The PorPor Books Blog: SF and Fantasy Books 1968

Book Review: 'Cruising' by Gerald Walker
celebrating PrideWeekend 2014

2 / 5 Stars

'Cruising' was first published in hardcover by Stein and Day in 1970; this Bantam paperback was issued in January, 1980.

The feature film 'Crusing', starring Al Pacino, filmed in the Summer of 1979 and released in February, 1980, is loosely based on Walker's novel. During its filming in New York, the production was subjected to angry - sometimes violent - protests from gays, who considered the film exploitative.

The novel deals with a serial killer who preys on homosexuals, selecting his victims while 'cruising' the gay neighborhoods of Manhattan, ca. 1970. As the novel opens, four men have died, slain in a violent and gruesome manner, and the NYPD is desperate to make an arrest.

Captain Edelson, assigned to manage the investigation, decides to recruit a team of younger policemen and sends them out on the streets, undercover. Their mission: cruise the gay haunts as 'bait', and find the killer.

John Lynch is one of the policement selected for the undercover detail. A heterosexual, he is repulsed and dismissive of the gay lifestyle, but recognizes that the assignment may be his ticket to fast promotion. Lynch adopts the clothing and mannerisms of a 'fag' and begins his undercover work.

Even as Lynch cruises the streets and bars, looking for a psychopath, the killer is also out cruising the same territory, looking for his next victim. Will John Lynch recognize his quarry in time ? Or will Lynch become yet another victim ?

'Cruising', the novel, shares only its main plot with the film. Set in 1970, it is devoid of the 'leatherman' aesthetic that suffuses the film, and it lacks the film's ambiguous ending.

As a suspense / thriller novel, 'Cruising' isn't very good. The identity of the killer is disclosed early on, and much of the narrative is preoccupied with tedious, lengthy monologues in which we are shown The Mind of A Serial Killer all its addled glory. When not belaboring the killer's thoughts, the narrative shifts its attention to Lynch's monologues, further leaching momentum from the plot.

Modern readers are going to find the novel politically incorrect.

All of the characters are hostile and dismissive towards blacks, Puerto Ricans, Jews, and homosexuals, not necessarily in that order. The growing squalor of New York City in the early 70s is communicated in brief, but effective, bits of exposition:

Careful not to be too abrupt about it, Lynch swiveled around to look out at the street. A drunken Puerto Rican was lying in a pool of urine in a tenement doorway.

These spics, Lynch thought. Some neighborhood - what a collection of human junk. The whole country was going soft and rotten, and here was one of the places you find the dregs....Walking these streets was like going for a stroll in a cesspool.

And the queers, Lynch thought, you wouldn't believe the queers. The big parade in Central Park West started just before dark, when those who had jobs came back from work. What was it he'd heard one of them call it ? Fag Harbor. Dozens, hundreds of fags waiting for their ship to come in. Holy Mother, he thought......twenty blocks loaded with queers.

The gays in Cruising are not the sanitized, mainstream-media-friendly ones that appear on shows like Modern Family. The gays in Cruising are relentlessly promiscuous and filled with self-loathing; one of the book's more subversive subtexts is that some of the victims almost seem to expect to be harmed, or murdered, for having embraced their lifestyle.

Copies of 'Cruising' in good condition are very expensive; I was able to find an 'acceptable' condition copy for around $11,including shipping. In my opinion, paying more than this for the book is of questionable worth.

If you want a good immersion in 80s New York City in all its squalid glory, as well as some 'shocking' scenes that will have you laughing out loud, you're much better off viewing the film, than reading the novel.

Cody Starbuck
by Howard Chaykin
Episodes 1 and 2
from Heavy Metal magazines May 1981

May and early June, 1981: on FM radio, 'Her Town Too' by James Taylor and J. D. Souther, is in heavy rotation.

In the May issue of Heavy Metal magazine, a new serial is underway: 'Cody Starbuck', by Howard Chaykin.

Cody Starbuck had first appeared in the very first issue of the indie comic Star Reach in April 1974, as a black-and-white comic. The character appeared again in Star Reach in 1976 and 1978.

In 1981, Chaykin produced a full color, five-part serial of Starbuck for the May - September issues of Heavy Metal.

Chaykin intended Starbuck to be a more satirical version of the space opera heroes like Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers. Unlike traditional sf heroes, Starbuck is decidedly amoral and self-centered, doing good deeds only if the money is right.

While such a character was essentially unmarketable in mainstream comic books of the 70s and early 80s, he was perfect for the more sophisticated, European - influenced pages of Heavy Metal.

Below, I've posted first two installments of Cody Starbuck, from Heavy Metal's May and June 1981 issues. Stay tuned for further adventures in coming posts.

So, lets go back in time to the late Spring of 1981, give a listen to the mellow folk rock of Taylor and Souther and 'Her Town Too', and check out the doings of Cody Starbuck....

'Training Cycle' by Steve Sabella
from Epic Illustrated No. 28, February, 1985

Most of the contents of the latter issues of Epic Illustrated were mediocre, but every once in a while a real gem would get printed. Such is the case with 'Training Cycle', which features some fine artwork, and a story with a neat little twist at its ending.............

Book Review: 'Bring the Jubilee' by Ward Moore

1 / 5 Stars

'Bring the Jubilee’ first was published in 1953; this Avon SF paperback version (222 pp.) was published in May, 1972. The cover artist is uncredited.

The novel opens with an intriguing statement: Hodge Blackmaker, the first-person narrator, is writing this - his memoir - in 1877. However, he was born in 1921. How did Hodge Blackmaker come to be writing his memoir decades before he was even born ?

The opening chapters disclose the circumstances of Blackmaker’s birth and upraising: born the only child to a dour and lifeless couple of modest means, living in the town of Wappingers Falls, New York. In this ‘alternity’ of the US, the Union was defeated at Gettysburg, and the Confederacy triumphant.

In 1877, the twenty-six states of the federal government are economically and culturally backward, akin to the plight of the Southern states in the post-Civil War era of ‘our’ timeline. European powers exploit the states of the Northeast , a state of affairs endorsed by the South, which, even as it prospers, has little interest in improving the lot of the defeated Yankees. For the overwhelming majority of US citizens, a joyless lifetime of indentured servitude is the best they can hope to attain.

With aspirations to find a calling more rewarding than scrabbling for a living from farming, the teenaged Hodge leaves home for New York City, where he finds employment, and greater awareness of the depressing state of a world made real by the defeat of the Union.

As the narrative progresses, Blackmaker is confronted with a series of choices about his role in the effort to undo the changes wrought by the Confederacy – an effort that, as it turns out, may rely less on violent action, and more on the presence of the Wrong Man at the Right Time…….

‘Bring’ is regarded as a classic of alternate history / time travel SF. But in reality, I found it dull and plodding.

Author Moore decides to adopt a prose style that mimics the labored diction of 19th century novels: ‘As before in my discourses with Tyss on the subject of the free will and its illusory influence on the fate of the unknowing individual, my arguments in opposition to this stance brought little more than dismissive remarks from my employer…..’

This ponderous, wordy writing style, when combined with the fact that the crucial stages of the plot don’t unfold until page 206 arrives, essentially turn ‘Jubliee’ into a tedious exposition on the social and moral aspects of a 1940s – 1950s American society permanently mired in a 19th Century mindset.

Those few moments of action or drama that do pop up in the narrative are scant, and do little to impart momentum to a plot that consists almost entirely of conversations about philosophy and metaphysics, or the main character’s internal monologues on Life, Love, and Destiny.

The closing pages of the novel are its best feature, and the author is to be credited with avoid too pat an ending. However, it’s clear that author Moore missed his chance to write a genuinely ‘modern’ novel about destiny, time travel, and alternate history. Instead of being a ‘breakthrough’ novel, ‘Bring’ is simply a conventional novel with a bit of sf content.

'Heavy Metal' magazine June 1984

June, 1984, and in heavy rotation on MTV is Billy Idol's 'Eyes Without a Face.'

The latest issue of Heavy Metal magazine is out, featuring a front cover by Esteban Maroto and a back cover by James Cherry.

There is a great Contents Page illustration by Herikberto, titled 'Butterfly' :

Some good material in this issue, including more of Frank Thorne's cheesecake series 'Lann', Renard and Schuiten's 'The Railways', 'Salammbo II' by Druillet, and 'A Matter of Time' by Gimenez. I'll be posting some of this stuff later this month.

For now, here is the concluding installment of Charles Burns's 'El Borbah: Living in the Ice Age'.

Frank Miller's Ronin

By 1983, Frank Miller's work on Daredevil had garnered him sufficient praise and standing in the comics industry for him to be able to do a so-called creator-owned property for DC.

'Frank Miller's Ronin' was issued as a six-issue series, starting in July, 1983, and appearing more or less bimonthly until August, 1984. This 1987 graphic novel compiles all six issues (unfortunately, however, the covers of the individual comics are not reproduced) and features an introduction by Jeff Rovin.

The setting: New York City ca. 2030, a wasteland inhabited by ultraviolent street gangs and under-city cannibals straight out of Escape from New York.

Despite the city's horrible condition, the Aquarius corporation has nonetheless erected an enormous facility in the midst of this wasteland; within the facility, 'biocircuitry' has been engineered to create a sentient computer entity known as Virgo.

An armless and legless young man named Billy Challas serves as the main programmer / controller for Virgo, by virtue of his telekinetic abilities.

As the novel opens, in medieval Japan, the nameless ronin of the book's title is engaged in a death match with a demon named Agat; the ronin seeks vengeance, for Agat had killed his master.

Agat contrives to teleport both himself, and the ronin, to the far future - the New York City of Aquarius corporation. There, Agat uses his shapeshifting ability to take over the identity of Taggert, the corporate director for Aquarius.

The ronin finds himself alone and weaponless in the streets of the city; through some metamorphosis, part of Billy Challas's personality has merged with his own.

As 'Frank MIller's Ronin' unfolds, the ronin embarks on a hazardous, often violent journey through the unlikely hell of modern New York City, his goal: to find and kill Agat. The demon, for his part, unleashes the Aquarius security chief - a woman named Casey McKenna - to hunt down an eliminate the ronin.

But as the ronin leaves a trail of death and mayhem among the city's underworld, McKenna comes to question her mission, and the changes being made to the Aquarius corporation by a suddenly mercenary and amoral Taggert. Soon McKenna will have to make a choice: ally with the ronin, or her employer......

'Frank MIller's Ronin' mixes and matches a healthy quantity of early 80s sci-fi and pop culture tropes and themes. As I already mentioned, its vision of New York City is influenced by Escape from New York. There also are prominent elements of what at that time was the brand-new genre of cyberpunk. As well, the early 80s interest in all things Japanese finds an outlet in the character of the ronin himself.

In my opinion, 'Ronin' has not aged well. Much of this is due to the fact that Miller simply isn't a very accomplished draftsman. As with his other comics, 'Ronin' relies on a wide range of visual contrivances to direct attention from this fact......the use of unconventional panel configurations, unusual coloring schemes, multiple points of view within the same sequence of panels, as well as the elimination of all but a few sound effects. Other comic book staples - swoosh marks, external narration, thought balloons- are jettisoned.

In the absence of such staples, reading 'Ronin' can be tedious at times, particularly when Miller's artwork is so figurative that one cannot make out what, exactly, is going on. Too many times, in the absence of well-delinated artwork and external narration, the plot momentarily lapses into incoherence.

Modern readers are going to find Ronin's coloring scheme rather weak; the color printing of mainstream comic books of the early 80s simply isn't very good compared to what is now achievable with computer-aided composition and coloring.

'Frank Miller's Ronin' may be worth searching out if you are someone dedicated to comics of the early 80s, or are simply curious about Miller's initial forays into the medium, forays that since have led to his highly influential position in the comic book world of today. Anyone else will probably want to pass on this compilation.

Book Review: 'Image of the Beast' and 'Blown' by Philip Jose Farmer

3 / 5 Stars

In 1968, Philip Jose Farmer contracted with Essex House, a California-based publisher of pornographic novels, to write three books: Image of the Beast (1968); its sequel, Blown (1969); and A Feast Unknown (1969). This decision drew much attention and admiration in sci-fi circles, because while traditionally many sf authors (Robert Silverberg most notably) had written for the porno fiction market, this usually was done using pseudonyms.

Farmer’s decision to write under his own name instantly bestowed upon him the maverick, ‘rebel’ aura that engendered considerable envy from other writers jostling for the cutting-edge, avant-garde hipster status that so defined coolness in sf’s New Wave Era. Indeed, a number of other sf authors wrote for Essex House, including Samuel R. Delaney.

Essex House’s paperbacks were cheaply made and sold through a rather limited distribution network, and thus, today, those copies that still exist of any Essex books can fetch high prices.

Playboy Press issued this omnibus edition (336 pp.) of 'Image' and 'Blown' in October, 1979; the cover illustration is by Enric.

The book does not demarcate between the two novels, with Blown appearing unannounced, as chapter 21 of 45; however, because Blown is a sequel to Image, this is only a minor drawback to the two novels’ continuity.

'Image' is set in Los Angeles, ca. the late 60s; the city is in the grip of an eco-disaster, due to the advent of a massive smog storm that has triggered a mass, panicked exodus from the city. Anyone hoping to negotiate the greenish pall of smog must wear a gas mask, and drive with their headlights on, even in mid-day.

As 'Image' opens the hero, private eye Herald Childe, joins his former LAPD squadmates in the department’s film room, there to view a ‘snuff’ film sent to the police. The film purportedly has something to do with the recent disappearance of Matthew Colben, Childe’s partner in their detective agency.

As Childe and the police watch, the film pans to show a nude, drugged Colben strapped to a table in an unidentified room. An exotic-looking women is avidly performing certain erotic activities on the panting and gasping Colben.

As the film proceeds, the woman steps away from the table and carefully inserts a pair of false teeth into her mouth. Teeth that are shiny and sharp, and made from metal. Then she turns once again to the bound and helpless Colben…..

As the police and Childe recover from witnessing an atrocity on film, they struggle to understand why Colben has been kidnapped and singled out as a victim. Determined to find out who mutilated and murdered his partner, Herald Childe finds himself obliged to consort with a crew of Southern California eccentrics, including a mysterious European ‘Count’ living in a gated mansion in Beverly Hills.

As Childe pursues his investigation, he becomes entangled with a cult devoted to perversion, depravity, and death….and not all of its members are truly human…….

As with ‘A Feast Unknown’, which I reviewed here, ‘Image’ and ‘Blown’ are written with a tongue-in-cheek style (probably not what the Essex House editorial staff were necessarily expecting) that pays homage to Farmer’s habit of working all manner of sci-fi tropes and personalities into his narrative.

For example, in ‘Blown’ a major supporting character is none other than Forrest J Ackerman, the ‘Forry’ of ‘Famous Monsters of Filmland’; Farmer depicts him as a fussy neurotic who falls asleep after staying up late to edit the latest issue of Vampirella.

The scenes of sex and violence that appear in both novels are written with a deadpan, even droll attitude which makes these two novels more of sci-fi 'insider' comedies than genuine porn. The novels’ comedic aspects are reinforced by Farmer’s decision to include some plot developments that are so over-the-top and so contrived (I won’t disclose any spoilers, but I will say that the snakelike creature clinging to the leg of the woman depicted on 'Blown's' covers lives in a Very Special Place) that it’s quite clear he was treating these two Essex House assignments as an exercise in facetiousness.

Are 'Image' and 'Blown' for everyone ? Not really, particularly if you're not inclined towards splatterpunk. I found the books entertaining, although not as fun as 'A Feast Unknown'. Hence, a 3 of 5 Stars rating.

'A Matter of Time' by Juan Gimenez
from the June, 1984 issue of Heavy Metal magazine

Book Review: 'The Madness Season' by C. S. Friedman

1 / 5 Stars

‘The Madness Season’ (495 pp) was published by DAW Books in October, 1990. The cover painting is by Michael Whelan.

I got to page 236 of the book’s 495 total pages before boredom overcame me, and I abandoned ‘The Madness Season’.

‘Season’ certainly has in interesting premise: for three hundred years, Earth has been in subjugation to the Tyr, a race of reptilian aliens who communicate telepathically and adhere to a caste-based social structure.

The Tyr ensure Earth’s continued vassalage by rapidly identifying anyone who could be a potential rebel or troublemaker, and either summarily executing them, or exiling them to colony planets in deep space.

Daetrin, the hero of the story, is a vampire – here defined as a metabolic disorder that requires the acquisition of vital nutrients from human or animal blood. The mutation has the benefit of bestowing immortality, superhuman strength, and superhuman sensory awareness to those who carry it.

Since the advent of the Tyr victory over Earth, Daetrin has entered into a kind of waking sleep, deliberately forgetting his past, forgoing ambition, and shielding any and all hopes for the future, with the goal of cloaking his true nature from the Tyr.

As the novel opens, however, Daetrin is discovered and sentenced by the Tyr to exile on a colony planet. Once aboard the Tyrran starship, deprived of nutrients, under surveillance, and aware that any misstep on his part will result in death, Daetrin struggles to survive. For despite his exile, he has one overwhelming goal: discover the Tyrran’s carefully-hidden weakness, and use it to defeat their empire……

‘Season’ starts off promisingly with its 'one-vampire-against-the Evil-Empire' motif, but unfortunately, once Daetrin finds himself aboard the Tyrran starship, author C[elia] S. Friedman diverts from the major plot thread in order to use overwrought, heavily descriptive text to belabor the psychological and emotional traumas through which Daetrin will come to terms with his true nature.

As these psychodramas – usually manifested in the form of lengthy internal monologues, and flashbacks using a different font to signal to the reader how profound and important they are to Understanding Our Character – accumulate in length, the main narrative – how to overthrow the aliens ? – recedes into the background.

It doesn’t help matters when the author starts to insert several subplots into the storyline; one of these, involving a female representative of a shape-shifting alien race called the Marra, is designed to lend a note of romance to the narrative. But these subplots really do nothing more than pad the novel.....and at 495 pp., ‘Season’ is simply too long, and could have benefited from being edited down to half its length.

I can’t recommend ‘The Madness Season’ to anyone except those who yearn for a character-driven story that puts forth the well-worn trope that defeating the aliens requires that our heroes first come to terms with Understanding Their Humanity before the fight can be taken to the enemy.

New York: Year Zero
by Ricardo Barreiro (script) and Juan Zanotto (art)
Eclipse Comics
Issue 3, September 1988

Our hero, Brian Chester, finds himself the bodyguard - with added benefits - to the beautiful daughter of one of New York City's corporate kingpins.

However, he soon discovers that corporate 'warfare' in NYC means much more than lawsuits and nasty memos....

Tony Carey: 'First Day of Summer'
July, 1984

As July, 1984 gets under way, MTV is airing a new video from California musician - and former keyboardist for the band 'Rainbow' - Tony Carey. The video, for the song 'First Day of Summer', is a great one, with plenty of 80s culture on display, as well as being a great song in its own right.

'First Day of Summer' was one of the tracks on Carey's 1984 album Some Tough City, which contains a number of other noteworthy tracks, too, such as 'A Fine Fine Day'.

Even today, some Midwest radio stations will put the song into rotation as Summer gets underway......

Well, the kid and me
Were the team to beat
We could stand with the big boys
Generate some heat

And we never thought nothing
'Bout living on the street back then

Yes, and we lied a little
And we maybe stole some
Saying, Southern California
Here we come

And we took off
Down the highway saying
Never going back again

It was on the
First day of summer
We were the number one
Out front runner

On the first day of summer
Nothing feels the same
And it feels so good

It was on the first day of summer
On the first day of summer
On the first day of summer
The whole world knows your name
And it feels so good

Now the kid was driving
And I rode shotgun
We were splitting up the money
From our number ones

Beating time to the radio
Yes, I'm gonna be someone

Camping by the road
Out in Santa Fe
The kid stole the keys
And then he drove away

And I wound up washing dishes
In a Holiday Inn
Sometime I wonder
What became of him

It was on the
First day of summer
We were the number one
Out front runner

On the first day of summer
Nothing feels the same
And it feels so good

It was on the first day of summer
It was on the first day of summer
On the first day of summer
The whole world knows your name
Don't it feel good

It was on the first day of summer
On the first day of summer
On the first day of summer
The whole world knows your name

Book Review: 'Legend' by David Gemmell

4 / 5 Stars

This Del Rey Books edition (345 pp) of ‘Legend’ was published in November, 1994. The cover artwork is by Mark Harrison.

The British writer David Gemmell (1948 – 2006) was a prolific writer of fantasy literature, with 31 books to his credit. ‘Legend’ (1984) was his first book; it became the first volume in what would come to be known as the ‘Drenai’ series, which grew to 11 books.

The story’s premise is simple and straightforward: a half-million strong horde of Mongol-type barbarians called the Nadir are intent on invading the peaceful lands of the Drenai Empire. The sole obstacle to their advance is the fortress of Dos Delnoch, a ‘Helms Deep’ -style construction designed to withstand a lengthy siege, built with multiple walls, gates, and redoubts.

Abalayn, the inept ruler of the Drenai, has neglected his armies, and as a result, only 10,000 men are available to hold the fortress. As the novel opens, Rek, a kind of less-heroic analogue to Strider / Aragorn, is debating whether to join the defenders and face certain death in a hopeless cause, or to simply light out for foreign territories and a safer existence.

In the course of making a decision to join the defense, he is influenced by the knowledge that Druss (the ‘Legend’ of the book’s title) has himself decided to come out of retirement to fight at Dos Delnoch.

Despite being in his 60s, Druss remains the match of any fighter half his age. Not only is Druss possessed of herculean strength and stamina, but when equipped with his axe ‘Snaga’ (unashamedly modeled on Elric of Melnibone’s magic sword ‘Stormbringer’), Druss is the combat equivalent of a score of fighting men.

As the opening chapters unfold....and continue unfolding.....the cast of characters, heroes and villains, is assembled and set on their paths to Dos Delnoch.

Will Rek, Druss, and other heroes (including several lady warriors) succeed in holding off the Nadir masses long enough for the Drenai to field an army to come to their rescue ? Or will they fall to the last man and woman, and leave their homeland exposed to destruction ?

While it is virtually impossible to look at any store’s shelving of new or used sf and fantasy paperbacks and not see at least one entry from Gemmell, up until now I have not read any of Gemmell’s works; ‘Legend’ was my first introduction to his writing.

‘Legend’ is not perfect, but it’s decent heroic fantasy, and capable first novel.

Needless to say the narrative takes its time arriving at the siege around which the plot is centered – it’s not until page 218 (!) that the fighting is joined between Nadir and Drenai, by which time my patience was starting to be tried.

The siege narrative itself is layered with frequent expository passages, in which the various characters ponder their fates and reasons for facing death (or dishonor), deep emotional interludes between lovers, morale-boosting speeches by Druss, superficial jests and jokes that cover up the deep-seated fear gripping each and every combatant, etc.

But the novel avoids a contrived ending, and left me willing to try the additional entries in the ‘Drenai’ saga.

'Heavy Metal' magazine July 1984

July, 1984, and as I am driving from upstate New York down to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to go to graduate school at LSU. On the car radio, the single 'Boys Do Fall in Love' from Robin Gibb's new album 'Secret Agent', is in rotation.

'Boys' wound up being a modest hit that Summer, but it remains a great song, and epitomizes the synth-heavy, eletronic drum sound of mid-80s pop.

After the BeeGee's 1981 album 'Living Eyes' tanked, signalling the end of the disco era with crushing finality, it was Robin Gibb, as a solo artist (with some help from brother Maurice), who let the world know there was more to the band than the one-two disco beats and over-exposed Barry-Gibb-falsetto that had come to be associated with the band's music.

So 'Boys Do Fall in Loce' is on the radio, and the latest issue of 'Heavy Metal' magazine is on the magazine racks, featuring a front cover by Dave Dorman, and a back cover by Ron Lightburn.

The Dossier section is one of the more ludicrous to appear in the magazine, focusing on - likely enough - Heavy Metal music, and showcasing an up-and-coming singer named.....Thor.

Other bands in the spotlight include 'Manowar' and 'Slayer'. It's hard to tell if the HM staff ('Rok' critic Lou Stathis, along with Tim Sommer, Josh Ribakove, and Jess Schalles) who wrote the Dossier intended that their coverage be facetious, or if they were playing it straight, but only those who grew up in the 80s can truly treasure the wonderful awfulness of these bands and their clothing/ costumes.

Other sections of the Dossier review sf books, and there is an interview with aging comedian Jerry Lewis (!) about his genuinely awful movie, 'Slapstick of Another Kind.'

The graphic content of the July issue sees a new series from Jeronaton, titled 'The Great Passage'; ongoing episodes of Thorne's 'Lann', Druillet's 'Salammbo II', 'The Hunting Party' by Cristin and Bilal; 'The Railways' by Renard and Schuiten; and 'TexArcana' by FIndley.

Among the better of the singleton strips is Alfonso Azpiri's 'Daymares / Nightdreams'. I've posted it below.

The Art of Bryan Talbot
by Bryan Talbot

'The Art of Bryan Talbot' (96 pp.) is a large (11.9" x 9") size trade paperback published in 2007 by NBM (Nantier, Beall, Minoustchine), a small press dedicated to publishing graphic novels and art.

Talbot (b. 1952) is one of most recognized graphic artists in the UK. This book provides an overview of his artistic output, starting with his work as an underground comix artist in the mid-70s.

Talbot's artistic skills enabled him to take on commercial artwork assignments for mainstream UK magazines and publishers.

Of course, Talbot's 'The Adventures of Luther Arkwright' gets deserved attention in this volume:

As does his work for 3000 AD comics, and such characters as Judge Dredd and Nemesis the Warlock:

In the 90s, Talbot produced 'Heart of Empire', the sequel to 'Arkwright':

As well as the graphic novel 'One Bad Rat'.

Some of Talbot's work in the 90s is less well known to American audiences, such his covers for the anthology series 'Neil Gaiman's Teknophage'..

The book closes with coverage of Talbot's work in the 2000s, most notably the 'Grandville' series of graphic novels. There also is a helpful 'Bryan Talbot Stripography' which lists his complete comic book and graphic novel output from 1971 to 2007.

'The Art of Bryan Talbot' can be found for affordable prices (i.e., under $10) at your usual online retailers, and it's worth getting if you are a fan of his work, a fan of the 'Arkwright' canon, or just someone who appreciates good graphic art in general.

The book is well-produced, with the image reproductions at high resolution and the explanatory text assisting with, rather than competing with, the artwork. It's also sure to generate some severe 70s and 80s Nostalgia, particularly for UK readers.

Book Review: 'The Secret Sea' by Thomas F. Monteleone

3 / 5 Stars

‘The Secret Sea (222 pp.) was published in May, 1979, by Popular Library; the cover artwork is by Clyde Caldwell.

Bryan Alexander is a physics professor who has bullshitted his way into a job as an English professor at a small college in Maryland. There, he enjoys a comfortable, but boring and unfulfilling, existence. Then he gets a letter from a lawyer in Vermont: it seems Alexander’s Aunt Agatha has died and left him her country estate, along with a sizable amount of money.

Alexander embarks for Vermont, planning to use his inheritance to embark on his lifelong dream of leading a life of adventure, much as would a Victorian-era gentleman explorer. But his ambitions soon take on a different cast when he discovers a chest stored in the attic of his Aunt’s house. Within the chest is a journal written by one Durham Kent; a Durham Kent who, in the 1860s, claimed to have traveled through an interdimensional gateway located in the far reaches of the Atlantic Ocean.

Kent’s passage through the gateway had led him to an alternate world, in which the submarine Nautilus sailed the oceans, captained by a man named Nemo. And, after returning to ‘our’ dimension, Kent had related his fantastic tale to an amiable Frenchman named Jules Verne……

Half-disbelieving Durham Kent’s journal, an intrigued Bryan Alexander decides to charter a sailboat and travels to the location in the Atlantic where Kent claimed the so-called ‘fluxgate’ existed. And to his mingled surprise and excitement, Alexander does indeed encounter a fluxgate….and in due course, he will meet Captain Nemo….and his sworn adversary, the maniacal Robur the Conqueror….

‘The Secret Sea’ represents an early work of Steampunk, although the sub-genre and its label didn’t really exist in 1979, the year of its publication. Author Monteleone stays true to the legend of Nemo and his submarine as outlined in Verne’s novels, taking some liberties with the identity and origin of Robur in order to provide the narrative with a suitable villain. The middle segments of the novel lag a bit, but things pick up in the last three chapters and the story finishes on a satisfactory note.

‘Secret Sea’ isn’t a memorable classic of sf, but it is an entertaining read, and displays an economy of length that is sorely lacking in the 600-page, series-fixated novels that dominate contemporary Steampunk. It’s worth picking up from the used-book shelves.

'Where Monsters Roamed' by John Bolton
from John Bolton: Halls of Horror, issue No.2, June 1985, Eclipse Comics

The House of Hammer was a UK magazine, published from 1976 – 1978, that featured stills and articles about Hammer films, black and white comic adaptations of the more famous Hammer movies, as well as a variety of supporting strips, all on horror / occult themes derived from the films. It resembled an amalgamation of the Warren's magazines Creepy and Eerie with Famous Monsters of Filmland.

The artwork in HoH was very well done, and this was true of the 'backup' features; the most memorable of these may have been the iconic ‘Father Shandor’ series that showcased as its hero the priest from the 1966 film Dracula: Prince of Darkness.The Shandor strips were later recycled in the early 80s in the UK comic book Warrior.

The House of Hammer magazine lasted until issue 23, after which time it went into limbo, before undergoing a seemingly unending series of short-lived revivals by its creator, the unusually-named Dez Skinn.

John Bolton, at that time in the late 70s still early in his career as a comic book artist, did some outstanding work for HoH. In June 1985 US comic book publisher Eclipse Comics obtained the reprint rights for Bolton’s HoH strips and printed them, in color, in two issues of the comic book John Bolton: Halls of Horror.

Bolton provided new illustrations for the comic book covers, and added new panels, some of these featuring a character modeled on Vincent Price (serving as the EC-style Horror Host) who introduced each story in the anthology.

Eclipse retitled the strips, presumably to avoid copyright and / or licensing infringement. Thus, theadaptation of the 1966 Hammer film One Million Years B.C., which appeared in issue 14 of HoH (November, 1977), was renamed ‘Where Monsters Roamed’ when published in John Bolton: Halls of Horror.

The murky coloring probably detracts from the original black and white artwork rather than adding any enhanced visual qualities, and the reduction of the original artwork to fit the confines of the comic book page means the illustrations are quite small and cramped. But Bolton’s draftsmanship still shines through, despite it all.

Posted below in its entirety, here is ‘Where Monsters Roamed’, aka One Million Years B.C., by Steve Moore (script), John Bolton (art), and Tim Smith (colors).

Book Review: 'Night Winds' by Karl Edward Wagner

4 / 5 Stars

‘Night Winds’ (286 pp.) was published by Warner Books in August, 1978. The cover artwork is by Frank Frazetta.

These Warner paperback editions of the Kane stories are long out of print, and command high prices; I was fortunate to pick this volume up for $2 at the Gordon St. Library booksale in Charlottesville last April.

“Night Winds’ compiles six short stories and novelettes first published from 1974 – 1977 in small press magazines such as Midnight Sun, Chacal, and Whispers.

All of the stories display purple prose and stilted conversations – Wagner was at heart a pulp writer. However, they are atmospheric, offbeat, and Kane stands firm as a distinctive type of antihero throughout each and every tale.

My concise summaries of the stories:

Undertow (1977): Probably the most poorly-written of the entries; Kane’s mistress enlists various soldiers of fortune and adventurers in an effort to help her flee from Kane's grasp.

Two Suns Setting (1975): wandering through a desolate, rubble-strewn landscape, Kane embarks on an adventure to find the ancient resting place of the King of the Giants. This is one of the better stories in the anthology.

The Dark Muse (1975): Opyros the Poet is desperate to write the best poem of his career; Kane obliges by assisting the poet to enter into a dangerous, but otherworldly, dream-world. A reasonably good mix of Lovecraftian ‘Randolph Carter’ – style adventure, and some more conventional sword-and-sorcery tropes.

Raven’s Eyrie (1977): On the run and in desperate straits, Kane and his band of cut-throats seek refuge in a decrepit inn. As night falls on the surrounding wilderness, the Lord of the Dead emerges from the depths of the Earth and stalks the night for victims. This story’s downbeat tenor and lively action sequences make it effective.

Lynortis Reprise (1974): Amidst the crumbling ruins and decay of a long-ago battlefield, Kane competes with a band of mercenaries to learn the location of a rumored hoard of treasure. Another tale marked by a cynical atmosphere, and a carefully crafted sense of allegory about war and madness; a theme not uncommon in fiction of the post- Vietnam era.

Sing A Last Song of Valdese (1976): A cold Autumn evening in the remote highlands; a priest finds himself forced to seek lodging for the night in a hotel filled with fellow travelers. As the night unfolds, criminals, and the consequences of an atrocity committed long, long ago, are revealed. More of a horror story than a sword-and-sorcery adventure, ‘Valdese’ is arguably the best of all the Kane tales.

Summing up, ‘Night Winds’ is a worthy collection of vintage fantasy / sword-and-sorcery fiction. Provided you can find a copy for a reasonable price, it’s worth searching out.

'Dragon Chiang' by Tim Truman and Timothy Bradstreet

'Dragon Chiang' (44 pp) is a black and white graphic novel published in 1991 by Eclipse Comics. Truman did the script and art, and Bradtsreet, the inks.

It's set in the same post-collapse America of Truman's 1985 - 1987 series for Eclipse, Scout.

'Dragon' Chiang is a Chinese trucker making the long, long drive from Beijing, north into Russia, across the Bering Strait causeway, south through Alaska and Canada, to finish in San Francisco. It's a journey he has made before, but as the American economy undergoes further disintegration, waves of refugees have been fleeing the US and entering Russia; as a result, crossing the borders has become more regulated....and more dangerous.

Dragon is known and respected among the border guards, the other truckers, and the rest stop managers all along his route. But that doesn't mean Dragon won't use the unique armaments that his futuristic 18-wheeler has at its disposal.

Nor does it mean that Dragon isn't going to be able to take a piss at the truck stop without getting into some trouble with 'Possum Man' and his fellow road trash......

Things only get more hazardous - and more violent - as Chiang proceeds into the continental US...........

Tim Truman's meticulous draftsmanship is on display here, benefitting from some nice ink work from Bradstreet.

In a three page Afterword essay, author Truman expounds on the inspiration for Dragon Chiang. It's a long and eclectic list straight out of modern American Pop Culture, and includes the trucker / CB radio craze of the mid-70s; biker movies; sf novels like Damnation Alley; and Trashman, Spain Rodriguez's underground comic classic .

If you like the intersection of Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior with Truman's offbeat take on a postapocalyptic US, then 'Dragon Chiang' is well worth picking up. Copies can be obtained for reasonable prices from many vendors; I might suggest MyComicShop.com as one of the better sources (note: I receive no recompense for that endorsement).

Book Review: 'Wolfwinter' by Thomas Burnett Swann

3 / 5 Stars

‘Wolfwinter’ (203 pp.) was published by Ballantine Books in November, 1972. The striking cover artwork is by Gene Szafran.

The novel is set in ancient Greece and Italy (Etrusca / Etruria), back in the days when Gods and heroes and the creatures of mythology roamed the earth alongside mortal man.

The heroine of the novel is a plain, rather awkward adolescent girl named Erinna; she resides on the island of Lesbos, and is friend and confidant of the poetess Sappho. Lesbos is – not surprisingly – presented here as a wonderland of Free Love. Orgies (alluded to in a mild way) are not unusual, and as the novel opens, Sappho urges Erinna to attend the Festival of Aphrodite – an orgy devoted to the arrival of Spring – and after some prodding, Erinna agrees, and has a liaison with a faun named Greathorn.

In the months after the Festival, Erinna is betrothed to Timon, a member of the idle rich of the city of Sybaris, a city in Etrusca. Timon recognizes that Erinna is pregnant by another man, but, in keeping with his indolent nature, agrees to have the child raised in his household.

Unfortunately for Erinna, when her son Hoofless is born, while he lacks the hoofs of a faun, he has two horns on his forehead. Timon will not abide with rearing a satyr’s son, and he orders that Hoofless be taken away from his mother and subjected to the cruel custom of Sybaris: unwanted, crippled infants are abandoned outside the city walls, on the Field of Wolves, where they are devoured by the unnaturally intelligent and ferocious White Wolves of the surrounding countryside.

Erinna has no intention of sacrificing Hoofless, so she escapes the city walls and travels to the Field of Wolves…there to try and save her infant son, an act of foolhardy courage that brings her into confrontation with the White Wolves….and involvement in the age-old war between the fauns of Italy and their canine adversaries.

‘Wolfwinter’ is the first novel by Thomas Burnett Swann that I have read. Swann (1928 – 1976) wrote nearly 20 novels and short-story collections, many of which were published by DAW Books and other sf publishers in the late 60s and early 70s.

Swann, who was a homosexual, portrayed ancient Greece and Rome in a laudatory, even elegiac, manner for their lack of repression in such matters, although, as in ‘Wolfwinter’, he did not shy from disclosing the less salutary practices of these ancient civilizations, such as infanticide.

‘Wolfwinter’ is a fantasy novel in the sense that much of its narrative is occupied with lyrical descriptions of the forest, its fauns and dryads and other creatures, all living harmoniously in a sort of pastoral paradise. Its accounts of the charming, rustic habitations of the woodland denizens, their food and drink and interior and exterior décor, are told with the same detail and warmth with which Tolkein related the homely appeal of his hobbit-holes and the landscape of the Shire.

It’s a reasonably engaging book, and, while devoid of much in the way of action, those few sequences in which the ravenous White Wolves are encountered are well-written, and injected sufficient momentum into the narrative to keep me interested.

Cody Starbuck
by Howard Chaykin
Episode 3
from Heavy Metal magazine July 1981
continuing from the first two episodes

Book Review: Cruising

Cody Starbuck episodes 1 and 2

Training Cycle by Steve Sabella

Book Review: Bring the Jubilee

'Heavy Metal' magazine June 1984

Frank Miller's Ronin

Book Review: Image of the Beast and Blown

Article 0

Article 0

New York: Year Zero issue 3

Tony Carey: First Day of Summer

Book Review: Legend

Heavy Metal magazine July 1984

The Art of Bryan Talbot

Book Review: The Secret Sea

Where Monsters Roamed by John Bolton

Book Review: Night Winds

Dragon Chiang

Book Review: Wolfwinter

Cody Starbuck episode 3