Compulsion and Conundrum

Is it mad that I want to buy a book for the sole purpose of taking a picture of it, for my 'read in 2017' post?

I've read the novel, but in an edition that is an omnibus of that one and its sequel, so I feel unable to put it on the pile. I feel like I could buy it because the book itself was very good and touched on themes I love to see in stories, and the cover for the original paperback isn't at all atrocious.

Here's the book in question.

Not your typical Sword and Sorcery novel wouldn't you say?

It also would (maybe) take away the need, no; the pressure, no; The POUNDING COMPULSION to plow through the same omnibus again before the end of the year, this time reading both books back to back, and reviewing the whole (though that would not be for this year). 

 This reading-the-whole-omnibus-idea also seems to conflict with my 'want to read in 2018' scheme.... which just adds yet another incentive to buying the stand-alone novel.

Buying an older copy of book 1 would (/might), in effect, stifle the need for finishing the omnibus by the end of the next month because even if there's no review of it, there would be a version of the novel I'd read in the pile, even if what was on the pile wouldn't actually be the version I'd  read (which, again, maybe I shouldn't but I am going to reiterate at this point, I would be unable to put on the pile because I haven't yet read both novels therein and the reading plan for next year necessitates a complete re-read of the book I already read, hence my thought that I should buy a different copy).

The marvelous evil-doer at the heart of these mental perambulations

Maddening cyclical reasoning, indeed, dear sir or madam.

The whole conundrum is utterly ridiculous, in any case: first world problems.

And yet. And yet the thoughts are still grinding away in my head, and I can't just shove them aside.

I suppose it's the same issue I'm having now with telling myself I can put the Necronomicon omnibus on the 2017 read-pile.

"Yes, yes I FINISHED it this year, but the bulk of it was read over the PREVIOUS years..."

But I find I can easily solve that one by argumenting that those anthology novels, despite having been partially read in 2016 as well weren't eventually part of the picture that I took that year.

Which validates Necronomicon but still brings up the Von Bek omnibus one... and besides, it isn't as if it was a small part (of the overall book) that I read: The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath was 80 pages, and the Afterword was another 50. That's a good chunk of the book.

...

I just now realized that I have actually done what I first was harping on about earlier with another novel already this year: buying a new copy to put on the read-pile in lieu of the omnibus version.

The difference, of course, lies in that the Necronomicon is a collection of short stories, whereas that other (Vampires) was made up of several books AND short stories...

Laying it out like this still doesn't help me though.

Ah fuck it, it's 5 pounds. Just do it and stop thinking. You've spent way more time on this than it merits.

-----

Aaaaaand when picking books to take the pictures I realize that the novel I've bought to stand in place for the Vampires Omnibus isn't actually that particular novel of that omnibus that I've read this year.

I knew that it wasn't Ancient Blood and I didn't really mind at the time, as I have long had this hidden goal, which is so insane that I don't want to write it down or say aloud for fear of making it real, for fear of making me commit to it. And if I'm honest to myself, it's this goal rather than the replacement copy I stated I needed that urged me to make the purchase.

With this information in mind, I find that I have actually no problem with putting the Vampires omnibus on the read-pile. Huh.

Anyway. A middle way for the Von Bek novels then? Read this year, review at the start of the next? Would that smear the greasy ill-smelling ointment of comforting, cooing platitudes on my frustrated and bewildered brain?

...

Nope. Nope, I don't think so.

Shit, I guess I'll go sleep on it.

I have to get up for work in 6 hours. I'm just quickly posting this so it's out of my system, and because, groggy and tired as I am, I'm more inclined to post this now as it is rather than risk waking up tomorrow and deleting it all in annoyed self-reproach.

Sharing is caring... but then, for myself? Caring for myself?
...
Hell, maybe I'm just here to entertain.

Edit: Slip-shod Rough-shod but there it is. Slight edits but nothing big.
Oh, and I'm buying the novel. It's got a bad-ass cover. That's all it needs really.

Book Haul and Blog Update

Latest haul, saved up since last time... If you don't count the Books of Babel, Slaine Brutania or the previous Grim Bookshop post.
I've been working on something but I'm finding it tough going. I was thinking about not doing anymore of these Book Haul posts but as I don't want a post-drought either I'll settle for some easy content instead while I take my time editing the shit out of the difficult one. (there's actually a few big posts I'm working on but that last one has picked up some steam recently and is nearing its end or its discontinuation.)

So, feast and rejoice! Here be Book Porn!

Let's focus on the more intriguing parts first.
The three boxes to the left.

Roadside Picnic; the inspiration for the move 'Stalker'
and the Stalker video games.

Something Wicked This Way Comes

Mythago Wood

These mugs were inspired by the Sci-fi and Fantasy masterwork editions published by Gollancz.
I found these on the Bookdepository site and didn't wait too long to pick them all up.

Oddly, only one of these three has actual artwork from a fantasy Masterwork edition. Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way comes. A quick search online reveals all three works of art come from artist Autun Purser's Project Fantastic Travel Destinations.
It also explains why these mugs are titled according to the book's location and not the title, though the author's name is present.

Go give that site a look; if you're a genre lover it'll be worth your time. The plateau of Leng one might be my favourite. Utter Lovecraftian bleakness.

As you can see these books are all similarly themed trade paperbacks. They were published in 2008 by Gollancz. The story goes that besides the Sci-Fi Masterworks and the Fantasy Masterworks series there was supposed to be a third series, namely the Horror Masterworks series.

As the reception of the Fantasy Masterworks was less than anticipated Gollancz decided not to continue with plans for the Horror Masterworks. In 2007 they tried again, but on a smaller scale, keeping every collection limited to just 8 books. That year they lead with the Beautiful Future Classic series for Sci-fi. In 2008 the Ultimate Fantasies Sequence for fantasy, which needs not be talked about here as I did an informative post on it a little while ago.
And for horror they published the Terror... wait.

The Terror 8. Here with missing matching edition of Fevre Dream. Because online sellers are too lazy to actually be accurate in picture, description and ISBN numbers...

These books are rather hard to get and Fevre Dream is precisely the book that made me hold off on trying to acquire these 8 books before. Until last year somewhere I had never even seen the elusive blue cover of the Terror 8 books. That is until I found the Caustic Cover Critic Blog, who gave a good but dismissive look at the 8 books. Gollancz Horrors

It made me slightly more comfortable with going after these books as I could plainly see that all 8 covers were indeed matching.
In a harried month of comparing Ebay descriptions with what information I had, I got lucky with 7 out of 8 books, but not the one I was actually worried about... Naturally.
So the hunt continues, at a leisurely pace of course, I don't have much time to read these days. And on the days that I work, I don't even have the inclination to when I come home. So there's no rush, though I would like to have a complete set.

Onwards.

I have an upcoming post about the Michael Moorcock Collection soon. Something to kick off, hopefully, a long line of posts, stretching into the future. Several things have kept me from committing to it though. The sheer scope of Moorcock's Multiverse for one. The blog is another, specifically, the fear that I will never manage to keep a meaningful blog going. I don't  easily share stuff, and it's sometimes hard to keep that up. Regardless, I do have some personal goals that I feel I have to post on the blog. They mostly concern favourite books and some personal stuff besides.
It's a different sort of blog to what I was expecting this to be. But I feel like this might be more comfortable. A comfortable groove into which I'm settling.

Be yourself, don't try to be anything other than who you are, because every seat but yours is taken; you wouldn't believe how that message has been hammered into me over the past few weeks. Movies, series, books, games and comics; bizarrely they've all had that message directed at me over the course of the last month. I figure I should listen and do what comes natural.

Another ramble, another personal tidbit, so now about those three books:
These three books are added to the Moorcock shelf, to wait a while before they are read. The Eternal Champion will be read (reasonably) soon, as will Hawkmoon: The History of the Runestaff.
Count Brass will probably not be for this year. The reason for that will become apparent in the first Moorcock collection blog post.

The Goon Library Editions 3 and 4, still wrapped in their protective plastic. Normally edition 2 should've been on the pile this month as well but something has gone wrong at the DPD center where it got checked in by the book's sellter; it hasn't moved since. I've mailed the seller, but as they haven't contacted me back I'm looking into contacting the DPD center.

And here's some galactic horror with the Southern Cross volume 1 and Nameless.
I've already read Southern Cross.
I found it appalling. I Already started a blog post on it, but I (might) have abandoned it since I'm really uncomfortable giving negative opinions. And believe me, I have nothing positive to say about it.

Nameless then, by Grant Morrison I haven't read yet. But I'm pretty sure it'll be good. I took a glance at the first few utterly bewildering pages and figured that, with some open-mindedness it shouldn't be a problem. I'm looking forward to it.

Here is book 2 of the Manifest Delusions series.
Book 1, Beyond Redemption, was some of the utterly darkest grimdark I've ever read. So its sequel is another one I'm looking forward to, though I doubt I have time to read it anytime soon, which is a real shame.

I do think that is Bedeckt, which is a very disturbing notion.
I mean, I knew he was scarred, but Jesus man...

And here is the back, for those interested.

It comes with quite a humorous author picture.
Ever wondered what kind of man writes this kind of mad fiction?

At the very least; you know he has a sense of humour.

I'm not sure right now if he has another book in the Manifest Delusions setting, either out now or upcoming, but I'll buy it if it exists. I got a pre-order for Evil is a Matter of Perspective, which will be out later this month in trade paperback from online sellers. Evil is a grimdark fantasy short fiction collection with such writers as Fletcher himself, Theresa Frohock, whose Miserere I loved, brian Staveley, Janny Wurts, Scott Bakker and others. I missed out on the kickstarter for the book, but I'm happy to have a trade paperback without all the toppings If I can't get them with.

I still feel as if somehow Beyond Redemption was a fluke. But its dedication to themes of mental ilness and the magic system built upon that, the utterly horrible characters, the shocking events and violence in the book, not to mention the master plan of the main villain, have made me a fan.
I only hope book 2 will be half as good as the first. (shit, I'm really not a fan of hyperbole, what I meant is that; of course it should be as good as book 1)

Here is a bittersweet little comic. Bittersweet because of the feelings it summons, not because it might be bad because I haven't actually read it yet.

Bittersweet because Penny Dreadful's first 2 seasons were a good example of an utterly immaculate Horror show.

It fell on its face, a bit, in season 3, like, though not as bad or as hard as, say, that other 2-season perfect horror show; Hannibal. But Penny Dreadful season 3 was not as it should have been.

And John Logan's bullshit post-finale propaganda was utterly insulting. It didn't help with me trying to forgive the show. Don't get me wrong, I loved what season 3 was doing, and I believe , for instance, that the central plotline; Vanessa's story, would have ended this way regardless in either five seasons or 6. Those final scenes with her would have been (hopefully) the same, had they been put in season 5, they were that good. It was mostly just everything else that I had a problem with. The rushing, the dismissal of several key characters and plotlines. The hackneyed lobbing together of every plotline there at the end. But mainly: We Were Promised More. I might have more to say on this at a later time, either in a potential review of the comic or in a look at the series itself but for now I'll leave it be.

A pretty good likeness too,
Eva Green, everybody.

Next up, Demon-slaying mystery in Brittania.

Romans. Demons. Swords. Blood. Where have you been all my life?
No I'm exagerating. I don't like Romans; dirty fascists. The old ones, I mean.
I don't have a problem with current day Romans.
Though I'm not fond of the Vatican, I suppose.

Don't know much about it and will keep it thus, until I start reading it.

I've saved the best for last, of course.

A little bent, but right now that is ok. 

This is Gollancz's Future Classic edition of Hyperion. One of my most favourite books ever (read).

I suppose the spikes are meant to summon up imagery of the book's metal monster; the Shrike. It's a little too abstract though. If I was to have designed the cover I think I would've used an negative and stylised image of the Shrike Tree. Spikes and corpses, but somehow minimalist. Maybe the focus on one spike with a body impaled on it just barely visible.
But Hell I'm not an artist so it really is fine the way it looks. I mean, how would the Shrike look compressed in time if not as a ball of spikey singularity?

Here is some more pictures, in different angles, since I haven't seen many pictures of these books online. I figured someone might be served by me showing the book from multiple angles.

Reading Update

I've started reading Von Bek and it's already better and more engaging than the two Elric volumes I've read since last month.

It's not that the 2 Elric books were bad, boring or unambitious... They're not.
But still, they did take me a month to read though, both of them together at a little over 600 pages. I've literally read more of Von Bek, in one day (which was last saturday), in a few sessions than I have in any 4 consecutive days over the last month.
I also have no desire or interest to actually talk about the Elric books as they just seem so run of the mill. (though I did end up writing alot: completionist is as a completionist does, I suppose. As a consequence the two elric books will get their own post. )

So then, with that out of the way, about Von Bek.
The first thing that is noticable is that the story's in first person. the framing device and narrative conceit for the story is that this tale has been, not written by but, only translated by Michael Moorcock from an unearthed Manuscript found in the walls of an old monastary.

The second thing you'll most likely notice is the morally ambiguous, selfish and self-centered, very complex hero that puts what I've read of Elric to shame. (though as soon as we get a little mileage with him it does seem like Moorcock just put some dark stuff at the start of the book so he can be continuously noble later on.)

Something that I though was very well done was the build up for the various mysteries all leading up to the big reveal, even knowing beforehand what it is, it being the book's central premise, made me grin almost constantly.

The conversations with Sabrina, including underlying sexual tension, had me riveted and I can honestly say it's more fun than anything I've read in a month. Specifically I want to draw some attention to that part about Eve; you'd think this wouldn't be an original take on the serpent or used as a vehicle for feminism, but it's certainly the first time I've come across this idea.

 And then immediately after that, the lie is given to the lifting up of freedom as a concept and an ideal that everyone should and does strive toward. And I found myself easily agreeing.
It's like that time In The Dark Knight when the Joker equates himself to a dog chasing after cars. "I wouldn't know what to do with one if I'd caught it." A slave to nature, not logical reasoning.

Reading these parts it's like looking at constant barrage of fireworks, especially for me.

Of course none of these are new themes and virtually all of them have been adressed in, say for instance a work likex Malazan, but never just as plainly and clearly, without disambiguation, as here.

It's also that it feels like these themes speak directly to me.
Themes of faith, metaphysics and religion; specifically the variations of and in christianity.
Oh, and despite Ulrich strident complaints of not actually willing to engage in discussions of a metaphysical nature; at this point it's become unavoidable.
He's in the wrong series of books to get away from it.

Also this little quote. A very obvious recognition of the darkness that comes before.

Of course, this also ties into the straying into nihilism stemming from loss of faith that I've been suffering from (or been delivered into). This isn't a recent thing, it's just something that rises occasionally from its dormancy and starts yanking my chain, to drag me down into a dark well.

I suppose it's a goal and purpose thing. Or lack of it.

So anyway, so far, the book is a winner on almost every level for me.

Also. I saw a mouse when I came down the stairs this morning.

A terrified little creature, blinded by the (flash)light of a higher being.
Serves him right for keeping me up at night.

I gave him some cheese though, so it's all good.

Comic Book Haul and Slight Insight

And another heap of purchases...

By now it's probably clear that I get as much joy or even more from purchasing a new book than I get from actually reading one.

Purchasing a new book holds promise, of new lands and secrets, of untold and unthinkable knowledge, of a new author's style and themes, of loss and joy possible to be held off at a comfortable arm's length (the book to be put down whenever it's too much, like the ending to Y the Last Man...). the hope that this book, THIS BOOK!, will be the perfect book for me and that I will have never read a book that will touch me as deeply as this book, a book that'll be ideally for me in this moment, a perfect alignment of circumstance, a book so good it'll inspire me to do god knows what to god knows who and what and how.

It's mostly an idle hope though isn't it?
I don't know about you, but it's a rare book or book series that makes me a fan. and then usually only after some time when I can look back at it.
There are always exceptions though, but only the best break all the rules.

In general though, most times it's more fun to look back on a book than it was to actually read it.

As it happens I'm reading Elric: The Fortress of the Pearl and I've hit quite an interesting part of the story. In it, Elric and Oone are travelling through the dream realms, and they've just arrived in Marador, The land of old desires.
And here this conversation happens:

Better surely to continue looking, even when the reality can only prove inadequate when compared against hope. To do otherwise would be to give up, give in.

Maybe that's what all this manic buying is, a desperate gamble for fulfillment. and if not that, then at least a weekly dose of hope.
We all have ways to cope, this one's one of mine.

Here then we have Fell, volume 1. A comic I'd like to give a post of its own soon because it's really quite good. A plunge into darkness when you need it.

Next up, another horror comic. one that I won't read for quite a while. Though I am slightly and cautiously intrigued. Providence, Act 1.

I used a flash to take this picture. though things are certainly clearer, it does tend to spoil the background effect a bit. I'm not sure about it yet.

Anyway, Providence is a prequel and a sequel to Alan Moore's Neonomicon.

A comic both reviled and adored by horror fans. I'm not sure how I stand on it. You know, even despite being so damn nasty, there is a perverse allure to it. It's got Lovecraft horror and clean line art and there also might be more to it than meets the eye. And anyway. If you've stuck through the horrifying set-up in Neonomicon, why wouldn't you stay for the pay-off in Providence?
Or at least if this will eventually lead to what I think will happen. Either way, Alan Moore continuing with his meticulous take on Lovecraft's universe.

As I'm in the process of reading Elric I thought I'd pick up the comics as well, or at least those in stock anyway. So here we have the start of the Michael Moorcock Library, which will apparently run to 12 or 14 books (6 Elric, 4 Hawkmoon, 2 or 4 Corum, or is it the other way around?)
These will be read in the far future, when I'm done with both Elric, Hawkmoon and Corum at least. For now it's just fun to have them.

And here are is a deliciously grimdark version of Elric, and apparently quite gleefully accepted by Moorcock himself. I've taken a look at the art and some of the story and it is really quite bad-ass.

Up next is a project that I've had my eye one ever since I learned of the comic on the late blog of Graeme Flory some years ago; The Goon.

That man got me into alot of things, if I think about it. Judge Dredd for one, and his recap of the Black Company books was amazingly insightful. I wonder what happened to him?

Anyway,  with library edition volume 5's publication date looming close on the horizon I thought it would be a good time to start collecting. A very fancy edition. Dark Horse do tend to have high quality special editions. I'll continue collecting the rest next month.

And here are two books I bought without checking to see if they'd actually be worth it.
A very lazy thing to do, as Seven to Eternity is still on my shelf, bought specifically to see if Fear Agent would be my thing.
But, in the end I figured, why not just jump into it, it's complete at any rate. 

And lastly, A book I've already read. In its individual issues anyway.

I came to this one because it was written by Xavier Dorison, whose writing and themes I absolutely love, and because it had demons in it.

When Humanoids finally released the series in its own hardcover omnibus I knew I had to have it. I pre-ordered it a while ago and it finally arrived this month. A beautiful book.

The story is reasonably good, especially as in the end it really can only end one way. The art is so and so; what you see is what you get. Adequate smaller pannels and absolutely beastly big panels.

Dorison and Lauffrey, the same team that did the phenomenal Long john Silver comic book. That one still beats out this one in terms of quality, but it still isn't close to being bad.