Book Review: The Sword of Morning Star

Book Review: 'The Sword of Morning Star' by Richard Meade

5 / 5 Stars

In the aftermath of the publication of 'Conan the Adventurer' by Lancer Books in 1966, the market for sword-and-sorcery paperbacks burgeoned, and soon all manner of titles were competing for space on the racks. 

Wishing to take advantage of this sales phenomenon, Signet Books released two novels by Richard Meade: 'The Sword of Morning Star' and 'Exile's Quest', these constituting the so-called 'Gray Lands' series. 

'Richard Meade' was one of several pseudonyms used by the North Carolina-born writer Ben Haas (1926 - 1977). According to a post at Lynn Munroe Books, during the 60s and 70s Haas was a prolific author of paperbacks in a variety of genres, including westerns, where he wrote 20 of the 23 novels in the 'Fargo' series. 

Haas's posthumous autobiography, titled 'A Hack's Notebook', is available at amazon.

'The Sword of Morning Star' (144 pp., January, 1969) features cover art by Jeff Jones.

The novel is set in the mythical medieval Kingdom of Boorn, where Helmut, the illegitimate twelve year-old son of the recently deceased King Sigrieth, becomes a pawn in a scheme by the odious Lord Regent Albrecht to usurp the throne. A series of treacheries instigated by Albrecht sees our hero bereft of his right hand, and left to fend for himself in the vast swamplands.

Fortunately for Helmut he is rescued by the wizard Sandivar, a staunch supporter of the late Sigrieth and a firm opponent of Albrecht. While Helmut yearns for revenge on the Lord Regent, he realizes there are limitations to mounting an insurgency when one is a twelve year-old boy. Accordingly, Sandivar proposes to use thaumaturgical means to advance Helmut to manhood, after which Helmut will possess sufficient physical and mental prowess to campaign against Albrecht.

As the 'Sword' unfolds, we follow Helmut, now transformed into a Conan-style berserker, and Sandivar as they confront Albrecht, his confederate the sorceress Kierena, and their formidable allies: legions of wolves, werewolves, and barbarians.............

I debated internally as to whether 'The Sword of Morning Star' was deserving of a four- or five- star rating, and eventually settled on a five-star rating. 

When taken for what it is, and what is what designed to be: a concise sword and sorcery novel intended to leverage the marketing climate of the late 1960s, 'Sword' does everything right. 

In the span of only 144 pages there is just enough space to introduce characters, a plot, and then a narrative that ties these together in as efficient a manner as possible. This is no minor thing to do, and author Meade / Hass does it well, particularly in the final chapters of the novel, featuring an exciting depiction of a climactic battle scene that may, or may not, go the way the reader is hoping. 

Had Meade been given the page count of contemporary fantasy novels, such as Scott Lynch's 2007 tome The Lies of Locke Lamora (736 pages), he undoubtedly could have provided a more expansive version of 'Sword' and all accompanying benefits such a lengthier format can provide. As it stands, however, Meade's work is one of the better sword and sorcery novels of the late 60s, and worth picking up.

[ For a different, but still approving, take on 'The Sword of Morning Star', readers are directed to this review at the M. Porcius blog. ]

Idi Amin article 1979

'The Sex Crimes of Idi Amin'
High Society magazine, November 1979

A brilliantly disturbing - or disturbingly brilliant - illustration for an article titled 'The Sex Crimes of Idi Amin' from the November, 1979 issue of High Society, a porno magazine that was sleazier than Penthouse, but still several rungs above Screw.

The artist is, unfortunately, uncredited. The article, by Robin Keats, is rewardingly lurid (one of Amin's mistresses was a dancer with something called the 'Revolutionary Suicide Mechanized Unit'). 

(the 'Barbara Streisand Nude' pictures are nothing more than grainy stills from the 1970 film The Owl and the Pussycat.......believe me when I say you're better off not seeing them...........)

That's how they did it, back at the end of the seventies......

Book Review: Dangerous Visions and New Worlds

Book Review: 'Dangerous Visions and New Worlds: Radical Science Fiction, 1950-1985'

edited by Andrew Nette and Iain McIntyre

3 / 5 Stars

Dangerous Visions and New Worlds: Radical Science Fiction, 1950-1985 (224 pp.) was published by PM Press in November, 2021. Both hardcover and trade paperback editions are available from PM, a firm devoted to publishing Marxist agitprop (?!)

Andrew Nette is the author of the 'Pulp Curry' blog. He and Iain McIntyre previously have teamed up for other PM Press books about mass-market paperbacks and literature: Girl Gangs, Biker Boys, and Real Cool Cats: Pulp Fiction and Youth Culture, 1950 to 1980 (2017) and Sticking It to the Man: Revolution and Counterculture in Pulp and Popular Fiction, 1950 to 1980 (2019).

As with the other volumes in the series, Dangerous Visions is a nicely produced, quality trade paperback with high-resolution scans and photographs of over a hundred paperback books. These accompany twenty essays on ‘progressive’ science fiction published during the interval from 1950 to 1985.

The essays cover a variety of topics, including the works of the black, female writer Octavia Butler; the pornographic sci-fi and fantasy novels issued by the 1960s smut publisher Essex House; nuclear war as viewed by sci-fi writers during the 1960s and 1970s; psychological themes in the works of Philip K. Dick; and the antihero narrative expressed in Roger Zelazny’s 1969 novel ‘Damnation Alley’.

While co-authors Nette and McIntyre contribute the majority of the essays, there are contributions from members of Academia, fiction writers, and critics of pop literature and pop culture.

Needless to say, with the participation of affiliates of Academia, identity and grievance politics and sententious remarks (decrying all manner of -isms) color almost every paragraph of some of the contributions to Dangerous Visions.

One also must gird for a steady diet of pretentious gobbledygook; for example, I witnessed the phrases ‘phallocentric weapons culture’, ‘intersectional feminist text’, ‘protoplasmic porridge’, ‘intertextual resonances’, and ‘puritanical rectitude’. After reading these phrases, I felt as if I had automatically qualified for an M.A. in Modern and Contemporary Literature, without having to accrue $125,000 in student loan debt.

And within the pages of Dangerous Visions I encountered, for the first time in my life, the verbs ‘reterritorialize’ and 'minoritize', gems of jargon so precious and rare that I am forever holding them in reserve for such time as I submit a manuscript to the PMLA……

It’s also apparent that many of the essays in ‘Dangerous Visions’ strain mightily to imbue the profiled novels with a sociopolitical profundity that such novels may not really deserve. For example, in an essay on Ira Levin’s 1972 novel ‘The Stepford Wives', the essay's author declares:

….it is actually a very sophisticated story, containing perceptive observations about the backlash against second-wave feminism, patriarchal control of women’s bodies, and the way in which intelligent women can be gaslit and psychological destroyed by the men around them.

And here I thought ‘Stepford’ was an entertaining satire of suburbia and its fixation with consumerism……….!

These criticisms aside, there are some informative and well-written essays in Dangerous Visions, such as Erica L. Satifka’s piece on Philip K. Dick, Mike Stax’s piece on Mick Farren,  Molly Grattan's piece on apocalyptic novels for the Young Adult readership, and Michael Gonzalez’s piece on Octavia Butler.

Who will want to get a copy of Dangerous Visions ? Well, I expect Joachim Boaz and his followers at the 'Science Fiction and Suspect Ruminations' blog will find it engaging (Boaz actually was approached by Nette to contribute the book, but was too pressed with other commitments to take him up on the offer).

I am more ambivalent about recommending it to Justin Marriott's 'Paperback Fanatics' and allied persons. I can't see the text pieces in Dangerous Visions holding much appeal for people outside Academia. 

However, the scans and photos of the paperbacks are certainly going to aid said Fanatics in adding to their collections (with the ever-mindful caveat that many of these paperbacks now have exorbitant asking prices), so in that regard, I am comfortable with giving Dangerous Visions a 3 out of 5 Star score.   

Paperbacks that never were by Todd Alcott

Vintage Paperbacks That Never Were

by Todd Alcott

This is clever......over at his Etsy page, the artist Todd Alcott is selling Giclee prints of facsimiles of vintage paperbacks that are based on popular rock songs.

Many of these titles are laugh-out loud funny in the way they meld the song with the presentation. Alcott has a real genius for modelling his facsimiles with an impressive degree of fidelity to all the smudges, and discolorations, and tears, and creases that are familiar to any Paperback Fanatic. Well worth investigating !

R.I.P. Ron Goulart, 1933- 2022

R.I.P. Ron Goulart

January 13, 1933 - January 14, 2022

Ron Goulart passed away at age 89 on January 14th.

He was one of those writers who 'wrote for a living', and thus was a regular presence on the sci-fi shelves of bookstores from the 1960s through the 1990s (and even, on a less frequent basis, the 2000s). Not only was he a prolific writer of original fiction, but he also was a major contributor to franchises like 'The Avenger', 'Battlestar Galactica', 'Vampirella', 'The Phantom', and 'Tekwar', among others. Goulart also represented via his novelizations of sci-fi films ('The Isle of Dr. Moreau', 'Capricorn One').

I never found those few Goulart original novels that I tried to read to be that rewarding. They were humor pieces, reliant on a kind of Borscht Belt, New York City, Jewish sensibility that came across as too corny to be effective.

To me, where Goulart was most successful was in his nonfiction works, as these were infused with an affection and respect for the material that was somewhat rare for analysis of pop culture during the early 70s. 

'Cheap Thrills', his 1972 history of the pulp magazines, remains one of the better books on the subject.

Goulart's 1986 book 'The Great Comic Book Artists' broke new ground in terms of showcasing comic books and their artists. This was a time when so doing was something of a rarity; the advent of 'Geek Culture', where thousands of people attend presentations by comic book artists at conventions, was only just starting to gather momentum.

In my opinion, one of Goulart's greatest contributions to the sci-fi scene of the era covered by this blog (i.e., 1968 - 1988) was to pave the way for the overwhelming success of the comic sci-fi works of authors like Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams. If you like the works of those authors, then you may want to search out Goulart's titles......... 

Book Review: The Swords of Corum

Book Review: 'The Swords of Corum' by Michael Moorcock

4 / 5 Stars

This 1987 omnibus edition published by Grafton (509 pp.) contains the three novels / novelettes The Knight of the Swords (1971), The Queen of the Swords (1971), and The King of the Swords (1972). The striking cover illustration is by Mark Salwowski. 

[ These three volumes in the ‘Corum’ franchise are followed by the trilogy of The Bull and the Spear (1973), The Oak and the Ram (1973), and The Sword and the Stallion (1974). All six Corum novels fall within the larger framework of Moorcock’s ‘Eternal Champion’ saga. ]

In The Knight of the Swords we are introduced to Corum, an Elric-like figure who is a member of the dwindling race of lotus-eaters, equivalent to the Elves of mythology, known as the Vadhagh. Having sequestered themselves from the world for centuries in order to navel-gaze, the Vadhagh are ill-prepared to respond when targeted for extinction by a race of barbarians known as the Mabden.

Corum alone survives the confrontation with the Mabden, and vows to avenge himself upon them, and their leader, the brutish psychopath Glandyth-a-Krae. However, Corum’s path to revenge must first evade the machinations of Arioch, the eponymous Knight of Swords……

Arioch, Lord of Chaos, sworn opponent of the Lords of Law, and the master of the Mabden.

In The Queen of the Swords Corum finds himself destined to confront Xiombarg, an entity even more powerful than Arioch. However, aid comes to Corum in the form of the inestimable Jerry Cornelius, disguised here as ‘Jhary-a-Conel’. Corum and Jhary must brave all manner of dangers as they seek aid against the onslaught of the armies of the Mabden…….and their sorcerous allies.

In The King of the Swords the action moves to the realm of Chaos and the mightiest of its potentates, the ‘King’ of the title: Mabelode. But all is not lost for Corum, for two manifestations of the Eternal Champion shall fight alongside him: Elric of Melnibone, and Erekose. Can the three warriors turn the tide against the forces of Chaos and restore hope to the multiverse ?

Although it’s over 500 pages long, the Swords trilogy is a quick and engaging read, and a reminder that Moorcock in his prime certainly had the talent necessary to write a large number of novels and short stories every year, while at the same time conducting editorial duties for periodicals (such as New Worlds).

With Swords, Moorcock demonstrates the ability to world-build without the need for pages and pages of exposition, and to populate his novels with interesting characters without having to indulge in protracted explorations of their psychological and emotional states. 

Dialogue is kept succinct, and the narrative constantly propelled by one plot development after another; sometimes these are accompanied by episodes of violence that approach splatterpunk. To incorporate such grue was something of a provocation in fantasy tales written during the early 70s. 

The only reason I couldn’t give Swords a five-star rating was that the third novel in the trilogy shows signs of fatigue in terms of plotting, although it does redeem itself to a large degree with the piling-on of ‘cosmic’ revelations in its closing chapters. 

Summing up, Swords shows it’s possible to write a memorable fantasy / sword-and-sorcery trilogy without exceeding 200 pages per novel. Well worth having in your collection ! 

Bud Plant's Incredible Catalog

Bud Plant's Incredible Catalog

The catalog from Bud Plant arrived recently, and I thought I am overdue to promote it here at the PorPor Books Blog. 

Bud Plant began his career in 1968 when he partnered with five friends to establish a San Jose, California comic book store called 'Seven Sons Comic Shop'. In the 1980s Plant became the major distributor of comics along the west coast, and began selling comics and books and related materials through his own mail-order company. 

In the days before the internet, if you were a fan of comics and associated media, Bud Plant was one of the few places where you could find such stuff, and receiving the Bud Plant's Incredible Catalog always was cause for due consideration. I began patronizing the Incredible Catalog back in the late 1980s / early 1990s, and I've stayed with it since.

The prices in the Incredible Catalog are competitive with those of amazon, particularly nowadays when more and more bookjackers, dropshippers, and speculators are allowed to sell at amazon despite having approval ratings below the recommended minimum of 93%. 

And, depending on your interests, there are some good bargains to be had in the Incredible Catalog. Plus, the items you purchase from Bud Plant are well-packaged, and much less likely to arrive with bent, folded, or mutilated covers and pages, which can be a major problem with amazon (if an item is 'hurt', the Incredible Catalog explicitly says so).

The Bud Plant website is at https://www.budsartbooks.com . 

Michael Fishel: Creations

Michael Fishel
Creations

Big Vision Publishing, 2015

Any discussion of the practitioners of what is termed 'visionary', 'hippie', or 'new age' art during the 70s and 80s (and unto today) necessarily must include Michael Fishel.

Fishel (b. 1950) grew up in Indiana, Florida, and Texas. Upon his discharge from the military in 1971, he briefly attended art college in Indianapolis but became disillusioned by the curriculum and decided to set up his own studio, where he spent 10 – 12 hours a day honing his skills. 

In 1975, Fishel entered the realm of commercial art when his work came to the attention of UK publisher Peter Ledeboer, of Big O poster fame. Fishel joined the ranks of the company’s artists, who included such well-known personalities as Roger Dean, Mati Klarwein, Virgil Finlay, and Jim Burns. 

A commission for illustrations for publisher TSR (‘Dungeons and Dragons’) followed in 1982. During the 80s and thereafter, Fishel’s works were used as covers for books, well as for the jigsaw puzzle and poster markets. 

At present, posters and puzzles of Fishel's paintings (including works not featured in 'Creations') be obtained through his website. 

'Michael Fishel: Creations’ (72 pp) was published in 2015 by Big Vision Publishing, a firm Fishel created to showcase visionary artwork. 

'Creations' provides a chronological overview of Fishel’s art, accompanied by essays describing his approach to the themes expressed in his works. He also offers anecdotes about entering, and thriving, in the commercial art world. 

A glance at any of Fishel's works will immediately impart to the viewer the meticulous attention to detail that this artist brings to his compositions. To say that exceptional craftsmanship is on display is superfluous.

Indeed, the nature of Fishel's artwork is such that with dimensions of 11 1/2 x 9 inches, 'Creations' has inherent limitations in its ability to display the art at the level of resolution that its detailed nature demands. In fact, trying to discern everything that is depicted in the double-page reproduction of 'Creator' (the 1977 painting that serves as the cover to 'Creations') can be difficult unless magnifying spectacles are employed.......

I finished 'Creations' thinking that, short of obtaining puzzles (which are 30 x 24 inches) and posters of the depicted artwork, there really is no current form of image reproduction that will allow the viewer to fully take in the totality of Fishel's works. That said, if a publisher like Titan Books, or Taschen, or Fantagraphics, should elect to issue a large-size book of Fishel's paintings, that would be wonderful. 

At present, Fishel's website sells screensavers for a number of his paintings (including his more recent hot rod art) for just $1 each. 

You also can purchase poster-size prints of Fishel's art. Here's a photograph of Autumn Rendevous, a laminated poster sized 36.5 x 24.5 inches, hanging on my wall. I got it from The Blacklight Zone, through Walmart, for $20. 

Summing up, devotees of Visionary Art, Hippie Art, New Age art, or any combination of the above, likely will find 'Creations' worth reading. And anyone contemplating art as a career will want to see what could be done in the era before digital art tools were in use. 

Burton and Cyb: The Conquest of the West

Burton and Cyb

'The Conquest of the West'

by Segura and Ortiz

from Heavy Metal magazine, January 1996 

Another little gem of comedy featuring the galaxy's two most gifted con men. This time, our boys have been hired on as guides to a wagon train crossing hostile territory.............

Why has no English-language compilation of Burton and Cyb stories yet been assembled ? I'd buy it in a minute.....!

Book Review: 'Tracer' by Stuart Jackson

Book Review: 'Tracer' by Stuart Jackson

3 / 5 Stars

‘Tracer’ (301 pp.) was published by Sphere (UK) in 1990, with cover art by Mark Salwowski. Information on Stuart Jackson is scant; according to the Science Fiction Encyclopedia, he was a UK teacher who died in 2006. ‘Tracer’ was his only published novel.

‘Tracer’ is set in February 1990 in a dystopian UK ruled by the fascist British National Democratic Party (BNDP). The BNDP has come into power due to public fear over the spread of AIDS / HIV, and has exploited that fear to suspend civil liberties. The population is subject to a mandatory curfew, checkpoints on major roadways, restrictions on movement into or out of designated geographical zones, and mandatory blood testing for HIV status. Those who test positive are remanded to ‘Special Care Centres’ where they are held in indefinite quarantine.

Those who fail to report to a Centre following a positive blood test are targeted by the ‘tracers’ of the Special Health Authority (SHA), a government agency devoted to finding and detaining infected individuals.

In the opening pages of ‘Tracer’ we are introduced to the protagonist, Nick Gorman, a man in his late thirties who sees his job with the SHA as a distraction from the various personal tragedies that have upended his life. While Nick is eager to earn the bounties that come with tracing and detaining runners, he is at heart a liberal and humanist who is deeply uneasy with the ideology of the BNDP and its persecution of gays, bisexuals, Pakis, black people, and other minorities.

The main plot of ‘Tracer’ gets underway about 16 pages in: Nick is given a hush-hush tasking by Smithson, his supervisor, to locate a homosexual named Jonothan Harris. Gorman conscientiously applies his skills as a Tracer, and soon finds Harris. However, as he tails his quarry, a series of events bring an unwilling Gorman into a swirl of political intrigues……..the kind of intrigues that involve the use of silenced handguns, and corpses floating in the Thames……..

I finished ‘Tracer’ thinking that it would have benefitted from being a good 50 pages shorter in length. The novel’s opening third does a good job of presenting a near-future UK in the grip of fear and loathing over a deadly communicable disease, and Jackson wisely keeps the plot from becoming overly complicated. 

However, too much of the narrative is devoted to lengthy interior monologues in which Nick Gorman muses over the misfortunes of his life, or exhaustively ruminates on the various wrinkles of the conspiracy he has been thrust into. The latter third of the novel is overly reliant on hairs-breadth escapes and well-timed coincidences, culminating in a denouement that wraps things up a bit too neatly for my tastes.

The novel also suffers from a preachy tenor that becomes grating after a while; yes, state-sponsored persecution of those unfortunate to be infected with HIV is immoral, but there is no need to remind the reader of this, accompanied by various bromides and pieties, on a continuous basis………

That said, ‘Tracer’ retains interest by juxtaposing its treatment of a UK determined to use any and all measures to control an infectious disease, with the current situation involving the covid-19 epidemic in the UK and the tactics of the Johnson government. Are the strictures detailed in ‘Tracer’ all that far-fetched or unlikely as we pass into the third year of the epidemic, and the rise of the Omicron Strain ? Here is where ‘Tracer’ offers food for thought, and in this wise, I recommend it as a solid three-star novel.