, half the gods say, is the answer. "Wait!" cry the others. "These people have value. They can be redeemed."
So the gods agree to send an emissary to study the matter personally and determine a resolution, getting back to them with a recommendation. They all pledge to bind themselves to follow whatever the emissary returns to them with. This story is of what that emissary finds and then determines the course of the city's fate upon. It was riveting and brilliant. I loved it!
I've ordered the book and will be joining another monthly reading, but it hasn't arrived yet, so I might not finish this either by the end of the month, but that's okay! I'm just happy to read weird literature with someone, as I don't know anyone outside of Goodreads who like this sort of thing.
The Whelming of Oom (1969) by Lin Carter ★★★★★Another wonderful story. A community of people in Simrana decide to create their own god, a unique one that only they worship, named Oom. The other 800 gods of Simrana usually don't pay much attention to men and their doings, but this is an affront so egregious they can't ignore it. The 800 gods determine to destroy this community's one god. This is the story of what happened as a result of that conflict.
I loved the creative aspect of character generation in this story, all the god names, so imaginative. Where did this come from? Again, Lin Carter's ending is perfect, the same type of understated twist that answers the story's set-up that we find in the first story. We are in the hands of a masterful storyteller in Lin Carter! I really had no idea we would be.
Zingazar (1971) by Lin Carter ★★★★Zingazar is the name of the sword who is the protagonist of our story. A fabled warrior city is being encroached upon, but has forgotten how to defend itself. It's time to remember how to fight off an enemy. This story is unique for me in that people aren't the main characters. The city itself and the weapons the warriors of yore used in its defense are. I loved it!
How Sargoth Lay Siege to Zaremm (1972) by Lin Carter ★★★★1/2
Fierce warrior-king Sargoth conquers all he surveys and brings the booty back to his home city, enriching his fighters. However, there is one city Zaremm dare not attempt to invade. At least not until he hears that he dares not. This story made its point beautifully.
The Laughter of Han (1982) by Lin Carter ★★★★1/2Accomplished warrior named Zun is so fierce that everyone fears him. Even the gods tread carefully. The one thing Zun cannot tolerate is being laughed at. This wonderful story shows what happens when someone just can't help but laugh. Just like Game of Thrones, one of the keys to Carter's success in his stories is by never meeting expectations in a way that can be anticipated.
The Benevolence of Yib (1987) by Lin Carter ★★★1/2
This story is about the rising fortunes of beggars as they perfect their craft of beggary. It contains dos and don't for what it takes to be a successful beggar. The story is entertaining enough with unexpected twists well told. I don't get into beggars as protagonists though and the story has one gaping whole. How did the beggar increase his wealth once rich? Despite these faults, the story is short and still has the Lin Carter magic working for it.
How Ghuth Would Have Hunted the Silth (1988) by Lin Carter ★★★★★A wonderful tale of how the master hunter, Ghuth, bagged a specimen of the ultimate beast, the silth. This story was particularly rich in its detailed background of mythical monsters and the word choices in the story were the highest of nearly poetical form. Beautiful story!
The Thievery of Yish (1988) by Lin Carter ★★★★
Yish the thief goes against common sense and decides to try to burgle a wizard. A fun story, but not unlike some others we just read.
How Her Doom Came Down at Last on Adrazoon (1988) by Lin Carter ★★★1/2
The city of Adrazoon took great pride in it ancient history and power of place. But gods' preferences tend to the fickle.
How Jal Set Forth on His Journeying (2018) by Lin Carter ★★★1/2
This is a slightly longer and unusual quest tale, one of Jal who sets forth to explore the lands adjacent to a river that goes through his childhood village. He enters a "dubious wood", gets the better over some threats, and then meets a mysterious stranger.
Apparently, this story was not previously published. Maybe Price found it amongst some Lin Carter estate manuscripts. The story is of some interest, but differs in tone, style, and format of others in the cycle. For example, although only 14 pages long, it is broken down into seven chapters, the best of which is the last because that one breaks from the fairy talish tone of the first six in order to convey the heart of the story.
Argh, it bugs me that my copy still hasn't arrived! Sigh😮💨
It has finally arrived! Hurray! :DNow, should I read Lord Dunsany's stories first, perhaps, so as to read what inspired Lin Carter's own?
Yay! Congrats on getting a physical copy. I only have Kindle. At least the illustrations came through on Kindle okay.Personally, I am happy to be reading them in the order the editor presents them. Lin Carter's stories are very short and easily digested, a good way to start, I think.
The Gods of Neol-Shendis (1966) by Lin Carter ★★★★This is an earlier version of "The Gods of Niom Parma," the first story in this collection. It is longer and more detailed, which adds nothing and actually subtracts from some of its power. Lin Carter was right to shorten it when he rewrote it four years later. I do love the illustrations in this version though.
How Shand Became King of Thieves (2018) by Lin Carter and Robert M. Price ★★★1/2
When two authors are listed here who obviously did not collude together on the story, what often happens is that the latter author takes notes for a story idea or sometimes even an outline found in papers from the original author's estate and writes a story based on this, crediting both authors for the work. Occasionally, I imagine, an author simply uses another author's world or characters and gives partial credit to the original author even though all the writing and story ideas are the latter author's. I have no idea what the case here is.
In any event, Robert M. Price comes close to approximating Lin Carter's style here. It's clear he's really trying to. The result is a decent story that is fun to read, interesting, but not quite as clear or crisp as Carter's writing. I'm grateful Price presented this story even if it's not quite at the same level as Carter's. The ending in particular lacks some of the twist Carter was so good at supplying. Still, it was fun to find out just how Shand became the king of thieves.
Caolin the Conjurer (Or, Dzimdazoul) (2018) by Lin Carter and Glynn Owen Barrass ★★★
This is the last of the stories credited in whole or in part to the originator of Simrana, Lin Carter. We learn of a low-level conjurer named Caolin, and how he came to be cursed in three elements: fire, ice, and water. Air is left for dealing with later. The story is long on narrative, short on conflict or dialogue, and sort of unclear, anchored only by the elementals structure. It was okay, but I was glad it ended earlier than expected, given the set-up.
The author made less of an attempt to mirror Lin Carter's style than Price did in the last story. In fact, I see a lot more of an attempt to channel Clark Ashton Smith's work in this story. Barrass used some of his place names and concepts. For example, he uses geas, and that not correctly. A geas is a task or mission assigned to someone usually in the assigner's power, which is clearly not Barrass's understanding of the term. But I nitpick. I see that Barrass has written a body of work in the weird fiction field, most of it well regarded. I may need to revisit some of his other writing. Perhaps he's better when writing entirely original work.
The Philosopher Thief (2018) by Darrell Schweitzer ★★★★I was a bit concerned that once we left the Carter stories, the following stories set in Simrana by other authors might not be as good. Other reviewers have indicated as much. But I am not finding that to be the case. This story was well written and a pleasure, though it started slower than it finished.
The story is set in the same thieves' enclave mentioned for the first time two stories ago by Robert M. Price. The present king od the thieves likes stories, but only true ones. This limits the potential stories some. A philosopher thief agrees to tell a story, but first has to investigate something to make sure it's true. Schweitzer's story is about that investigation and where it leads the philosopher thief's story. The twist of Carter's endings lacks here somewhat in this story, but there is a profound point to it I enjoyed pondering.
I am glad to see Darrell Schweitzer having success with this story. I have not read his fiction work that much, but he is a former editor of Weird Tales and has done a lot of publishing and popularizing work in the field of weird fiction, all of it of high quality.
The Sorcerer's Satchel (2018) by Gary Myers ★★★★1/2
This was a fun story that for the first time since we left Carter's recaptures Carter's simplicity and directness of plot. Another thief--funny how we're getting so many thieves all of a sudden--comes upon a friendly sorcerer who shares his resources to eat a meal with our hungry thief. The sorcerer falls asleep and so what does out thief do? Of course, what any thief would do, kindnesses notwithstanding. I love the ending here.
I looked the author Gary Myers up and discovered he has been publishing in the field of fantasy and weird fiction for a long time. His first sale was in 1970. He writes almost entirely short stories, but has written one novel that looks worth checking out, if only my life were so long I could read every possibly worthy novel. It's Gray Magic: An Episode of Eibon (2013). It's based on a Hyperborean story of Clark Ashton Smith we read a month or two ago.
OK, I am travelling much of May and am behind. I also forgot my Kindle home :'( and it is not as convenient to read on the phone. But I am through the first short stories down to the undoing of Adrazoon. So these ones:
"Introduction" (from Lin Carter: A Look Behind His Imaginary Worlds, 1991)
"The Gods of Niom Parma" (from Warlocks and Warriors, 1970)
"The Whelming of Oom" (from The Young Magicians, 1969)
"Zingazar" (from New Worlds for Old, 1971)
"How Sargoth Lay Siege to Zaremm" (from Swordsmen and Supermen, 1972)
"The Laughter of Han" (from Fantasy Tales, v. 5, no. 9, spring 1982)
"The Benevolence of Yib" (from Crypt of Cthulhu, no. 51, Hallowmas 1987)
"How Ghuth Would Have Hunted the Silth" (from Crypt of Cthulhu, no. 54, Eastertide 1988)
"The Thievery of Yish" (from Fantasy Tales, v. 10, no. 1, autumn 1988)
"How Her Doom Came Down at Last on Adrazoon"
----
my impressions: these are neat little stories even though they somehow did not - for me- quite reach the impact of other similar ones, neither Dunsany, nor Clark Ashton Smith, nor others. The overabundance of made up beasts and placenames somehow does not quite stick, and the stories have twists that are interesting and even a bit exciting but not taking my breath away. Maybe I am being too picky though. The morality tale of the beggar who got too greedy and distracted by flashy but untrue Gods; of a warrior taken down by a laughing child; of a proud city undone by its pridefulness (but also, time and ruin), of a hunter who got too far in his hunting ambitions - each little story has a very seriously annunciated moral to it. That is probably not such a bad thing, as it would help create a set of mythological tales, I suppose?
I did laugh at the giant man eating worm. I also seriously appreciated the delicate situation around worshipping a REALLY wise God, for whom only the sacrifice of really wise men would do - and there are few such men at any given time. I thought the conclusion of the Adrazoon tale was very strong indeed.
An Unfamiliar Familiar (2018) by Adrian Cole ★★★★1/2A low-level mage of Simrana gets leverage over a powerful being and requests a boon. However, he may not have wanted quite what he receives.
This was one of the funniest stories I have read all year. I never expect humor in a weird tale, and I'm not usually susceptible to comedy anyway, but this was so low-key and well-told. The story lost a half star only at the end when the ending really didn't do anything.
The Summoning of a Genie in Error (2018) by Adrian Cole ★★★1/2
This story had more narrative (the entire first third has no dialogue or dramatic scenes, just explanation) and less humor than the previous story, but was still a lot of fun. A faithful servant drives a hard bargain to get his beloved mistress the bottle of liquor she desperately wants. But does she? This story, at least, has the ending the first one lacked.
I have not heard of Adrian Cole previously. He is a British author now in his seventies who has been publishing fiction since 1973. He has approximately 25 novels to his credit. His latest two comprise his War on Rome series (so far): Arminius, Bane of Eagles (2022) and Germanicus, Lord of Eagles (2023). He's also still publishing a lot of short fiction this decade. Given these strong two stories, I'd read some of his other writing at some point, especially given his association with Weirdbook, a modern magazine devoted to weird things Cthulhu, of which Darrell Schweitzer (another author in this anthology) is also a frequent contributor.
The Sad But Instructive Fable of Mangroth's Tomes (2018) by Charles Garofalo ★How Frindolf Got His Fill of Revenge (2018) by Charles Garofalo ★
These are the first two stories in this anthology I could have done without. They added no value whatsoever. There was no scene, no dialogue therefore within a scene, just long-winded explanation for nothing I cared to know about in either one.
Worse, they were mere fantasy stories (no weird fiction elements) of wizards and wizards' lives that had nothing in the slightest to do with Simrana. They mention Simrana in a single sentence at the beginning and/or end. But if I take Lord of the Rings and add a sentence with the word Simrana in it to Tolkien's novels, I still don't have a story that belongs in this anthology. Who are Garofalo and Price trying to fool?
Nor were the stories Dunsanian or Lin-Carter-like as far as I could discern in their storytelling. Had they been in some other fantasy anthology, I would have rated them two stars for being innocuous, and just moved on. The writing style, characters, and world creation were okay and might appeal to someone. But here in this anthology the stories were completely out of place and not an adequate answer to what the editor should have been expecting from the assignment. I suspect Price may have included these stories due to being personal friends with Garofalo.
The Good Simranatan (2018) by Robert M. Price ★★★This is the shortest story in the anthology so far, just three e-pages and a line. It's based on the Bible story of The Good Samaritan, but has a clever twist. Price has a day job as a preacher, and the dye job of writing in a fantasy background doesn't quite get the roots. But that's okay. It's a fun story nonetheless, and I can buy that it's set in Simrana.
The Devil's Mine (2018) by Robert M. Price ★★★1/2
A resident of the human part of the realm of Simrana dies and finds himself in a level of Hell in Simrana's afterlife. I really liked this substantial look at this afterlife aspect of Simrana and found the characters of Mufastos and his wife Gurtrulla funny and compelling.
How Thongor Conquered Zaremm (2018) by Robert M. Price ★1/2
Okay, this story, like both of Charles Garofalo's, has no business being in this anthology. It's not about Simrana, and no amount of lipstick placed on the pig can make it so. Lin Carter had another, slightly earlier series, called Thongor, the name of the titular character, a barbarian along the lines of Conan. Carter wrote six novels, a poem, and then six short stories set in Lemuria, where Thongor resided, all between 1965 and 1980. The first of these is Thongor and the Wizard of Lemuria, if you're curious. Robert M. Price came along in 1998 and has contributed 18 more short stories in this series, by my count, the last four of which were published just last year (2023). I imagine Price intends to continue writing them.
This story is 32 e-pages long and made no real sense to me since I've never read a Thongor story. The word "Simrana" is tossed into the story once or twice to try to fool the reader, but it doesn't work. The reader will know nothing of the characters or the situation they're involved in. I gave the story a half star above my one star rating because as the 12th story in Price's 18-story run (so far), it might be good. It's hard to tell. I'd like to read the 23 (total) that preceded it, maybe, in order to make that determination.
Now, I am down to the last nine stories. Eight of them are Lord Dunsany's from the first decade of the twentieth century. I have never yet read a Dunsany story I liked. Will this trend be reversed here? Then the last story is a 1937 Kuttner story I have already read and liked, which led me to want to try this anthology in the first place.
I have about 100 pages left now, and I gotta say: This collection is such a delight! I have enjoyed these stories immensely so far, so thank your for nominating it. Truly, what a gem :)Will share some notes tomorrow.
I rated most of Lin Carter's stories either 4 or 5 stars. They were so magical, wonderful and entertaining. There is so much refined humor to enjoy here too, and not the childish, exaggerated and and in-your-face kind, but a bit more sophisticated, discreet and playful. I've smiled, chuckled and laughed out loud at regular intervals! Zina's right, though, in that most of the stories have an "annunciated moral to it", which to me adds more classic weight to their flavor as tales told in a world called Simrana. It's hard to pick a favorite.
Dan wrote: "These are the first two stories in this anthology I could have done without. They added no value whatsoever. There was no scene, no dialogue therefore within a scene, just long-winded explanation for nothing I cared to know about in either one.Worse, they were mere fantasy stories (no weird fiction elements) of wizards and wizards' lives that had nothing in the slightest to do with Simrana. They mention Simrana in a single sentence at the beginning and/or end. But if I take Lord of the Rings and add a sentence with the word Simrana in it to Tolkien's novels, I still don't have a story that belongs in this anthology. Who are Garofalo and Price trying to fool?
Nor were the stories Dunsanian or Lin-Carter-like as far as I could discern in their storytelling. Had they been in some other fantasy anthology, I would have rated them two stars for being innocuous, and just moved on. The writing style, characters, and world creation were okay and might appeal to someone. But here in this anthology the stories were completely out of place and not an adequate answer to what the editor should have been expecting from the assignment. I suspect Price may have included these stories due to being personal friends with Garofalo.
reply | flag"
I just read these stories. Interesting take! I don't agree that they addded "no value whatsoever", but I definitely see what you mean; they don't quite fit in as weird stories from Simrana, and their overall style seems more ... detached. As part of a collection, they certainly fell short, but I still liked them. I can enjoy writing without scenes and dialogue or other traditional story elements (like an antagonist etc.), although I do agree they make things easier. In any case, they were enjoyable reads!
I think it's a bit hard to evaluate stories that are supposed to be pastiches, though, without having read what they are imitating. To me, it does seem to matter how well they succesfully capture the heart and style of Dunsany. I might subtract or add a star when I've finally read them later on.
Next came eight Lord Dunsany stories.The River (1905) by Lord Dunsany
The Fortress Unvanquishable, Save for Sacnoth (1908) by Lord Dunsany
The Sword of Welleran (1908) by Lord Dunsany
Carcassonne (1910) by Lord Dunsany
How Nuth Would Have Practiced His Art Upon the Gnoles (1911) by Lord Dunsany
The Distressing Tale of Thangobrind the Jeweller, and of the Doom That Befell Him (1911) Lord Dunsany
In Zaccarath (1909) by Lord Dunsany
How the Enemy Came to Thlūnrāna (1910) by Lord Dunsany
I am going to lump these stories all together, not discuss them individually, and give them 2.5 stars as a collective rating. Three stars means I like the work. Two stars means I like something about the story, but am pretty much neutral overall. Two stars is where I am with Lord Dunsany's stories, except I really respect the writing craft, the world creation skills, the sophisticated names of places and people, the serious atmosphere, therefore 2.5 stars.
My problem with all of the stories is the plot. If the story has a plot at all, half of them don't, plot is a secondary concern, a distant one at that. Some people can just enjoy a story for its good writing and its atmosphere. They don't always need a plot. I'm not among that group.
That said, I think it should be noted how influential Dunsany was. This is because at the time of his writing, no one ever really wrote anything like what he was writing before. Some of Machen's stories, an author we'll be reading again next month, wrote stories before Dunsany that had what I think of as some Dunsanian elements, and I think they might have inspired Dunsany. Also, no one to my knowledge has been able to stories exactly like Dunsany since. Many writers have written in Dunsanian style, but no one ever attained it to the degree Dunsany does.
Because Dunsany brings such a depth of world creation, brings so much seriousness to what he writes, and uses such a profoundly creative style in his word choices, one that's poetical in its suggestiveness by not directly saying the key point, but letting it be discovered by the sufficiently sensitive reader, Dunsany quickly became a writer's writer. Other writers admired his writing and tried to emulate it in their own writing, which is fine. More power to Dunsany and his emulators. Nevertheless, Dunsany's writing attributes alone don't make him much fun to read, not for me, because I like a good plot in my stories.
I am glad Dunsany's body of work exists and has inspired other writers because when they take what they need from Dunsany and combine that with their own ideas of storytelling, wonderful things can result. Some of Lovecraft's work, much of R. E. Howard's writing, Kuttner's writing, Clark Ashton Smith's, perhaps Tolkien's, but especially Lin Carter's, not to mention so many others that we have read in this group all owe a heavy debt to Dunsany. It's impossible not to appreciate what Dunsany did for the genre.
The Jest of Droom Avista (1937) by Henry Kuttner ★★★★
Here is what I wrote in my review of this story when reading it for the first time in The Book of Iod here in this group a few months ago:
This story is actually a sequel to an earlier story of Kuttner's set in the world of Bel Yarnak, "Eater of Souls." This story is set in Bel Yarnak's future, long after it has fallen. A sorcerer named Thorazor tries to compel his god Droom-avista to revive his world. And Droom-avista does indeed preserve Bel Yarnak, in a way.
I love the ponderous writing found in these two Bel Yarnak stories. They would fit well into Lovecraft's Dream Cycle. I suppose I should not be too surprised that Kuttner would want to make a series based on this far-off world. He must have spent a great deal of time in the world-building aspect of preparing the original story. To tell only one short story in it at one or two cents a word, whatever Farnsworth Wright was then paying, doesn't seem as if it would pay enough. But if one can make a series based on that world, now we're talking. I hope Kuttner returns us to Bel Yarnak in another story.
Now we can see that Kuttner was actually writing Dunsanian tales, much as Lovecraft's Dream Cycle is also based directly on groundwork laid by Dunsany. Dunsany's narrators in these Dunsany "stories" keep referring to the fact that everything taking place in them is a dream, that cityscapes are being viewed through the lens of a dream, etc.
That Kuttner's story is based on Dunsany's work doesn't make me appreciate Kuttner's story any less. Nor do I discount Lovecraft's or Carter's Dunsanian writings to any degree for being Dunsanian. All three writers, especially Carter in my view, transcend Dunsany, first because even when trying to write like Dunsany they're off a little, usually in a good way. All three writers plot to varying degrees, or I couldn't appreciate them.
This brings me to the problem of evaluating a work because it borrows from another's, or leans on it heavily, commonly called in popular modern-day parlance, writing a pastiche. I absolutely don't care what a writer borrows, whether that be another writer's characters, tone, world, style, whatever! I form my opinion of a work solely based on the words on the page from the work's story itself. If the writer does some skillful borrowing of the better features of another writer's work, that can only enhance my appreciation. I would never subtract from a writer anything based on the fact he borrowed. I think one only has to look at Shakespeare's work to understand why this is the valid approach to pastiche. Virtually everything Shakespeare wrote borrowed heavily from various sources and other authors of his day and other authors going back to antiquity. Shakespeare's appropriations in no way lessen his genius. How then can anyone think borrowing from someone else in any way lessens a modern day author's achievement? I certainly don't. I give credit to that author for recognizing the value of what another author produced, taking it, using it, paying homage to it thereby, and then trying to add or improve on it. This is great stuff!
Dan wrote: "I am going to lump these stories all together, not discuss them individually, and give them 2.5 stars as a collective rating. Three stars means I like the work. Two stars means I like something about the story, but am pretty much neutral overall. Two stars is where I am with Lord Dunsany's stories, except I really respect the writing craft, the world creation skills, the sophisticated names of places and people, the serious atmosphere, therefore 2.5 stars.My problem with all of the stories is the plot. If the story has a plot at all, half of them don't, plot is a secondary concern, a distant one at that. Some people can just enjoy a story for its good writing and its atmosphere. They don't always need a plot. I'm not among that group."
Even if I've mentioned earlier that I'm of the kind that don't necessarily need a plot, I still need something that excites me in some way in the absence of one. I'm with you on these Dunsany stories; the ones without an obvious plot line don't do enough for me, and the ones with seem too .. hmm, formulaic and not used to its full potential. Basically, they were boring.
Dan wrote: "That said, I think it should be noted how influential Dunsany was. This is because at the time of his writing, no one ever really wrote anything like what he was writing before. Some of Machen's stories, an author we'll be reading again next month, wrote stories before Dunsany that had what I think of as some Dunsanian elements, and I think they might have inspired Dunsany. Also, no one to my knowledge has been able to stories exactly like Dunsany since. Many writers have written in Dunsanian style, but no one ever attained it to the degree Dunsany does.
Because Dunsany brings such a depth of world creation, brings so much seriousness to what he writes, and uses such a profoundly creative style in his word choices, one that's poetical in its suggestiveness by not directly saying the key point, but letting it be discovered by the sufficiently sensitive reader, Dunsany quickly became a writer's writer. Other writers admired his writing and tried to emulate it in their own writing, which is fine. More power to Dunsany and his emulators. Nevertheless, Dunsany's writing attributes alone don't make him much fun to read, not for me, because I like a good plot in my stories.
I am glad Dunsany's body of work exists and has inspired other writers because when they take what they need from Dunsany and combine that with their own ideas of storytelling, wonderful things can result. Some of Lovecraft's work, much of R. E. Howard's writing, Kuttner's writing, Clark Ashton Smith's, perhaps Tolkien's, but especially Lin Carter's, not to mention so many others that we have read in this group all owe a heavy debt to Dunsany. It's impossible not to appreciate what Dunsany did for the genre."
Wow, well said! I genuinely couldn't have said it better myself. I really loved The King of Elfland's Daughter, as you know, and found it very inspiring, much more so than these short stories. There are many more of his that I still haven't read, and despite my mild enthusiasm for these ones, I remain optimistic and will definitely explore another collection eventually.
Dan wrote: "Now we can see that Kuttner was actually writing Dunsanian tales, much as Lovecraft's Dream Cycle is also based directly on groundwork laid by Dunsany. Dunsany's narrators in these Dunsany "stories" keep referring to the fact that everything taking place in them is a dream, that cityscapes are being viewed through the lens of a dream, etc."Yeah, I noticed that too!
Dan wrote: "That Kuttner's story is based on Dunsany's work doesn't make me appreciate Kuttner's story any less. Nor do I discount Lovecraft's or Carter's Dunsanian writings to any degree for being Dunsanian. All three writers, especially Carter in my view, transcend Dunsany, first because even when trying to write like Dunsany they're off a little, usually in a good way. "
I very much agree with this as well!
Dan wrote: "This brings me to the problem of evaluating a work because it borrows from another's, or leans on it heavily, commonly called in popular modern-day parlance, writing a pastiche. I absolutely don't care what a writer borrows, whether that be another writer's characters, tone, world, style, whatever! I form my opinion of a work solely based on the words on the page from the work's story itself. If the writer does some skillful borrowing of the better features of another writer's work, that can only enhance my appreciation. I would never subtract from a writer anything based on the fact he borrowed. I think one only has to look at Shakespeare's work to understand why this is the valid approach to pastiche. Virtually everything Shakespeare wrote borrowed heavily from various sources and other authors of his day and other authors going back to antiquity. Shakespeare's appropriations in no way lessen his genius. How then can anyone think borrowing from someone else in any way lessens a modern day author's achievement? I certainly don't. I give credit to that author for recognizing the value of what another author produced, taking it, using it, paying homage to it thereby, and then trying to add or improve on it. This is great stuff!"
I'm glad you discussed this. I wouldn't lower my rating for any work because they borrow anything at all, because as you say, borrowing does not lessen an author's genius or skill, and borrowing is in some ways vital in the creation of new forms of art. Paying homage to someone in this manner is a highly respectable thing to do as well. I guess my thinking is that there's a difference between borrowing from one or various sources and actively trying to imitate or even emulate someone specifically, which I understand pastiches to be. And if you do the latter, you will, like in any other creative endeavor, qualify for failure.
If your intention is to write a comedy, for instance, and no one thinks its funny, then you're written bad comedy. Maybe you failed at borrowing the right elements of the genre, maybe it's something else. The book could be great in other ways, of course, which can be appreciated, but it's still low quality comedy. Fortunately, most of these pastiches were, to me, successful ones. They emulated or, yes, transcended Dunsany and had even a voice of their own, something that set them apart from him. I just like to use artistic intent as one parameter to guide my evaluations - as I believe it's relevant and fair (and vice versa: it's irrelevant and unfair to devalue that same comedy for not being scary enough) - but I don't use that one parameter to determine my rating altogether. There tends to be much more worth talking about.
Here is my review. I think perhaps you'll appreciate that introduction, Dan! :)https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Nicolai Alexander wrote: "Here is my review. I think perhaps you'll appreciate that introduction, Dan! :)"Actually, I appreciated the entire review. That first part was really creative though.
Reading through your takes on the stories reminded me of some feature or another that I had forgotten about. I particularly liked "Zingara" now that I am separated from it by a month. What a strange concept that was, anthropomorphizing weapons and making a character out of the city itself. It's almost as if the characters were the props instead. It was a brilliant sort of reversal.
Based on how much you liked the Adrian Cole stories, maybe he's the author for you to explore from here.
I know I was super critical of the two Charles Garofalo stories. I admit he might write material I might like more if I find it in another setting. It was weird how he had so few scenes or dialogue, but his storytelling, despite that, was better than average. I'd like to read some of his work with an open mind in another context. He only writes short stories though, no novels. He has written 23 of them by ISFDB's count, all between 1985 and last year (Flashing Swords #7).
Anyhow, I'm glad you liked the selection. I bet as time goes on, word will spread of just how good Price's Simrana collection is, and people will go out of their way to read it. I would like to believe our reviews of the collection did it justice, maybe even a service.
Weird Fiction
Books mentioned in this topic
Flashing Swords #7 (other topics)The King of Elfland's Daughter (other topics)
The Book of Iod (other topics)
Thongor and the Wizard of Lemuria (other topics)
Arminius, Bane of Eagles (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Lin Carter (other topics)Robert M. Price (other topics)
Henry Kuttner (other topics)
The anthology gathers together all twelve of Carter's tales set in his Lord Dunsany-inspired "dreamworld" of Simrana, some previously published and a few previously unpublished, including two newly completed by Robert M. Price and Glynn Owen Barrass. One story, previously published in two versions, "The Gods of Neol Shendis" and "The Gods of Nion Parma," is included in both forms. Appended are nine "Dunsanian" stories written as tributes to Carter and Simrana by Darrell Schweitzer, Gary Myers, Adrian Cole, Charles Garofalo, and Robert M. Price, along with some of the original stories that inspired Carter, eight by Lord Dunsany himself and one by Henry Kuttner.
Clearly this is a huge book, 31 stories in all by my count. What an excellent value for just $7.99! If you read the buddy read on offer a couple months ago, The Book of Iod, you have already read the final story in this anthology: "The Jest of Droom Avista" (1937) by Henry Kuttner. I enjoyed that story so much that I will reread it when I get to the end.
So who's up for this ambitious dream cycle? These weird fiction stories by Linwood Vrooman Carter (1930-1988) are mostly from the 1970s and '80s, the last two decades of his life. They're in the style of what I consider to be transitional weird, more sophisticated than the 1923-1953 period, but not yet the Modern Weird of the late '90s and '00s. The period is underrepresented on our bookshelf.
Here are the stories included in this incredible anthology:
"Introduction" (from Lin Carter: A Look Behind His Imaginary Worlds, 1991)
"The Gods of Niom Parma" (from Warlocks and Warriors, 1970)
"The Whelming of Oom" (from The Young Magicians, 1969)
"Zingazar" (from New Worlds for Old, 1971)
"How Sargoth Lay Siege to Zaremm" (from Swordsmen and Supermen, 1972)
"The Laughter of Han" (from Fantasy Tales, v. 5, no. 9, spring 1982)
"The Benevolence of Yib" (from Crypt of Cthulhu, no. 51, Hallowmas 1987)
"How Ghuth Would Have Hunted the Silth" (from Crypt of Cthulhu, no. 54, Eastertide 1988)
"The Thievery of Yish" (from Fantasy Tales, v. 10, no. 1, autumn 1988)
"How Her Doom Came Down at Last on Adrazoon" (from Crypt of Cthulhu, no. 57, St. John's Eve 1988)
"How Jal Set Forth on his Journeying"
"The Gods of Neol Shendis" (from Amra, v. 2, no. 41, July 1966)
"How Shand Became King of Thieves" (with Robert M. Price)
"Caolin the Conjurer (Or, Dzimdazoul)" (with Glynn Owen Barrass)
"The Philosopher Thief" (Darrell Schweitzer)
"The Sorcerer’s Satchel" (Gary Myers)
"An Unfamiliar Familiar" (Adrian Cole)
"The Summoning of a Genie in Error" (Adrian Cole)
"The Sad but Instructive Fable of Mangroth’s Tomes" (Charles Garofalo)
"How Frindolf Got his Fill of Revenge" (Charles Garofalo)
"The Devil’s Mine" (Robert M. Price)
"The Good Simranatan" (Robert M. Price)
"How Thongor Conquered Zaremm" (Robert M. Price)
"The River" (Lord Dunsany) (from The Gods of Pegāna, 1905)
"The Fortress Unvanquishable, Save for Sacnoth" (Lord Dunsany) (from The Sword of Welleran and Other Stories, 1908)
"The Sword of Welleran" (Lord Dunsany) (from The Sword of Welleran and Other Stories, 1908)
"Carcassonne" (Lord Dunsany) (from A Dreamer's Tales, 1910)
"How Nuth Would Have Practiced His Art Upon the Gnoles" (Lord Dunsany) (from The Sketch, Feb. 15, 1911)
"The Distressing Tale of Thangobrind the Jeweller, and of the Doom That Befell Him" (Lord Dunsany) (from The Sketch, Jan. 11, 1911)
"In Zaccarath" (Lord Dunsany) (from Saturday Review, Aug. 14, 1909)
"How the Enemy Came to Thlunrana" (Lord Dunsany) (from Saturday Review, Dec. 31, 1910)
"The Jest of Droom Avista" (Henry Kuttner) (from Weird Tales, August 1937)