'The Wizard's Castle' (El Castillo del Brujo) by John Howe
from Metal Hurlant (Spanish language edition) No. 32

As this army of demons learns, attacking a wizard's castle can have its downside....especially if the wizard is an acolyte of the Great Old Ones.....

Some great artwork from Canadian artist John Howe.

(my translation is paraphrased)

 The Wizard's Castle (El Castillo del Brujo)

This is how the legend goes: the sun rose slowly, like a wineskin full of blood, fog on the horizon thickening, as if to heal the wounds of dawn. The black birds took flight heavily after the earth rumbled....with a slow, rumbling cadence....

 The demon lord: "Alba blood ! A good omen !"

His lieutenant: "Yes, and this day will be scarlet. Look! Our goal is in that eternal sea of ​​mist....."

The lieutenant: "The  castle !"

The demon lord: "There lives the Wizard ! I can sense it.....I can sense his spell..."

His lieutenant: "Magic is an evil weapon !"

The demon lord: "No magic can resist a well-tempered steel weapon !"

"Look ! In the tower !"

"It's him !"

The demon lord: "Shoggoth !"

"You'll pay dearly for your insolence ! Forward !"

"Charge ! I want his head !"

"A hundred gold pieces to whomever brings me his head !"

"What about the fog...! I expect you to get up and move !"

The lieutenant: "No ! It is useless to try !"

The lieutenant: "They'll never get up! Pftaghn! Spells...a cowardly weapon! But nothing will avail him by the use of his spells!

The demon lord: "Forward !"

(fading out...)

So is the legend, that no army has crossed the walls of that castle, that no invader has trampled their feet upon the white tiles of its vaulted halls, since the wizard chose that place to be like home.

Newton and the Quasi-Apple

Book Review: 'Newton and the Quasi-Apple' by Stanley Schmidt

2 / 5 Stars

‘Newton and the Quasi-Apple’ was first published in 1975 as a Doubleday / SF Book Club hardbound book; this Popular Library paperback (188 pp.) was released in June, 1977. The cover artwork is by Carlos Ochagavia.

Chet and Tina Barlin are Federation anthropologists who covertly observe and explore alien cultures, while taking measures to avoid violating The Prime Directive.

Their subject is the planet Ymrek, a world populated by the Kengmorl humanoids, who are at a medieval / early Renaissance level of culture. The city of Yldac, in the country of Yngmor, shows particular promise of birthing a civilization that ultimately may discover the industrial age, atomic power, and spaceflight.

However, when Chet and Tina witness an attack on Yldac by a barbarian race known as the Ketaxil, it looks like any burgeoning civilization in Yngmor is going to be snuffed out before it can have a chance to develop. With the reluctant permission of a Federation official, the Barlins lead a field team to Yldac.

Their goal: pose as a troupe of magicians, and, with the aid of novel ‘quasimaterials’ and aircars, give the Kengmorl an edge in their fight against the Ketaxil.

Once on Ymrek, however, the Barlins discover a complicating factor. A young monk named Terek – the Ymrek equivalent of Isaac Newton and Galilieo Galilei – has independently discovered the laws of physics governing falling bodies. His discoveries are met with some hostility by the clergy ruling Yngmor, but Terek, firm in his beliefs, refuses to recant.

When the Federation team arrives in the city and use quasimaterials in their magic show – little plastic disks that levitate – Terek surmises that these are no ordinary travelling magicians. However, the senior cleric is only too happy to argue that the quasimaterials invalidate Terek’s theories.

It’s up to the Barlins to find a way to see that Terek follows the path opened by his discoveries…without angering the high cleric. But the Ketaxil are learning about new technologies, too, and time may be running out for any rescue of the civilization of the Kengmorl…….

‘Newton’ is a middling-quality sf adventure. The concept of a Federation covertly intervening in alien affairs certainly isn’t novel in the genre, and reincarnating the Galilieo – Church controversy in an alien setting doesn’t show much originality, either.

That said, author Schmidt writes reasonably well, avoiding New Wave temptations in terms of his prose style. However, too many passages are literary filler material, devoted to internal monologues on the part of the Barlins as they agonize over whether they are Doing the Right Thing. Deleting these passages would have made the novel a good 20 pages shorter and the narrative more focused.

‘Newton and the Quasi-Apple’ isn’t worth searching out, but if serendipity leads you to find it on a shelf, it may be worth picking up.

'Heavy Metal' magazine, January 1979

January 1979, and in heavy rotation on the AOR FM stations are singles from Toto’s debut album, including ‘Hold the Line’. Setting aside the band’s cutesy name, their album contained a number of good songs, including ‘Georgy Porgy’, ‘Rockmaker’, and 'Take It All Back’. 

The front cover of the January 1979 issue of Heavy Metal was ‘Rocking Centaur’ by Jo Ellen Trilling, with Kevin Johnson providing the back cover, ‘Three Men’. 

Lots of good material in this issue; the concluding installment of Duillet’s ‘Gail’, and ongoing episodes of Corben’s ‘Sinbad’, Bilal’s ‘Exterminator 17’, Macedo’s ‘Telefield’, McKie’s ‘So Beautiful and So Dangerous’, and Montellier’s ‘1996’. 

Enki Bilal also provided a neat little tale about interstellar diplomacy gone wrong: ‘The Ultimate Negotiation’, which I’ve posted below. 

Hunter episode 6 from Eerie No. 57

'Hunter' from Eerie magazine (Warren)
episode 6
from Eerie No. 57, June 1974

This is the final episode of the first incarnation of the 'Hunter' character in Eerie.

This episode sees our hero in a do-or-die confrontation with the demon who fathered him. An elderly Schreck offers what aid he can.

The Hunter character proved to be so popular that Eerie soon brought the character back in the 'Hunter II' series....which I will be posting here at the PorPor Books Blog.

Book Review: 'Universe 1', edited by Terry Carr

2 / 5 Stars

‘Universe 1’ (250 pp.) was published by Ace Books in 1971; the cover illustration is by Davis Meltzer.

In his Introduction, editor Terry Carr declares that the ‘Universe’ anthology series is dedicated to science fiction, and “….there’ll be no ‘speculative fiction’ at all.” 

This is untrue, unfortunately, as most of the contents of ‘Universe 1’ are indeed speculative fiction pieces. This isn’t so surprising, as 1971 saw the New Wave movement in sf operating at full throttle.

Brief summaries of the entries:

‘West Wind, Falling’ by Gregory Benford and Gordon Eklund: inter-generational conflict among the colonists living inside the hollowed core of a comet. Benford would return to this theme in fuller form with his 1986 novel Heart of the Comet.

‘Good News from the Vatican' by Robert Silverberg: a group of people of varied religious backgrounds idle in Rome’s stylish cafes, as they await word on the advent of the first robot to be named Pope. A slight tale, if anything at all.

Edward Bryant contributes two stories. ‘Jade Blue’ is New Wave through and through: a plotless story about a young boy, his nightmares, and a talking puma. 

‘The Human Side of the Village Monster’, on the other hand, is the best entry in the anthology. It’s set in a decaying, near-future New York City, with a real ‘Soylent Green’ vibe. ‘Human Side’ shows that when he avoided contrived efforts at Speculative Fiction, Bryant could produce memorable, ‘traditional’ sf tales.

‘Nor Limestone Islands’ by R. A. Lafferty: a ‘fabulation’ about floating islands of limestone; the inhabitants offer philosophical insights. Mediocre.

‘Time Exposures’ by Wilson Tucker: a murder mystery, featuring a camera that can take pictures of past events. Imaginative, even if discerning readers are liable to figure out Whodunit very early on.

‘Mindship’ by Gerard F. Conway: on board a starship, a retiring individual serves as the vital psychic masseuse for the ship's pilot, a group mind comprised of individuals submerged in a fugue state. A promising concept, but one gradually overwhelmed by the author’s too-frequent use of overwrought, figurative prose. Conway expanded the story into a novel, published by DAW Books in 1974.

‘Notes for A Novel About the First Ship Ever to Venus’ by Barry N. Malzburg: brief tale, dispersed in one- or two- paragraph chapters, about a spaceship venture to the eponymous planet. As many sf authors were wont to do during the New Wave era, Malzburg tries to imitate an existing ‘literary’ style, in this case something reminiscent of Dos Passos, with…….. unimpressive…….. results.

‘Poor Man, Beggar Man’ by Joanna Russ: the ghost of his murdered general haunts Alexander the Great. Devoid of genuine sf content, and consisting of lengthy conversations, the best I could do with this entry was scratch my head at editorial attitudes of the New Wave era.

‘The Romance of Dr. Tanner’ by Ron Goulart: another effort at sf humor by Goulart; this time, pipe-smoking lizard men highlight the domestic neuroses suffered by a TV ad executive. It’s the worst story in the anthology.

‘Mount Charity’ by Edgar Pangborn: talking animals – who are the assumed forms of aliens – muse on human foibles over the ages. A readable story, infused with the philosophical attitudes of the ‘hippy’ generation.

‘All the Last Wars At Once’ by George Alec Effinger: uneasy satire about what happens when contemporary American social conflicts are solved with overt violence.

Summing up, ‘Universe 1’ is unwavering, early 70s New Wave sf. Most entries have aged quite poorly. Modern readers will find little to engage them here, save for the stories by Bryant, Tucker, and Pangborn.

Bless Us Father by Richard Corben

'Bless Us, Father' by Richard Corben
from Creepy No. 59, January 1974

This nasty little subversion of the Christmas theme features a cleaver-wielding maniac in a Santa Suit ..... !

 

 

 

 

'Heavy Metal' magazine, December, 1982

December, 1982, and 'Maneater' by Hall and Oates in in heavy rotation on MTV and on the FM radio stations.

Montxo Algora provides both the front and back covers for this month's issue of Heavy Metal.

This issue is actually rather good, one of the better ones for the year. There are ongoing installments of Kaulta's 'Starstruck', Pisu and Manara's 'The Ape',  Duillet's 'Yragael', Fernandez's 'Zora', Jones and Wrightson's 'Freak Show', and Corben's 'Den II'.

In the Dossier, we have capsule reviews of the year's LPs; groups like Saxon, Girlschool, U. S. metal, and Shooting Star have, sadly, disappeared from the musical consciousness in the intervening 30 years.

Billy Idol sulks for the camera; an article about sensory deprivation tanks represents a late follow-up to the theme of the 1981 movie 'Altered States'; and we're given reviews of a large number (of what turned out to be entirely forgettable) fantasy novels.

Higher-end advertisers still elude HM; this issues features a full-pager from a mail-order Head Shop. Back in December '82, the idea of pot being legalized in Washington state - or in any state - seemed very, very, far off....

Moebius ably represents with a nice little four-page entry, 'The Emerald Lake', which I've posted below. It's all about Brazil and emeralds.

Book Review: 'The Ice Schooner' by Michael Moorcock

3 / 5 Stars

‘The Ice Schooner’ was first published as a serial in SF Impulse magazine in the UK in 1966, with its first book printing in 1969. This Dell paperback edition (267 pp) was published in October, 1978, and contains revised material. The cover illustration is by Boris Vallejo.

'Schooner' is set on a future earth where the Ice Ages have returned, and much of the planet is overlaid with glaciers. Civilization endures, albeit at a medieval level of technology. Eight cities of modest construction and size still exist in what used to be North America. 

Commerce revolves around the hunting of terrestrial 'ice' whales, creatures whose flippers have evolved to propel them on the surface of the endless ice; ships set on skis, the ‘ice schooners’ of the book’s title, pursue the migrating herds.

Moorcock’s protagonist is Konrad Arflane, a former whaler captain who finds himself, in the novel’s opening pages, reduced in rank and economic standing. 

Arflane is a more fully-fleshed character than the usual fantasy / adventure hero, being a moody, manic-depressive personality; appropriate traits for an individual of Scandinavian descent.

When Arflane rescues a man left to die alone on the ice, it is none other than Pyotr Rorsefne, the magnate of a wealthy shipping firm in the city of Friesgalt. This act brings Arflane into the circle of the Rorsefne family, and a dying man’s commission: captain the ship Ice Spirit across thousands of miles of poorly mapped ice, to discover if the mythic city of New York still exists, and whether the Ice Mother, the deity of this new Ice Age, resides there.

Most of ‘Schooner’ is taken up with the quest of the Ice Spirit to find the fabled city of New York, and the various adventures and mishaps that befall the good ship and crew.

Not unexpectedly with a Moorcock novel, ‘Schooner’ is infused with ambiguity, and departs from the self-confident tone of the traditional fantasy hero narrative. Konrad Arflane is not an invincible leader who strides victoriously through every test, but rather, a troubled man who lacks the imagination to recognize that change is coming to his world.

The descriptions of the hunting and the slaughter of the ice whales are graphic, and carry a note of moral unease. The success of the mission, and the survival of all its crew, is by no means assured; treacherous terrain, sedition, and vengeful ice barbarians all will test Arflane’s ability to bring the Ice Spirit to its destination.

‘The Ice Schooner’ is one of Moorcock’s better adventure novels, and is well worth picking up.

The Sword of Solomon Kane

'The Sword of Solomon Kane'
Marvel comics, 1985 - 1986

Starting with issue 1 in September, 1985, and going on to issue 6 in July, 1986, Marvel re-launched the ‘Solomon Kane’ franchise as limited-series, four-color comic book with Code approval. 

It’s not clear if ‘The Sword of Solomon Kane’ was a carefully considered, deliberate decision by  the management, or a last-minute effort to get some books printed before Marvel’s rights to the franchise lapsed.

The miniseries used both REH's original Kane stories, and material created for the miniseries by the Marvel editorial staff.

Issue 1 was ‘Red Shadows’, issue 2 an original werewolf tale titled ‘And Faith, Undying’, issue 3 ‘Blades of the Brotherhood', issue 4 ‘The Prophet’ (featuring artwork by Mike Mignola), issue 5 ‘Hills of the Dead, and issue 6 ‘Wings in the Night’.

For most of these issues Ralph Macchio provided the scripting, with Brett Blevins and Al Williamson providing the art.

Even given Marvel’s use of cheaper, plastic printing plates in their 80s comics, the artwork and color reproductions in these issues are quite crude. 

Indeed, it’s markedly inferior to the artwork in the black and white Curtis magazine incarnations of Solomon Kane in the 1970s (as a backup feature in ‘The Savage Sword of Conan’, etc.). 

Mignola’s penciling for issue 4 is probably the best this particular series offered, followed by Blevin’s work in issue 2.

Hardcore REH and Solomon Kane fans may want to pick up this miniseries if the opportunity presents itself. All six issues appear on online auction websites for affordable prices.

As well, all six issues were reprinted in 2009 in Dark Horse’s trade paperback compilation of the Marvel comic - book Kane adventures of the 70s and 80s, ‘The Chronicles of Solomon Kane’.

(Note, the b & w comics from the Curtis magazines are reprinted in another Dark Horse volume, ‘The Saga of Solomon Kane’.)