Roogna

Greetings from rural Freeman, South Dakota. I'm here visiting my brother after a little business meeting in Sioux Falls on Thursday. I had an opportunity to take in the local golf course, as well as finish reading "Castle Roogna."

Castle Roogna, the 3rd book in the Magic of Xanth series by Piers Anthony, is a book I started reading a number of years back. 7th grade, I believe. I had borrowed it from a friend, and not having read the first 2 books in the series, became lost, confused, disoriented, and probably a little nauseous as well.

Fast forward a few years. I read the first two books and found this story to make a profound amount of better sense now. It concerns the fantasy realms of Xanth, which coincidentally looks a lot like Florida, but also Magic, time-travel, bad puns, and an assortment of mythological creatures.

In short, I found this particular tale a not as interesting as the first two. Perhaps the formulaic quest plot - a staple of Xanth - to be just more of the same, with some new but rather familiar characters. I suppose the book makes for a good diversion for a few hours, but this wasn't my favorite of Xanth books.

Matt

Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos, Vol. 2

And now, the Volume 2 you've all been waiting for...Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos, vol 2.

The short stories within vol. 2 are as follows:

The Shambler From the Stars by Robert Bloch: An eccentric author locates and evil book, and has his friend translate it from Latin. Evil promulgations ensue...

The Haunter in the Dark by H.P. Lovecraft: A followup story to The Shambler From the Stars, this concerns the demise of Robert Blake, an enthusiast of the dark arts who searches an abandoned church which has many evil elements within...

The Shadow from the Steeple by Robert Bloch rounds out the trilogy concerning the previous two stories. A man from Chicago investigates the deaths of Robert Blake, and his chronicler H.P. Lovecraft, blending the lines of fantasy and reality further, making this tale one of remarkable tenability and fright...

The Notebook Found in a Deserted House by Robert Bloch - This tale concerns a 12 year old who is put up at his aunt and uncle's farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. Rumors of mythology and sacrificial altars in the woods beyond trouble him. Then one day Aunt and Uncle go off in the night, never to return. The child must face his fears with the postman during a thunderstorm...

Cold Print by J. Ramsey Campbell - a vagrant, who warms himself from the cold outside by visiting a bookstore, and becomes a reader of Lovecraftian stories. He encounters a menacing book dealer, who makes him an offer he cannot refuse...

The Sister City by Brian Lumley - A youth of mysterious deformities and talents comes to realize his true identity and troubles the authorities with his attempt to return to the land what which he might call "home."
Cement Surroundings by Brian Lumley - A professor returns to England after researching many mythical entities and two mysterious orbs. He becomes terrified of both the underground and seismic activity. Following an earthquake, the professor disappears, leaving his poor nephew to sort out the madness...

The Deep Ones by James Wade - A little bit longer story about a team of researchers working with dolphins off the Pacific coast. A strange man from Miskatonic University identifies one of the researchers as being from an old family in Innsmouth on the East Coast and foretells great misfortunes, to which the researchers are at once skeptical, for a time...

The Return of The Lloigor by Colin Wilson - a lengthy (as these short stories go) tale of an English professor who finds a text and interprets it to be the Necronomicon. Later he learns that Lovecraft mentioned this in his "fiction" but that these stories seem to match up with legends of Wales, where he finds the stories coming to life, but few belief the fantastical findings...

And there you have it, the last of the Cthulu Mythos stories in my two volume set. If you're up for weird tales, these are good and weird.

Vision of the Future

Latest on my growing list of accomplishments is finally finishing a book I purchased a few years back and meant to read but never got around to. Thus, today is has been a good day.

Vision of the Future is a Star Wars novel by Timothy Zahn which is the sequel to the book Spectre of the Past. The two books make up what is called Zahn's Hand of Thrawn Duology, taking place 10 years after A New Hope (Star Wars Episode IV).

Vision of the Future, while certainly exciting, at just under 700 pages makes for a daunting read. It takes a while to get into, but as I've found the last half goes considerably faster. I am a little disappointed that Zahn couldn't have stretched things another 6 pages to round out an even 700 pages. I'm sure there was room for Lando hanging out in some marginally related dank hideout with sketchy characters of limited consequence.

That not withstanding, the book has several plot lines running at the same time: 1) Luke & Mara 2) Han & Lando 3)Leia and the Camaasi Trustant, 4) Thrawn, Tierce, and Disra, 5) Karrde and Shada, 6) Wedge and a pet shop 7) Thrawn's cronies, awaiting his prophetic return, 8) Booster Terrik and General Garm Bel Iblis, 9) Admiral Pellaeon and the Chimera. There's a few other lines of story, including guest appearances by characters from the past, all of which converge nicely at the end of the tale.

My only complaint here is some of the writing is lacking. A worrisome revelation, indeed, having grown fond of the written word by reading these Star Wars novels, especially the Thrawn Trilogy, also written by Zahn. Sentence fragments litter the pages, yes, for dramatic effect, but still, this is not very skilled authorship. I also noted a few typos although in a tome this sized, that is to be expected. I suspect my criticism stems from reading more heady, shorter works of Camus, Hemingway, and Steinbeck of recent.

All in all, if you're a Star Wars enthusiast with time on your hands, go ahead and pickup the Hand of Thrawn Duology. Its a good time.

Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos, Volume I

I was out traversing a few garage sales and I stumbled upon this gem in a free box: H.P. Lovecraft (and other): Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos, vol. 1., and vol 2.

Some of you might remember a review of a collection of HP Lovecraft works a few months back. Having read that, I soon realized Lovecraft's works were in the public domain, and thus I hardly needed a hard-copy. These stories are predominantly by other authors in the tradition of H.P. Lovecraft and correlation much of Lovecraft's fantastical aberrations. Plus, for free, its hard to pass up.

The short stories within vol. 1 are as follows:

The Call of Cthulhu by HP Lovecraft: The story featuring Lovecraft's most fantastic creature.

The Return of the Sorcerer by Clark Ashton Smith: A man takes a job working for a disturbed researcher...too short for more information.

Ubbo-Sathla by Clark Ashton Smith: a mysterious crystal leads to all sorts of evil;

The Black Stone by Robert E. Howard: a black stone invokes strange visions of years and evils past...

The Hounds of Tindalos by Frank Belknap Long: a researcher invokes a drug to enable time travel, quickly goes insane fearing the Hounds of Tindalos will come at him through angles in the walls...

The Space-Eaters by Frank Belknap Long: mystery in the woods when a neighbor drops by; he's ranting about evil and there seems to be something dreadful in the wood..

The Dweller in the Darkness by August Derleth: something is out there in the woods of Northern Wisconsin, and professors from Madison search to determine what it is, possibly one of the creatures Lovecraft "factually" wrote about...

Beyond the Threshold by August Derleth: Grandfather is obsessed with finding a secret threshold in his Wisconsin home, much to the dispair of his grandsons.

The Salem Horror by Henry Kuttner: Famed author finds a secret underground room used by a former occupant in his house for witchcraft.

The Haunter of the Graveyard by J. Vernon Shea: horror film enthusiast finds a secret passageway in his house...

More to come when I read vol 2.