Book Hauls!

[dask]

I bet those Harold Lamb books are going to be good. Just discovered him this year. Can't wait to find more when I go bargain hunting.

[nomadman]

Originally Posted by dask

I bet those Harold Lamb books are going to be good. Just discovered him this year. Can't wait to find more when I go bargain hunting.

I discovered him back when I was submitting stuff to Howard Jones's Flashing Swords magazine. He's easily one of the best pulp writers of historical adventure fiction I've ever come across, though sadly virtually unknown today. All praise to Jones for his efforts.

[GOLLUM]

Originally Posted by nomadman

He's (Harold Lamb) easily one of the best pulp writers of historical adventure fiction I've ever come across, though sadly virtually unknown today.

Indeed....Lamb is on my to read list for this year.

Ueda Akinari is considered to be one of the most significant figures in Japanese literature and these stories amongst the best examples of Japanese Gothic. For that reason alone, it will be interesting to know what you think of this classic text.

Excellent haul too...

[GOLLUM]

Today, shops were mainly closed due to Easter Sunday but one of my regular second hand dealers had their doors open, so I picked up...

Forty- Seventeen - Frank Moorhouse *From a leading Australian author whose book 40-17 won the Age book of the Year in 1988, was nominated as the "moral winner" of that year's Booker Prize and honoured with a double page spread by Angela Carter, such was her admiration of this author's work. This will be my first book by Moorhouse.

The Lost Honour Of Katharine Blum - Heinrich Boll *Nobel laureate along with Hesse and Mann. As per Moorhouse, this will be my first foray into this author's work.

Lovers Of Their Time and other Stories - William Trevor *An imaginatively inspired collection by a writer of short fiction universally considered to be amongst the best of his generation alongside the likes of Tobias Wolf, Angela Carter, Bruce Cheever, Raymond Carver and Alice Munro; some critics even hailing him as the world's greatest living short story writer. Once again my first time with this author.

[soulsinging]

Just picked up:

Warded Man- Peter Brett
Lost City of Z- David Grann
American Tabloid- James Ellroy

[Connavar]

Originally Posted by nomadman

I discovered him back when I was submitting stuff to Howard Jones's Flashing Swords magazine. He's easily one of the best pulp writers of historical adventure fiction I've ever come across, though sadly virtually unknown today. All praise to Jones for his efforts.

Virtually unknown is a bit harsh for a guy that has won awards for his history biography books that he has in libraries even over here and his adventure books must sell because they keep reprinting him.

He is big in fantasy,adventure pulp readers circles, people that read REH,ERB etc

I myself will be getting the first Swords collection because many fans has recommended him outside his importance in adventure pulp days.

[GOLLUM]

Originally Posted by Connavar

Virtually unknown is a bit harsh for a guy that has won awards for his history biography books that he has in libraries even over here and his adventure books must sell because they keep reprinting him.

He is big in fantasy,adventure pulp readers circles, people that read REH,ERB etc.

Well he's certainly a significant figure in that sub Genre but I think you'll find that he is indeed not particularly well known outside of those fans who specialise or take a strong interest in this area. I suspect if you were to take a straw poll amongst members here, that most would not have heard of this author and certainly few I am aware of have read anything by him. Not a criticism, just a belief I hold.

I think you'll also find that as far as publications of Lamb's adventure tales are concerned, since his death in the early 1960s, these have been few and far between and that it's only been a resurgence in the past 4-5 years that has seen his stories come back into print. The main small press publisher appears to be the excellent Bison Books, who are not a mainstream publisher and therefore as per my previous comment, I think you'll find these publications are not likely to appear en masse in most bookstores.

[j. d. worthington]

In general, I believe Mr. G. is right on this. Harold Lamb's books have seen reprint, but not all that frequently, and only a few have had the privilege. Donald M. Grant reprinted some during the '70s and '80s, for example, and Pinnacle Books also brought out a short series of them at around the same time... and even this was largely due to a resurgence of interest in REH and his influences, such as Lamb, Mundy, London, etc. And there hasn't been anything of his in print since, that I am aware of, until this recent reawakening of interest in REH (again), combined with the POD publishing phenomenon, once more brought his work to light....

Which is not to say he doesn't deserve to be remembered -- I most definitely think he does. But such is the case with an enormous number of writers who are now, sadly, forgotten... or remembered only by special students of a particular field. (For example, aside from A Voyage to Arcturus, who here has read anything else from David Lindsay... say, Devil's Tor, for example....?)

[Connavar]

Originally Posted by GOLLUM

Well he's certainly a significant figure in that sub Genre but I think you'll find that he is indeed not particularly well known outside of those fans who specialise or take a strong interest in this area. I suspect if you were to take a straw poll amongst members here, that most would not have heard of this author and certainly few I am aware of have read anything by him. Not a criticism, just a belief I hold.

I think you'll also find that as far as publications of Lamb's adventure tales are concerned, since his death in the early 1960s, these have been few and far between and that it's only been a resurgence in the past 4-5 years that has seen his stories come back into print. The main small press publisher appears to be the excellent Bison Books, who are not a mainstream publisher and therefore as per my previous comment, I think you'll find these publications are not likely to appear en masse in most bookstores.

I'm aware of him having a revival in the last 4,5 years and that's my point. He is a pulp writer from almost a century ago its strong if you are even read today or in print. Not everyone is as mainstream as ERB,HPL,REH etc

[GOLLUM]

Originally Posted by Connavar

I'm aware of him having a revival in the last 4,5 years and that's my point. He is a pulp writer from almost a century ago its strong if you are even read today or in print. Not everyone is as mainstream as ERB,HPL,REH etc

Well, we all appear to be in agreement that by all accounts, the recent resurgence in interest of Mr. Lamb's work is a welcome event. Unfortunately, I still think you'll find that even within circles of readers that enjoy pulp adventures and for those people who like to read the more widely published writers like REH that Mr. Lamb still isn't that well known a figure in spite of his apparent quality as an author, which is the point Nomadman I believe was originally trying to make. We can only hope that continued publication and further exposure of his work through discussions both here and amongst other internet communities will continue to make him better known amongst fans of pulp adventure in addition to the more mainstream SFF fan and for that matter lovers of adventure stories.

To this end, I'll be interested in any reviews you can post on his work as he's an author I've been planning to read for the last couple of years now.

If a thread hasn't yet been started that features Harold Lamb, perhaps you would like to start one or add further to it? I hope to read and review some of his work myself in the second half of 2010.

[Connavar]

3 books by Westlake, Memory unpublished novel from 1960s and 2 new reprinting of Parker novels that is always the most anticipated books every year for. Di Filippo is a new fav voice in SFF.

Memory(Hard Case Crime) - Donald E Westlake
The Green Eagle Score: A Parker Novel by Richard Stark
The Sour Lemon Score: A Parker Novel by Richard Stark
Ribofunk - Paul Di Filippo

[ktabic]

Back from eastercon with one or two books:
Moxyland Lauren Beukes
Royal Exile Fiona McIntosh
Banner of Souls Liz Williams
Divergence Tony Ballantyne
The Harm Gary McMahon
The Turing Test Chris Beckett
Gamenight Jonny Nexus
Myth-Understandings ed Ian Whates (part of my ongoing attempt to buy every newcon press book)
The Bitten Word ed Ian Whates (ditto)
Conflicts ed Ian Whates (ditto)
The Book of Frank Herbert
Out of Space & Time vols 1 & 2 Clark Ashton Smith (keep meaning to read some of his stuff, thought this would be a good start point)
Necronomicon Best of HP Lovecraft
The Complete Chronicles of Conan Robert E Howard

My tbr pile was going down this year. Now its bigger than ever.

[murphy]

Arriving tomorrow:

Death Blows by D. D. Barant
The River King's Road by Liane Merciel
A Murderous Procession by Ariana Franklin
The Gaslight Dogs by Karin Lowachee
Kindred in Death by J. D. Robb
Oath of Fealty by Elizabeth Moon
The Black Cat by Martha Grimes
The Reckoning by Kelley Armstrong
Changes by Jim Butcher.

[j. d. worthington]

Originally Posted by ktabic

Out of Space & Time vols 1 & 2 Clark Ashton Smith (keep meaning to read some of his stuff, thought this would be a good start point)
Necronomicon Best of HP Lovecraft
The Complete Chronicles of Conan Robert E Howard

My tbr pile was going down this year. Now its bigger than ever.

Just by themselves, those ought to keep you busy for a while. As for Out of Space and Time... not at all a bad place to start with Smith. This was the first Arkham House collection of his work, and (as I recall) he picked his favorite among his tales up to that point for inclusion. The text isn't always as accurate as the more recent editions, but it is nonetheless a fine collection of his work. (It also has two of my favorite of his prose poems, "The Shadows" and "From the Crypts of Memory", as well as what may be my very favorite of his tales, "A Night in Malnéant".)

[Fried Egg]

I've had a pretty good haul recently:

"Storm Front", Jim Butcher
"The Mammoth Book of Alternate Histories", Various
"Labyrinths", Jorge Luis Borges
"The Three Imposters and Other Stories", Arthur Machen