Hello 2023!

Oh man... A lot has happened this past year, and I drifted away from reading for a long time, not finishing a single title all year. I was travelling and focusing on other endeavors, and dealing with an injury that transpired. Recently I have regained access to my book collection, and have been reminded of some great books I've read, as well as ones I'm excited to read. I am back to try and knock out more of the reading list I've amassed over the last few years.

Keep an eye out for future reports!

Hello 2022!

Here's going into a new year of reading! I have read and reported 18 books in 2021. For (my) easier reference I will repost the remainder of my 2021 reading list. This is closer to 40 titles... Hopefully I'll be able to top that 18 this year and put a dent in this list. Still more titles will come in as the year goes by. Here's the list. 

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January:

Donna Gillespie- The Light Bearer

Robin McKinley- The Blue Sword

Robert Holdstock- The Broken Kings; Mythago Wood

Michael Moorcock- Elric: Song of the Black Sword (Anthology)

Judith Tarr- Kingdom of the Grail

Lynn A. McKee- Touches the Stars; Keeper of Dreams; Walks in Stardust

Harry Harrison- Stonehenge: Where Atlantis Died

May:

Robert Silverberg- Lord of Darkness

Diana L. Paxson- The Wolf and the Raven

Judith Tarr- Isle of Glass

Barry Hughart- Bridge of Birds

Avram Davidson- Ursus of Ultima Thule

June:

David Jarrett- Witherwing

Kenneth C. Flint- Isle of Destiny

Casey Flynn- Most Ancient Song

Judith Tarr- King and Goddess

Joan Lesley Hamilton- The Lion and the Cross

Diana L. Paxson- White Mare, Red Stallion

Dave Smeds- The Sorcerer Within

July:

Joy Chant- Red Moon and Black Mountain; The Grey Mane of Morning

Elizabeth Ann Scarborough- The Harem of Aman Akbar

Michaela Roessner- Walkabout Woman

Fred Saberhagen- The Face of Apollo

Kenneth C. Flint- A Storm Upon Ulster

Harry Harrison- To the Stars (Omnibus)

August:

Poul Anderson- Hrolf Kraki's Saga

Parke Godwin- Firelord

Henry Treece- Red Queen, White Queen

Robert Jordan- The Conan Chronicles (Anthology)

Nicholas Yermakov- Fall Into Darkness

September:

Michael Williams- Arcady

Elizabeth Ann Scarborough- Nothing Sacred

Joy Chant- The High Kings

Diana L. Paxson- The Serpent's Tooth

November:

Phyllis Ann Karr- The Idylls of the Queen

John Clagget- Cradle of the Sun

Thorarinn Gunnarsson- Song of the Dwarves

Ardath Mayhar-  People of the Mesa

T.J. Bass- The Godwhale

December:

Rob Macgregor- Indiana Jones and the Seven Veils; Indiana Jones and the Dance of the Giants

L. Sprague De Camp- The Honorable Barbarian

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Watch for new reports. New arrivals about every month. Next report coming soon.

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New Arrivals (12/21)

I only picked up a small few titles this month, and not a whole lot of time for reading. Here's the last additions to the 2021 arrivals.

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Rob MacGregor- Indiana Jones and the Seven Veils; Indiana Jones and the Dance of the Giants. Usually I don't do movie tie-in novels, but these actually sounded pretty cool. 

L. Sprague de Camp- The Honorable Barbarian. Looks like a bunch of small, fun adventures packed into one story. 

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Hopefully I can put another tally on 2021's reading list, but the end of the year is quick to come. Till next.

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The Great Hunt (12/21)

The eternal bookhunt continues. Came up with this list over the last few months. Dusting off the rest of the old list as well for easy reference. 

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Diana L. Paxson- The White Raven 

Gillian Bradshaw- Hawk of May (An Arthurian novel,) & Horses of Heaven 

Joy Chant- When Voiha Wakes

Richard Herley- "The Pagans Trilogy" #1 (The Stone Arrow) & #3 (title unknown)

Barbara Hambly- The Witches of Wenshar (Sun Wolf #2)

Jack Vance- Lyonesse

Henry Treece- The Great Captains

David Zindell- The Lightstone

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From prior lists:

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Frank Herbert- Destination: Void (One of the few Frank Herbert books I don't already own)

Patricia Kennealy- The Oak Above the Kings (A Tale of Arthur Volume 2)

Piers Anthony- Isle of Woman 

Guy Gavriel Kay- A Song For Arbonne

Michael Moorcock- "Elric: Stealer of Souls" (#11 of the Eternal Champion Omnibus series)

L. Dean James- Sorcerer's Stone

Michael Williams "From Thief to King" Trilogy #1 The Sorcerer's Apprentice

Donna Gillespie- Lady of the Light

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Richard Monaco- "Journey to the Flame"

Pulled this from my June list. This is the third Richard Monaco book I've read this year. A novel set in what I've figured out to be the year 1915. Journey to the Flame [Bantam Spectra, 1985, 260 pages] was a strange novel. I like the premise, but the reading itself made me uneasy at the least... I can't really recommend reading this book.

The adventure rides on the idea that H. Rider Haggard's novel She depicts a real place. An occult order known as Thule seeks out and kidnaps the author- and enlists, or rather threatens him into finding Kor, the lost African city from his book. They are convinced that Kor exists while Haggard denies it. I thought it was an interesting idea in itself- the artist becoming trapped within his own creation. But the novel didn't focus in on this idea as I expected it to.

The main antagonists are the members of Thule, several Europeans including German officials who are superiors and mentors to Hitler. Hitler himself has almost a cameo appearance early in the novel(he is in his twenties). The Antagonists weren't characterized very well; none of them were extremely memorable and are easy to get confused.

Haggard's nephew Woody is another central character. He works on planes, and has built a two engine biplane, which he flies to Africa in pursuit of Haggard's captors. A lot of the great action sequences have to do with this aircraft: takeoff, landing, and flight itself are all dangerous business. There is an armed gunfight between the plane and a German blimp; natives chase down the plane as it takes off; pilot loses control of the plane. These are some of my favorite moments here. 

The parties land, and are forced to slug through a deep dark swamp. A dense layer of smoke blocks out the sky and begins to descend into the swamp. As they get closer to the lost city of Kor, the entire group starts fading in and out of some dream world, or alternate timeline or dimension. There is an ancient battle concurrently happening in the temple where the events as the protagonists. The characters are all somehow phased into alternate personas from the past, and can see both. So each character now has a second name, as their 'ethereal counterpart' if you will. It got so confusing as the narrative jumped around between all of these different characters, viewpoints from both the past and present. It was hard to tell what was actually going on during some of those chapters! Ayesha, or She-who-must-be-obeyed, from She, makes her own appearance, to face off a demonic lord known as Relti, who seeks to consume all (in the ancient past). The ancient struggle has to do with the descendants of the Atlanteans making war with Lemurians. Pretty far flung, definitely went out of bounds in some places.

The Flame itself is found within the temple of Kor. This flame provides the only light through the dark smoke that the characters are fighting through. This is where the climax of the novel takes place; most all of the characters end up in the chamber of the Flame. Here is what I love about Richard Monaco- he can find a way to get many points of view to converge at the same time and place, and builds up to this very well. 

Finally, I have to say, this book is pretty racist, overrun with extreme stereotypes. The Germans are all portrayed as scheming, world domination types. From their mouths, racial slurs are said in dialogue on many occasions. Getting into the minds of these German politicians during the decades leading up to WWII is bound to be nasty stuff. There are anti sematic outcries as well. 'Historical accuracy', I guess you could say, but it doesn't result in something I actually want to read. 

Don't read it. Certainly did not live up to my expectations and was not even all that readable. Sorry, Mr. Monaco, but thumbs down on this one!

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New Arrivals (11-21)

A small few titles to add to the list. Nothing too lengthy here. 

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Phyllis Ann Karr- The Idylls of the Queen (Arthurian)

John Clagget- Cradle of the Sun (Written in 1952, the oldest novel on my list)

T.J. Bass- The Godwhale (Another Science Fiction novel creeps onto the list.)

Thorarinn Gunnarsson- Song of the Dwarves

Ardath Mayhar- People of the Mesa

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First North American series (Kathleen O'Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear)

Now this looks like one hell of a series. So many volumes, none of them short. Usually I'm not for series that last 6 books or more, and I doubt I'll read most of these any time soon.

Written by two authors (A married couple, who happen to both be archaeologists), and has a lot of research behind it. It seems like one of those series where everything is rooted in Archaeology, Anthropology, Ecology; nothing is without foundation. Which I can tell, is going to be dense reading. What's great about this series though, is that they don't seem to be connected by storyline. Each novel has a specific time period, and region of North America, and a distinct people that it focuses on. So as I see it you can read them in any order you choose!

No, I haven't read any of these yet. Just making a list (for my own reference) of which ones I have collected and which I haven't.

In my collection:

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People of the Fire

People of the Nightland (Most likely I'll read this one first)

People of the Owl 

People of the Masks

People of the Lightning

People of the Sea

People of the River

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Yet to find:

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People of the Wolf

People of the Earth

People of the Lakes

People of the Silence

People of the Mist

People of the Raven

People of the Moon

People of the Weeping Eye

People of the Thunder

People of the Longhouse

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