Book Review: The Giant Book of Fantasy and the Supernatural

Book Review: 'The Giant Book of Fantasy and the Supernatural' edited by Stephen Jones and David Sutton

3 / 5 Stars

‘The Giant Book of Fantasy and the Supernatural’ (593 pp.) was published by Magpie Books (UK) in 1994. Somewhat confusingly, in the UK, in January 1994, Tiger Books released a hardcover edition (with the exact same contents) titled as ‘The Anthology of Fantasy & the Supernatural’. Both volumes are roughly the same size (scan below):

Editors Stephen Jones and David Sutton founded the semiprofessional magazine Fantasy Tales in 1977, which became the UK’s premiere outlet for short fiction in the horror and fantasy genres before it ceased publication in 1991. 

Jones and Sutton then commenced to assemble and publish a steady stream of intimidatingly bulky anthologies in horror and fantasy literature, often using past contributors to Fantasy Tales as well as entries originating from newer writers. 

Nowadays Jones and Sutton continue their editorial enterprises, with the 552-page ‘The Mammoth Book of Folk Horror’ seeing print in 2021.…………

Most of the 39 entrants in 1994’s ‘The Giant Book of Fantasy and the Supernatural’ are exclusive commissions, but a few first saw print in other venues, such as Andrew J. Offutt’s ‘Swords Against Darkness’ anthology from the 1970s.

Fantasy Tales, which sought to emulate the pulp-era U.S. magazine Weird Tales, was illustrated with black-and-white and graytone illustrations by a coterie of skilled artists, and this philosophy ably is carried over into the 24 illustrations featured in ‘The Giant Book of Fantasy and the Supernatural’.  

Needless to say, it took me some time to work my way through the 593 pp. of ‘The Giant Book’. I offer up capsule summaries of the contents:

Child of an Ancient City, by Tad Williams: a novelette about storytelling by the fireside…….under duress.

The Cutty Black Sow, by Thomas F. Monteleone: the supernatural intrudes into suburbia.

Treason in Zagadar, by Adrian Cole: a ‘King Kull’ novelette set in a restive city where duplicities abound. This is one of the best entrants in the anthology. Cole channels the sensibility of Robert E. Howard as well as, if not better than, others who have attempted this task.

Fatal Age, by Nancy Holder: nightmares assail a housewife. The story does a good job of satirizing the Chuck E. Cheese ‘family’ restaurants. 

The Mouths of Light, by Ramsey Campbell: a ‘Ryre’ adventure from 1979. I’m not a fan of most of Campbell’s horror fiction, but this Old School sword-and-sorcery tale is worth reading.

Symbol, by David Schow: the actual title of this story is a grafitto of some kind, that can’t be reproduced using a computer keyboard, so I’ll simply call the story ‘Symbol’. It’s about a scabby band of punks who wander downtown Los Angeles; when one of their number dies, it triggers strange happenings. This story has enough splatterpunk content to make it stand out from all the others in the anthology, which, I reckon, is something in Schow’s favor………….

The Storyteller’s Tale, by Brian Stableford: effective tale about a desert and its hazards.

The Big Game, by Nicholas Royle: a sci-fi tale about the transgressions of the Rich and Deviant.

The Cat in the Wall, by Alex Stewart: when taking up residence in old cottages in the Suffolk countryside, etiquette must be observed. Another of the better stories in the collection.

The Shadow Queen, by Anne Goring: sent to live with unpleasant relatives, Lizzie must rely on supernatural aid to assert her independence.

The Waldteufel Affair, by Brian Mooney: an Old School werewolf tale, with German castles, deep and dark forests, and characters who smoke cigars and sip cognac (when not visiting libraries to research Eldritch phenomena).  

Up Yours, Federico, by Parke Godwin: sometimes, the underdog just might win a contest……

Foul Moon Over Sticklespine Lane, by Andrew Darlington: there’s a new drug out on the streets, and Terry is desperate for a fix…….this could have been a memorable horror story, but the author – a poet – overloads his prose with purple-ness.

The Star Weave of Snorgrud Sunbreath, by Mike Chandler: an aged dragon gets a chance to go out in style.

Pele, by Melanie Tem: a tearjerker about the magic of Hawaii, and the agonies of True Love. Sniff.

Alchemist’s Gold, by William Thomas Webb: a polemic about the evils of organized religion. The messaging is too over-the-top to be effective.

The Horror Writer, by Allen Ashely: what would you be willing to forfeit in exchange for becoming a best-selling author ?

The Healing Game, by Laurence Staig: when the incel Drood finds a strange virus lodged in his computer, it changes his life in ways he ever expected. This story could have been a great melding of cyberpunk and horror tropes, but the ending is too contrived to be effective.

The Love-Gift, by Josepha Sherman: Orphaned and left to fend for herself, budding sorceress Wena confronts the world’s dangers.

A New Lease, by David Riley: snot-nosed Brit kids poke around an abandoned factory.

A Fly on the Wall, by H. J. Cording: one must always take care when handling magic lamps.

At Diamond Lake, by William F. Nolan: Steve’s wife Ellen insists on an extended stay at the family cabin at Diamond Lake; it might not be the best of ideas.

Satan Claws, by Randall D. Larson: black humor treatment of a man who denies the spirit of the season.

The Maiden and the Minstrel, by Dallas Clive Goffin: a humorous three-pager.

Sight Unseen, by Jean-Daniel Breque: although his personality is most unpleasant, Bressault possesses a unique gift. 

The Malspar Sigil, by David Andreas: Pharazeon swindles a merchant out of a valuable gem; there are consequences.

Cracking, by Steve Green: three-page treatment of an urban legend.

Angel Combs, by Steve Rasnic Tem: Annie doesn’t have much money, but she does have a powerful sense of imagination.

The Waters of Knowing, by S. M. Stirling: a novelette with interesting characters, but so badly overwritten that it was a chore to finish.

Just A Visitor at Twilight, by Charles Wagner: the narrator’s Mom resides in a nursing home where mysterious things are happening. Effective, without being sentimental or maudlin.

And Make Me Whole, by Joel Lane: James’s new boyfriend Adrian is a bit odd…… huffing lighter fluid is the mildest of his eccentricities……..

The Last Child of Masferigon, by Darrell Schweitzer and John Gregory Betancourt: a fable about the nature of humanity.

Silent Scream, by Samantha Lee: there’s a reason why Irma Longford drinks too much alcohol.

Store Wars, by Gary Kilworth: a witty tale about conflict within the floors of Maccine’s Department Store.

Daddy, by Earl Godwin: a one-night stand brings with it unforeseen consequences. Creepy and imaginative, and one of the better entries in the anthology.

The Dark Fantastic, by Adam Nichols: fantasy and sci-fi mix…… in a rather confusing tale.

The View, by Michael Marshall Smith: Mark takes a room in a most unusual apartment building. This story’s references to Sainsbury’s, U2, and the Bangles make it very British, and very 90s. But in the end it’s another ‘quiet horror’ tale whose deliberate pacing leads to an underwhelming denouement.

The Salesman and the Traveling Farmer’s Daughter, by C. Bruce Hunter: little girls should stay away from seemingly kindly old men.

And the Spirit that Stands by the Naked Man, by Peter Dennis Pautz: a photographer finds artistic fulfillment in an unlikely place. Overloaded with self-consciously ‘artistic’ prose, this easily is the worst story in the entire anthology.

Summing up, I can’t say that there are enough worthy entries in ‘The Giant Book of Fantasy and the Supernatural’ to justify searching for it. That said, if you happen to come across a reasonably priced copy and you’re a dedicated fan of genre literature of the early 1990s, then you may find it appealing.

Blade Runner: This is the City

Blade Runner: This is the City

from Heavy Metal magazine, June 1982

PorPor Books Blog reader Hugo was interested in the six-page preview for the film Blade Runner that appeared in the June, 1982 issue of Heavy Metal magazine. 

I went down to my basement, and dug through a box, and came up with the issue and scanned the article at 300 dpi / page.......so, here you go, Hugo !

Kris Kool English language edition

'Kris Kool'

by Caza

English language edition

Passenger Press, 2021

In 1970 the French artist Philippe Cazaumayou (b. 1941), known to Heavy Metal magazine readers as the inestimable 'Caza',  published Kris Kool, a graphic novel featuring some imaginative psychedelic artwork that rivalled, if not surpassed, that of Peter Max Finkelstein. 

The book was considered an underground classic, but unfortunately, the print run (by Eric Losfield) was rather small and with the passage of time an eBook edition, available from Caza's website, really was the only way to access Kris Kool.

An English language translation of Kris Kool now is available as a trade paperback. It's sold online by Floating World comics of Couch Street in Portland, Oregon. 

It's not cheap, at $40, but if you are a fan of the artwork of the psychedelic era, a fan of Caza's art, or nostalgic for the pop culture of the late 60s and early 70s, then it's going to be a worthwhile investment.

Critical Mass of Cool

'Critical Mass of Cool'

by Paul Kirchner

from Heavy Metal magazine, November 1984

One of the best comics ever to appear in Heavy Metal magazine is only three pages long, but in its depiction of suburban 'Ascension' perfectly captures the zeitgeist of the early 1980s.......

Thoroughly Ripped with the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers

'Thoroughly Ripped with the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers' 

by Gilbert Shelton and Dave Sheridan

Rip Off Press, 1978

By the end of 1973, as the result of increasing costs for paper, a Supreme Court decision that allowed localities to prohibit retailers from selling 'obscene' media, and a glut of sub-par, make-a-quick-buck publications, underground comix publishing collapsed. Printers went out of business, checks failed to arrive in the mail, and many artists and writers were forced to find other venues for their work. 

A lucky few were able to transition to 'mainstream' media. Among these were the the duo of Gilbert Shelton (b. 1940)  and Dave Sheridan (1943 - 1982), who had achieved success in the comix world with 'The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers' strip.

Starting in 1976, Shelton was able to publish 'Freak Brothers' strips as a regular feature in the pages of the stoner magazine High Times; many of those strips, from December 1976 to September 1978, are compiled in this trade paperback from Rip Off Press.

I was able to find a good-condition copy of 'Thoroughly Ripped' for $10 on the used / vintage shelving of my comic book shop. Copies at amazon have starting prices of $39, with Bookjackers asking for a high of $84.  

My copy of 'Thoroughly Ripped' contains an insert of a board game titled 'It's A Raid !' 

'It's A Raid' is an impressive example of the printer's art, all the way from 1978......when there were no such things as InDesign, Photoshop, or flatbed scanners. 

[ It's not the first time that the unique genius of Gilbert Shelton was on display; in the September 1971 issue of Playboy, Shelton somehow persuaded Hugh Hefner to include a game, this one titled 'Feds n' Heads: The Game of Pot Luck'. ]

The Freak Brothers tales collected in 'Thoroughly Ripped' all may be familiar to the fans of the franchise, but seeing them again always brings a grin to my face, although I do have to admit that sometimes the color separations are not up to par (too many overly dark or muddy panels), even by the standards of graphic novel printing in 1978.

The verdict ? While the comics featured in 'Thoroughly Ripped' are available in the 620-plus page The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers Omnibus (2008) from Knockabout Comics, at 8 1/2 x 11" the dimensions of 'Thoroughly Ripped' are a bit larger, and allow for more detail, as compared to the omnibus. Accordingly, if you're a fan of the Freak Brothers franchise, and if you happen to see 'Thoroughly Ripped' available for a reasonable price, then it's worth picking up. 

A Certain Girl live

'A Certain Girl'
by Warren Zevon
Capitol Theatre, Passaic, New Jersey, October 1, 1982

A great live performance of 'A Certain Girl' by Zevon, at the Capitol Theatre in New Jersey in October 1982.

Back then, there were no dancers gyrating on stage, no backing tracks for the lead vocalist to lip-synch to, and no auto-tune. But Zevon and his band deliver.

'Girl' was a track from Zevon's 1980 album Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School. Still a good album, 40 years later............

1941 by Dave McMacken

 '1941' by Dave McMacken

advertisement in the January 1980 National Lampoon

Dave McMacken (1944 - 2019) was an American artist who had a very successful career in commercial art. He provided album covers for major artists such as the Beach Boys, Frank Zappa, Cat Stevens, Kansas, and AC/DC, and advertisements for films, beverages, and video games. Later in life he ran his own studio, Ratz and Company, in Astoria, Oregon, and did commercial art for local marijuana growers (!).

His advertisement for the 1979 film 1941 also was used for the November, 1979 paperback novelization, authored by Bob Gale, from Ballantine Books.

Sadly, not a lot of McMacken's art is available online. Some of it can be accessed here; a video of him recounting some of his more famous assignments is available here. I for one would welcome a book devoted to his art.

Floating Shelves from Wayfair

Floating Shelves from Wayfair

With the advent of Spring comes the desire for Home Improvement, and while I'm no bonded and licensed contractor, I can do the more minor household fixes and advances. 

For Spring 2022, I wanted to find an affordable way to shelve my paperbacks (most of which are in boxes in my basement) but at the same time, not further clutter my floorspace with traditional standing bookshelves.

I recently visited the website of VICE, that online Mecca for Millenial Hipsters ('The Best Protective Hairstyles for Black Women to have Sex In', 'How to Stock Your Nightstand with Lubes for Every Sexual Occasion', 'What It’s Like to Grow Up With Extremely Strict Parents'). 

There I read an article by Mary Frances Knapp about affordable alternatives to the 'floating' shelves marketed by the celebrated interior design company Vitsœ.

Says Knapp:

Vitsœ (pronounced vit-sue) is an iconic Danish furniture and design company that was founded by the über-chic, often-turtlenecked Niels Vitsœ in 1959. The futuristic brand soared to popularity thanks to its trademark modular bookshelves, which Vitsœ calls “the bookshelf that will outlive you.” (How bold—how Scandi noir!) In the words of one reviewer, “They are the utility equivalent of the kind of wine you drink on special occasions.” They just look so effortlessly cool with every kind of decor, and seemed perfect for my fantasy of covering an entire wall in books. 

Unfortunately, just as I resolved to smash that order button on my Scandi babies, I realized the price tag: Over $100 per shelf [balloon deflates]. So I did a bit of sneaking and sleuthing—and that’s where Wayfair came in, as it always does, with some promising metal look-alikes.

I thus shelled out $172 for the 'Daizee' 8 Piece Floating Shelf package from Wayfair.

My journey to installation is documented below.

First, each shelf comes with four wallboard anchors, four screws, and - coolest of all - inch-long mini-levels.

If you install the shelf on wallboard, its carrying capacity is 15 lb, while if you attach it to studs, it can hold a max of 25 lb.

The wallboard anchors are metal and go into the wallboard without too much trouble.

The mini-levels make it surprisingly easy to adjust the shelves to be nice and level. 

I very much recommend using an 8-inch Phillips head screwdriver, because you're going to be placing screws right next to the interior side of the shelf - there is little room for maneuver.

It took me about 90 minutes total, over two days, leisurely to install all 8 shelves.

The photo below gives an idea of how many paperbacks one shelf can accommodate.

The verdict ? In terms of cost-effectiveness, the floating shelves are more expensive, and less commodious, than traditional bookshelves. Indeed, you can buy a Sauder brand five-shelf standing bookcase for $150, for example. However, the floating shelves don't take up floor space, and I agree with VICE's Mary Frances Knapp that they definitely add a note of stylishness and hipness to your interiors..............

Book Review: Darby O'Gill and the Good People

                                    

Book Review: 'Darby O'Gill and the Good People' by Herminie Templeton Kavanagh 

4 / 5 Stars

Here at the PorPor Books Blog, we like to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day by reviewing or showcasing a fiction or nonfiction book that deals with Ireland and the Irish. For St. Patrick's Day 2022, our selection is 'Darby O'Gill and the Good People' by Herminie Templeton Kavanagh.

Kavanagh was born in the UK in 1861 and later migrated to the United States, where she wrote stories for children based on Gaelic folklore. These stories first were published in McClure’s Magazine in 1901-1902 before being compiled into the book ‘Darby O’Gill and the Good People’ in 1903. Kavanagh wrote a second book, ‘Ashes of Old Wishes and Other Darby O'Gill Tales’, which was published in 1926. 

The story goes that Walt Disney, upon making trips to Ireland, conceived of the idea of a film involving a leprechaun and used Kavanagh’s books as the inspiration. Disney’s 1959 movie ‘Darby O’Gill and the Little People’ was well received and boasted some of the more advanced special effects for its time.

This trade paperback edition of ‘Darby O’Gill and the Good People’ (182 pp.) was published by One Faithful Harp Publishing Co., Scranton, PA, in 1998. It contains the stories ‘Darby O’Gill and the Good People’, ‘Darby O’Gill and the Leprechaun’, ‘The Convarsion of Father Cassidy’, ‘How the Fairies Came to Ireland’, ‘The Adventures of King Brian Connors’, and ‘The Banshee’s Comb’.

The stories are set in rural Ireland in the late 19th century and involve the eponymous Darby, his wife Bridget, the King of the Fairies, Brian Connors, and various other personages. Most of the stories are comic in nature. However, the final entry, ‘The Banshee’s Comb’ does a good job of endowing itself with a ‘spooky’ sensibility, involving as it does Irish beliefs about the dead……and the dangers visited upon those who find themselves out and about on Halloween night.

Author Kavanagh renders much of her dialogue phonetically, in a kind of Gaelic-accented English, so readers will encounter words like ‘dacint’ (decent), ‘giont’ (giant), ‘kittle’ (kettle), ‘divil’ (devil), etc., etc. These phonetic renderings make for slow going at first, but after a while become a bit more tolerable.  

What makes the book work as a retelling of Gaelic folklore is Kavanagh’s care in depicting the myriad characters as ‘real’ people. Darby O’Gill is hardly a heroic figure, but rather, a self-centered, at times pig-headed man who will grumble and protest en route to grudgingly doing the right thing. As well, his wife, friends, and acquaintances have their own foibles and faults, these often serving to drive storylines (as Bridget’s careless boasting at a women’s sewing circle triggers the events of ‘The Banshee’s Comb’). For the people of Darby O'Gill's Ireland, superstitious beliefs are an integral part of their agrestic way of life.

I finished ‘Darby O’Gill’ aware that Kavanagh had imparted a subtle undertone to her book. She depicts her human characters as the common people of a society still recovering from periods of great privation. For all its jollity and humor, the book presents poverty, sickness, and death as commonplace among rural people of limited means. While Darby’s desire for material wealth may at first seem particularly greedy and grasping, there is an understanding that the actions of the Darby and his fellow Irishmen are driven by the presence of a ‘racial memory’ of famine and impoverishment. Indeed, when Darby has a wish granted, and strolls into the main hall of his own grand castle, Kavanagh takes care to describe the abundant foodstuffs arrayed on the dining tables. 

Summing up, those with a fondness for the folklore of the British Isles and Celtic myths, as well as younger readers, will find ‘Darby O’Gill and the Good People’ a short but engaging read. 

Book Review: Dangerous Visions #3

Book Review: 'Dangerous Visions #3' edited by Harlan Ellison

1 / 5 Stars

Let's take a trip back to 1967, and the release of one of the New Wave era's most significant anthologies, Harlan Ellison's Dangerous Visions. The 520+ pages of the hardbound edition later were partitioned into a three-volume set of mass market paperbacks, all published by Berkley Books in 1969, with cover art by Don Ivan Punchatz. All three volumes retain the interior black-and-white illustrations made by Leo and Diane Dillon.

My review of volume #1 is here. Someday I'll get around to reading and reviewing #2.

Volume #3 (224 pp.) was published in July 1969, and features a new Introduction from Ellison in which he does some advance marketing for the follow-on anthology Again, Dangerous Visions.

For some time, I have adopted what I like to think of as a more forgiving attitude towards reviewing sci-fi content from the 1960s. Many of the creators of that content lacked the prose competencies that were to become more prevalent in later decades, so I am reluctant to niggle over pulp-style word-spinnings in material from the 1960s. At the same time, I feel a duty to warn readers as to whether a book is worth their time or not. If the reader is obliged to deal with characters who rasp, hiss, boom, snarl, or deliver any form of dialogue whatsoever accompanied by a verb, then they should be warned..........

So I will try to balance these aims in my critiques of the stories present in 'Dangerous Visions #3'.

My capsule reviews of the contents:

If All Men Were Brothers, Would You Let One Marry Your Sister ?, by Theodore Sturgeon: square-jawed troubleshooter Charli Bux visits the mysterious colony world of Vexvelt, where he finds an idyllic society in which gorgeous women happily provide him with Free Love. But Vexvelt has a very strange and disturbing secret to its happiness..........

This story vies with Keith Laumer's (below) for worst in the anthology. To pad the story to novelette length, Sturgeon loads it with long stretches of inane dialogue, and sociological pontificating that is contrived even by the standards of 1967. 

What Happened to Auguste Clarot ?,  by Larry Eisenberg: humorous goings-on in 19th century France. What this story is doing in a sci-fi anthology is anyone's guess. Maybe Ellison just wanted to show he could be Eccentric.

Ersatz, by Henry Slesar: Ellison's Introduction to this short-short story is a remarkable display of self-indulgence. Fortunately, Slesar's story, about privation in a post-apocalyptic America, is effective.

Go, Go, Said the Bird, by Sonya Dorman: post-apocalyptic hard times mean hungry, hangry people. Its 'shock value' has receded with time, but in 1967, this was strong stuff.

The Happy Breed, by John T. Sladek: in 1987, there is no pain, no want, and no worry for the narcotized population of the world. A satirical piece by Sladek.

Encounter with a Hick, by Jonathan Brand: a parable about the creation of the world, related in a kind of 60s hipster argot that comes across as painfully contrived. This was the third, and last, story ever published by author Brand.  

From the Government Printing Office, by Kris Neville: childhood education in a dystopian future. A bit too oblique to be effective.

Land of the Great Horses, by R. A. Lafferty: aliens bring the Gypsies home. Unremarkable tale from Lafferty.

The Recognition, by J. G. Ballard: a down-at-heels circus arrives in an English town and with it, revelations about human nature. I suspect that most readers will recognize the allegorical thrust of this tale well in advance of the ending. However, in terms of being a well-written piece, with carefully crafted prose, it's head and shoulders above all of the other entries in this volume.

Judas, by John Brunner: variation on the 'What if a Computer was God ?' theme. The dialogue passages which constitute the majority of the story's prose have a stilted, almost amateurish, quality.

Test to Destruction, by Keith Laumer: on a near-future Earth, a freedom fighter battles the malevolent dictator Kolso; some aliens look on with interest. This story is embarrassingly bad, with a prose style that was more at home in 1957 than 1967. Laumer's effort to add New Wave trappings, in the form of alien 'dialogue' passages that contain ALL CAPS and italicized font, just make things worse..........

Carcinoma Angels, by Norman Spinrad:  Harrison Wintergreen is the man who has everything.....so why not a cure for cancer ? The emphasis in this tale is on ironic humor.

Auto-da-Fe, by Roger Zelazny: bullfighting, reimagined. One of the better stories in this volume.

Aye, and Gomorrah...., by Samuel R. Delany: in the future, neutered 'spacers' have a combative relationship with the 'frelks' who are their groupies. I suppose modern-day reviewers would say that this story was ahead of its time in addressing the complexities of Gender and Self-Identity. I just know the story is a dud.......... talky and inane. 

Summing up, it's the stories by Slesar, Dorman, Ballard, and Zelazny that imbue this third volume of Dangerous Visions with value. The other entries suffer too much from trying too hard to present as 'speculative fiction'; in so doing, they have discarded meaningful plotting, dialogue, and exposition in order to deliver transgressive experiences. As such, while they may have succeeded in upsetting bourgeoise sensibilities in '67, inevitably their novelty has dissipated with the passage of time.