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Post by timothymayer on Dec 18, 2009 1:39:34 GMT
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Dec 18, 2009 9:11:53 GMT
Thanks, interesting. This is like being in a pub quiz with everyone trying to remember the answer to number 3. Unfortunately, no answer to his identity. Maybe it was David Lindsay who wrote philosophical fantasy between the wars, died 1945 and considered himself a very serious writer. He had a good but not brilliant education and would have been broke enough and definitely wouldn't have wanted his identity known.
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Post by cw67q on Jan 6, 2010 19:35:46 GMT
I think this is probably the strongest of the three Hansom novels that I've read (the Beasts of Brahm & the Sorcerer's Chessmen being the others). All three have been fun though more than slightly loopy.
Shadow is perhaps a little more sedate than the other two, though hardly slow moving, and requires a little less complete banishment (mere suspension just wouldn't cut it) of disbelief.
I can't see that the writing is anything like that of David Lindsay, although I have only thus far read his "the haunted woman" and the Christmas Play printed in Doug Anderson's "Tales before Tolkein". Lindsay's writing seems to me far superior to the Hansom novels, but I'd recommend any of the Hamson books above for a fast paced highly enjoyable read. I am looking forward to the other promised volume(s) from Ramble House.
Anyone read any of the other Ramble House authors? I've just recently finished "the Yellow Mistletoe" (excellent) and "the Green Toad" (readably good). They strike me as exactly the sort of thrillers that Bertie is always reading in the Jeeves novels.
cheers - chris
ps just found your review of "the Flying Beast", Timothy
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Dec 8, 2012 18:41:54 GMT
I think this is probably the strongest of the three Hansom novels that I've read (the Beasts of Brahm & the Sorcerer's Chessmen being the others). All three have been fun though more than slightly loopy. Shadow is perhaps a little more sedate than the other two, though hardly slow moving, and requires a little less complete banishment (mere suspension just wouldn't cut it) of disbelief. Anyone read any of the other Ramble House authors? I've just recently finished "the Yellow Mistletoe" (excellent) and "the Green Toad" (readably good). I just finished Sorcerer's Chessmen. To echo Chris, it's a fun if somewhat strange read. Hansom manages to throw in two impressive twists by the halfway mark, the second of which is particularly effective. He's not what I would call a strong writer in terms of style, but the novel is fast-paced and has a lot of crazy energy. All in all, I liked it enough to give some of his other books a try. I credit (or maybe blame) Timothy, Chris, and James in equal parts for leading me into the bizarre world of 1930s British "thrillers." Having already read five of Jack Mann's Gees novels, the next Ramble House author on my list is Walter S. Masterman; The Yellow Mistletoe is currently sitting on my shelf. |
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Post by jamesdoig on Dec 9, 2012 0:14:44 GMT
I just finished Sorcerer's Chessmen. To echo Chris, it's a fun if somewhat strange read. I've been meaning to get the Ramble House edition of The Wizard of Berner's Abbey to compare it to the original Wright & Brown edition. I'm told RH used the Mellifont reprint which were invariably abridged, which might explain why some critics have given it terrible reviews. There are a couple of nice images, like this one where the hero breaks into the lab of the evil scientist/wizard and comes across something nasty: "The bowl was almost filled with fluid - water probably - and in the water was something that lived. As I looked at this thing I could not help giving an exclamation of disgust. It was shapeless - a dark mass, about six inches across. At one end there was a bulge that seemed to be a rudimentary head, and at the other end were two crude limbs. It had no feet, but it had a mouth that it kept always open, and it had two eyes, which also it kept open. These eyes were pale compared with the body - though the actual colours were neutralised by the grey light - and they were without pupil or iris. I assumed from this that the creature was unable to see. It gave no sign of possessing either faculties or senses; yet it undoubtedly lived, for it moved from time to time, rolling now this way and that. A more unholy sight I never witnessed. The creature belonged to no natural species of animal life. There was nothing fitting in its existence. It had not evolved and in its evolution adapted itself to a certain environment. It had none of the natural attributes of even the lowest forms of the living animal. It merely existed. It was no more than a lump of matter that had been given life. And it horrified and disgusted me profoundly." Sadly Hansom doesn't much expand on this Frankenstein theme, and the books ends disappointingly, but still worth a read. |
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Dec 9, 2012 2:31:19 GMT
I've been meaning to get the Ramble House edition of The Wizard of Berner's Abbey to compare it to the original Wright & Brown edition. I'm told RH used the Mellifont reprint which were invariably abridged, which might explain why some critics have given it terrible reviews. That's interesting--in his introduction to the RH edition of Sorcerer's Chessmen, John Pelan writes that the Mellifont "revisions are so brutally cut as to be pretty much incoherent." By the way, here's the facsimile dust jacket from Facsimile Dust Jackets L.L.C.It's not as striking as the Ryan dust jackets, but it does fit a key scene in the novel. |
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Mar 7, 2013 12:51:48 GMT
I've now read three Hansom novels--Sorcerer's Chessmen, Master of Souls, and The Beasts of Brahm--and found all of them ridiculous but good fun. Of the three, The Master of Souls is probably the best; it begins with a great, claustrophobic sequence set on a mysterious boat and features a silent but strong villain, the "Egyptian woman." The Beasts of Brahm, which I just read, features some strong racism even for the period, but the plot ultimately undercuts some of that (I shouldn't say more, given that part of the ending genuinely surprised me even though Hansom provided some clues about it that are clear in retrospect). Given that the Ramble House edition of The Wizard of Berner's Abbey is abridged I reckon that I'll skip that one. On the to-read-list is The Shadow on the House, which is held in high regard by both Karl Edward Wagner and Chris.
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