Platypus of Truth

It's been a few years since I last dipped in to the world of Robert E. Howard's sword-swinging barbarian, Conan. While the writing is always high quality, the racism and sexism that riddle Howard's oeuvre is hard to handle in large doses. After a good, long break, then, I decided that it was finally time to have a go at finishing my annotated edition of the complete works. The Servants of Bit-Yakin : The Servants of Bit-Yakin  returns us from the microcosmic novella that is The Hour of the Dragon  to the world of the standard Conan adventure story. Once more, we return to the pseudo-Africa that so dominated Howard's imagination. This tale, with its ruined city created by a lost race of white men who were able to perfectly preserve their corpses, and its eternal queen apparently owes its inspiration to H.R. Haggard's She . Rather than give us another She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed, however, Howard evolves the adventure in his own way with the mysterious element  coming i...

Today's post will review Robert E. Howard's Conan short story Queen of the Black Coast .  Those who are not familiar with the original short stories and wish to remain spoiler free should not read on. *Begin Review* Queen of the Black Coast  introduces the first in a long line of love interests, the pirate queen Belit.  It was at about this time that Howard discovered his editors wanted stories with a bit of sex-interest (as much as they could get past the censors) and so Conan, like James Bond, suddenly became irresistible to women (who suddenly started showing up as characters).  In the case of Black Colossus , Xuthal of the Dusk , The Pool of the Black One , and Iron Shadows in the Moon , this had a cheapening effect on Howard's art.   Queen of the Black Coast  is a different from these second string works, however, and I'd like to spend some time examining why. The first reason that Queen of the Black Coast  stands out from its immediat...

Reading about the Inklings, the informal literary circle that gathered around C.S. Lewis in the thirties and forties, gradually begins to feel like adjusting the focus on a camera lens.  You start with a single figure in hazy focus, say J.R.R. Tolkien.  Picking up Humphrey Carpenter's biography draws the professor in a few stark lines.  A person, a personality begins to emerge.  To begin to see Tolkien, however, is for others figures to become perceptible on the edges of your vision.  C.S. Lewis enters into the picture, and Charles Williams hovers, indistinct around the edges.  Seeking to know the relationship between the three men better, you may pick up Carpenter's second work, The Inklings .  Suddenly, Lewis and Williams jump sharply into view as characters and Tolkien continues to take on life and weight.  New personages flit through the frame: Hugo Dyson, Humphrey Havard, Dorothy L. Sayers, T.S. Eliot, Warnie Lewis.  Carpenter's Lewis do...

This post will cover chapters 6 and 7 of The Elf Queen of Shannara by Terry Brooks. *Begin Spoilers* Our adventure continues with our intrepid heroes slashing their way into the heart of the mysterious jungle of Morrowindl.  Beset on all sides by strange beasts, fever-ridden swamps, and pursued by the horrific Wistron, Wren struggles to unlock the terrifying mystery of the elven island in secret hope that it will also unravel the enigma of her own origins.  However, such an undertaking seems beyond even the prodigious skills of Wren and her faithful retainer Garth, Rovers though they be.  Surely, they would have succumb to the danger of the In Ju swamp had not a fortuitous meeting with a splinterscat named Stressa given them a much needed guide.  This prickly product of magical mayhem offers to guide them through to the elven castle on the condition that our heroes return with the mysterious creature to the Four Lands. And that's about the shape of it. ...

September is just around the corner and that means that Summer is nearly at an end.  On that note, it's time to announce this year's winners for "The Seven Heavens of Summer Reading." Moon: Lilith by George MacDonald   Constancy and inconstancy form a central motif in this weird tale turned Universalist allegory.  As a symbol of this stand the various moons that govern the nightly changes of MacDonald's imaginary world. Venus: She by H. Rider Haggard  The colonial administrator turned author brings us a vivid picture of Venus Infernal in this seminal work of adventure pulp. Mars: Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein  One of the great soldier's novelists since Kipling, Heinlein easily captures the slot devoted to the god of war.  On the bounce! Mercury: From Alpha to Omega by Anne H. Groten  I tried to teach myself Greek this summer.  Not the best thing to try during a major move.  Still, what better book could there be for this summe...

Following my established routine, I've endeavored to expand my knowledge of Pulp this summer with a some selections from H.P. Lovecraft and Ridder Haggard.  Lovecraft will have to wait for his own post.  In the meantime, I'd like to take a look a truly seminal novel in the history of Pulp: Ridder Haggard's "She." This one thin volume seems to have exercised a greater influence on subsequent works in a way only surpassed by "The Lord of the Rings."  A quick surface read will reveal familiar elements and scenes from "The Magician's Nephew," "The Lord of the Rings," Robert Howard's Conan stories, "Congo (though that's more Haggard's other great work, "King Solomon's Mines")," "Dune," and the Indiana Jones trilogy.  This is a powerful and diverse influence for a novel that spans only a little more than a hundred pages. *very minimal spoiler ahead* One of the great pleasures of readin...

Usually I wait until summer to devote myself to pulp, but a gift certificate from a student allowed me to get started early this year.  With my love of (most) things Victorian, and my interest in pulp, it was inevitable that I would turn to works of Rider Haggard and his celebrated creation, Allan Quatermain.  Having just finished "King Solomon's Mines" last night, I am ready to report. I grew up with the Indiana Jones movies.  Late in college I was introduced to Allan Moore's (what ever shall we do with him?  He is the Alcibiades of the comic world.) "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen."  With these things under my belt, as it were, I must confess that I was worried that the source would not live up to my expectations.  Lesson number one, grasshopper, never doubt the Great Books (at least not in that way)!  "King's Solomon's Mine's" lives up to all the hype.  From the first page to the last, it was one straight-forward, rollicking adv...