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Post by mcannon on Jul 29, 2016 5:24:59 GMT
One of my favourite Leiber novels is OUR LADY OF DARKNESS, which is a tribute to M R JAMES but set in modern (1977) day San Francisco. A superb book. Well written and very, very creepy. I can't find a more recent thread which talks about Our Lady of Darkness - apologies if I've missed it and I'm repeating what someone else has already said. Swan River Press has just reprinted The Pale Brown Thing, for the first time since its initial appearance in 1977. This is a novella which was (presumably immediately afterwards) expanded into Our Lady of Darkness (incidentally my absolute favourite Jamesian novel - I must have read it over a dozen times). Pale Brown Thing is not quite as good as Our Lady, mainly because (as John Howard explains in his perceptive afterward) it has less fleshing out of San Francisco as a character in its own right. But it's a typically gorgeous Swan River production and, in my opinion, a must for any Leiber fan. Agreed - I received my copy of "The Pale Brown Thing" just a couple of days ago, and it's a beautiful production. It also came with a nice postcard reproduction of the Ron Walotsky cover to the January 1977 issue of "The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction", which featured the first part of the serialised version. While I've read both versions there was a 20+ year gap between reading that original magazine serial and the novel, so I wasn't aware of the extensive differences between the two until I saw the announcement of the new edition. I'm looking forward to revisiting both. Mark
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Post by ropardoe on Jul 29, 2016 11:11:28 GMT
I can't find a more recent thread which talks about Our Lady of Darkness - apologies if I've missed it and I'm repeating what someone else has already said. Swan River Press has just reprinted The Pale Brown Thing, for the first time since its initial appearance in 1977. This is a novella which was (presumably immediately afterwards) expanded into Our Lady of Darkness (incidentally my absolute favourite Jamesian novel - I must have read it over a dozen times). Pale Brown Thing is not quite as good as Our Lady, mainly because (as John Howard explains in his perceptive afterward) it has less fleshing out of San Francisco as a character in its own right. But it's a typically gorgeous Swan River production and, in my opinion, a must for any Leiber fan. Agreed - I received my copy of "The Pale Brown Thing" just a couple of days ago, and it's a beautiful production. It also came with a nice postcard reproduction of the Ron Walotsky cover to the January 1977 issue of "The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction", which featured the first part of the serialised version. While I've read both versions there was a 20+ year gap between reading that original magazine serial and the novel, so I wasn't aware of the extensive differences between the two until I saw the announcement of the new edition. I'm looking forward to revisiting both. Mark Yes, the postcard (I'll use it as a bookmark!) is a lovely bonus. Swan River always does nice things like that.
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Post by Knygathin on Jun 6, 2017 19:19:42 GMT
Do you know which of Leiber's stories is depicted on the back cover of The Leiber Chronicles: Fifty Years of Frltz Leiber? An astronaut buried in sand, with his hand sticking up: A pity Fritz Leiber passed away shortly before this beautiful collection of his stories was published, and didn't get to see it.
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Post by ropardoe on Jun 7, 2017 8:28:40 GMT
Do you know which of Leiber's stories is depicted on the back cover of The Leiber Chronicles: Fifty Years of Frltz Leiber? An astronaut buried in sand, with his hand sticking up: A pity Fritz Leiber passed away shortly before this beautiful collection of his stories was published, and didn't get to see it. I can't help with your question, but I agree that this is a very good collection, though a few of my favourites aren't in it and there are some surprising omissions. It's also a bit typo-heavy: in "The Button Molder", for instance, Leiber says: "my one-room-and-bath was... getting crammed to the ceiling with my flies and books". Unless Leiber was into secret fly-fishing, I think this is a typo!
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Post by Knygathin on Jun 7, 2017 22:32:57 GMT
I can't help with your question, but I agree that this is a very good collection, though a few of my favourites aren't in it and there are some surprising omissions. It's also a bit typo-heavy: in "The Button Molder", for instance, Leiber says: "my one-room-and-bath was... getting crammed to the ceiling with my flies and books". Unless Leiber was into secret fly-fishing, I think this is a typo! And as far as I know, dead flies never pile up into heaps on shelves; they are eaten by microorganisms. ;.) At least we may be greatful as long as we can figure out the typos (here the "l" and "i" must have switched places), and not whole paragraphs are missing! Few selected stories collections are complete or perfectly well-rounded. I accept them as complementing each other. My pile of Leiber books is small, but I do also have the collection The Best of Fritz Leiber. I really liked "The Enchanted Forest" in that one (the main character appears very sharp, free of worries, like a beautiful demigod; reminding me of van Vogt's "The Monster"). But the celebrated "Space-Time for Springers" I didn't enjoy particularly. Do you enjoy his novel The Wanderer?
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Post by ropardoe on Jun 8, 2017 9:31:14 GMT
I can't help with your question, but I agree that this is a very good collection, though a few of my favourites aren't in it and there are some surprising omissions. It's also a bit typo-heavy: in "The Button Molder", for instance, Leiber says: "my one-room-and-bath was... getting crammed to the ceiling with my flies and books". Unless Leiber was into secret fly-fishing, I think this is a typo! And as far as I know, dead flies never pile up into heaps on shelves; they are eaten by microorganisms. ;.) At least we may be greatful as long as we can figure out the typos (here the "l" and "i" must have switched places), and not whole paragraphs are missing! Few selected stories collections are complete or perfectly well-rounded. I accept them as complementing each other. My pile of Leiber books is small, but I do also have the collection The Best of Fritz Leiber. I really liked "The Enchanted Forest" in that one (the main character appears very sharp, free of worries, like a beautiful demigod; reminding me of van Vogt's "The Monster"). But the celebrated "Space-Time for Springers" I didn't enjoy particularly. Do you enjoy his novel The Wanderer? I'm afraid I haven't read The Wanderer, though my other half has and enjoyed it. On the question of Leiber's novels, my enthusiasm for Our Lady of Darkness is well known here, but I recently had occasion to reread Conjure Wife and found it rather uncomfortable in its out-dated (I hope) attitude to women. On the omissions from The Leiber Chronicles, I think "The Hill and the Hole", "The Black Gondolier", "A Bit of the Dark World" and "Diary in the Snow" should all have been included.
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Post by helrunar on Jun 8, 2017 11:57:17 GMT
I would like to read Our Lady of Darkness. I have read very little of Leiber's work outside the Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser stories (which I knew and loved as a child). On a Clark Ashton Smith board a week or so ago, one of the old timers mentioned that CAS is a character in Our Lady of Darkness, along with Ambrose Bierce I believe. I'm intrigued.
H.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Jun 8, 2017 13:36:41 GMT
a Clark Ashton Smith board There is more than one?
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Post by Knygathin on Jun 8, 2017 13:50:24 GMT
I read Our Lady of Darkness in my upper teens, but didn't particularly like it and remember nothing from it. Perhaps its events were too intangible for me at that age.
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Post by ropardoe on Jun 8, 2017 14:14:59 GMT
I would like to read Our Lady of Darkness. I have read very little of Leiber's work outside the Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser stories (which I knew and loved as a child). On a Clark Ashton Smith board a week or so ago, one of the old timers mentioned that CAS is a character in Our Lady of Darkness, along with Ambrose Bierce I believe. I'm intrigued. H. I love the Fafhrd and Grey Mouser stories too, especially (since it was my first encounter with them) "Bazaar of the Bizarre". Clark Ashton Smith and Ambrose Bierce certainly do feature in Our Lady, and Smith is central to the plot.
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Post by helrunar on Jun 8, 2017 15:35:08 GMT
JoJo, it is a CAS fan board on a prominent "social media" venue whose name includes the word Face. That board bears the title Emperor of Dreams which is a wonderful choice. There are many different discussion boards on the beautifully designed and managed official CAS fan site, Eldritch Dark.
Best,
H.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Jun 8, 2017 18:28:38 GMT
JoJo, it is a CAS fan board on a prominent "social media" venue whose name includes the word Face. If it also includes the word "book," I think I know what you mean. But that is not a message board; it is a service for people who for some reason want to voluntarily put themselves under surveillance. Eldritch Dark is, as far as I know, the only message board specifically dedicated to Smith.
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Post by Michael Connolly on Jun 9, 2017 12:57:29 GMT
I would like to read Our Lady of Darkness. I have read very little of Leiber's work outside the Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser stories (which I knew and loved as a child). On a Clark Ashton Smith board a week or so ago, one of the old timers mentioned that CAS is a character in Our Lady of Darkness, along with Ambrose Bierce I believe. I'm intrigued. H. I love the Fafhrd and Grey Mouser stories too, especially (since it was my first encounter with them) "Bazaar of the Bizarre". Clark Ashton Smith and Ambrose Bierce certainly do feature in Our Lady, and Smith is central to the plot. Apart from the Fafhrd and Grey Mouser stories, especially the earlier ones, I just can't read sword & sorcery stories at all.
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Post by dem bones on Jun 9, 2017 17:14:10 GMT
But that is not a message board; it is a service for people who for some reason want to voluntarily put themselves under surveillance. *applauds*
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Post by ropardoe on Jun 9, 2017 17:14:40 GMT
I love the Fafhrd and Grey Mouser stories too, especially (since it was my first encounter with them) "Bazaar of the Bizarre". Clark Ashton Smith and Ambrose Bierce certainly do feature in Our Lady, and Smith is central to the plot. Apart from the Fafhrd and Grey Mouser stories, especially the earlier ones, I just can't read sword & sorcery stories at all. Yes, I did go through a phase of reading sword & sorcery stories in my teens and devoured Conan and Elric stories en masse. But the Fafhrd and Grey Mouser tales are the only ones I can read now. They're in a class of their own. I agree with you too on preferring the earlier ones - in fact I haven't bothered to keep the later ones.
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