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The Southeast in Early Maps (Fred W Morrison Series in Southern Studies)
William P. Cumming
Manufacturer: The University of North Carolina Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0807823716 |
Book Description
First published in 1958, The Southeast in Early Maps is William Cumming's classic study of the mapping of the Southeast before the American Revolution. By analyzing printed and manuscript maps of the area in the light of other contemporary primary documents, the book traces the expansion of geographical knowledge about the Southeast over the course of its discovery and colonization.
With 124 illustrations—including a new gallery of 24 color reproductions of maps selected from the Cumming Collection in the E. H. Little Library at Davidson College—this stunning edition will be a valuable reference for scholars, collectors, cartographers, geographers, historians, archaeologists, archivists, librarians, genealogists, and surveyors. It features an introductory essay on the early historical cartography of the region, an extensive annotated checklist of printed and manuscript local maps from the colonial period, an updated bibliography, and a new section on the role of Native Americans in the mapping of the Southeast.
Average customer rating:
- Like angel hair pasta with squid ink, this book is not for everyone
- The Geographer's Library - worth checking out
- If you like happy endings, this may not be a story for you.
- Haters, step back
- A puzzling and ultimately unsatisfying ending!
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The Geographer's Library
Jon Fasman
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Labyrinth
ASIN: 0143036629 |
Amazon.com
The literary history suspense novel has long been a genre appreciated by a small subset of general readers. It is currently enjoying a new vogue and a wider readership with the publication of such novels as The Da Vinci Code, The Rule of Four, and Codex. What these books have in common, and what The Geographer's Library can also claim, is a set of characters in the here and now grappling with questions about things that went on a very long time ago. Another characteristic is the unearthing or explanation of objects of great value. The trick is to weave these two realities together in a compelling way, one that will keep the reader involved in both stories.
Jon Fasman has taken a big chance with The Geographer's Library, his debut novel, setting out a complicated scenario in which a collection of priceless objects is stolen from the titular library and, eventually, scattered and re-collected a thousand years later--with very bad results for the final collector. The geographer is a real person, Al-Idrisi, a Spanish-Muslim philosopher, cartographer, linguist, and scholar who served in the court of King Roger of Sicily in Palermo in the year 1154. For the most part, Fasman's risk pays off, although there is a lot of meandering before we finally get to the final revelation.
The "wraparound" story is about a young journalist, Paul Tomm, who sets out to write a simple obituary about a professor who died in his office at Paul's Alma Mater. The man is Jaan Puhapaev, an Estonian perhaps, who is a terrible teacher, fires his gun out his office window twice, is odd, unavailable, and reclusive and yet is allowed to stay on for unknown reasons. He also collects only $1.00 a year in salary and has no other visible means of support. The core narrative is a description of the provenance and travels of each of the 15 objects--some or all of which may hold the secret of eternal life--stolen from Al-Idrisi.
A professor friend of Paul's, a policemen and a curious editor all get an investigation rolling regarding what really happened to Jaan, who is he, and is he perhaps much, much older than they think? Paul meets and falls for a neighbor and putative friend of Jaan's, a music teacher named Hannah Rowe, which moves the information curve upward. This is the least believable part of the story: it's easier to accept the alchemical power of the Emerald Tablet of Hermes than Hannah. That said, Fasman does bring it all home at the end with an expository chapter and two letters. A bit of a cheat, but at least the reader is neatly taken off the literary hook he has dangled on for 380 pages. --Valerie Ryan
Book Description
“Fasman's fast-paced tale is almost all plot... These characters are better drawn than those in The Da Vinci Code.” —Newsweek
Jon Fasman's dizzyingly plotted intellectual thriller suggests a marriage between Dan Brown and Donna Tartt. When reporter Paul Tomm is assigned to investigate the mysterious death of a reclusive academic, he finds himself pursuing leads that date back to the twelfth century and the theft of alchemical instruments from the geographer of the Sicilian court. Now someone is trying to retrieve them. Interspersed with the present action are the stories of the men and women who came to possess those charmed—and sometimes cursed—artifacts, which have powers that go well beyond the transmutation of lead into gold. Deftly combining history, magic, suspense, and romance—and as handsomely illustrated as an ancient incunabulum—The Geographer's Library is irresistible.
“A brainy noir . . . [a] winningly cryptic tale . . . a cabinet of wonders written by a novelist whose surname and sensibility fit comfortably on the shelf between Umberto Eco and John Fowles.” —Los Angeles Times
“One of the year's most literate and absorbing entertainments.” —Kirkus Reviews
Customer Reviews:
Like angel hair pasta with squid ink, this book is not for everyone.......2007-09-30
One of my husband's major in university at Leeds was geography, so this seemed like a good choice for him. He read one chapter and quit, so I read it. The author has an extraordinary vocabulary, and there are more obscure (as well as overt) references than there are in twenty-two Dennis Miller rants. Albeit an intellectual novel, it is not lacking in plot or character development. The author does not connect all of the dots but does connect enough of them to not leave the reader hanging. The descriptions of people are inspired; I found myself unconsciously moving my face around to match expressions in the book. It is not an book to scan; every word is important to the story. My husband says he's going to read it now; he'll love it.
The Geographer's Library - worth checking out.......2007-08-06
Jon Fasman's debut novel, The Geographer's Library, invariably draws comparisons with 'The DaVinci Code', as is to be expected, when a novel is such a 'behemoth' as 'DaVinci Code' is, any historical novel with religious over/undertones, about looking for a lost relic, or long-buried treasure is ripe for claims of being a 'rip-off' of a best-seller.
But Fasman's idea is all his own. The death of a small-town college professors piques the interest of a local journalist, who decides to investigate the man's life and interests before writing his obituary. However, Paul Tom's investigations draws more questions than answers. Who was the mysterious professor, who reportedly didn't teach at all? Why did his employer, Tom's alma mater, cover up two gun-related incidents involving the professor? What was he in search of, which brought about his untimely death, and frequently landed him in a very out of the way watering hole, with decidedly UN-friendly patrons, and an even more unfriendly owner?
Interspersed with dances through time to describe certain elemental 'collectables' that all play a part in this tale of alchemy, stolen artifacts, and secret agendas, Jon Fasman's first novel is an interesting mixture of past and present, fact and fantasy, truth and lies.
A fast, easy read; The Geographer's Library kept me entertained from start to finish, as journalist Paul Tom uncovers the answers that he seeks.
Recommended for those with an interest in historical fiction and ancient mysteries, this is a promising new voice in the genre.
If you like happy endings, this may not be a story for you........2007-08-02
The theme of a secret society is always interesting and I looked forward to the Geographer's Library--especially after reading a comparison of it to the DaVinci Code. However, the author's use of individuals from the former Soviet Union and the Baltic region to kill individuals in order to gain possession of certain antiquities resulted in a rather depressing tone. While every book does not have to have a happy ending, this book's conclusion was decidedly unsettling to say the least.
After reading this story, I have come to the conclusion that the DaVinci Code was a more riveting book with a more satisfying ending.
Haters, step back.......2007-06-27
Anyone who expects a grand work of literature with a mystery like this will be disappointed. This is a light read, an airport book, albeit one that has high pretensions, written by a skilled magician who conveys the excitement of the chase. The faults of the main character are a little overexpressed, especially as most of the book is supposedly written from Paul's perspective. The narrative layers and the brief dossiers on each of the artifacts are excellent, as are the interposed memories which take a bland journalistic romance and flavor it with disparate settings and intriguing, mysterious powers. Books like this are a pleasure akin to an action movie, which has to be appreciated for what it is: a great ride, nothing more. Don't expect great things from a Michael Bay film; it won't change your life, you won't experience any sort of deep emotion, but the explosions will be really cool and, hopefully, the script will keep you glued to your seat. This is a delightful mystery, well-written by a verbose young writer. Fasman creates cops that are interesting, individual and freshly characterized. This one's not getting in the canon but it deserves a home in a vacation house.
A puzzling and ultimately unsatisfying ending!.......2007-06-07
"The Geographer's Library" has aspirations to that lofty genre, the literary thriller, which is attracting so many hopeful authors and readers of late. For a debut novel, Fasman's efforts come very, very close indeed to success but ultimately a puzzling and cryptic ending left me feeling like I had just dined on that proverbial gourmet Chinese food - you know that old one about eating lots and enjoying it but, when the ending arrives, you're not really satisfied and a few minutes later you're hungry!
The story begins as Paul Tomm, reporter for a small town Connecticut weekly, is assigned to write the obituary for Jaan Puhapaev, an Estonian professor of Balkan history at the local college, who died alone in his rooms. Tomm's questions, initially aimed only at fleshing out the bones on the life of an old man that nobody really knew, quickly began to disclose a much more shadowy past.
Fasman ekes outs the details of Puhapaev's shadowy past and its mystical connection to the shadowy arcane science of alchemy by interweaving a series of fourteen thoroughly entertaining historical vignettes with the main body of the plot. Each story tracks the life line of a different artifact, some now priceless and others barely distinguishable from garage sale junk, all stolen in antiquity from the collection of twelfth century geographer Al-Idris to their resting places in the modern era.
The writing was sharp; the malevolent and stomach-churning plot-line of the thriller was well-paced and compelling; the historical asides were entertaining and informative; the characterization was enjoyable; and the stereotypes - the tweedy college don, small town cops, the laid back weekly newspaper editor, the church-going music teacher and even a Russian mobster - were all spot on and used with wonderful effect. But when the climax arrived and it was time to resolve the thriller and tie the present to the past that magic dissolved in a puff of smoke.
I'm a reader that needs a little more resolution in a novel's ending and this one is anything but - puzzling, cryptic and unresolved with entire futures and relationships left hanging in the balance! I enjoyed the book but I was certainly left with the feeling that it could have been so much more.
Paul Weiss
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The Changing Earth (Young Geographer Series)
Dougal Dixon
Manufacturer: Thomson Learning
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: School & Library Binding
Nonfiction
| Earth Sciences
| Science, Nature & How It Works
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Geography
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ASIN: 1568470525 |
Average customer rating:
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Food and Farming (Young Geographer)
Susan Reed-King
Manufacturer: Thomson Learning
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: School & Library Binding
Agriculture
| Science, Nature & How It Works
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ASIN: 1568470541 |
Product Description
Expecting to cover zoning meetings and school plays, Paul Tomm signs on as a cub reporter with a small-town paper near his Connecticut alma mater. When Jaan Puhapaev, a professor doing his research on the ancient art of alchemy, dies under suspicious circumstances, Paul is called back to the campus to write an obituary. But Puhapaev had no family or friends, and the only person who seems to have known anything about him is the beautiful next-door neighbor, Hannah Rowe. When the coroner working on Puhapaev's autopsy is killed, Tomm teams up with two detectives and Hannah, with whom he has fallen in love, to discover what happened to both men. But the more he gets acquainted with the professor's story, the stranger it gets. What did Puhapaev know about the fourteen charmed, cursed talismans that could turn not only base metal into gold but also old age into youth?
Book Description
In a New Mexico blizzard, four men cross a barbed-wire fence at Stallion Gate to select a test site for the first atomic weapon. They are Oppenheimer, the physicist; Groves, the general; Fuchs, the spy. The fourth man is Sergeant Joe Pena, an Indian, and a man of great complexity--warrior, musician, hero and informer.
Los Alamos lies on a mesa surrounded by a vast Indian reservation. It is the most secret installation of the war, the future encompassed by the past. It is also a magnet to soldiers, roughnecks and scientists, including Anna Weiss, a beautiful and talented refugee with whom Joe falls deeply in love.
"A magnificent successor to GORKY PARK...a powerful and erotic idyll, blending love and betrayal, humor and heartache, jazz and war. It is also about the most important ten seconds in history." (Publisher's Source)
Customer Reviews:
Star Crossed??.......2006-07-20
I went looking for this book for a friend. I had read it when it was published years ago and was more than impressed with the story. It was just a great read! I noticed all of these "1 Star" ratings and could not imagine who might give it that sort of evaluation. It just "ain't so." This is a terrific book and,although, Cruz may not hit four or five "Stars" everytime out, he did with "Stallion Gate!!" Try it, you'll like it!
Not Smith's Best.......2003-07-25
Many writers today find a successful formula and stick to it... over and over. The only thing the same from Martin Cruz Smith's works are their high level of excitement, interesting characters and plot development. Stallion Gate doesn't live up to Smith's past work. What he does best is gives the reader an insiders' view of a setting totally different than what the audience is used to. Whether it be Los Alamos during the development of Man's deadliest weapon in this novel, Cuba in Havana Bay, Japan in December 4th: A Novel, or the Soviet Union in Gorky Park, with his characters on the verge of an exciting adventure for the reader to be a part of.
I enjoy Smith's books. Even Stallion Gate which isn't one of Smith's best efforts, still had more entertainment value than some other writers' best!
John Row
Ten Of The Most Important Seconds In History!.......2003-06-26
"Stallion Gate" is a character novel, as opposed to the plot-driven suspense thrillers Martin Cruz Smith usually writes. It is also historical fiction, about one of the most extraordinary events precipitated by mankind, concluding with ten of the most important seconds in world history - the countdown for the test of the first nuclear weapon at Los Alamos, New Mexico.
The story opens at Los Alamos in December, 1944. U.S. Army Sergeant Joe Pena, a Pueblo Indian who had seen action in the Pacific, was specifically requested by the Project's lead physicist, Robert "Oppy" Oppenheimer, to join the select and top secret group, in New Mexico, as his personal driver and body guard. Oppy had known Joe in his boyhood, when he left New York, for health reasons, to spend the summer in New Mexico. It was one of the happiest times of his life. Young Joe taught him to ride...and years later had still retained Oppy's trust.
All the important historical characters are present at Los Alamos. Oppenheimer, his wife Kitty, scientist Klaus Fuchs, the Army general in charge of the project, Fermi, etc., are here. Anna Weiss, a fictional German Jewish mathematician, who had fled the Nazis, and been recruited by Oppy, is present. So is Joe's superior officer, Captain Augustino, an insane and bigoted intelligence officer with his own agenda. He believes Fuchs, Weiss and Openheimer are Soviet spies and has blackmailed Joe into informing on them...although Joe resists mightily and successfully, most of the time.
There is little suspense in this novel. After all, we know that the atomic bomb test was successful, as well as we know of the other bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the Enola Gay. We know now who was a spy and who was unjustly accused. The storyline, is centered on Joe Pena, a complex, talented and very underestimated man. He disappointed his family, and had been disowned by his now deceased mother. Joe will never be a white man, nor a black man - although his ability to play jazz on the piano and understand the language of music like a native born to the country of chords and riffs, may have made his soul part Afro-American. He is really no longer a Native American either. He has seen and partaken of too much of the world to ever come home again. Pena fought like a hero on Baatan, and has fought heroically in the ring. Boxing was his sport and he was good. Throughout much of the book, he has no hopes for the future - no dreams. He observes everything and everyone, and comments occasionally with his sardonic humor. He thwarts Augustino's paranoid plots and assists a few renegade Indians, who try to work native magic to disrupt the explosion to come. He listens to Oppie who has lost weight and sleep with his anxiety over the Project. At one point Oppenheimer, while waiting for the rain to stop so he can meet the deadline for the test, says, "I am like the king of a rainy country, wealthy but helpless, young and ripe with death." Then, Joe, a lady's man - bedding officer's wives is forever getting him into trouble - falls in love with Anna Weiss. An opportunity to buy the Casa Manana, a nightclub in Santiago, NM, presents itself. Suddenly Pena dreams of owning the best jazz club outside of New York and Chicago...and the possibility of a future with Anna. The suspense does come Big Time, at the end of the novel, when all the forces at play, and the characters with their dillemas and choices, build toward their own personal climaxes - with an explosion that will impact the reader for some time to come.
If you are looking for an Arkady Renko thriller, this is probably not the book for you. There are pages, especially at the beginning, when the story plods along at an excruciating pace. I hung in there because I was caught up in the lyrical beauty of Cruz Smith's writing. His description of Joe on the piano, what and how he plays, is classic. "If blue skies were going to explode on them, they were ready, so he made the melody,'...bluebirds singin' a song' even as he brought the 'Moon' down a chromatic descent, a chord at a time. The tunes merged and split again, accelerating until keyboard and crowd swung between flight and plunge and he cued the horns, who stood and hit Charlie Parker riffs that settled the argument by demanding 'How High The Moon?' as if it were the sun." Can't help it. I'm a sucker for good prose. At one point Joe says, "Which is why I love music. You hit a C and it's a C and that's all it is. Like speaking clearly for the first time. Like being intelligent. A Mozart or an Art Tatum sits at the piano and picks out the undeniable truth."
Smith's descriptions of the desert's, (nature's), glory, is ironically juxtaposed with man's destruction and mutilation of the natural environment - so poignant and so gruesome. The radioactivity increasingly seeped into soil and water. Cows had to be checked with geiger counters before they could be slaughtered for consumption. At times, some of the animals' mutations were visible to the naked eye. Wild horses were machine-gunned from "B-29's." The author writes with a paintbrush. "The Hanging Garden got its name from the scarlet gillia, paintbrush and yarrow that had taken root and flourished in the turned soil of the hillside. The wildflowers were a brief, improbable splurge of colors - every shade of red, orange and madder - that turned and waved in any breeze crossing the dun drabness of the mesa."
Lastly, Joe Pena is as strong and developed a character as Arkady Renko. I enjoyed every minute I read about him, and he will stay in my mind as a wonderful anti-hero of his time. J. Kraus
Very Poor.......2003-02-06
I stopped reading halfway through the book. The story never caught my interest nor made much sense. I just gave up. What a waste of time.
No Action.......2002-04-09
I would stick with the Gorky Park series, which is really this author's strong suit. This book just did not get moving and after 250 pages I gave up. I just did not care what happened to either the characters or in the story as a whole.
Average customer rating:
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Stallion Gate Uk
Martin Cruz Smith
Manufacturer: Harpercollins Publisher
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0002227274 |
Average customer rating:
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Stallion Gate
Martin Cruz Smith
Manufacturer: Fontana Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
Action & Adventure | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0006472265 |
Average customer rating:
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Stallion Gate
Martin Cruz Smith
Manufacturer: New York: Random House, 1986
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NVAEZW |
Average customer rating:
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STALLION GATE
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000GQPIUU |
Average customer rating:
- A Interesting Interpretation of the Lovecraftian
- Great production values from Golden Gryphon
- Good Lovecraftian collection
- Decent read
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Eternal Lovecraft: The Persistence of Hpl in Popular Culture
Manufacturer: Golden Gryphon Press
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ASIN: 0965590178 |
Amazon.com
Return to Arkham and behold the Old Gods in all their horrific darkness. Eighteen authors take a stab at interpreting the mythos of H.P. Lovecraft, master of a compelling style and setting so unique it has spawned a name--Lovecraftian--describing the unique blend of science fiction, fantasy, and horror that made him famous. From Gene Wolfe's creepy outer-space tale "The Other Dead Man" to Stephen King's "Crouch End," where Cthulhu himself would feel right at home, these stories are chillingly inspired by Lovecraft's style and milieu. Other highlights are stories by Fritz Lieber, Harlan Ellison, and Nancy A. Collins. Settings vary from the Roman Empire to a slightly... different... New England inhabited with alien terrors. Not familiar with H.P. Lovecraft? These stories will make you want to discover his classic fiction, and there's a wonderful introduction to help you understand the man behind the mythos. This is extradimensionally weird fun. --Therese Littleton
Customer Reviews:
A Interesting Interpretation of the Lovecraftian.......2005-11-10
While browsing through the stacks of the local branch library, I stumbled upon this book. Between being a fan of the Lovecraft Mythos and wanting to read some short stories, I checked and out and began to read the book.
The introduction was an interesting analysis of Lovecraft's fight against time and the evolution of the story "The Shadow Out of Time." Turner takes aspects of Lovecraft's life and applies it to the evolution of his work. Insightful and an intriguing read.
I have broken down my review by short story, since each has its own flavor and stands well on their own. Together, they are a good representation of Lovecraftian fiction.
**There may be spoilers below. Beware**
I. Lovecraft Country
"Her Misbegotten Son" by Alan Rodgers - The story definitely has a Lovecraftian feel to it. Set in Arkham and telling the story of a boy since we has given to county services, the story meanders yet has a creepy feel to it. The antagonists are threatening, but in the end, they are ultimately thwarted. At a great expense, but the story is actually more up beat than I may expect from this vein.
"Daoine Domhain" by Peter Tremayne - Though this story is still set in New England, it also takes place in Ireland and gives it more of an isolated mystique to it. My favorite of the stories in the first section, the story is excellently told and helps display the inevitability of a Lovecraftian tale. Portents and legends have a life here you cannot stop.
"To Mars and Providence" by Don Webb - My least favorite of the first set, I was immediately set off by H.P. Lovecraft as the main character of this story. Described as an awkward boy with an unhinged aunt, he finds himself in the middle of a Martian invasion and empathizing with the Martians. He is believed to be one of them, and they try to restore him to his rightful form.
The story did not draw me in, and I did not feel particularly awed of horrified by it. They story did have an interesting twist, and it was just enough to pull me through the story. Do not despair and quit reading the book though. There is much more good stuff further on.
II. Eldritch Influences
"Weird Tales" by Fred Chappell - A mock biography of the visionary poet, Hart Crane, this story does involve H.P. Lovecraft as well. However, he is a peripheral character to help establish the possible reality of the story. Quirky and off, they story approaches the nature of space and time, and the characters are lead into oblivion. Nice piece.
"The Land of the Reflected Ones" by Nancy A. Collins - A common joke among Lovecraft's readers is it is safer not to read any of the books in his Mythos. In this story, the lesson is once again enforced when a greedy man seeking the power of a long forgotten book is trapped in what he desires. A good twist for the end.
"The Shadow at the Bottom of the World" by Thomas Ligotti - Though suspenseful, the story fell flat for me near the end. Set in a rural town, they find that something has invaded their town making the seasons go out of wack. They keep to themselves about it, and in the end, it ends with the death of the person that accepted it the easiest. The story is still unexplained and leaves you wondering they why of it (also why it ended as well). Not a bad story. Just not well concluded.
"Sensible City" by Harlan Ellison - How do I describe this story? You have two public officials who torture people, are tried for their crimes and go on the lamb. While they are running, they run into a town that moves about and devours people. Though creepy and definitely an appropriate fate for the characters, it is also very much out of left field for the setting (if not the for the book I was reading, it would more of a surprise). The characters are well done. They story well executed. The end just does not join as well with the beginning as I would have liked.
"The Golden Keeper" by Ian R. MacLeod - I was surprised to find a story set in Roman Egypt in this anthology, but the narration kept me engaged and drew me in. Lucius Fabius has inherited his family estate only discover that his family was severely in debt. He manages to have the Empire send him to Egypt where he hopes to find some relic to deal with the creditors he left in Rome. In the process, he discovers ancient mysteries that predate the Egyptians. Through the course of the story, he becomes much like his father - corrupted and nihilistic.
"Ralph Wollstonecraft Hedge: A Memoir" by Ron Goulart - A mock biography about a writer named Ralph Wollstonecraft Hedge, also referred to as RWH, I had the distinct feeling I was reading a parody biography of H.P. Lovecraft. It is definitely amusing and a nice change from the series notions of the other stories. Beware of the squirrels.
"Crouch End" by Stephen King- Now, I have never read any Stephen King. Yeah, I know kind of strange nowadays, but I never felt the compulsion. However, I was not disappointed with this story. I was drawn into the setting and the characters. He was able to evoke empathy with a variety of characters and make you feel that there was definitely something wrong.
"The Turret" by Richard A. Lupoff - I was immediately drawn in by this tale. The narrator is rather conversational, it is obvious that something is going on and is wrong with the area he is visiting. I was disappointed with the ending though. Yeah, it is common for characters to die at the end of these tales, but there were hooks left that left me wanting to know more about what was going on. Otherwise, the story was very engaging.
"The Giant Rat of Sumatra" by Paula Volsky - A Sherlock Holmes tale, Volsky does a good job at maintaining the feeling of Holmes' deductive style and Dr. Watson's narrative style. The story is left at a reasonable conclusion, and it maintains enough suspense to keep one guessing. It is a nice addition to the anthology.
"Black as the Pit, From Pole to Pole" by Steven Utley and Howard Waldrop -My usual tastes would have me dislike this story, but I found myself drawn into the it and following it closely throughout. Organized into ten parts, it starts each section citing incidents that are both fictional and real, blending the two together to make one hard to distinguish from the other. The second part follows the course of Frankenstein's monster after Victor Frankenstein dies. The piece combines facets of Lovecraft, Doyle and Verne into a seamless work. Well done!
"The Other Dead Man" by Gene Wolfe - This story takes place in deep space, providing a much more science fiction feel to the story, which makes me think of HAL in 2001. However, it follows through well and keeps the reader involved. The end has a good twist to it as well. Though not my favorite story, it is strong in its own right.
III. Cosmic Realms
"The Events at Poroth Farm" by T. E. D. Klein -The story does well to capture many of the usual conventions of Lovecraftian fiction. The main character is an academic who is trying to retire to the countryside for the summer to devote himself to his reading. Through the course of the summer, an other possesses first the cat and then his hosts. The story is disturbing at points and helps promote an atmosphere of suspense. Definitely a good read.
"The Ocean and All Its Devices" by William Browning Spencer - With a strong voice, the story tells of a hotel owner and the yearly visitations of the Franklins at their establishment. You are drawn into the story quickly, and you wonder what is up with the sea. The story examines how far you will go for those you love, and it does it rather well. A strong story all the way through.
"A Bit of the Dark World" by Fritz Leiber - Though not a bad story, the long dialogues did not hold my attention as well in this story. There was a lot of discussion about the nature of reality and perception. The end was not very satisfying either. Though I understand someone dying at the end, I wonder why everyone did not die.
"The Perseid" by Robert Charles Wilson - The story has a definite sense of Other to it, but I felt that the story diverged more from the Lovecraftian feel than the other stories. However, I am not saying it was a bad story. It is excellent wrought with well through out characters that develop with the story. The exploration of the theme is well done. It is an excellent story.
Overall, I would recommend the Eternal Lovecraft to anyone interested in reading stories about the strange and otherworldly entities. There are many excellent stories in this anthology. Well done!
Great production values from Golden Gryphon.......2005-06-06
While I was at a meeting in St. Louis I came across thic collection by Golden Gryphon Press. Publication date was 1998. It was expensive but $17.93 is very reasonable for high quality hardcover.
First, the production values are high quality with a nice hardcover binding. The dustjacket has a wonderful painting by Nicholas Jainschigg, that depicts a glowing eye stranger walking away as some entity, perhaps Yog Sothoth, enters our dimension in the clouds. It is perhaps a little flimsy, already getting a few small tears in the edges, but then I was carrying it everywhere. The interior has some photographs of HPL. I hadn't seen them before, but maybe they are famous ones.
The editor was Jim Turner. Yes, the Jim Turner. No, I don't know who the heck he is either. At any rate, his introduction is a nice scholarly essay mainly about The Shadow Out of Time. At the end he describes the 3 sections he divided the stories into, ones in HPL settings or where HPL appears, ones where there is a more or less overt influence by Lovecraft, and ones that may imply a Lovecraftian cosmic view. The last is similar to the more recent excellent anthology Horrors Beyond. Yeah yeah (I thought as I was reading) let's get to the stories. This was a compilation of previously published stories, and as such there is overlap with other anthologies (grumble). By and large, Mr. Turner has selected very high quality stories and I am sorry to write that he stated that this would be his last Lovecraftian collection.
On to the contents, is alphabetical order, not necessarily as they appear in the book:
***There may be some spoilers below***
Weird Tales by Fred Chappell: Actually a subsubgenre I find incredibly tedious is one where HPL makes an appearance. It does less for me even than stories where the characters talk about HPL's works that supposedly depict fiction. At any rate, this one did not do much for me.
The Land of the Reflected Ones by Nancy A. Collins: I could swear I had read this before but I don't know where. Not to worry, it is a finely crafted and creepy story about the dangers involved in casting spells from a musty tome when you don't really know what you are doing. Very enjoyable and made me wish Ms. Collins has written more mythos stuff for me to discover.
Sensible City by Harlan Ellison: Nice, creepy, ghoulish, but no
definite Lovecraftian allusions that I can recall. Nonetheless it reads well and does not sit out of place in such a collection.
Ralph Wollstonecraft Hedge: A Memoir by Ron Goulart: Lame attempt at humor. A low point.
Crouch End by Stephen King: Whatever anyone says, Mr. King deserves his accolades. This is a terrific tale, moody, atmospheric, tensions mounting beautifully and plain scarey. It concerns a couple who wander into a neighborhood in London that ends up being very far away from where they thought they were going. A masterpiece.
The Events at Poroth Farm by T. E. D. Klein: This is only the second story by TED Klein that I have read. You can argue whether it is truely mythos or not, with no overt appearance by any of our familiar entities/creatures, but you cannot argue that it is another finely wrought story. Very creepy and tense. A professor whiles away a summer in a small farmstead and encounters an unnatural and unwelcome visitor.
A Bit of the Dark World by Fritz Leiber: This did not have specific Lovecraftian connotations, but it did have an appropriately Lovecraftian feel, as the darkness becomes an entity, or conceals one, in an isolated California house in the mountains. Like some others in the book, it did not feel out of place in a mythos collection, although it could have been included in a general science fiction or modern horror collection. It was nice to read a story by Leiber, who was a true artist.
The Shadow at the Bottom of the World by Thomas Ligotti: Creepy and effective, not overtly Lovecraftian by name, but certainly not out of place. I guess on several of these stories you could say they felt like a mythos/Lovecraft indebted story while not making outright mention of mythos specific trappings. I was glad to read it.
The Turret by Richard A. Lupoff: Hmph! I already have Made in
Goatswood! I guess all editors should consult me to see if their contents will overlap my library! Anyway, an excellent Severn Valley story.
The Golden Keeper by Ian R. MacLeod: This was quite a find. A very good mythos novella set in the 3rd century AD, as a Roman official looks for golden treasure in a remote part of Egypt. Does he find riches? You decide...
Her Misbegotten Son by Alan Rodgers: Double hmph!! I have the
collection Miskatonic University, although I haven't read it yet. This story is well written and has some very creepy moments. However the ending was atypically (for goings on at Arkham) happy, and one does not nromally expect Nyarlathotep to be banished by holy water.
The Ocean and all Its Devices by William Browning Spencer: A very good moody story of the sea and some of its less pleasant inhabitants.
Daoine Domhain by Peter Tremayne: Triple hmph!!! I think this story is in Shadows Over Innsmouth, but I don't have my copy handy. Moving on, this story is a highly polished jewel, an absolutely wonderful story of the Deep Ones. The writing is very moody, setting the atmosphere beautifully. I loved
it. I hope Mr. Tremayne has written, or plans to write more mythos.
Black as the Pit, from Pole to Pole by Steven Utley and Howard
Waldrop: It is a well written story about Frankenstein's monster finding worlds inside the earth, following the events in Mary Shelley's classic novel. The only reason it belongs in a Lovecraft collection is because of his encounter with The Great Race. The story didn't interest me too much, although it was well done.
The Giant Rat of Sumatra by Paula Volsky: Sherlock Holmes meets the mythos. The story was a fair read, put in the shade by the many high quality stories included. I haven't yet read Shadows Over Baker Street so I don't know if this story is in there.
To Mars and Providence by Don Webb: Like I said, I don't care for stories where HPL is a protagonist.
The Perseids by Robert Charles Wilson: You can argue whether this belongs in a LOvecraftian collection. It was well written and had some creepy overtones, but could easily have been left out.
The Other Dead Man by Gene Wolfe: Science fiction horror that easily fits into a Lovecraft collection and easily can be excluded, like Leiber's story. Wolfe is a great writer so it's a fun read, but there are no specific mythos references.
So my final thought is that there are some magnificent mythos stories here, ones that I was previously unfamiliar with. Based on this I hgihly recommend Eternal Lovecraft. The overlap with other collections is minimal. A fair number of stories had appropriate feel, even without specific overtones, and a a number could have been left out. There were only a few dogs, always a risk with a mythos collection.
I am happy to have it in my library.
Good Lovecraftian collection.......2002-09-17
Interesting anthology of Lovecraft-derived and Lovecraft-inspired works. The book is divided into three sections:
1) "Lovecraft Country" includes stories most strongly connected to Lovecraft or his mythos, featuring "Her Misbegotten Son," a rather good sort-of-sequel to Lovecraft's "Dreams in the Witch-House"; "Daoine Domhain," an excellent story also available in SHADOWS OVER INNSMOUTH; and "To Mars and Providence," an interesting Lovecraftian take on the War of the Worlds originally in WAR OF THE WORLDS: GLOBAL DISPATCHES.
2) "Eldritch Influences" is the largest section of the book, including stories that allude to rather than feature the Cthulhu Mythos- the stories in this section are mainly reprints, yet some of my personal favorites, including "The Land of the Reflected Ones" by Nancy A. Collins, the nightmarish "Crouch End" by Stephen King, the cosmic "The Turret" by Richard Lupoff, "The Giant Rat of Sumatra" (a Sherlock Holmes story with Mythos aspects) by Paula Volsky, and "Black as the Pit, from Pole to Pole" featuring a certain Mrs. Shelley's famous monster.
3) The last section, "Cosmic Realms," contains stories only thematically related to Lovecraft's concepts of cosmic horror; I particularly enjoyed the creepy "Events at Poroth Farm" by T.E.D. Klein and the intriguing "A Bit of the Dark World" by Fritz Leiber.
Those I have mentioned above are my favorites, but I can say I liked every story in this anthology to some degree. Wold-Newton fans may get a kick out of "To Mars," "Giant Rat" and "Black as the Pit," Mythos fans should enjoy most of the other stories, and anyone with a taste for fine horror should find this a good read.
Decent read.......1998-11-30
Fans of Lovecraft will have a good time with this book. It's par for the course as these sorts of collections go, nothing groundbreaking, but a nice way to spend a weekend. I found only maybe 1 or 2 stories not worth the trouble, and for the most part all the authors did a workmanlike job.
Book Description
The foundation for success in sports is formed by effective skill and tactical instruction, adequate physical conditioning, and proper nutrition. Fuel for Young Athletes provides guidelines for meeting the essential nutritional needs of adolescent athletes to set the stage for good health and optimal performance throughout their sport careers.
Development of an athletic body hinges on whether the aspiring athlete gets the appropriate amounts and types of foods and fluids to spur growth, meet daily energy needs, and keep weight and fat levels within healthy ranges. Fuel for Young Athletes provides food plans to tackle the demands of specific sports, and recipe and snack ideas that will appeal to teens and power their performance on playing fields and courts.
Registered dietician Ann Litt addresses all the key issues, such as weight management, vitamin supplementation, growth, and hydration. Fuel for Young Athletes provides the nutritional bases for successful sport participation through the teenage years and beyond.
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