Book Review: Starkadder

Book Review: 'Starkadder' by Bernard King

4 / 5 Stars

‘Starkadder’ (244 pp.) was published by the New English Library in April, 1986. The cover artist is uncredited.

Bernard King (b. 1946) is a UK writer who published a number of well-received horror / fantasy novels during the 80s. None of these novels were published in the US, so finding them can be a bit complicated. 

A Google search for information about his writing was not overly informative, but King apparently also published nonfiction works on Scandinavian history, as well as ‘The Way of the Runes’, a 2002 guide to using rune magic for improving life and health.

[note: I suggest NOT reading the Kirkus Reviews entry for 'Starkadder', as it contains spoilers.]

This is the first volume in the so-called ‘Starkadder’ trilogy, the other volumes being ‘Vargr-Moon’ (1986) and ‘Death-Blinder’ (1988).

The novel builds on King’s knowledge and familiarity with Scandinavian myths and legends; it is based on Starkad, a hero from Norse mythology and the subject of a number of Skaldic poems. King also works in aspects of the 13th century Ynglinga Saga, which deals with the Norse gods and their involvement in human affairs. 

‘Starkadder’ is set in medieval Sweden, under the mythological Ynglinga dynasty. The dynasty’s current monarch, King Oli, is a psychopath, albeit one whose declining health does not prevent him from ruthlessly torturing to death any member of his court suspected of conspiring to overthrow the throne. 

Starkadder, one of Oli’s soldiers, is a disruptive force in the fate of both gods and men. Cursed by Thor to not only live three hundred years, but to commit an act of deepest treachery in each century, Starkadder’s elderly appearance belies the fact that he is invincible in combat, and the most feared killer in all of the North. As the novel opens, a world-weary Starkadder longs for death, which will only be awarded to him when he commits his final act of treachery. 

King Oli’s greatest fear is that Starkadder’s treachery will involve removing Oli from the throne. To this end, Oli maneuvers to have Starkadder dispatched by a mercenary named Angantyr, who wields a magical dwarven blade called Tyrfing.

 

Little does Oli know that the confrontation between Starkadder and Angantyr will set into motion events that will determine the ultimate fate of the Norse peoples, in an era in which the missionaries from the South are jeopardizing the existence of the Old Gods by spreading the doctrine of the White Christ. Will the machinations of mortal men, as well as the machinations of Odin, the Norns, and the malevolent Dvalin, King of the Dwarves, bring about the act of treachery that will set Starkadder free from his curse ? 

I found ‘Starkadder’ to be a solid four-star fantasy novel, one with a strong underpinning in historical reality. Author King’s descriptive passages are very successful in providing the reader with a sense of the landscapes and societies of medieval Scandinavia, and the influence held by the Norse pantheon upon the populace. The interaction of the supernatural with the natural is worked into the narrative in an understated, but effective manner and the novel’s denouement stays true to the plot rather than employing contrivance.

The verdict ? If you like your medieval fantasy novels to be suffused with a note of gritty reality, then ‘Starkadder’ will satisfy. While paperback and hardbound copies of the book can be rather pricey, they are worth acquiring, as - presumably - are the other two volumes in the series.

I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday by Wizzard

I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday

Wizzard, 1973

In 1973, 'Wizzard', a group formed by former 'Move' member Roy Wood, released their new album, Wizzard Brew, as well as a single titled 'I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday'. While the band split up in 1975, the song remains a perennial Christmas favorite in the UK. I had never before heard it until this Christmas 2020, but now that I have, it will be a playlist fave.

Enjoy the goodness from 1973 !

When the snowman brings the snow

Well he just might like to know

He's put a great big smile on somebody's face

If you jump into your bed

Quickly cover up your head

Don't you lock the doors

You know that sweet Santa Claus in on the way

Well I wish it could be Christmas every day

When the kids start singing and the band begins to play

Oh, I wish it could be Christmas every day

Let the bells ring out for Christmas

When we're skating in the park

If the storm cloud makes it dark

Then your rosy cheek's going to light my merry way

Now the frosticles appear

And they've frozen up my beard

So we'll lie by the fire

Till the sleet simply knocks 'em all away

Well I wish it could be Christmas every day

When the kids start singing and the band begins to play

Oh, I wish it could be Christmas every day

Let the bells ring out for Christmas

When the snowman brings the snow

Well he just might like to know

He's put a great big smile on somebody's face

So if Santa brings that sleigh

All along the Milky Way

I'll sign my name on the roof top in the snow

Then he may decide to stay

Well I wish it could be Christmas every day

When the kids start singing and the band begins to play

Oh, I wish it could be Christmas every day

Let the bells ring out for Christmas

Well I wish it could be Christmas every day

When the kids start singing and the band begins to play

Oh, I wish it could be Christmas every day

Let the bells ring out for Christmas

Why don't you give your love for Christmas?

When the snowman brings the snow

When the snowman brings the snow

Pink Floyd Football Club

Pink Floyd Football Club
January 1972

An interesting article (in Italian) about the Pink Floyd Football Club (PFFC), also known as the 'First Eleven', made up of the band, colleagues, and wives (who formed the cheerleading section). During the early 1970s football was a major passion of the band, and they routinely played matches against other amateur clubs, including a team of 'Marxists' from northern London whom the PFFC defeated, 4 - 0. 

According to Nick Mason's book Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd, the below photo was taken in January 1972 on the occasion of a match against a band called the 'Family'.

Back row, left to right: Nick Mason, Roger Waters, Peter Watts (roadie and father of actress Naomi Watts), 'Liverpool Bobby' (roadie) Andrew Max (lighting technician), David Gilmour, Storm Thorgerson (album cover artist, co-founder of the Hipgnosis studio), Rick Wright. Front row, left to right: Warwick McCredie (tour manager), Puddie Watts (mother of actress Naomi Watts), Jenny McCredie, Ginger Gilmour, Gai Powell (wife of Hipgnosis co-founder Aubrey Powell), Chris Adamson (road manager), Judy Waters, Tony Howard (agent)

The Monsters: April 1934 and June 1965

The Monsters
April, 1934 and June, 1965

James Bama was a gifted artist who, from 1964 to 1971, produced covers for 62 of the Doc Savage paperbacks from Bantam Books.

It's interesting to see Walter Baumhofer's cover art for the original April, 1934 issue of Doc Savage magazine, featuring the novel 'The Monsters', and how Bama reworked it for the Bantam paperback edition published in June 1965.

Book Review: The Trudeau Papers

Book Review: 'The Trudeau Papers' by Ian Adams

5 / 5 Stars

'The Trudeau Papers' (108 pp.) was published in hardcover by McClellan and Stewart, Ltd., Toronto, in 1971. As far as I can tell, no paperback edition ever was released.

Canada's Liberal Elite always has viewed the United States with suspicion and skepticism, but it was during the 1960s that this suspicion blossomed into outright detestation, aided in part by the Vietnam War. The attitude of the Liberal Elite is best summed up in the lyrics to the Guess Who song American Woman, from 1970:

I don't need your war machines

I don't need your ghetto scenes

Colored lights can hypnotize

Sparkle someone else's eyes

Now woman, get away from me

American woman, mama let me be

'The Trudeau Papers' is a prime example of the Canadian Left's paranoia toward the U.S. Its author, Ian Adams (b. 1937) has written a number of Cold War-era thriller novels, some of which posit collusion and conspiracy between the Canadian government and the CIA.

'Trudeau' is framed as the first-person narrative of a Canadian man named Alan Jarvis. The novel eschews formal chapters in favor of being divided into segments, ranging from a half page to several pages in length, that serve as commentaries and diary entries. These constitute the eponymous 'papers' that Jarvis intends to bequeath to the Canadian public. 

'Trudeau' is set in late 1975 or early 1976. In its opening segments, Soviet and American ICBMs armed with H-bombs have accidentally detonated over Canada (the circumstances under which this happens are more than a little contrived, and the novel's major weak point). Edmonton, and a sizeable tract of Sasketchewan, are turned into cinders, and over a million people die from the explosions or the resultant fallout.

Under the pretext of helping their stricken neighbors to the North, the U.S. Canadian Military Assistance Program (CANMAP) sends large numbers of troops into Canada, seizing control of major metropolitan areas. Canada's resource-based industries are obliged to operate under American supervision, with the revenue diverted south of the border instead of to the desperate citizens of Canada. 

As atrocities mount, and what is left of Canadian sovereignty evaporates, it is up to bands of resistance fighters to conduct guerilla warfare to liberate Canada from its oppression at the hands of the Yankee Capitalists. As Alan Jarvis soon discovers, the fighting will be costly and without mercy, and the outnumbered and ill-equipped freedom fighters will find themselves the weaker party in many engagements.

But as Jarvis is to learn, in the struggle for liberation, personal sacrifices on the part of the members of the Resistance cannot always be avoided...........

'The Trudeau Papers' is a very readable novel, and a successful manifestation of 'Yankee-phobia' (upon its publication, the book apparently caused a sensation in Canadian circles). 

Author Adams uses a clipped, declarative prose style that works well in evoking the horrors of nuclear devastation, and the brutality (which deliberately evokes the American 'pacification' operations conducted during the Vietnam War) visited upon hapless Canucks by the U.S. military. The book is relentlessly bleak in its outlook, and a 'happy' ending is by no means assured.

The verdict ? 'The Trudeau Papers' is a polemic, of course, but an engrossing one. While those few copies still available can have steep asking prices, if you see this book for sale for a reasonable price, it's worth picking up. 

Richard Corben R.I.P.

Richard Corben R.I.P.

October 1, 1940 – December 2, 2020

Richard Corben passed away on December 2 at age 80 following heart surgery. 

I've been fortunate enough over the years to acquire compilations and graphic novels of his underground and aboveground works (pictured below). Sadly, many of these volumes now are long out of print and existing copies have exorbitant asking prices. But it's nice to have them to complement my copies of Fantagor, Heavy Metal, and Creepy Presents: Richard Corben.

If you are a Baby Boomer, then Corben's work was part of the sci-fi pop culture that came to define that era. For me, Corben's artistic talent came into focus with the advent of Heavy Metal magazine and his 'New Tales of the Arabian Nights' comic serialized in the magazine during 1978 - 1979. 

Thereafter, I followed his works all the way through his more recent comics for Dark Horse such as Aliens: Alchemy, Ragemoor, Rat God, and Shadows on the Grave. 

His work always was distinctive and memorable, particularly his coloring schemes, which were achieved with painstaking care and prefigured the effects that would become commonplace with the arrival of Photoshop and digital art composition.

Hopefully, within the next year or so we will see his non-Warren comics and graphic art reissued in trade paperbacks and hardcover volumes designed to be read by a new generation of sci-fi fans. 

Robert E. Howard's Solomon Kane omnibus

‘Robert E. Howard’s Solomon Kane’ omnibus

Marvel Comics, January 2020

Christmas-time is approaching, that time of the year when splurging on a high-end book is a bit more likely. So it is that I'm taking a look at a comics omnibus that will set you back about $75, more or less. 

‘Robert E. Howard’s Solomon Kane’ omnibus (624 pp., Marvel Comics, January 2020) compiles all of the stories featuring this character that were published by Marvel, both in its black-and-white comic magazines and in its four-color comic books. 

The omnibus leads off with ‘Skulls in the Stars’, from Monsters Unleashed issue No. 1, August 1973, and ends with the two-part ‘Death’s Dark Riders’ from issues 219 and 220 of The Savage Sword of Conan (March-April 1994).

Like the other Marvel omnibuses, this one is well-produced on glossy paper stock with crisp reproductions of both the black-and-white and color artwork. I obtained a variant cover edition that apparently is distributed through comic book shops; my vendor was Westfield Comics of Madison, WI. They shipped the book in a well-padded box, and it arrived without any damage.

Prior to this omnibus, you could get the black-and-white Solomon Kane stories via the 2009 Dark Horse compilation The Saga of Solomon Kane. Unfortunately, this trade paperback is long out of print, and copies in reasonably good condition have asking prices ($50 for a Very Good copy) well over its original $19.95 cost. So, in some ways, you’re better off spending the extra money to get the Marvel omnibus.

Of the comics collected in ‘Robert E. Howard’s Solomon Kane’ omnibus, those first appearing in the black-and-white magazines (Monsters Unleashed, Kull and the Barbarians, The Savage Sword of Conan) during the early and mid- 1970s are clearly the best. 

Ralph Reese’s fine penmanship on the inaugural tale, ‘Skulls in the Stars’, is amazing, and a reminder of how dedicated those old-school artists were to their craft even though it was destined to be poorly printed on mediocre-grade paper. 

With artists like Alan Weiss, David Wenzel, Mike Zeck, and Howard Chaykin also contributing their talents, the early years of the Solomon Kane franchise well stand the test of time. The writing, handled by Marvel stalwarts like Roy Thomas, Don Glut, and Doug Moench, suffers at times from having to compress the narrative into a small set of pages, leaving many panels overloaded with text. But that’s how it was back in the 70s, when any use of the nowadays common technique of ‘decompression’ would have provoked stern words from the editorial staff.

The six-issue limited series color comic book that Marvel produced in 1985-1986, ‘The Sword of Solomon Kane’, is competent enough, but in my opinion doesn’t approach the level of excellence displayed in the early, black-and-white content.

But there's no getting over the fact that the Solomon Kane stories that appeared in The Savage Sword of Conan during the early 1990s, when the magazine was in decline and Marvel assigned its less talented artists to illustrate it, are underwhelming.

The back pages of the omnibus provide some of the one-page and two-page articles about Howard and his Solomon Kane stories that were featured in the black-and-white books, as well as in Marvel's color comics. These are useful starting points for anyone who is unfamiliar with the Kane mythos. Also in the back section of the omnibus are pin-up pages, and some examples of original artwork pages. 

Summing up, the rather mediocre nature of the material from the 80s and early 90s means I can’t declare this book a must-have. However, if you are a fan of Marvel’s old black-and-white magazines, the heroes of the Robert E. Howard canon, or simply someone who likes the skilled work of the 1970s era of comic book artists, then investing in the ‘Robert E. Howard’s Solomon Kane’ omnibus may be worth your while.  

Book Review: A Rumor of Angels

Book Review: 'A Rumor of Angels' by M. Bradley Kellogg 

2 / 5 Stars

'A Rumor of Angels' (277 pp.) was published by Signet in June, 1983. The cover art is by Keith Eugene Johnson. This was the first published novel for Marjorie Bradley Kellogg, who went on to write a number of sci-fi and fantasy novels during the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s.

The novel is set in 2027, 30 years after Earth has opened an interdimensional portal to a sister planet, called Arkoi. Arkoi is everything Earth is not: underpopulated, pastoral, unpolluted, and inhabited by a race of pacifistic humanoids known as the Koi.

The Terrans have exploited the passivity of the Koi to begin colonization, through the establishment of the noisome city of Menissa. However, expansion into or over the enormous mountain range that borders Menissa has been halted by a mysterious phenomenon: aircraft fail to operate, and those Terrans who try to penetrate the mountains on foot either vanish, or return in a fugue state so severe they must be institutionalized.

Political activist Jude Rowe is serving a lengthy sentence in a Terran maximum security prison for trespassing in a government office, when she is offered a deal: in exchange for her freedom, she is to travel to Arkoi and join an expedition to traverse the mountain range and discover who - or what - lies within the interior of the planet. The assignment is perilous: there is a good chance that she will vanish, never to be seen again...........her bones left lying on a un-named mountainside. 

Making the best of a bad situation, Jude takes the deal, and finds herself reliant on a self-serving Terran intelligence agent, and an embittered alien named Ra'an, for her survival. Will Jude succeed where others have failed ? And if she does succeed, will what she learns about the Koi force her to take sides in a conflict to determine the fate of Arkoi ? 

Although 'A Rumor of Angels' takes its time getting underway, the initial chapters are reasonably engaging. However, after the Big Revelation is disclosed - ninety pages into the book - the narrative starts to lose focus, morphing into a human - alien romance story belabored with seemingly interminable passages of psychodrama. 

The world of the Koi is presented in so idyllic a manner as to veer into the saccharine (for example, when we first are introduced to the Koi character 'Elgri', he strides out of the warm, fragrant woodland accompanied by a retinue of chirping and gamboling forest creatures, like Bambi from the 1942 Walt Disney movie). 

I finished 'Rumor' thinking that its major sub-plot, in which a team of human colonists and Koi rebels organize a clandestine resistance against the rapacious Terran authority, was the more rewarding part of the novel. This sub-plot lends some much-needed momentum and suspense to the closing chapters, but unfortunately, in these same closing chapters it has to compete with the climax of a particularly overwrought melodrama.

Summing up, 'A Rumor of Angels' likely will only appeal to those who prefer a character-driven narrative that explores the necessary journey through various psychological crises that must be made to arrive at an affirmation of the self, and one's position in society. If your tastes run to more brutish and primitive sci-fi narratives, then it's best you stay away from 'Rumor'. 

Ben Bova R.I.P.

R.I.P. Ben Bova

November 8, 1932 - November 29, 2020

Ben Bova passed away on November 29 at the age of 88. In addition to authoring a large number of sci-fi short stories and novels, and nonfiction articles on a variety of scientific topics, he was an influential editor for Analog and Omni magazines.

While I can't say I have an extensive experience in reading and reviewing Bova's novels, I found his Young Adult novel City of Darkness, published in 1976, to be a memorable entry in the the science fiction of the 1970s.

The Fantasy Book by Franz Rottensteiner

The Fantasy Book
by Franz Rottensteiner

'The Fantasy Book' (160 pp.) was published in 1978 by Thames and Hudson, UK.

Franz Rottensteiner (b. 1942) is an Austrian critic, editor, and essayist on topics of 'fantastic' literature, including science fiction and fantasy. 'The Fantasy Book' is a companion volume to Rottensteiner's 1975 book The Science Fiction Book: An Illustrated History and follows the same format of interspersing text with black-and-white, two-color, and full-color graphics.

'The Fantasy Book' opens with an Introduction in which the author contemplates various definitions (made by European academics and writers) about what constitutes 'fantasy' literature. The book then provides, in chronological order, an overview of the topic from its beginnings in the Gothic era of the 18th century, on up to the late 1970s. 

In Rottensteiner's view, fantasy not only includes the Tolkein-esque stories nowadays most associated with the genre, but also horror literature, as well as experimental or avant-garde literature typified by writers such as James Branch Cabell.

While in his Introduction Rottensteiner states that he does not intend the book to represent an academic or scholarly analysis of fantasy literature, in many ways the book is indeed an analysis of 'literary' fantasy, and possesses a correspondingly pedantic tone. 

Much attention is given to books (Melmoth the Wanderer, Dracula, Alice in Wonderland, Out of the Silent Planet, etc.), that, by modern standards, fit comfortably into the category of mainstream or 'classical' literature.  

There are some sections that deal with fantasy as a component of pop culture, such as a discourse on sword-and-sorcery, and the influence on the genre exerted by pulp magazines such as Weird Tales and Unknown. These sections will be more recognizable, and more rewarding to modern-day readers, that the other content in 'The Fantasy Book'. 

Rottensteiner's devotion to works issued during the 19th and 20th centuries by rather obscure authors from Eastern Europe likely will have limited appeal for 21st century readers. As well, in hindsight the works from the 'Magic Realists' of Mexico and South America that are showcased in 'The Fantasy Book' never achieved much traction in the popular culture of the Anglophone countries (where fantasy now is a formidable commercial juggernaut), and with the passage of time, such books nowadays only are accessed by the fast-dwindling 'highbrow' readership. 

In fairness to Rottenstein, at the time he wrote 'The Fantasy Book', likely he was not aware of the gradually-increasing profile of the fantasy genre in the U.S. and what it portended. For example, 1978 saw the first appearance in mass-market paperback of Stephen R. Donaldson's Lord Foul's Bane, which demonstrated that Tolkein-esque 'epic' fantasy could be commercially successful in a way that Lin Carter's Ballantine Adult Fantasy series had not. 

Also garnering increasing attention at that time were the fantasy novels of Katherine Kurtz, Anne McCaffrey, Tanith Lee, Lynn Abbey, and Carolyn Janice Cherryh, all of whom were drawing a readership much wider than that engaged by the sword-and-sorcery and science fiction genres. 

The implications of the success of the Donaldson novel were not readily apparent in 1978, but within the next two years, it became clear that the Lord Foul franchise was the catalyst for the expansion of the genre throughout the 1980s. In so doing, it redefined the concept of the fantasy novel into the massive, series-based tomes that nowadays weigh down bookstore shelving.  

As a critic and reviewer, Rottenstein is quite opinionated, and his treatment of some of the leading Anglophone figures in the genre is less than effusive. For example, on Tolkein and The Lord of the Rings, Rottensteiner states:

.......though its present reputation may well be temporary, The Lord of the Rings will eventually be included in the long list of works of fantastic literature which will always be cherished by some connoisseurs; not, perhaps, a major work, but never to be entirely forgotten  - a book like J. B. Cabell's Jurgen, Eddison's The Worm Ouroboros, or Maturin's Melmoth the Wanderer.

 

Summing up, while necessarily dated in its treatment of the subject, and overly preoccupied with works that nowadays are considered to be marginal in terms of their fantasy affiliation, 'The Fantasy Book' will be a helpful resource for those interested in the wider landscape of the genre as it stood in the late 1970s.