At Last

Finally!
Arrived a day late on saturday evening at 19:15.
Really? REALLY? How is this so late!?

That is some shitty pre-order doings!

The Ultimate Fantasies Sequence (2008), Gollancz

The Ultimate Fantasies Sequence was published in 2008 by the UK-based Orion Publishing Group under their Gollancz imprint, which, simply because it specialises in Science Fiction and Fantasy, is the best book publisher ever.

Collecting 8 Books from various sub-genres in the fantasy genre,

namely; 

Fairy tales (Lud-in-The-Mist),

Sword and Sorcery (The Conan Chronicles, Elric, Lankhmar),

mythology (The Broken Sword, Lyonesse),

Slipstream/ Science fantasy ( Chronicles of Amber)

and historical fantasy (the Dragon Waiting).

Given the variety and high quality of the books in its list I suppose the UFS is meant to give a taste of the wide-ranging flavours in the Fantasy genre, with an emphasis on Literary fantasy.

Arranged here by internal order The Ultimate Fantasies Sequence consists of;

-The Conan Chronicles by Robert E. Howard (ISBN: 978-0-575-08273-1)

Edited by Stephen Jones, collecting the short stories;
'The Hyborian Age' (1936)
'The Tower of the Elephant' (1933)
'The Hall of the Dead (synopsis)' (1976)
'The God in the Bowl' (1952,1975)
'Rogues in the House' (1934)

'The Hand of Nergal (fragment)' (1976)
'The Frost-Giant's Daughter' (1953,1976)
'Queen of the Black Coast' (1934)
'The Vale of Lost Women' (1967)
'The Snout in the Dark (draft)' (1969,1979)
'Black Colossus' (1933)
'Shadows in the Moonlight' (1934)
'A Witch shall be Born' (1934)
'Shadows in Zamboula' (1935)
'The Devil in Iron' (1934)
'The People of the Black Circle' (1934)
'The Slithering Shadow' (1933)
'Drums of Tombalku (Draft)' (1966,1986)
'The Pool of the Black One' (1933)
Map of the Hyborian Age (2000)

-Elric by Michael Moorcock (ISBN: 978-0-575-08270-0)

Collecting several stories and novels;
'The Dreaming City' (1961)
'While the Gods Laugh' (1962)
'The Stealer of Souls' (1962)
'Kings in Darkness' (1962)
'The Caravan of Forgotten Dreams' (1962)
'Stormbringer' (1965,1977)

-Lankhmar  by Fritz Leiber (ISBN: 978-0-575-08274-8)

Collecting the novels;
'Swords and Deviltry'
'Swords against Death'

'Swords in the Mist'
'Swords Against Wizardry'

Though the copyright states 2001, the individual novels were actually
collected from seperate short stories. The first 2 (chronological) novels were then published in 1970, the other two in 1968.
This complete gathering of the first 4 books in the canon takes it copyright date from the Fantasy masterwork edition of the First book of Lankhmar.

-Lyonesse  by Jack Vance (ISBN: 978-0-575-08271-7)

Consisting of
'Suldrun's Garden' (1983)

-Lud-In-The-Mist by Hope Mirlees (ISBN: 978-1-8579-8767-6)

Consists of
 'Lud-in-the Mist' (1926)

(has the honor of having the flat-out best cover in the UFS;
Sophie Toulouse's 'Fallen Angel Nation of Angela')

-The Broken Sword by Poul Anderson (ISBN: 978-0-575-08272-4)

Consists of
'The Broken Sword'  (1954)

-The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny (ISBN: 978-0-575-08269-4)

Collecting the novels;
'Nine Princes in Amber' (1970)
 'The Guns of Avalon' (1972)
 'Sign of the Unicorn (1975)
 'The Hand of Oberon' (1976)
 'The Courts of Chaos' (1978)

 These are the 5 first novels of the Chronicles of Amber series. The Chronicles of Amber can be divided into two parts; 1-5 (the Corwin Cycle) and 6-10 (The Merlin cycle).
So this book can stand on its own.

-The Dragon Waiting by John M. Ford (ISBN: 978-0-575-07378-4)

Consists of
'The Dragon Waiting' (1983)

Covers and artwork rundown

The beautiful Cover Illustrations are by parisian freelance artist Sophie Toulouse and the overall cover design is by UK-based independent designer Sue Michniewicz.

Credit where it is due; the covers are nicely uncluttered with only the artwork, the book's title and the author's name on a white background. On the back we have some short cover blurb, a title repetition, a short, simple postivive description of the book in general, some simple publishing details and a review quote by a famous author.

Working with only a few colours; grey, white and black for the artwork plus another single colour unique to each book which is also used for the book titles on front, back and spine.
This colour is also used for the Review quote's author name, the general description and the first letter of the Book Blurb.
The book author's name is in black on the front.

small note:
For several of my personal books this colour has been given a reflective finish which is super lovely, I assumed this depended on the printed edtition but my edition of Lankhmar kind of blows that out of the water, So I'll just give the facts rather than position a theory to this curious phenomenon;
 Elric (1st ed) blue, Lyonesse (1st ed) pink, Lud-in-the-Mist (3d ed) green, The Conan Chronicles (1st ed) silver, Lankhmar (4th ed) red, The Dragon Waiting (1st ed) cyan.  This reflective finish is present on cover and spine, but not on the back.
And I also have some books which do not have that same finish, just the same colour without reflective treament, which is just a bit sad; The Broken Sword (4th ed) orange, Chronicles of Amber (6th ed) purple.


Differences between the Fantasy Masterworks and the Ultimate Fantasy Sequence

The reason for this post is that in trying to collect these books, as usual several years too late, I had alot of trouble getting them (being not born in the UK and not having access to any good second hand english book shops), as online sellers are kind of slapdash with information.

There's not alot of information surrounding them so I looked around and from either the internet or my own finally complete set tried to compile as much information as possible.

Also, because people like to lump these books together with the Gollancz' Fantasy Masterworks series and that's obviously not actually accurate.

To that end I'll now list some differences:

In general:

Obviously the covers and ISBN numbers are different. but is there, besides the very pretty covers, any actually added value to the series?

On the whole, I'd say no, The Fantasy Masterworks actually contain some extra bit of stuff, even some things that I thought were integral to the novels.

The 'Also by the author' pages, dedications and author blurb are retained though they are always added at the back of the book.
There is a reduced number of review quotes
Index sections were left out completely.

Noteworthy differences

For The Conan Chronicles there is no afterword or index in the book that was present in the original Fantasy Masterworks edition, there are also no acknowledgements at the start of the Copyright Pages. The Map of the Hyborian Age can be found at the back.

For the Broken sword there is a notable difference in the newer U(nnumbered)FM edition, which comes with a new introduction by Michael Dirda. There is no introduction present in the original FM edition. The (unsigned) foreword by Poul Anderson is added to the back.

The Dragon Waiting has 'a historical note' and 'shadows as they pass' at the back. These are two sets of notes relating to history and characters.
There is no index and no attention is given to the FM edition's imposing typeset (used for the titles).
There really is no contest in which of the two is the superior version.

Lankhmar is another one with big differences. There's no index.
Normally every individual novel in the First book of Lankhmar (Fantasy Masterworks nr18) has a list of humorous contents and descriptions of the different acts in the book, which slyly alludes to Fritz Leiber's past on stage. In the UFS these have been left out completely.
(Also, the copyright page states that the copyright dates from 2001 which is obviously not the publication date of the original novels, but the date of publication of the Fantasy masterworks edition of the First Book of Lankhmar.)

Elric has no index. Map is at the back.

Chronicles of Amber has no index.

(I don't have any FM editions of Lud-in-the-Mist and Lyonesse so I can't really compare those)

I'll update this picture when I get the other two. Some time...

Also, feel free to point me to any new information regarding this series or correct erroneous information as I have tried to be as complete as possible, but it's easy to miss things or make errors.

Review: Ichabod Azrael

Here is The Grievous Journey of ICHABOD AZRAEL (and the dead left in his wake)

I mentioned before that I'd had my eye on this one for a while. I was interested in this one not just because of the cool cover or because of the blurb which pointed to a conflict between mortals and the powers of Heaven and Hell, but also because of this little youtube video, which is part of the ABC's of 2000ad youtube series, where they go through their entire backcatalogue, giving 3 minutes of information about every individual title that has been printed in their publishing history;

Among other things; such as comparing it to Garth Ennis' Preacher (which I don't like all that much, but the idea at its core is still an interesting one and the tv-show is pretty damn entertaining), what in particular drew my attention was that it was going to be a metafictional tale; meaning that it would be aware of its own storytelling gimmicks or that it would play around with them, giving a self-aware look at its own goals and story, possibly while commenting on the medium of storytelling in, and of, comics in general.

Oh yes, and there would be demons. And angels. A hunt for God. And brutal violence and copious amounts of gory bloodshed. All while clothed in a western duster, and while wielding 2 demon-killing revolvers.

It was a really good tale, delivering on all my expectations. With old-fashioned tough-as-nails gunslingers, demonic and angelic mayhem, some reality hopping, occasional and frequently humorous sidekicks and in the last act; enough food for thought to keep you mulling for a while. The meta parts (both physical and fictional) of the comic were pretty inspired.

The metafictional parts in particular are done quite well. This is not a tale that would work outside of the medium of comics. Despite the book's abrupt end, because of its self awareness it ends up working.

It's worth noting that the story consists of three arcs and that the metafictional context only really starts to come to the fore in the last third. 

I suppose the art deserves a mention. the story switches, for reasons, between monochromatic art and colour and it does it to great effect. The art itself isn't something to write home about for the first two parts, but part three has alot more detail put in. It's always fun if the art is on an upward curve, isn't it?

The book comes with a pretty interesting introduction and an interview at the back with the comic's writer, but as the interview didn't actually add much to the reading experience and didn't have any information, besides the peripheral, on Ichabod Azrael itself I didn't appreciate it so much.

Apart from that, I enjoyed this one alot and I'd recommend it to people looking for mature and mythical storytelling with an emphasis on literary leanings.

Belated Book Haul Coverage

I had alot of stuff to do this month so there has been little time for both reading and blogging, little for even any of the stuff I normally do in my free time. Though Metal Gear Solid 5 is practically, but not completely, done as of now.

So. Just little time to devote to my blog and for now and in the near future I'm probably going to struggle to find time to write anything.

 It's a little stupid that I might have a job (or not) so soon after actually starting a blog, but hey, that's life for you. Whenever you get invested in something, you can be assured that something will try to get your attention away from it.

So there probably going to be quite a reduction in blog quality, but we'll see how it goes. Apologies.

Also apologies for the even more reduced quality of the pictures, some of my lights have broken and I haven't yet gotten around to fixing them.

Without further ado, though, here we go.

What you see here is my efforts to complete several series I had started collecting some time ago. A massive book-haul indeed.

First off; my continued collecting of the Michael Moorcock Collection, which I also have finally started reading. I've chosen to begin with Elric, despite being more intrigued by Von Bek.
I haven't read any Elric yet? Yes I know. I'm an uncultured swine.
At the time of writing I'm halfway into Elric of Melniboné. I am undecided as of yet.

Besides completing my Elric collection I also bought Behold the Man and Von Bek.
I had heard of Behold's reputation and am eager but also quite hesitant to take a look at it.
Von Bek was bought (besides of course just BECAUSE, and because I'm finishing collections) because its blurb sounded immensely appealing and also because of that title;

The War Hound and the World's Pain

Which is just so tragically beautiful.
For the longest time I thought it was The War Hound and the World's Woe though, would that have been even better?

Then we come to the UFS

the Ultimate Fantasy Sequence, which I will, now that my collection is complete, do a post on quite soon.

Apologies  again for the horrible quality of this particular picture; as the covers are white and very reflective it's astonishingly hard to take a decent picture of these books. The pictures were also taken in quite a rush.

The books themselves are quite beautiful though.

The top three were the ones that I had not had before, the lower two I bought thinking they would be the fantasy masterworks editions of the respective titles. Alas, those copies I already owned, though the Lyonesse one was in far better state than my previous copy. A win there.

Talking about the Fantasy Masterworks. Here's four more for my collection. And yes, they do absolutely HAVE to be those particular editions.

Once again; Elric. in almost a good state, but not quite. It came with an amusing 'Frozen' sticker on its spine. Would you believe I took it off?

Gloriana was in very good state and yes, again a novel by Moorcock.
Three Hearts and Three Lions has a faded spine but as this Fantasy Masterwork is particularly hard to get I'm not going to quibble.
Lyonesse 2 and 3 is in pretty bad shape, but again, since these little bastards are very hard to get I'm pretty happy to have them.

Here's some lovely Sci-fi from Neal Asher

I have quibbles with both of these books' covers.

The Gabble is matte non-reflective and feels a little flimsy, unlike every single other book of Asher I have! Though on the shelf the spines do match.
And War factory (book 2 of the transformation trilogy) has the Pan Macmillian icon in black, where it's supposed to be white... it doesn't even match with book 1 in the trilogy. (also both books should've had the Tor icon to match with the rest of the series, quite shitty.)

Regardless I have read the first 8 books in the Polity series and enjoyed them quite a bit.
I wonder if I'll ever get to continue reading them at this rate, though. Last one I read was the Technician and that was pretty damn awesome.

"Gabble, Gabble" said the Gabbleduck.

Next; A stupid purchase from me; I bought this hoping that this one wouldn't be completely similar to the book I already had.

It was though. Completely the same.

But at the time, I figured that the first one I got, being signed and made out to a blogger, had been some sort of a preview copy, thus explaining its glossy cover as opposed to the matte for books 1 and 3.
Yeah, I was wrong. The picture doesn't show it completely but in hand it's irritatingly noticable.

Shit, Nightshade, you need to stay on top of these things.
Ah well...

Next up, a rather stunningly ugly depiction of Red Agnes.

No, Red Agnes is not Red Sonja, Robert E. Howard is not responsible for the scantily clad big-titted red-head, but he might have been, had he had more time.

This purchase takes steps to continue collecting (and reading) Howard. all of his work in the DelRey editions which come with so many extras that it really is well worth the price. After this one six more books to go; Oddly enough, three of those are Conan, though I've actually read all of the tales already.

Here's an unknown quality as of yet, I have not read ANY Clark Ashton Smith, though he is widely regarded as the best of the Godfathers of Weird fiction.
This purchase completes my set of 5.
Wish I could have gotten the hardbacks though. But with Nightshade Press you're gambling with your money and satisfaction anyway. perhaps it's for the best. Cool publisher though. Maybe I should do a tiny blog post on them to alleviate some of the badmouthing I'm doing here.

Next up some comics.

A stunningly bad-ass cover for Northlanders book 2

Haven't read any Northlanders yet, though. Writer Brian Wood writes some gritty stuff apparently. But again haven't ready anything of his.
Nor any of his stint on Dark Horse Conan, haven't heard many good about that one.

shit, was this purchase a mistake?

Regardless, badass cover is worth the price.

Here I'm finishing up Hellboy. Though at the time of first reading I didn't think this particular story was any good.

Btw, for anyone interested; Hellboy in Hell Library edition is coming out this year.

In the meantime, feast your eyes on this blindingly cool cover.

A man goes to hell in...

And this isn't bad lighting either, no, that's the damn cover.

Been drooling over this one a while, anything with hell gets my attention.

And finally a few things that I mentioned I might get.

Both Sticklebacks and the odd-looking bitch of a cover of Ampney Crucis.
You wouldn't believe Eldritch Gods would have a hand in the story if you just based yourself on the cover, right? I first thought that thing on the right was a particularly vile house plant.
But yes, there are evil Gods. Apparently these comics form a part of an unofficial universe from Ian Edginton.

So, alot of books and comics and absolutely no time to read them.
Well done, Levi.
Well done. *Massive sigh of Sarcasm*

Bad BookDepository Post

You know, when you order online from a big store you'd expect to get decent copies of what you order.

Alright, ordering online comes with the caveat that your books might not always arrive in pristine condition.
There's always some dick on a sorting band somewhere who, because he's had a bad day; maybe he left his lunch at home, throws his packages with more force than neccessary, or some butter-fingered postman who drops your package on the ground and clumsily steps on it, then, enraged, kicks at the offending object and hopefully breaks his tiny toes, or maybe even some dog that gets hold of your anxiously awaited treasure.
Alot can happen underway, and you'd better be aware of that.

Here that explains why Elric is damaged. Wrapped (inadequately) in plastic and flimsy paper, the longer the travel time, the likelier it is to get damaged. I'm not really that upset about that one because yes, it does happen.

This doesn't explain the state of the Hellboy softcover though.
Wrapped in cardboard, and decently I would think.

 When I opened the package, which gave no outward sign of having been damaged, I found the trade in this state.

Not sure how that could have happened inside its protective wrapping without damaging the cardboard itself.

You sent me a damaged copy didn't you?And at full price?

Bad Bookdepository!

Some Music

Enjoy.

If you can't understand it. Don't worry, me neither and he's actually speaking my language.

Review: Judge Dredd America

I've been asked to make my posts a tiny bit smaller in order for them to be more readable. As this is probably the most important Judge Dredd story of all time, I'll still be self indulgent here and ramble on about whatever I think is important. But in the future I'll try to keep it down a bit.

Judge dredd America is probably the most famous of any and all Dredd stories
It certainly is the one everyone advises you to read if you ask for a good story to jump into the Judge Dredd comics.

And oddly enough, having finally read it, I'm not sure I agree.
Sure it was one of the most thought-provoking Dredd comics ever. But it was also alot darker than most of the Dredd stuff that I've read up until now. And I'm not sure if it's tonally indicative of the larger Judge Dredd world.
But then, I might not be the best person to give an assesment of this because the way I got into the Judge Dredd comics was not one that alot of people would follow.

Usually when I choose to go for something I tend to start from the beginning and plan for the whole way so I went and did the same thing with Judge Dredd.
I started at Complete Case Files 1 and then proceeded onwards, always sticking to the order of publication. Somewhere along the line I started using the Dredd Reckoning blog to add to my reading list. Now, almost 4 years later, after reading Complete Case Files 15, and after some stops along the way, occasionally re-reading some stuff and side-touring into Strontium Dog and a handful of Dredd crossovers, I've only just now read America.

My current Read-Dredd Collection.

So, I started at the beginning where all was still fun and games. Short, darkly humorous and violent comics for kids about a lawman in a fascist society endowed with the power of instant judgment, with macho one-liners from its straight-faced protagonist at the end of every issue. I ended up having a ton of laughs. Sure it got dark occasionally, but never as pervasively hopeless as it did here.
Anyway, I loved the big and fun 'Epics', from the ones that didn't influence Dredd's world so much, to the ones that did.
From the fun romps in the 'Cursed Earth' and the fun space-quest of the 'Judge Child', the ludicrous 'The Day the Law Died' storyline and the exciting and impactful 'Apocalypse War', to the mega sports event that still manages to get to me; 'OZ'.
I always enjoyed the clean, black and white line-work, running from the very beginning until its shift into colour. Even with the more experimental art that wasn't always my cup of tea, I mostly thought the artwork was at least ok. I wasn't a fan of Necropolis' art, but its story and scope was undeniably impressive. Tying backwards and forwards several volumes, it's one of most important Mega City Epics.

But here and now we come to the greatest Mega City Epic of all, not actually an epic as we know them to be in the Dredd-verse; but it is the single most crucial storyline that has mattered and will matter the most in the future.
The seeds of its plot had already been planted in earlier stories. But this one, this one story is the beating heart that in the end will give rise to the greatest Epic of Dredd's world.
The end to the Judicial system and the death of Judge Dredd.
Presumably.

As I mentioned, other stories gave rise to this one. It's been proceeded by 'Letters from a Democrat', which was the first story that showed what it was like to actually live under Judicial rule and showed Dredd not taking down criminals, but regular people, fighting, albeit with violence, for their rights in the Mega City.
In 'Revolution' a democratic march gets undermined and ruthlessly crushed by the Judges, led by Dredd himself. This led to the incredibly good and character forming 'Letters to Judge Dredd' which served as the kick-off for the sprawling Necropolis storyline.

Doubt.

And now here; is America.
It takes place after Necropolis but seemingly before the Referendum story arc, which explains Dredd's unflinching faith in the system and lets him be the avatar of unrepentant justice that, for this story to work, he needs to be.
After the calamity of Necropolis Judge Dredd's faith in the Judicial system has been revived and he is back to (for a while at least) believing that the judicial system is the best way forward for Mega City One.

Alrighty then. That takes care of my reading road so far, some of the background of the Mega City and the place of 'America' in the larger whole.
Let's continue.

This volume collects three linked stories. which had all been previously published in the Megazine, the companion anthology magazine to 2000ad, which features stories outside of the main storylines but that are canonically part of Dredd's world.
The titular America was the story that at the time kicked the Megazine off, comissioned in order to add a more adult flavor to the up until now adolescent kid stuff from the pages of 2000ad.
And more mature it is most certainly, as it contributes an immediate level of grimness and a way more in-depth look at the world of the judges and how it would actually be to just live as a regular citizen in this oppressive society.

For the first one I thought that having been exposed to so much of the 'America' storyline over the years on various blogs and review sites, without having actually read it, I figured I actually knew how it would end. I figured those 2 pictures people always show, to my mind, obviously showing the end, would actually be the end.
In a way it is, of course. But the truth is that the story doesn't end there.
And it's what comes after that was the true gutpunch. It's humanity at its most perverse and dark and wholly pathetic. but it lived up to my high expectations, turned them on their head and then surpassed them.

Small note, since the Dredd world ages in real time, the characters do too. We are still in the same continuity that started 40 years ago.

The second story, Fading of the Light,  was published 6 years later and thus takes place chronologically 6 years after the events of America. It nonetheless ties so closely to it that it might just as well have been just a few months, though obviously for spoilery reasons, it couldn't really. I was struck by the narrator's voice being practically the same to the narrating voice in America. You'd have thought that after 6 years they'd have mangled its tone a bit, but no, they didn't miss a beat. I appreciated that.
Fading of the Light ties off almost every dangling plot thread in a dark and subversive fashion while pointing the way to a slightly hopeful future.

The last storyline; Cadet, takes place about 10 years after Fading of the Light.
A look at the events from the first 2 stories through the lens of some if its principal characters. An involved and complex storyline with a brighter and more hopeful outlook.

So, as I said before, I was surprised at how dark the storyline got but what struck me too is how odd it was to come face to face with the fact that comics in general are just fucking weird. The Judge Dredd comics have never been anything but filled with fantasy and sci-fi and they've certainly been weird before and I really shouldn't have expected any different from America.
It's just that I thought that this tale was so well known and so popular that I expected it to be more grounded.

So, for a final verdict; I'm still not sure if it's entry level recommended. sure it's absolutely one of the best Judge Dredd comics out there. But if you start here, you start in the middle of a an ongoing storyline that has its origins built up over years and years.
A better place to start would be Complete Case Files 11, which, as it has the 2-parter; 'Revolution', is directly relevant to the events in America. It also has some silly and good stories, giving you a taster what the Judge Dredd Comic is capable of and has the added benefit of having the amazingly touching and fun 'Oz' epic.
Better still would be to read up on some of the background to the Mega City in Case Files 5 which collects the Apocalypse War and Block Mania.
Either way, the Dredd world has plenty of silly stuff to go with the darker side. Keep an open mind.



Alright, let's talk spoilers.
Spoilers for the entirety of Judge Dredd: America after the jump.
Seriously, don't read this if you even think you might pick up some Judge Dredd in the future.