Tag Archives: Patti Abbott

Forgotten Book: The Face in the Frost by John Bellairs (1969)

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By Scott A. Cupp

This is the 168th in my series of Forgotten Books.

Once again I have to apologize for those few regular readers, After Thanksgiving I began a new work project and that consumed my time. Normally over the holiday I would have spent some time reading but we had guests and that didn’t happen. I hope it doesn’t happen again anytime soon, but it will, so hopefully we can all bear through it.

This week’s title is a book I have had for many years and somehow never got around to reading, even though I knew it had a great reputation and that I would enjoy it. The Face in the Frost is by the great YA writer John Bellairs, but this is not a real YA book. This was meant for the adult fantasy market and it deserves the reputation it has maintained for the last 46 years.

It is a story of magic and magicians and friendship and how all these things work together. The two main characters are both magicians with familiar names, Prospero and Roger Bacon. Prospero lives in the South Kingdom while Roger lives in the North Kingdom. The two realms have no other names than that. They each have their quirks.

The two magicians are old friends and see each other rarely. So it is with joy that Prospero greeted his old friend who came telling of a book he had been searching for. The book is in an unknown tongue and has last been owned by a wizard named Melichus who had trained with Prospero and, during that training, the two had become not friends, more like adversaries.

Strange things are happening in the kingdoms and the two wizards find themselves on a quest to find the book before evil really happens. They shrink down and travel on a small ship. They get separated. Prospero finds an evil pseudo-village and nearly dies. The wizards are reunited and find themselves traveling in a smaller version of Cinderella’s coach, made form a squash.

All the above makes this sound formulaic and squeaky. It is not that at all. The writing is so wonderful it practically leaps off the page. I found myself not wanting to finish the book because I was enjoying it so much, but this column was not going to write itself if I didn’t finish. But, let me cite an example from the first chapter:

“Several centuries (or so) ago, in a country whose name doesn’t matter, there was a tall skinny, straggly-bearded old wizard named Prospero, and not the one you are thinking of, either. He lived in a huge, ridiculous, doodad-covered, trash-filled two-story horror of a house that stumbled, staggered, and dribbled right up to the edge of a great shadowy forest filled with elms and oaks and maples. It was a house whose gutter spouts were worked into the shape of whistling sphinxes and screaming bearded faces: a house whose white wooden porch was decorated with carved bears, monkeys, toads. And fat women in togas holding sheaves of grain; a house whose steep gray-slate roof was capped with a glass-enclosed twisty-copper-columned observatory…”

Your mileage may vary but I was hooked from those words on. There are not any cutesy elves or orcs or hobbits or warrior-kings. This is the good stuff, not the derivative stuff that passes for fantasy these days.

Take the time. Enjoy the ride. Treasure the words. Live. You won’t regret it.

I know this is a shorter column, but the time is late and I have a 5 a.m. wake-up staring me down.

Buy some great books for your friends and yourself for Christmas. Spread the words.

Series organizer Patti Abbott hosts more Friday Forgotten Book reviews at her own blog, and posts a complete list of participating blogs.

 

Forgotten Book: Danger: Dinosaurs! by Richard Marsten (1953)

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When time travelers go back to hunt dinosaurs, what could possible go wrong?

By Scott A. Cupp

This week the Forgotten Book folks are celebrating the life of Ed McBain. I haven’t read anything by Ed for this review, but I thought I would revisit this review from a couple of years ago. This was a favorite book growing up. I have also inserted a few new comments down below.

This is the 101st or 160th (you decide) in my series of Forgotten Books.

The astute mystery fans among our readers already know that Richard Marsten is a pseudonym for Salvatore Lombino aka Evan Hunter, Ed McBain, Curt Cannon, S. A. Lombino, D. A. Addams and Ted Taine. A prolific writer of mysteries, he came very close to being a major science fiction writer.

In the early 1950’s as he was writing the first of his 87th Precinct novels, Evan Hunter (he legally changed his name in 1952) wrote several science fiction novels including the Winston juveniles Find the Feathered Serpent (as by Evan Hunter) as well as Rocket to Luna and Danger: Dinosaurs! (both as by Richard Marsten). I did an article in the early ’90s for a Martin Goldberg book to be entitled The Ed McBain Companion in which I postulated that had the 87th Precinct novels not taken off as they did, Hunter might have continued in the science fiction realm.

We will never really know.  He did about two dozen short stories and one more novel, Tomorrow and Tomorrow, which I recall liking quite a bit though it has been quite a while since I read it.

To the book at hand! Danger: Dinosaurs! is a classic time travel novel where people can travel back via the Time Slip to the Jurassic period to “hunt” dinosaurs with camera and lens. Young Owen Spencer is set to take his first trip, theoretically as his brother Chuck’s assistant.  They are taking back a group led by Dirk Masterson, his assistants Brock Gardel and Arthur Baron, and Masterson’s niece Denise. They will be safe with their use of a mile-radius force field which will keep everything safely away.

What could go wrong? Ask Ray Bradbury and L. Sprague de Camp.

In the first few hours, Masterson “accidentally” destroys the force field and all bets are off. The trip only allows dinosaurs to be shot only with cameras to prevent any potential time paradoxes from occurring. But Masterson has conveniently brought high powered weapons along (very much against the rules) and is planning on hunting and protecting the group at the same time. His first targets are a herd of stegosaurus and a pteranodon.

Nothing fazes the beasts and when Masterson starts a brontosaurus stampede, he nearly dies. Chuck saves him, at the cost of his own life.  This brings up a time paradox that I found implausible. Marsten postulates that since Chuck dies long before he is born, he ceases to exist at any point in time. All memory of Chuck is erased, just as if he had never lived. I think he would have existed for those periods of his life up until his death. It is a major plot point, and while it bothered me, it wasn’t a deal breaker. I still enjoyed the book.

During the week they have to spend before being rescued, they encounter a number of dinosaurs as well as two lost scientists, Dr. Perry and Dr. Dumar, who were doing geologic work and had discovered a large uranium deposit.

The group heads for the two white hills marking where they have to be when the automatic return is set to occur, when they experience an earthquake and find their markers gone. This is just one of many setbacks and problems that befall the team, not including Masterson’s personal agenda, which does not include following any of the rules set down by the time agency or Owen and Chuck.

The book is a good fast, fun read that I quite enjoyed in the early ’60s, again in the 90’s and once more this last weekend. It’s highly recommended. Unfortunately it has not been reprinted in an accessible format. The copies online range from $50 to $400 or so. You can find some copies less expensively if you don’t mind a lot of wear and not having a dust jacket. I like my copy better. But, when you get one, you get the fabulous Alex Schomburg endpapers (and the wonderful dustjacket). These are full  of iconic science fiction tropes and should be represented in every science fiction fan’s library.

And if you like this one, try the others. They are superb stories. Science fiction lost a great writer when McBain decided to go to the 87th Precinct. But the mystery field rejoiced. And so should we.

Series organizer Patti Abbott hosts more Friday Forgotten Book reviews at her own blog, and posts a complete list of participating blogs.

 

Forgotten Book: Man of Many Minds by E. Everett Evans (1953)

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"Man of Many Minds" offers up Golden Age sf thrills, if you can bear with the info-dumps.

Review by Scott A. Cupp

This is the 153rd in my series of Forgotten Books.

After last week’s fantasy novel, I was ready for some deep space fun adventure stuff. My eyes travelled over the bookshelves and came to rest on MAN OF MANY MINDS by E. Everett Evans. I knew the book by reputation but had never read it. Somehow it found its way into my hands for examination.

It passed the first test – it was short, just 192 pages in the paperback edition I had on hand. The next test was the first page preview. Again, it passed. The story featured a young man disgraced and drummed out the Inter Stellar Corps and he was happy. The final test was the cover, front and back. The front was a shapeless mess by Gray Morrow, an artist I like. The cover was likewise a mess, not really giving much insight into the story. Pass for two of three tests. I went ahead and dipped on in. The prose was readable and the action started on page 2.

This was a fun. Young George Spencer Hanlon is at the top of his class at the Cadet Academy of the Inter Stellar Corps and about to embark on a career of space service. He is summoned before the Commandant of Cadets, as all graduating seniors are, to discuss his future. Suddenly, he finds his life changing. George has a talent that he suppresses – he can “read” minds, not actual, tangible thoughts but feelings and similar processes. The Corps is aware of this ability, though he has not used it while in the Academy. He is offered a job in the Secret Service of the I-S based on his performance in the school, his natural abilities and his special talent. The I-S wants him, but their membership is closely guarded. To join the SS, he has to be dismissed from the I-S in disgrace and shunned by all his friends and family.

George agrees to do this, being the bright, patriotic kid that he is, and he is introduced to his commanding officer, who turns out to be his father. George is surprised until he remembers his father had been disgraced earlier.

George is given his marching orders and sent to the planet Simonides Four, where something is going on. No one is sure what is happening but something is not right. Hanlon books passage on a luxury liner and encounters a man named Panek who is intent on killing another passenger. Figuring that Panek might be part of the problem on Simonides, George convinces the man that he is disgusted with the Corps and is looking for big money. He stops Panek’s attempt on the man and fakes the death to get in good.

While on the ship, George is trying to expand his mental capacities and finds himself able to get into the mind of a small dog, then multiple dogs at the same time. On arriving on Simonides Four, he is aware that he is being followed and goes to look up Panek, supposedly seeking work.

He meets the Boss behind Panek and is given a test: kill the man who was following him. His ability to control a dog works well here, and he is able to orchestrate the death of the man and suddenly finds himself in the gang and assigned a task on a hidden planet. He’s to run a slave operation using living trees called Greenies as miners for rare ores.

Evans keeps the operations moving and the action is hot and fast. Young George expands the uses of his powers and finds himself in a vast conspiracy to take over the Galaxy. All he has to do is get home, stop everyone, stay alive, set the Greenies free and remain sane. A simple task.

This was a fun book, nothing special or notable but a quiet relaxing evening at home with what seemed like old friends. Evans was a friend of E. E. Doc Smith back in the day, and his influence can be seen here. This was a fun example of Golden Age science fiction.

Again, as with many books I read and talk about, your mileage may vary. There are some big info-dump chapters to get the reader up to speed, but they are not incredibly intrusive and you can still move on. The book probably could not be published today, but I had fun reliving my old youthful enthusiasm.

Series organizer Patti Abbott hosts more Friday Forgotten Book reviews at her own blog, and posts a complete list of participating blogs.

 

Forgotten Book: Rivers of London (U.S. Title: Midnight Riot) by Ben Aaronovitch (2011)

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Beware: a book pusher may try to turn you on to this highly addictive tome.

Review by Scott A. Cupp

This is the 151st in my series of Forgotten Books.

Between 2011 and 2014 I wrote a regular (sort of) weekly column on Forgotten Books at the Missions Unknown blog. In early 2014 the blog died an ugly death when something destroyed itand, to date, it has not been revived. The books and movies I reviewed there are no longer accessible, except with some deep digging on the internet archive.  Even then, some reviews are still incomplete. So, if you enjoyed those reviews, keep coming back here for another weekly installment of regular Forgotten Books and Forgotten Films. This weeks’s column features a recent favorite.

I love it when science fiction and fantasy cross over into the world of mysteries and vice versa. It happens a lot and when it is good, the results are spectacular and when it is bad, it gets shoved in my face by those who do not like such pollution in their ponds of choice.

This week, we will talk about a good one. As many of you know, I work with a book pusher. Oh, he can be nice and even taken out in public. But when we get into dark alleys, he pulls back the shades and shows me the good stuff. I see lots of it and, like the poor suffering addict that I am, Ibuy a lot of it,  I get science fiction, mystery, and fantasy from him. Sometimes I get romances and non-fiction or art books or bibliographies. His insidiousness knows no boundaries. When we talk on the phone he always has something to tempt me with.

The other day the conversation went something like this – “Hey, man. You got the stuff?”

“Yeah, but I got something new. A kind of London fog. You’re gonna love it.”

“No, I need the good stuff I already know. Nothing new or dangerous.”

“But this one is different. Try to imagine if Harry Potter never went to Hogwarts and instead became a London policeman whose training was leading him to be a file clerk, but he sees a corpse and a ghost and suddenly finds himself in the mystic arts division of the London Police Force and has to learn magic and talk to rivers and solve the murders.”

“OK, give it to me.” He knows a sucker when he sees one. “Oh,” he says, “there are three other books in the series. They have British first editions which are already getting pricy but there are paperback editions.”

Suddenly I have three new trade paperbacks in the house and a hardback flying in from the UK. On a whim, I pick up the first one and it is good.  It is better than good.  The incoherent babbling description above is accurate. Peter Grant, a probationary policeman and son of a London jazz musician, finds a body outside Covent Garden one night. Upon reviewing the area, he meets a ghost who discusses the crime with him. He mentions this fact and suddenly finds himself in a secret section of the London police, working with a wizard named. Nightingale in an odd house with an odder housekeeper who may be a vampire or may not.

He finds himself involved in a dispute between Father Thames and Mother Thames over territorial rights of the river within London proper. He meets their progeny and finds himself attracted to one of Mother Thames’ daughter, Beverly Brook, and at odds with another one, Tyburn. He quickly discovers that diplomacy is not his style and having a river mad at you is not desirable.

This was quite an enjoyable read and one with lots of twists and turns. It made me want to open up the next one. So far, I have resisted but I am sure I will weaken soon.

The US edition is called MIDNIGHT RIOT, a title I do not like, but RIVERS OF LONDON alsodoes not conjure up terms like “excellent fantasy/mystery.” There are copies around at the usual suspects, but, as mentioned above, hardcover first editions are not currently cheap so be forewarned.

As usual with such crossover thingies, your mileage may vary depending on your tolerance for lots of things. As my wife frequently tells me, all my taste is in my mouth.

Series organizer Patti Abbott hosts more Friday Forgotten Book reviews at her own blog, and posts a complete list of participating blogs.