Platypus of Truth

Today's post will review Robert E. Howard's The Phoenix on the Sword  as part of a greater series on the Howard anthology The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian .  Though these stories have been around since the 1930s, those who have not read them and wish to remain spoiler free should not read on. *Plot Material Ahead* The Phoenix on the Sword  introduced the world to Conan, that great hero of Sword and Sorcery.  Oddly enough, it is an introduction that begins near the end, rather than beginning with the beginning.  Howard claimed that he wrote the stories without any reference to chronological order so as to give the impression that they were "fireside tales" told as the occasion and recollection prompted.  In our initial meeting with Conan, we see him as king and conqueror, soon to be a figure of legendary proportions.  All the swashbuckling, pilfering, and roaming we find in the tales of Conan's early years is to be understood in this light: our ...

With the Summer of Shannara safely finished and some weeks of the summer still remaining, I have decided to use the same reviewing techniques to examine a new work by a new author: The Coming of Conan the Cimerian , the first in a volume of collected short stories by Robert E. Howard.  Howard helped create and define sword and sorcery giving the genre its archetypal hero before his death at the age of thirty.  His craft as a pulp writer at that age was already incredible and one can only wonder what heights he might have reached.  At his best, Howard's stories have a reality and immediateness that rivals, and perhaps surpasses, Edgar Rice Burroughs.  Other authors in the genre like Leiber, Moorcock, and Zelazney can't compare.  All that to say I'm looking forward to beginning this quest into the realms of pulpy goodness. With that said, I do have some matters to attend to that will keep me from posting my findings for a week to a week and a half.  Sorry f...

This post will cover the remaining chapters of Terry Brooks' First King of Shannara along with my final assessment of the work.  Those who have not read the book and do not want the ending spoiled should not read on. *Spoilers Plain and Simple* So here we go.  The end was known from the beginning and now we have it: the final confrontation with the Warlock Lord and the creation of a legend.  Rather than outline it all for you, I'll break this last section down into pros and cons.  Pros need to go first. Pro: The action rises straight through to the conclusion.  The penultimate battles are striking and well-narrated.  The final chapter shifts into a more "legendary" tone that lends the ending sufficient gravitas and the mood is fitting for the Pyrrhic victory with which the story concludes.  Allanon also becomes integrated into the cast in the way he needs to be for the ending to satisfy.  The greatest praise goes to the subtle way in whi...

Ephemera.  Ephemeral. It's the little details that make a place a place.  Those little details are what artists and set designers seek out to give that final touch of reality to their creations.  They're also often what gets ignored and so they weather, crack, and fade away into nothing: the dilapidated old house at the corner, the row of fence posts with their rusted barbed wire, the cemetery at the edge of town.  In our McWorld, these are the things in all their impermanence and unimportance that in the end create definition and individual identity.  

I hung out with film majors during my college years.  It was great.  Not only were they fun people, but I learned a lot about today's dominant story-telling medium.  Some of my best memories revolve around marathon movie watching, particularly when several of the guys were going through the Akira Kurosawa phase.  Recently, my wife and I have been using Netflix to boost our appreciation of great film and I suggested adding a good chunk of Kurosawa to the queue.  So far, we've done Seven Samurai  and Throne of Blood . I don't think I've seen Throne of Blood (1957), Kurosawa's retelling of Macbeth  set in feudal Japan, in about a decade.  Watching it again last night reminded me why this film drew the admiration of T.S. Eliot himself.  The black and white is used to maximum effect creating a world of shadows and mists that perfectly underscores the moral murk of the story.  The special effects are simple and evocative.  The acting is...

Today's post will cover chapters XXIX and XXX of Terry Brooks' First King of Shannara .  As always, don't read on if you haven't read the book yet and want to keep it a surprise. *Spoilers* Chapter XXIX cuts away from the action in the west to follow Kinson and Mareth's attempt to rally what's left of the dwarves.  The pass through the ruins of Culhaven, fight a skull bearer left to keep watch and link back up with Risca and the dwarven remnant.  Brooks attempts to continue Mareth's character development in this chapter by having the skull bearer pretend to be her long lost father.  The action plays like a hasty remix of Rimmer Dal and Par Ohmsford in The Talismans of Shannara  and thus falls flat.  The dramatic smooch between Kinson and Mareth when its all over is too cliche to be really satisfying (For me reading about it at least.  If it worked for them, who am I to disagree?  That's what I get for peeping in on other people's business). ...

This post will cover chapters XXVI through XXVIII of Terry Brooks' First King of Shannara .  We're nearing the end of yet another "Summer of Shannara" and I hope to have this book finished by the end of next week.  Plans are in the works for a similar blog-through of Robert E. Howard's Conan stories so stay tuned!  In the meantime, let me give the usual waver: if you haven't read First King of Shannara  and want to remain spoiler free don't read on. *Plot Sensitive Material* Chapter XXVI closes out the section entitled The Forging of the Sword.   Here, Bremen takes the weapon forged by Urprox Screl to the spirits of the Hadeshorn.  Rising up from the abyss, the druids of the past each impart what remains of their power to convert the sword into a talisman capable of destroying the Warlock Lord.  We've already had one Hadeshorn scene in this book, but this second tryst doesn't disappoint.  The council of druid shades is frightening image and ...

Today's post will cover chapters XXIV and XXV of Terry Brooks' First King of Shannara .  Once more, the goal is to blog after each of my reading sessions in order to record a more in-depth assessment of the work as I'm actually experiencing it.  A final post giving my thoughts on the book as a whole will be posted at the end.  For previous entries in this series, click on the label "Shannara" at the bottom of this post.  Thoughts on other authors of note can be found on the side bar.  For the sum total of my literary musings, click the label marked "The Platypus Reads" at the bottom of this post.  As always, if you don't want spoilers, don't read on. *Spoilers...  I know, I feel like I still have to say it...* Chapters XXIV and XXV begin the inevitable interlacing of the three plots (the sword, the elves, the dwarves) that will draw the novel to its thundering conclusion.  The first part of chapter XXIV features more dramatic dwarf battles...

Assisi.  It's like wandering through Minas Tirith.  The town is mostly depopulated after a devastating earthquake in the late nineties.  Aside from the occasional car barreling through, the medieval city is perfectly pristine.  We spent the night here in tower-like building that had been converted into a hotel.  There was also plenty of time to wander.  If you ever go to Assisi, that's perhaps the best thing to do: just wander.    

This post will address Chapter XXIII of Terry Brooks' First King of Shannara .  Those who have not read the work and wish to remain spoiler-free should not read on. *Plotsees my precioussss....* Chapter XXIII brings us to the moment we've all been waiting for: the forging of the sword.  Here, at last, Terry Brooks is firing on all cylinders.  There is just the right blend of anecdote and archetype for the scene to function in the novel and yet be the epic moment that fans have wanted since 1977.  If more of the First King of Shannara was narrated in this tone it would be a better book (think how the elevated tone of The Silmarillion preserves its feeling of antiquity even when the narration "zooms in" on specific characters and events).  We even have the satisfaction at the end of the chapter in knowing that Urprox Screl isn't a throwaway character but the ancestor of the the Creels so that when Panamon and Padishar insist that their fates are bound up ...

This post will cover chapters XIX through XXII of Terry Brooks' First King of Shannara .  Those who have not read the book and wish to remain spoiler free should not read on. *Spoiling Schtuff* Chapter XIX brings us back to Risca and the dwarves' attempts to delay the army of the Warlock Lord.  This chapter is "merely competent" in execution and might serve as a symbol of much of the book.  The fight scenes are well-narrated in simple, readable language.  The pace is fast without sacrificing coherence.  The problem is that it's all generic material that we've seen dozens of times before.  Raybur, Risca, and company are as soul-less and cardboard as the enemy hordes they face.  The setting and the action itself also fail to be evocative enough to supply what the characters lack.  The chapter, like so much of the book, is "merely competent" lacking the necessary flair to capture the imagination. Chapter XX fairs little better than chapter X...

The Ring of Words: Tolkien and the Oxford English Dictionary by Peter Gilliver, Jeremy Marshall, and Edmund Weiner, discusses Tolkien's involvement with the O.E.D. as a recently de-mobbed vet and goes on to examine the particular "word-hoard" created by this titan of Fantasy literature.  The book is a welcome resource for anyone who takes seriously Tolkien's assertion that the Lord of the Rings was primarily linguistic in inspiration .  Tolkien created the world of his stories to support his invented languages.  In writing those stories in English, then, Tolkien also worked to create a "poetic diction" that would impart the necessary "flavor" and shades of meaning to support the invented languages.  The Ring of Words is a short, concise look at this central aspect of Tolkien's creative process and a consideration of its unintended effect on the English language. If you have read The Lord of the Rings , then this work stands on its own, but ...

This post will cover Chapter XVIII of Terry Brooks' First King of Shannara .  Those who have not read this book (or others in the original and Heritage series) and wish to remain spoiler free should not read on. *Plot sensitive material follows* Chapter XVIII details Bremen, Kinson, and Mareth's journey to Darklin Reach and their meeting with the former druid Cogline.  Bremen hopes to learn from Cogline the scientific process for making a metal that can withstand the intense forces that will be involved in forging the Sword of Shannara.  Cogline, after some intial reluctance, tells Bremen the procedure for making steal. I was first struck by the lack of "wandering monster encounters" in the journey from Storlock to Darklin Reach.  Indeed, there has been a general lack of "wandering monsters" in the book as a whole.  This is a real improvement from the seven previous books that seem to revel in presenting the reader with a random "freak of the w...

Europe has so many beautiful churches and so little use for them.  No one wants to bulldoze a work or art but, then again, not many feel the need to go to church anymore.  So what do you do with all the buildings?  Many urban centers in the United States have this problem too.  I've seen churches turned into art galleries and night clubs -this particular church in Venice has been converted into a museum of stringed instruments.  Note that the central image has been removed and that the lamps of the presence are out.  I'll let you make of it what you will.

This post will resume our discussion of Terry Brooks' First King of Shannara , beginning with chapter XVI.  Once again, the purpose of this series of posts is to record my impressions after each reading session in order to create a more detailed and "in the moment" analysis of Brooks' literary skill.  Readers who wish to remain spoiler free should not read on. *Plot Information* Chapter XVI leads us into the Chew Magna, a fortress from the lost age of Faerie.  It's also the first real imaginative piece that I've seen in this story.  Much of First King of Shannara has felt a little paste-board and recycled.  With the Chew Magna, Brooks' world suddenly pops into life.  This is a setting to compare with the lost city of Eldwist in The Druid of Shannara or the labyrinthine tunnels and endless hideouts of The Scions of Shannara .  The garden at the center of the fortress formed from the life-forces of the fey who once used the Black Elfstone is at l...

What do you say about a bunch of guys who thought that one of their great achievements was stealing a dead body?  Ok, so the Greeks did it all the time with dinosaur bones...  Above, you can see a mosaic depicting the body of Saint Mark being unveiled in Venice after venetian merchants stole it from Egypt.  The mosaic stands over one of the doors of the Church of Saint Mark, the Doge's "little chapel."  Celebrating this kind of thing in glass and gold is yet another factor contributing to the sense of "inwardness" that seems to dominate the city.  One understands why Shakespeare set his "Othello" here.  The sense of exclusion is palpable. 

Today's post will focus on Chapters XIV and XV of Terry Brooks' First King of Shannara .  Readers who wish to remain spoiler free should not read on.  Also of note, I will be taking a week break from this series starting tomorrow in order to attend to some business.  Once that's over, the blogging will resume. *Spoiler Stuff* Chapter XIV returns us to the exploits of Tay, Jerle and company.  I guess I should say "little company."  Along with the word "shrug" it's one of Brooks' favorite terms.  Unfortunately, Brooks and his editor have not been able to extirpate all his bad habits over the course of two decades.  Oh well...  Moving on, this chapter returns us to the search for the Black Elfstone and also the search for Preia Starle.  There's lots of pulpy high adventure here complete with reconnaissance, sudden intuitions, chases, and a frantic ride right through the enemy picket line.  This is the stuff Brooks loves and he writes...

Today's post will cover chapters XII and XIII of Terry Brooks' First King of Shannara .  If you have not read this book yet and wish to remain spoiler free do not read on. *Spoiler Alert For Anyone Who Needs It* So we're cutting away from the quest for the Black Elfstone.  Chapter XII and XIII turn away from Tay to follow up on the quests of Risca and Bremen.  Brooks did this sort of thing in the Heritage Series and I don't think it worked out so well.  If we're going to label an entire section of the book The Search For the Black Elfstone , oughtn't we to stick to only what relates to finding the Black Elfstone?  Cutting back and for allows us to keep the other characters in view and can be deployed tactfully to increase narrative suspense, but it comes at the price of unity.  I'm not sure why Brooks structured the sections of the book as if he was going to preserve the unity of each action and then interrupted it to keep his other characters in vie...