The Joy of Erudition > Recent Status Updates

The letters columns and classified ads are always interesting, giving a glimpse of what was on everyone's mind at this time in history, and sometimes giving their opinions of historical events as they were happening.

"Guyal of Sfere" (Guile?) is the longest story in the collection, with one of the most sympathetic protagonists, and although it starts off a bit slow and not as colourful as the others, it starts delivering some great ideas in the latter third. This one is also the most consistent with its viewpoint.

Finally, in "Ulan Dhor" we have a completely non-evil protagonist! As in the others, the world-building is fantastic in this. It's a rich, vivid world, and even the strangely strict dogma of coloured clothing becomes more interesting once we find out exactly what's going on. Also, yet another possible D&D inspiration — that of Evard's Black Tentacles.

"Liane the Wayfarer" was a little disappointing in how it completely ignored the highly significant event involving this narcissistic psychopath in "T'sais", but it was not disappointing in how it ended. Also, this story may have inspired the D&D magic item, the "portable hole", or at least been one of its inspirations.

Unlike most of the other stories in this collection, the protagonists of "T'Sais" are not cruel. T'Sais herself did evil in the story in which she was introduced, but she was not in her right mind at the time, and has repented. The story showcases the cruelty and evil in the rest of the world, but it also shows that there is still mercy and justice. The character focus shifts suddenly near the end.

"The Forest of Andred" was the worst story in the issue, and was so badly written that I looked up the author to see if he'd done anything else, and was shocked to find that this is sort of a "cult classic" author writing under a pseudonym! Granted, this is one of his very earliest works (only his 3rd published story, years before his novels), so it's entirely possible he improved greatly since then.

In terms of plot and focus, "Turjan of Miir" is all over the place. I can see why Jack Vance decided to lead with "Mazirian" in later editions. But it has so much colour and imagination!

"And thus, in order to lay out clearly my claim about what constitutes “I”-ness, I need to spell out what I mean by “strange loop”. And since we’re just finishing Chapter 7 of I Am a Strange Loop, it’s about time!"

"Does fire cause smoke? Do cars cause smog? Do drones cause boredom? Do jokes cause laughter? Do smiles cause swoons? Does love cause marriage?"

Here's another place where it reads differently now than it was meant in 2007.

"It is most unlikely that you, a reader of this book, have missed all the Star Wars movies, with their rather unforgettable characters C-3PO and R2-D2. Absurdly unrealistic though these two robots are... they nonetheless serve one very useful purpose — they are mind-openers."

The world has changed a bit since this was written in 2007.

These stories are well-known for inspiring the D&D spellcasting system and even some specific spells and magic items (Prismatic Spray is used in "Mazirian the Magician"), but I'd wager that even the character of Jon Irenicus was inspired by Mazirian. There's a little head-hopping in this story, but I guess it was supposed to be in omniscient PoV despite mainly sticking with Mazirian.

The remarkable thing about the framing story in this book is that it actually comes back around at the end to conclude it, unlike most of the books of this period that I've read. But it also keeps coming back between each of the short stories to remind you that it's still there, so I can see why. Unfortunately, like most framing stories, it's the least interesting part of the book.

The Novel of the White Powder had an ending that was extremely similar to The Great God Pan, with the same kind of body horror and black gelatinous mass, except that the catalyst in this case was an absent-minded pharmacist filling a prescription incorrectly. This was one of the better stories, but again it's diminished by the framing story in which it's being recounted by a liar.

"Novel of the Black Seal" finally had some of that Great God Pan-style body horror I was expecting from Machen, but it really took its time getting to it! And it was nestled in a story within a story within a story.

These are all well-written, but fans of supernatural horror (like his better-known The Great God Pan) should be warned that there's very little supernatural in this collection, and what there is takes a long time to show up. Also, the way this is all framed, the alleged supernatural is all related by the titular three imposters, who are hinted to be lying about it.

"The Shining Pyramid" was okay, but way too much "telling", and not enough direct experience.

"Adventure of the Gold Tiberius" was just a framing story, with no resolution as yet.

"Novel of the Dark Valley" was tense, with an English character being shunned and hated in the Old West for unknown reasons (at first), but it had very little of the supernatural. This was actually written at the tail end of the Old West.

L. Sprague de Camp's essay "White Wizard in Tweeds" is a somewhat dry but interesting mini-biography of J. R. R. Tolkien (whose name he says is pronounced "tol-keen", not "tol-kin") focused on his writing and publishing of The Hobbit and LotR, as well as the critical reception of the time, with lots of citations. In addition to written correspondence, de Camp says he also spent a day talking with him in person once.