I got a few minutes yesterday to browse around a local favorite of mine, Oracle Junction used books, and found a few pleasant surprises! The store specializes in rare, old, and signed editions, but has an extensive "back room" filled with old paperbacks. I could easily spend hours digging around back there, but seldom get over to that side of town.My first grab was "The Pastel City" by M. John Harrison, which I've never read but have heard good things about. Honestly, the cover featuring the cloaked, fantasy-fiction-looking character riding out of the gleaming sci-fi city into a wasteland was enough to pique my interest.
My next find is the Nonborn King, by Julian May. This is part of her Many Colored Land series, of which I only had the first two, having lent out the final two years ago, never to be seen again. If you haven't read this series, I highly recommend it, May sets up a wonderful mix of time-traveling and fantasy, weaving it into the roots of the western mythologies of magic, elves, and goblins. Good stuff.
Yep, another copy of Vance's Dying Earth. I grabbed this for a buddy of mine to read, as I feel this book is required reading for any D&D fan, as equally deserving of a place on your gaming shelf as the 1E DMG.
Edward P Bradbury's Warriors of Mars. Never heard of Edward P. Bradbury? That's because its really Michael Moorcock's pen name used when he wrote his trilogy of homages to Burrough's Mars books. He even wrote a little biography for EPB:
"Edward Powys Bradbury was born in 1924 and spent some time in the Far East, where he developed a strong interest in Sanskrit literature. He returned to England in 1955, when, in his own words, 'the demise of two elderly relatives left me with the shocking reality that I no longer had to work for a living'. He began writing fiction and continued to travel, this time in Europe, Africa and America. He has written detective stories, Westerns and weird thrillers as well as non-fiction. In fact, he cannot stop writing and is convinced that, when he dies, he will be found with a pen in his hand. His only hope is that the story will be finished!"
Wish-fulfillment through an author's characters is nothing new, but wish-fulfillment through a pen name is truely Moorcockian!
Great finds.
ReplyDeleteI think Mike's real wish is to have had a lovely day with his family, and then retire for the night.
--All of our ambitions are tempered by reality's shaping blows.
Best,
+1 for coining "Moorcockian"!
ReplyDeleteSweet finds! I've been looking for Jack Vance's Dying Earth series for quite a while now, with no luck. I don't think it's even in-print anymore.
ReplyDeleteMoorcockian isn't a word I'd utter out loud in public though.
@Atom Kid - the Dying Earth and its 2 companion novels are available in Omnibus form from Orb Books: http://www.amazon.com/Tales-Dying-Earth-Jack-Vance/dp/0312874561/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252006317&sr=1-1
ReplyDeleteand don't be afraid to utter "Moorcockian" out loud at every opportunity;)
Very nice finds. I need to hit the used books store soon. My eyes are bleeding from reading gaming manuals. I need some good fiction.
ReplyDeleteI just bought the new collection of Vance's books that's on amazon after disappointedly realizing that they don't carry any of them at Barnes and Noble or Borders. Such a shame that our awesome local bookstore was run out of town by B&N (not that I don't love a lot of the things that B&N brings to book-buying).
ReplyDeleteNice, you got the edition with the Michael Whelan cover! I used to have all four books with the Whelan covers, but after years of lending them around I had to buy new copies of the first two, with different covers. I used to stare at the cover of The Golden Torc whenever I wanted inspiration for a story or a game.
ReplyDelete