The Age of Consent : The Rise of Relativism and the Corruption of Popular Culture

Book Description

The vise-grip of moral relativism on American popular culture was not suddenly achieved in the 1960s. An incisive new book of unequaled historical scope studies this alluring but poisonous philosophy's hundred-year conquest of the institutions that shape the popular mind: art, music, architecture, film, and, of course, television.

Knight begins with a reminder of the imperfect but healthy society we inhabited before the ideology of self-gratification released the host of social pathologies from which we now suffer. He then guides the reader on a historical tour of the organs of modern popular culture, documenting the nearly unhindered march of relativism-led by a vanguard of decadent lites-through television, Hollywood, art, music, and architecture. This sustained assault on objective truth has brought us to the "Age of Consent," a morally obtuse world in which any act is validated by the mere consent of those immediately involved. Yet the Age of Consent's denial of truth, Knight argues, is unsustainable, and he concludes with a survey of the signs of incipient reaction that give hope for the future.

The Age of Consent opens with a foreword by Gary L. Bauer, president of the Family Research Council, whom the Weekly Standard has called "the most influential social conservative in Washington." As a study of moral relativism, The Age of Consent is unique in its broad historical treatment of the full array of transmitters of popular culture.

Customer Reviews:

Thoughtful and thought-provoking.......2007-03-07

If you want a genuinely serious and reflective examination of the philosophical roots of what has been called America's "culture war," you'd be hard-pressed to find a better choice than Knight's book. Knight is a Christian and a conservative, but I am sure even a secular liberal reader could benefit from reading Knight's critique. A lot of people who rant about "the Religious Right," it seems to me, are actually angry at politicians and TV preachers (or perhaps are motivated by some personal resentment of authority, or by a grievance against religion) and thus do not consider the deeper moral questions that Knight explores in "The Age of Consent." This book is eminently readable, told in a calm, sure and clear narrative style (Knight is a former L.A. newspaper editor). The reader is free to disagree with Knight's analysis, or with the answers he proposes to the problems he diagnoses, but this is a book that should not be merely ignored.

Not Worth My (or Your) Time........2005-10-10

As a person interested in philosophy (particularly moral philosophy), my interest was piqued when I saw this book. I am always up for a good criticism of relativism (whether theoretical or pratical). What I got was a far cry from that. Instead, I got a very tired, rambling and oh-so cliche christian-right harrangue against everything not conservative. If that is what you want, go for this book (though Pat Robertson has written better). If that is not what you want, you have been forewarned.

The biggest problem I have with this book is that the author frankly misunderstands the 'relativism' he rails against. While he rightly states that relativism is the belief that there is no meta-arbiter to decide which beliefs are superior to others, this is not what he laments. He does not lament that society has been rendered incapable of choosing values (because of relativism), but rather that society HAS chosen values, but that they are ONES THE AUTHOR DISAGREES WITH. When he states, as he tirelessly does, that "society has no values/standards anymore," he does not mean literally this. Rather, he means only to say, "Society has values that I think have moved in the wrong direction." If this is what Mr. Knight means, he should have been honest. Instead of substitling the book, "the rise of relativism and the corruption of popular culture," it may have better read, "the rise of secularism, leftism and other things I can't stand and the corruption of popular culture."

The next problem is that from a philosophical standpoint, Mr. Knight only asserts that conservative Christian beliefs are better than leftist/secular beliefs but offers precious little argument as to why this is so. The only argument he uses is a (?!) utilitarian one. This, of course, only after he argues against utilitarian thinking! See the humor?

The third problem I have is that while the book is organized into chapters, the author wanders around so much from sub-rant to sub-rant, that it might as well not be. Most every chapter, whether on secularism, declining standards in TV, or declining standards in architecture (a most unfortunate chapter, by the way), finds our author admonishing against the 'homosexual agenda.'(I am left to assume that the 'heterosexual agenda' is the better agenda, but have no idea why, as Mr. Knight doesn't argue for it.)

I could write more, but I think my point has already been made. The book is sloppy; the book is cliche; the book is poorly thought out and written. Quite simply, it is not worth the time or effort.

Familiar territory, but better than most........2005-04-10

The Bible verse that opens the preface sums it up nicely: "And they all with one consent began to make excuse." (Luke 14:18)

The age of consent, in the way that Knight uses it here, refers to an era in which absolute authority (or even the attempt to appeal to absolute authority) has been drowned out in a flood of changes to the modern cultural pillars (largely the entertainment and cultural fields) that have rendered equal every lifestyle, no matter how destructive or self-absorbed it becomes. In anticipation of the counterargument that suggests that if another person does what he or she wants, it's nobody's business but their own, Knight lays out the landscape of what the cultural fields look like as compared to just a few decades ago. The institutions that have buttressed society and made them better -- the family, religion, and sound education -- have become the targets of the relatively recent cultural barrage. In this sense, Knight argues, it affects everybody, especially the generations that grow up with this environment being the norm.

Although there are separate chapters on each of the two subjects, Knight is concerned about more than just the exaltation of sex and the denigration of God in the culture. The linchpin of his argument is that by dismantling the mechanisms to discern good from bad -- in other words, by making all things equal -- it only festers a further breeding ground for the more base desires to be promoted underneath a glossy veneer of "tolerance" and so-called progressive enlightenment.

One of the ways to distinguish between these types of books is, now that they have described the problem, what is to be done about it? The final chapter of the book points to positive trends in the hope that it provides a transition into an overall improvement, which Knight details in several bullet points to express how the cultural change will have not only moral improvements, but also fiscal improvements as there will be fewer personal messes for the government to clean up.

Even though it came out several years ago, most of the book is not confined to that timeframe. Most of it is still relevant today.

Extremely Relevant...But..........2001-08-15

Author Robert H. Knight, in his "Age of Consent," tackles a huge topic. Yet his historic survey-like description of popular culture's decline misses two key consequences of "Relativism," as a social ethos: (1) Comparativism (which neutrally treats all 'belief/opinion systems' as equally valid); and (2) Moral Legalism (which suggests that legal permissibility--and arguable legal versions of fact, however interpretive--is the ultimate moral authority. (If it's legal, or in a gray area, or undetectable...it's OK, so long as no real harm comes to anyone.) The author fails to expand on the two-edged sword predicament of Relativism, as both a media marketing necessity in a multi-ethnic America, and also the divisive foundation for potential Balkanization. A good intro to the subject.

Right wing hand wringing and moralizing.......1999-06-09

If you want to see what happens to a country when a fundamentalist religious movement hijacks a country you need only look at Iran and Afghanistan. The same would happen here if Gary Bauer and his ilk actually achieved a real measure of power. Their ascendancy would result in a financial collapse that would make the Great Depression look like a tea party. It's so easy to blame easy targets like film, music and the latest whipping boy of the right wing, the 60's, for what's going on in America today. It lets lazy politicians look like they're actually accomplishing something. Watch out...Bauer's running for President.

The Age of Consent (Methuen Modern Plays)

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The Age of Consent (Methuen Modern Plays)
Peter Morris
Manufacturer: Methuen Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Performing Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0413771865

Age Taboo: Gay Male Sexuality, Power and Consent

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Age Taboo: Gay Male Sexuality, Power and Consent

Manufacturer: Alyson Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Nonfiction | Gay & Lesbian | Subjects | Books

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Worst book I ever read
Nerve-shredding, well-written scare!
sick, scary, superb
My kind of thriller.
Smarter than your average haunted house story

Age of Consent
Howard Mittelmark
Manufacturer: Signet
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
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ASIN: 0451220579

Book Description

FIRST TIME IN PRINT FROM A THRILLING NEW VOICE IN MODERN SUSPENSE...

In the tradition of such Signet heavyweights as Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and Bentley Little

This house has a terrifying history...

Once upon a time, a group of student radicals found a leader, and followed him beyond all reason.Years before that, in the same house, a prophet was visited by an angel, and followed it to a horrible end.

Now, history is repeating itself.

Peter Coulter ignored the strange rumors about the house-until things started changing. His sister, once outgoing and popular, is now secretive and self-destructive. His father is possessed by a sudden calling from God.And all of them have seen the long-haired stranger in the woods.The one who wants them to do such shameful things, and who beckons them too, to follow him.

Customer Reviews:

Worst book I ever read.......2007-08-27

Honestly, are the previous reviews done by friends of the author to try and sell this book? I have never read such a pile of garbage in my life. The story was uninteresting, the characters were shallow and hard to relate to or sympathize with, and the book was just poorly written. While reading it, I felt like they were throwing in all these social taboos to try and sell the book. You have a bunch of teenagers who do nothing but hang out and do every drug under the book(and these are supposed to be the main characters you're supposed to sympathize with), a father who tries to kill his children, orgy's, self-mutilation and sex between adults and teenagers. But the strange thing is, none of these taboos are done in a way that's shocking or interesting enough to be good for shock value alone.

Plus, the story itself is just ridiculous. All these people blindly follow this mysterious guy without a second thought and perform acts of self-mutilation and sexual deprication just because he tells them to. What?!?!?! Plus, there was a strange aspect of time-travel that just did not fit with the rest of the story. And the conclusion was just beyond belief. I guess nobody will notice that somebody was killed and everybody will just ignore it.

As for the story being scary, well, try again. I read this book in the middle of the night and struggled to stay awake. I will give it the first chapter. I read the first chapter and thought it might be good and spine tingling, but then the book fell apart after the first chapter and became laughable at best and not remotely frightening.

Do me a favor and read something else and don't waste your time.

Nerve-shredding, well-written scare!.......2007-03-03

I've read all the modern-day "masters" of horror, and I have to say, newcomer Howard Mittelmark puts them all to shame. Age of Consent is the scariest book I've read in about twenty years--and it moves at light speed, yet still manages to be loaded with solid writing, chilling imagery, and real characters.

Mittelmark is wonderful at subtle foreshadowing. His motifs are unsettling, the use of mirrors and windows in particular a double reference to the way we see ourselves and what we believe happens to us after we die. You'll be going to bed with the shades drawn or the curtains pulled tightly closed. His imagery--not too much, not too little--is sharp and photographic.

Poe's concept of perversity has been at the root of every horror tale, and many writers today are too obvious with it. Mittelmark is the first modern writer I've read that's been able to take that concept and integrate it so well that the fourth wall is dismantled, brick by brick. Expertly, Mittelmark has shed the genre's traditional way-out characters and their extreme dysfunctions, addictions, and habits with whom the reader can't connect. The people in Age of Consent are just the people we know every day: workaholics, normal teens (who all come from relatively "normal" homes) experimenting with drugs for the first time, idealistic young adults who have natural desires to change the world, people who have sexual attractions they shouldn't.

This is going to be a very tough act to follow. If you're smart, and you want to be up for a few nights scared out of your mind, BUY THIS BOOK. I promise you won't be sorry, but I think other horror novels are going to fall flat for awhile.

sick, scary, superb.......2007-02-20

I never read debut novels as a rule, because I don't want to be a guinea pig. But the first page of this book drew me in; I was reading it in the check-out line and then standing waiting for the bus, and then on the bus getting carsick... and I finished it around 2 AM. Wow. One of the most weirdly imagined bad guys of any book I've read. The writing about teenagers is so convincing you could read it just for that, and the ghost story pulls out all that teenage sex angst and turns it into its own crazed universe. Fantastic stuff.

My kind of thriller........2007-02-14

I completely agree with the points made in "smarter than your average...". This is a page-turner, intriguing from the start and gratifying in all respects, with an equally satisfying conclusion. I was especially taken with the author's use of the regional setting and its history. More, please!

Smarter than your average haunted house story.......2007-02-06

This is a great read - compelling, twisted, creepy with a large dose of humor and surprising philosophical and historical insight. It moves along at a fast clip, and is actually beautifully written with sentences which just leap off the page and crisp vivid descriptions. Many lines are laugh out loud funny. The teenage characters who suddenly find themselves in a confusing, dangerous world are perfectly drawn. The drug filled flashbacks to the sixties radicals and the interweaving story of the utopian cults of the 1800's will intrigue anyone interested in history or philosophy of religion. Although it is superficially a haunted house story, much of the plot is so daringly original and bizarre that it moves well beyond the tried and true notes of the genre. While there are a few steamy, gorgeously rendered sex scenes, most notably a very sensual and emotionally laden lesbian encounter between two acid tripping college girls, much of the rest of the sex is rather sinister and dark. While this might offend a meek reader, it's not gratuitous, but rather serves to illustrate the sometimes nightmarish perils of adolescence with a lot of heart and compassion.

Age Of Consent: A Young Girl's Awakening

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Age Of Consent: A Young Girl's Awakening
J.C. Stephens
Manufacturer: BookSurge Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Adult Fiction | Erotica | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1594577242
Release Date: 2004-08-13

Book Description

A girl 'old enough', but her pubescent looks might deceive a lusting man into thinking she was years younger. What unfair advantage does the unscrupulous Lynn take of men's weaknesses? What events in her earlier girlhood led her into the predatory path she was now following? Follow the life of an unscrupulous beauty as she uses her youthful appearance to trick and seduce so many different men.

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Age of consent,
Norman Lindsay
Manufacturer: Farrar & Rinehart, inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B00085622W

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Idealistic Book with Good Ideas

The Age of Consent
George Monbiot
Manufacturer: HarperPerennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

A Brief History of Neoliberalism

ASIN: 0007150431

Customer Reviews:

Idealistic Book with Good Ideas.......2006-01-08

This book is about a fairer deal for the poor countries of the world. It espouses the idea of a World Parliament and an International Clearing Union. The former is aimed at making the nations of the world accountable for their actions and the latter at redressing what the author sees as the economic anomalies of the world, whereby rich nations reap an undue benefit from the poorer worlds' resources.

The author quotes his sources extensively but I feel that he could have drlled down deeper in many instances where another author is his source. Nevertheless, there are many disturbing facts in this book which should make readers aware of problems that they may not have previously considered. His analysis of the effect (and the effectiveness) of the IMF and the World Bank is very interesting and well worth reading.

A major weakness of this book is the author's failure to address the effect of incentives on human behaviour. To a degree he does cover incentives for nations to behave in a manner which benefits the world and I believe that this also will contribute significantly to the debate. However, many of the great breakthroughs and inventions of the world, which have had a huge impact on living standards and longevity, have resulted due to the financial rewards flowing from such discoveries.

George Monbiot is to be congratulated for having the gumption to challenge current assumptions about democracy and economies and to put forward ideas that might help to make the world fairer and safer. I recommend his book highly to persons interested in achieving those goals.

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AGE OF CONSENT
Norman Lindsay
Manufacturer: Angus and Robertson
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NA9YKY

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AGE OF CONSENT
Norman Lindsay
Manufacturer: Werner Laurie
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000SU1HKE

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Age of Consent

Manufacturer: Dell
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000IA3UT0

Book Description

The second in a trilogy of novels from New York Times best-selling author Richard Baker. Farthest Reach is the second novel in a trilogy chronicling the tempestuous return of an isolated society of elves to the mainland of the Forgotten Realms world. The events in this trilogy will have a far-reaching impact across the entire setting.

Customer Reviews:

You don't even need to use it as a bludgeon; the text can put you to sleep all on its own.......2007-07-26

In my mind, one of the worst failures a writer can manage is to kill off a character, and... and no one cares. Not the reader and, sometimes, not even other characters. Even ones close to the person who's just bitten the dust.

It's testament to Baker's talent -- or perhaps the complete and utter lack thereof -- that he's managed this not once, but several times. There're Grayth and Brant, who might have been a paladin-squire pair or a cleric-lesser cleric pair; I can't remember, since they're singularly unmemorable. Anyway, they died. Not that anyone cared. Certainly not I. But, hey, they only had... maybe a speaking line each, so their characters weren't exactly developed. So in this book, we have Curnil, some... random nobody. Who has sections all to himself, told through his viewpoint. Then there's a battle scene where he can't get up and "darkness envelops him" or something equally trite (you know, one of those standard phrases used to signal unconsciousness or death). Then I realized, oh, he's dead.

What, I'm supposed to care? Well, by chocolate, if he had had any personality, I might have given half a damn. At least a quarter of a damn. Not a full damn, though, because nothing in this book deserves that, unless you're talking about "damn" in the sense of "damnation to the special circle of hell where boring books go" or perhaps "damnation! Consign this waste of trees to the flames!"

And that pretty much sums up my entire problem with this book. Nobody has any personality. Nobody displays genuine emotions. Now, the author tries to excuse this on the Candlekeep forum as an attempt to portray elves as inhuman and with different ways of expressing emotions, but when you notice that it holds true for all characters -- whether they're elves, humans, half-elves, demonspawns or potted plants -- the excuse doesn't really fly. Everyone talks in the same deadpanned tone and with identical diction (which tends toward the stiff and unnatural, but what in this book is not stiff and unnatural?). Everyone has roughly the same emotional range (that of a tuning fork). Every battle scene is imbued with the same amount of life (that of a rotting fish a week dead, but less exciting). And the entire book continues in the same painfully humorless tone that suggests it takes itself far too seriously. Araevin continues to be self-righteous and arrogant without ever, ever paying for it; Sarya continues to be a stereotypical villain; everyone continues -- to paraphrase a wittier reviewer than I, elsewhere -- to spout cliches at opponents as if they were projectile weapons. The plot drags worse than most middle books in trilogies and, oh yes, we're subjected to yet another artifact chase (because we all know those are so thrilling we must have them twice in one trilogy), only this time it's pursuing an ancient ritual instead of a gem. That's original, right? The prose, of course, continues to be of the same ilk you'd expect in any Forgotten Realms/D&D-spinoff novels: flat, info-dumpish, overwritten, and sometimes insulting to the reader's intelligence.

I'm just thankful I didn't have to cough up cash for this thing. It was passed on to me by someone as bored as I am with the first book who subscribes to the principle that misery loves company. And with that, my parting thought would be: if you do subscribe to much the same and wish to share *my* misery, get this book, but get it out of the library or from a friend. Otherwise, don't waste your time and go read the latest Harry Potter (which may not be great literature, but at least is more interesting than this porridge-bland offering). Better yet, go read free fanfic, which may not be edited and subjected to quality control, but will almost certainly be better than this piece of published fanfiction. Which, anyway, has its share of consistency errors and typos.

interesting but not great.......2006-12-13

the travelling aspect of this book is confusing. I'm not thrilled with the characters.

Excellent.......2006-03-16

Great continuation of a series. The Forgotten Realms is one of the best, with only a few exceptions, settings and works of the genre. Read most of them and trying to plow through the rest.

If you like books like this one, might I suggest another I've recently come across. The Unsuspecting Mage by Brian S. Pratt. It's another fantasy adventure sure to please. I highly recommend it.

Baker continues one of the best recent Realms trilogies........2005-11-27

"Farthest Reach" continues right where the first book, "Forsaken House," left off. I give this book five stars because it is one of the best Forgotten Realms books in recent time. It was energetic, exciting, fast-paced, and placed in a rich area of the fantasy world.

I believe the book will be enjoyable for both fantasy lovers and dungeons and dragons lovers. The two main paths follow D&D adventures as if Baker was a real Dungeon Master and there were real players playing his adventure. One of the storylines is a campaign of battle and wars, with intrigue between political leaders. The second main plotline follows a group of adventurers following through dungeons, caves, and towns. Most of the main characters are fairly high-level characters with many impressive high level spells. The battles they are engaged in are exciting and just barely winnable. While reading I could keep imagining the D&D players thinking to themselves, "Wow, this might be the end. How am I going to get out of this one?" The good thing is that unlike other recent FR novels there is no random magic that saves the day - just a little craftiness, and a lot of luck (two things that every D&D player needs in a good session. I also like how the wizards and mages must memorize spells and spend time doing so at night while resting, just like in D&D sessions. These characteristics of the "The Last Mythal" trilogy make the adventure and characters more believable. Many books recently have been to convenient and easily handled by the main characters.

There is lots of information and lore that enriches the general Forgotten Realms land. I eagerly await the final installment of this series (as well as the newly announced anthology, "Realms of Elves"). This book will not disappoint fans of D&D, the Forgotten Realms, and even general fantasy fans. Make sure to pick up "Forsaken House" first, though.

Terrific fantasy read.......2005-10-30

This story is made up of two distinctly different threads often found in a fantasy book, and they both are of the highest quality.

The book has a great high-strategy, large army battles thread as it's A story. At the same time the B story is an excellent adventure / dungeon crawl with powerful high-level characters. Both sides of the story are filled with characters with real personalities.

These stories intersect a few times through this book and seem to be leading towards a joined conclusion that really makes you long for the final book of the trilogy.

Well done!

Book Description

The Book of Eibon, the creation of Clark Ashton Smith, ranks behind Lovecraft's Necronomicon as a shunned repository of mystical horrors surviving blasphemously from elder eons. Not content with his own and Lovecraft's citations of the Book, Smith actually wrote two chapters of it, his famous stories "The Door to Saturn" and "The Coming of the White Worm." Lin Carter knew a good thing when he saw it and decided it would be fun to write and to read the remaining Eibonic chapters. So he took in hand to write a number of them, intending to finish the book one day. This he did not live to do, but others took up the fallen banner, supplying more of the droll yet frightening episodes, as well as various liturgical and magical arcana the Book of Eibon was said to contain. The result is truly impressive, much more so than any previous attempt to compose such a Mythos grimoire, a work of horror, humor, and genuine poetic power. Many will be seriously tempted to use this volume as a working occult resource.

Customer Reviews:

A Great Book for Clark Ashton Smith Fans.......2006-08-22

Lin Carter did his best work as an anthologist, and secondarily as a pastiche writer.

He does a good job as both with his contributions to this piece, which were further compiled with works by C.A. Smith and others in a very effective fashion by Robert Price.

If you are an aficionado of Lovecraft, Howard, and Smith (particularly their ancient worlds like Hyperborea, Valusia, etc.), then this one is for you.

From Clark Ashton Smith to Lin Carter.......2005-07-11

"The Book of Eibon" is a creation of Clark Ashton Smith, a member of the Lovecraft mythos circle. Smith is probably one of THE best writers in this group; certainly, if you like Lovecraft then Smith will be a joy. I wouldn't call him a Lovecraft devotee - he has his own style, for sure - but the two wrote stories that meshed well together. Eibon was a wizard of an ancient continent, and his great and terrible magics have been handed down through the centuries via ... the Book of Eibon. Naturally. Well, Smith didn't develop this idea too far; his writing encompassed many fabulous periods, from ancient Hyperborea to medieval Averoigne, to dim and future Zothique. All stories worth reading time and again.

As I said, Clark Ashton Smith did not develop the idea of Eibon and his black book very far. Which brings us to Lin Carter (who did). Now Lin Carter is not the absolute nadir of Lovecraftian prose. Having studied the masters (and their voluminous written exchanges) he comes up with the occasional plot gem or turn of phrase. But he is just so unbearably formulaic, adopting the atmosphere and elements of a Lovecraft or Smith but with no original spark. It's like a well-oiled machine cranking out pastiche. Carter is really not that bad, but a whole book of his work imitating someone else is wearying. Probably his "collaborations" are the best, such as "The Light From the pole" and "The Stairs in the Crypt". Also, to be as fair as possible, I believe that many of these stories originate in Carter's attempt to write and publish his own "Book of Eibon", which being intended for fans may have been intended as somewhat tongue in cheek.

Laurence Cornford has definitely written some of the better stories on this volume, particularly "The Demon of the Ring". Cornford has his own style, which comes across as more authentic, with the subject material simply falling within the purview of this book.

Then there is the part of these books that I always dread - Robert Price's editorial comments. Price happens to teach Biblical higher criticism and he works that fact into almost every editorial comment that he makes in every book that he edits. I have been struggling to understand why this bothers me so much - finally I decided that it is because Price makes every editorial introduction about himself rather than the author or the material because everything is about Biblical higher criticism. Normally, I would just say that I should skip reading the intro (especially since Price has a bad habit of discussing the ending of a story before you read it), but in this case I can't ignore it.

You see, THE BOOK OF EIBON is setup like a scripture. There is a testament by the disciples of Eibon that the chapters to come are true. There is a chapter of stories "by Eibon" on wizards before him. There is a chapter of stories that deal with the doings of Eibon. There are dark psalms (Richard Tierney seems to especially enjoy adapting Christian prayers into these), magic spells, liturgies to demons and gods, and some proverbs by Eibon. There are some "epistles of Eibon" and even a section where Price "higher criticizes" an imaginary Eibonic text. And all the way through, Price is doing his higher criticism thing. Leaving out either Price or the "Bible" paradigm and THE BOOK OF EIBON could have been good. As it is, it reads like self-conscious narcississtic glurge. Which is sad, because clearly Robert Price is a great writer; I just don't understand why everything has to be forced through this lens of his own academic studies. The editor should really let the text speak for itself.

I am rating THE BOOK OF EIBON higher than I expected (3 stars) based solely on volume; there are over 30 short stories (plus other assorted "stuff") where a Chaosium book is usually 10. So if some are not so great, you have more chances to get some good stories. Laurence Cornford was good, in my estimation, and "The Door to Saturn" by Clark Ashton Smith is included.

A good pick for fans.......2004-01-21

Alright, lets be straight from the start. If you are just looking for a good collecton of horror stories you will be disappointed with this. BUT, if you are a big fan of the H.P. Lovecraft mythos I think this is one of the best out of all of the choasm books. I enjoyed the book, except for the bad attempt of adding poems that are supposed to be spells in the second half, but all in all I enjoyed reading this book. One tip, if you want to be surprised by the stories don't read the into of each one until after you have read it.

A For Effort, D For Result.......2002-04-21

In the Cthulhu Mythos, Clark Ashton Smith's The Book of Eibon ranks up there with Lovecraft's Necronomicon and Derleth's De Vermis Mysteriis; imaginary works of such soul-searing occult horror that readers put their own sanity and salvation at risk to peruse them. They form the basis of several story cycles and Mythos writers "quote" from them regularly. Chaosium's newest book in their Mythos series is an attempt to recreate The Book of Eibon using stories and poems written by Clark Ashton Smith, Lin Carter, Richard L. Tierney and others. At the bottom line, the attempt is courageous, but sadly, a failure for several reasons:

First, trying to create a legendary work of cosmic horror is impossible. Though many of the stories in the book are worthy of the Mythos label, reality cannot compete with the imagination. I wanted a good read to keep me up at night, not just a few hours of amusement.

Second, there is too much of Lin Carter in the book. Like Derleth, Carter was a rabid Mythos fan in love more with the idea than the atmosphere and thought it sufficient to make a story unearthly through simply listing a long litany of Mythos terms and names. Though some of Carter's stories are worth reading, such as From The Archives of the Moon, most are quickly forgettable.

Third, Price, who has edited most of the Chaosium works stumbles terribly as an editor. His introductions to the stories give too much away, the worst example being his introduction to Lin Carter's In the Vale of Pnath where he reveals the ending, ruining what is probably one of the few actually disturbing stories in the collection. Also unnecessary to the point of distraction are the innumerable comparisons of the literary creation of The Book of Eibon to the formation of the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. Yes, Price is a seminary professor, but not every reader is interested in lectures in the questionable science of Biblical Higher Criticism.

Readers who are collecting the Chaosium Mythos series will want to purchase The Book of Eibon and there are a few gems between its covers,...

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BOOK OF EIBON
Clark Ashton; Price, Robert M. (editor) Smith
Manufacturer: Chaosium, Incorporated
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000P0XUXE

Book of Eibon (Call of Cthulhu Fiction Ser.)

Average customer rating:

Book of Eibon (Call of Cthulhu Fiction Ser.)
Clark Ashton; Price, Robert M. (editor) Smith
Manufacturer: Chaosium, Incorporated
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000P0XTNU

Book Description

Jack Kornfield & Christina Feldman serve up a delicious banquet of wise tales from the world's greatest spiritual guides, including Jesus, the Buddh, Ramakrishna, and the Taoist sages. They offer contemporary readers a feast rich with wisdom and filled with timeless moral and spiritual lessons.Gathering lively and inspiring parables from both Eastern and Western traditions, from Christian, Buddhist, Sufi, Jewish, Native American, African, and Zen teachings, Soul Food illustrates the eternal truths: the greatness of the human spirit, the endless wonder and possiblity of live, the necessity of courage, love and laughter, and our quest for wisdom and virtue. Each story offers a glimpse of revelation, an example of virtue, or a moment of truth that will sustain travellers as they traverse the road to a more spiritual life.

Customer Reviews:

I liked Stories fo the Spirit, Stories of the Heart better.......1999-11-08

It's better than not having something available, but I liked Stories of the Spirit Stories of the Heart so much better. I wish it were not out of print. I have given at least 20 as gifts. Last Christmas I had to give Soul Food because I couldn't get "Stories".

Worth a second read - buy two........1998-01-09

"Soul Food" is a joy to read. Recently I have read the wonder-filled and inspiring "The Autobiography of Jesus of Nazareth and the Missing Years" which reminded me of Kornfield and Feldman's and so I returned to it for a second time. Both these books should be brought down from the shelf when the sun goes down - extend daylight without putting your hydro bill up!. I had forgotten what pleasure I found in first reading Soul food.

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