Thieves' World Book Club! Storm Season!

 All views in this blog are my own and represent the views of no other person, organization, or institution.

For a few years I have been the admin/moderator of the Thieves' World Facebook discussion group. I started a "book club" last year, hoping to spark more discussion about the series. It has been a mixed success. I think in some ways my posts starting the discussion of each anthology have been a bit too big. I also realized, these posts were disappearing into ether after a short short while. In order to give the posts more permanence and so I can more easily refer folks to them, I decided to start putting the "opening" post for each anthology here on my blog. 

Now we are on to the fourth anthology, published in 1982.

The Valdez cover.

Contents

Introduction by Robert Lynn Asprin

"Exercise in Pain" by Robert Lynn Asprin

"Downwind" by C. J. Cherryh

"A Fugitive Art" by Diana L. Paxson

"Steel" by Lynn Abbey

"Wizard Weather" by Janet Morris

"Godson" by Andrew J. Offutt

Epilog by Robert Lynn Asprin

All of the authors in this anthology are long time Thieves’ World contributors. The storylines and themes introduced in this anthology will dominate the next four anthologies, creating an epic storyline that was later named the God’s War.

The original cover by Walter Valdez is still clearly in the Unicorn, two men are arm wrestling while the dark-haired female from the previous painting (who still reminds me of Kama though Kama is not in this volume) watches. One of the men is the same blond man with a blue star on his forehead from the first anthology cover, but the star is no longer visible.

The Ruddell cover.

The Ruddell cover is "Hanse Shadowspawn at Eaglenest." But he doesn't look much like Hanse.

I don't have a caption for the third cover, but I believe it is supposed to represent Tempus on his horse, looking over the sea while fortress is constructed behind him. This would have been the opening seen from "A Man and His God" by Janet Morris from the previous volume, Shadows of Sanctuary. The horseman is very fantastical and this art doesn’t give me Thieves’ World vibes at all, just 1960s psychedelic fantasy.

I've also included the cover from the Book Club edition, a compilation titled Cross-Currents including Storm Season, The Face of Chaos, and Wings of Omen. These covers are also by Valdez, and the blue-starred individual looks more plausible as Lythande to my eyes than Valdez' earlier images.

This was the last of the "original" anthologies, Sanctuary changes in significant ways with the next volume. This anthology differed from the previous three in that some of the stories were much longer then in previous tales. The story of Jubal's healing, for example, was the first tale but it occurred over months of time. More so than in previous tales, these stories weave in and out of each other, though in many ways they barely connect. 

Tempus (?) looking down on Sanctuary.

You can find this volume in many used book stores online. Also, it is available for Kindle on Amazon here. 

An audiobook of this work is available here on Audible. 

All views in this blog are my own and represent the views of no other person, organization, or institution.

Science Fiction Book Club edition. 

Thieves' World Book Club! Shadows of Sanctuary!

All views in this blog are my own and represent the views of no other person, organization, or institution.

For a few years I have been the admin/moderator of the Thieves' World Facebook discussion group. I started a "book club" last year, hoping to spark more discussion about the series. It has been a mixed success. I think in some ways my posts starting the discussion of each anthology have been a bit too big. I also realized, these posts were disappearing into ether after a short short while. In order to give the posts more permanence and so I can more easily refer folks to them, I decided to start putting the "opening" post for each anthology here on my blog. The post for the second anthology in the series, Tales from the Vulgar Unicorn, can be found here. 

The original Valdez cover.

Now we are on to the third anthology, published in 1981.

Contents

"Introduction" by Robert Lynn Asprin

"Looking for Satan" by Vonda N. McIntyre

"Ischade" by C.J. Cherryh

"A Gift in Parting" by Robert Lynn Asprin

"The Vivisectionist" by Andrew J. Offutt

"The Rhinoceros and the Unicorn" by Diana L. Paxson

"Then Azyuna Danced" by Lynn Abbey

"A Man and His God" by Janet Morris

Essay: "Things the Editor Never Told Me" by Lynn Abbey

Later cover by Gary Ruddell.

Three of the seven authors in this anthology are new. Of those three, however, two two went on to become extremely prolific contributors, not missing another anthology.

I've said before that I believe this is the single best anthology in the series. One tale doesn't quite have the "TW" feel, but all of the tales are very well written.

The original cover by Walter Valdez is more dynamic then the previous covers, but still clearly in the Unicorn. It includes a female in a red dress, who facial expression and dress seem incongruous with Sanctuary's known female inhabitants. The figure with the short black hair is clear a woman in this painting, she reminds me very much of Kama but Kama doesn't appear until book #6, I don't think she was even a glimmer of thought in Janet Morris' mind in 1981.

The Ruddell cover is "Jubal defends himself against Tempus."

Hanse confronting Kurd.

I don't have a caption for the third cover, but it clearly depicts a scene from Offutt's tale, with Hanse confronting Kurd. This is, in my opinion, a rarity. I don't love the style, but the artist clearly tried to depict Hanse accurately according to his description, and the same with Kurd. He obviously had actually read the story!

I've also included the cover from the Book Club edition, a compilation title Sanctuary which contained Thieves' World, Tales from the Vulgar Unicorn & Shadows of Sanctuary.

You can find this volume in many used book stores online. Also, it is available for Kindle on Amazon here. 

An audiobook of this work is available here on Audible. 

All views in this blog are my own and represent the views of no other person, organization, or institution.

Science Fiction Book Club edition. 

Thieves' World Book Club! Tales from the Vulgar Unicorn

 All views in this blog are my own and represent the views of no other person, organization, or institution.

For a few years I have been the admin/moderator of the Thieves' World Facebook discussion group. I started a "book club" last year, hoping to spark more discussion about the series. It has been a mixed success. I think in some ways my posts starting the discussion of each anthology have been a bit too big. I also realized, these posts were disappearing into ether after a short short while. In order to give the posts more permanence and so I can more easily refer folks to them, I decided to start putting the "opening" post for each anthology here on my blog. The post for the first anthology in the series, Thieves' World, can be found here.  

The original Valdez cover.

Now we are on to the second anthology, published in 1980.

Contents

"Introduction" by Robert Lynn Asprin

"Spiders of the Purple Mage" by Philip José Farmer

"Goddess" by David Drake

"The Fruit of Enlibar" by Lynn Abbey

"The Dream of the Sorceress" by A.E. van Vogt

"Vashanka's Minion" by Janet Morris

"Shadow's Pawn" by Andrew J. Offutt

"To Guard the Guardians" by Robert Lynn Asprin

Essay: "The Lighter Side of Sanctuary" by Robert Lynn Asprin

Later cover by Gary Ruddell.

So, four of the seven authors in this anthology are new to the series. Of those four, only two contributed to later anthologies. Notably, all four of the new authors were established authors. Farmer and Vogt were old school legends, like Poul Anderson. Of course, Morris would go on to have perhaps the greatest influence on the series, possibly greater than Asprin himself, and probably only second to Lynn Abbey.

The tone begins to change somewhat. Vogt, Farmer, and Drake are writing fairly standard sword & sorcery tales – though Farmer does have unconventional protagonists. But many of the rest of the tales have started to focus on the real star of the series: Sanctuary itself.

The original cover by Walter Valdez is nice, but not quite a striking, in my opinion, as the original cover of the first anthology.

The Ruddell cover is "Tempus battles a hawk-mask." I don't have a caption for the third cover, it seems to be the Maze, and the Vulgar Unicorn, imagined as a medieval European city.

I've also included the cover from the Book Club edition, a compilation titled Sanctuary which contained Thieves' World, Tales from the Vulgar Unicorn & Shadows of Sanctuary. Noteworthy that it resembles the Tales from the Vulgar Unicorn cover in composition.

You can find this volume in many used book stores online. Also, it is available for Kindle on Amazon here. 

An audiobook of this work is available here on Audible. 

All views in this blog are my own and represent the views of no other person, organization, or institution.

Science Fiction Book Club edition. 

Thieves' World Book Club! Thieves' World

All views in this blog are my own and represent the views of no other person, organization, or institution.

For a few years I have been the admin/moderator of the Thieves' World Facebook discussion group. I started a "book club" last year, hoping to spark more discussion about the series. It has been a mixed success. I think in some ways my posts starting the discussion of each anthology have been a bit too big. I also realized, these posts were disappearing into ether after a short short while. In order to give the posts more permanence and so I can more easily refer folks to them, I decided to start putting the "opening" post for each anthology here on my blog. So, here is the opening post for the first anthology, the discussion followed from here. 

We are starting with Thieves' World, the first anthology and the start of this wonderful series and setting.

The original Valdez cover. 

 Contents:

 "Introduction" Author: Robert Asprin

 "Sentences of Death" Author: John Brunner

 "The Face of Chaos" Author: Lynn Abbey

 "The Gate of Flying Knives" Author: Poul Anderson

 "Shadowspawn" Author: Andrew Offutt

 "The Price of Doing Business" Author: Robert Asprin

 "Blood Brothers" Author: Joe Haldeman

 "Myrtis" Author: Christine DeWees

 "The Secret of the Blue Star" Author: Marion Zimmer Bradley

 "The Making of Thieves' World" Author: Robert Asprin"

 It is curious to note that of these eight original authors, four of them never contributed again to a Thieves' World anthology.

Later cover by Gary Ruddell.

 It is also remarkable how compatible the tone of these tales were,   they it remarkably well together. I think Asprin's excellent   "Introduction" is responsible for that, it is an remarkable piece of   concise world building.

 The original cover by Walter Valdez also certainly suited the first   book. According to Adrew Offutt in the Afterward to Dead of   Winter: "Oh, here's an Inside tip for you, Insider: go and look   again at the cover of the original TW. Asprin long ago came up   with a caption for it, and you'll love it. It's "You're In The Wrong   Place, Sucker.""

  The Ruddell cover is "Prince Kadakithis halts Captain Zalbar of   the Hell Hounds as Hakiem the Storyteller cowers at their arrival   in Sanctuary." 

  I don't have a caption for the third cover, but it is clearly a scene   from "The Gate of Flying Knives."

  I've also included the cover from the Book Club edition, a   compilation title Sanctuary which contained Thieves' World, Tales   from the Vulgar Unicorn & Shadows of Sanctuary.

Jamie the Red faces a Sikkaintair.

You can find this volume in many used book stores online. Also, it is available for Kindle on Amazon here. 

An audiobook of this work is available here on Audible. 

All views in this blog are my own and represent the views of no other person, organization, or institution.

Science Fiction Book Club edition. 

What I read in 2024

On New Years, 2019 a friend of mine posted a list of the books they had read in 2018. I thought it was a great idea so I've been posting such a list myself ever since, first on Facebook, now on my blog. I find it a very useful exercise in self-reflection - though I am sure it is really just another example of my narcissism. 😏

If anyone else makes such lists, I'd love to see them. Feel free to share the lists, or links to your lists, in the comments.😀 You can find my previous years here: 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023.

Looking over this year's list (see below), these trends stood out:

# of Rereads: 21 (I've marked rereads below with an *)

# of YA reads: 11
# Military History reads: 2

# non-military History reads: 3

# of fantasy/horror works: 35
# by or about Tolkien or Inklings: 3

# of D&D or other RPG related reads: 11

# related to Lovecraft or the Mythos: 2
# Forgotten Realms: 5  
# of Marine reads: 2
# Frigate Navy period reads: 1

# Thieves' World & related: 3
# Matter of Britain/France works: 4

# of holiday reads: 8 

# historical fiction reads: 5

# World War II reads: 2 

# Folklore or Mythology reads: 3

# Books about writers and writing: 2

The most obvious difference this year was significantly fewer books were read. That's fine with me, it's not a competition. i could pump the numbers by reading a bunch of short books, but the numbers are meaningless so why bother? Well, not quite meaningless, I do count, but only to consider how my reading habits change from one year to the next. 

In this case, I know there are fewer books because I did a ton of reading that wasn't books. I reread the summaries or logs if you will of all of my old play-by-email roleplaying games, starting with Mercs. I reread them as i reedited them and added images planning to release them on a new blog, but so far I only have the Mercs summaries up. But I read them all, and since each chapter is 100-300 pages of text, each was like a novel. A LOT of fun for me, rereading them. But It didn't feel "right" including them in my count for the year.

Similarly, I don't include the reading I do for work here, mostly. I read a LOT for work, it is the nature of the beats, and one reason I love my job. But it tends to be piecemeal and scatter-shot. I read chapter in this book followed by a chapter in another. I only include work reading here when I read a work from beginning to end straight through. 

I can't call this a satisfying year, some of the books I found surprisingly excellent - Spelljammer: Memory's Wake and The Dead of Winter but I was often a bit disappointed in the new books I read, like the Century trilogy. 

2025 is shaping up to be a bad year, here's hoping I can get some good reading in to hide from it!

What I read in 2024:

#1. Tasting History by Max Miller

#2. The Dark Is Rising: Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper*

#3. The Odyssey by Homer, trans. by Emily Wilson 

#4. The Dark Is Rising: Greenwitch by Susan Cooper*

#5. The Birth of the Royal Marines, 1664-1802 by Britt Zerbe

#6. The Dark Is Rising: The Grey King by Susan Cooper*

#7. Gotrek & Felix: Trollslayer by William King

#8. The Dark Is Rising: Silver on the Tree by Susan Cooper*

#9. Brother Wulf by Joseph Delaney

#10. Wulf's Bane by Joseph Delaney

#11. The Last Spook by Joseph Delaney

#12. Wulf's War by Joseph Delaney

#13. Gotrek & Felix: Skavenslayer by William King

#13. Gotrek & Felix: Daemonslayer by William King

#14. The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien: Revised and Expanded edition by: J. R. R. Tolkien, edited by Humphrey Carpenter & Christopher Tolkien 

#15. Hammer of the Gods: The Thule Society and the Birth of Nazism by David Luhrssen

#16. Star Wars: A Long Time Ago... Volume 1: Doomworld

#17. Trek To Kraggen-Cor, Silver Call Series, by Dennis L. McKiernan

#18. The Black Company, Chronicles of The Black Company, by Glen Cook*

#19. Shadows Linger, Chronicles of the Black Company by Glen Cook

#20. After the King: Stories In Honor of J.R.R. Tolkien, Martin H. Greenberg, Jane Yolen (eds.)

#21. The White Rose, Chronicles of the Black Company, by Glen Cook

#22. The Silver Spike: Chronicles of the Black Company by Glen Cook

#23. Elfshadow by Elaine Cunningham*

#24. The Wand in the Word: Conversations with Writers of Fantasy edited by Leonard S. Marcus

#25. Spelljammer: Memory's Wake by Django Wexler

#26. Elfsong by Elaine Cunningham*

#27. Silver Shadows by Elaine Cunningham*

#28. The Dream Spheres by Elaine Cunningham*

#29. Beyond Sanctuary by Janet Morris*

#30. The Best of the Realms Book III: The Stories of Elaine Cunningham by Elaine Cunningham*

#31. Smedley by Jeff McComsey

#32. Beyond the Veil by Janet Morris*

#33. Beyond Wizardwall by Janet Morris*

#34. The Express Diaries by Nick Marsh*

#35. A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny*

#36. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova*

#37. The Odessa File by Frederick Forsyth*

#38. Fall of Giants: the Century Trilogy by Ken Follett

#39. Winter of the World: the Century Trilogy by Ken Follett

#40. Edge of Eternity: the Century Trilogy by Ken Follett

#41. Kringle by Tony Abbott*

#42. The Story of the Nutcracker by Alexandre Dumas

#43. The Dead of Winter: Beware the Krampus and Other Wicked Christmas Creatures by Sarah Clegg

#44. The Fright Before Christmas by Jeff Belanger

#45. Letters from Father Christmas by J. R. R. Tolkien*

#46. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, read by Jim Dale*

#47. Life on a Mediaeval Barony: A Picture of a Typical Feudal Community in the Thirteenth Century by William Stearns Davis*

All views in this blog are my own and represent the views of no other person, organization, or institution.

To Criticize or not to Criticize...

 Self-examination is important. Challenge your own beliefs. I try to do this to myself constantly. It is important that others do this as well.

Head of Socrates in Palazzo Massimo alle Terme (Rome)

For example, consider a semi-popular phrase among the nerd/geek community: "Don't yuck someone's yum." Essentially, this phrase means, don't point out the flaws in things that other people like. You can dislike something without criticizing or bitching about it.

Anyone who knows me knows that being critical is a huge part of who I am. I review things, I criticize them in the classic sense "to consider the merits and demerits of and judge accordingly" and apply this to art others may simply accept at face value. So, when faced with "don't yuck other's yum" I find a valid point about how I can reduce other' pleasure and make their lives measurably worse. I really do try to work on this, especially with the people I love or those more vulnerable than I. Slamming a child's favorite book or movie is mere cruelty.

At the same time, too many people simply accept art. They don't recognize that they become what they watch, read, and listen to. The songs you hear, the TV you watch, it slowly but surely changes your views, your morality, your ethics. It is impossible NOT to be changed in this way, just like the drip-drip of water WILL wear down every rock eventually, no matter how hard. Rivers dig channels through the earth. If you listen to "WAP" and similar songs enough times it WILL change how you think about women. Maybe not in a bad way, I leave it to you to parse those lyrics, but it will change you.

That's why we rightfully have made the n-word, blackface, and open racism taboo. Because we realize how corrosive they are to society.

As is so often the case, there is a balance to maintain. We have to balance the potential damage of unexamined, and unchallenged art with the potential damage of simply ruining something for the joy of destruction. It's not easy, and there is no single answer, every piece of art, and every interaction, requires a new assessment.

I tend to err on the side of criticizing, as is apparent from the many reviews on my blog. Especially in formats like this, where those who wish to avoid close examination of a given work can simply look away. On the other hand, I rarely review anything that I cannot recommend in someway. Most art has some good in it.

But what matters isn't that I am critical, in the best "to consider the merits and demerits of and judge accordingly" sense, what is important is that we ALL try to live more critically. We all have this capacity. It just requires exercise and patience.

As Socrates said, "The unexamined life is not worth living." So, as we come to the end of the year, please, let's all examine our lives!

All views in this blog are my own and represent the views of no other person, organization, or institution.

Yule Review: The Dark is Rising series By Susan Cooper

  A version of this article appeared in Knights of the Dinner Table #158 (December, 2009).

When the Dark comes rising, six shall turn it back;
Three from the circle, three from the track;
Wood, bronze, iron; water, fire, stone;
Five will return, and one go alone.

I’ve always found Christmas to be a magical time, and not simply for the presents. In the northern hemisphere, when the days grow shorter and short, the nights longer and darkness holds great sway over the world so that even the days are often dim and grey it is easy to imagine elves slipping between snow covered trees. On cold nights, looking up at bright stars while “the moon on the breast of the new fallen snow gave a luster of midday to objects below” I have felt that magic sink into my soul. Halloween may seem the more natural holiday for fantasy fans with its witches, vampires, and demons, but it is Christmas when the magic seems to come to life.

There are, ironically, very few fantasy novels that really capture that Christmas or Yuletide magic. It is an elusive, fairy air captured by true masters such as Dickens in the classic A Christmas Carol yet tasting oddly flat when addressed by numerous journeyman writers. Yet in The Dark is Rising British author Susan Cooper captures the mystery of the season and melds it with the equally deep and ancient Matter of Britain. The result is an incredible work of fantasy and children’s literature.

Susan Cooper was born in 1935 in Buckinghamshire, England. Her childhood in Britain during World War II had a great influence on her later work, as did her days living in Wales and her degree in English from Oxford. Though she never personally met J.R.R. Tolkien or C.S. Lewis, she attended lectures by both of them, as explained in this excellent bio on her webpage. She worked as a reporter before moving to the Massachusetts, where she became a full time author, primarily of children's stories. She is best known for The Dark is Rising series, for which she won several awards, and her grasp of the underpinnings and function of Fantasy was made most obvious when she presented 'A Catch of the Breath',  the fifth annual J.R.R Tolkien Lecture on Fantasy Literature at Pembroke College, Oxford on 27th April 2017. You can, and should, watch this outstanding talk on YouTube here, it truly is a masterpiece of public speaking. 

The Dark is Rising series comprises five novels: Over Sea, Under Stone, The Dark is Rising, Greenwitch, The Grey King, and Silver on the Tree. All five are set in England, Cornwall, or Wales and depict episodes in the ongoing cosmic struggle between the Dark and the Light, which is represented by the immortal Old Ones.

Only one character, Merriman Lyon, appears in all five novels. Merriman is strongly implied to be Merlin, and certainly fills the role of mentor and mystical advisor to the five children who are the novels’ main protagonists. Simon, Jane, and Barney Drew are three quite normal children drawn into these quests by their ‘great-uncle’ Merriman. They are in all of the novels save The Dark is Rising and The Grey King. Will Stanton, seventh son of a seventh son, is the protagonist of The Dark is Rising novel itself and appears in all of the novels except Over Sea, Under Stone. Bran Davies is the last of the children, a mysterious albino Welsh boy who appears in only the last two novels, The Grey King and Silver on the Tree.

The novels are complex and handle their rather deep subject matter well. The action is fierce but restrained; the struggles involved rarely extend to mere physical altercations. Over Sea, Under Stone recounts the search for the Grail during the Drew children’s holiday in Cornwall, and the greater matters are only hinted at. The Dark is Rising takes place throughout the Christmas season in the Thames valley of England; Cooper is particularly skilled in using the traditional calendar of Yuletide, Midwinter Day, and the Twelve Days of Christmas to frame her tale. Greenwitch introduces the Drews to Will during a spring holiday in Cornwall during the Greenwitch festival; Jane Drew’s place in the story is more firmly established. The Grey King is perhaps the darkest of the series. Will recuperates in Wales from a sickness and befriends Bran, a shy boy with a tragic family history. And Silver on the Tree brings the series back to Midsummer, as the tale travels across England and Wales and through time, with all five children together for the final quest.

For gamers, the series is full of inspiration. Those who thrilled at the drawing of Herne the Hunter in Deities and Demigods will find his depiction in this series masterful, moreover it provides the game master with a wonderful example of how to use the Wild Hunt in a campaign. The seamless manner in which Cooper weaves history and mythology into the modern world is equally inspiring, and her concept of the Light and the Dark, as well as their eternal struggle, works well for most modern fantasy games. The series inspired me to write and run two different, long-running campaigns. Ars Magica and World of Darkness gamers in particular will find much of value here.

Cooper never stoops to using sex or violence to tell her tale, and so the series remains appropriate for children even while addressing themes of importance. Her writing is sparse yet evocative and her plots are meticulous, nothing feels forced or out of place. She has a great deal to say about the nature of good and evil, yet she never lectures or berates the reader.

If you want poetry, magic, and Arthurian glory set within the modern world, then read this series. It is a true classic.

All views in this blog are my own and represent the views of no other person, organization, or institution.