As for the teleporting around in Misericorde....

I don't find Kane's ability to suddenly poop out of the shadows to be a very good addition to his evil repertoire.

(I typed "poop out of the shadows" by mistake...but I liked it so much I left it in there.  Makes me laugh every time I read it.)

It is an ability Kane suddenly developed late in Wagner's career and it is just a little out of character.  "Stupid" might be a better word.

It fits with his Kane The Porno Smartass character from the modern stories...not with the Kane of...say...Bloodstone.

In Raven's Eyrie, for instance, Kane seems to appear and disappear but these are explained by quite mundane twists of the plot.

He does not, for instance, stop time in Raven's Eyrie...he climbs down a secret passge.

(Raven's Eyrie, incidentally, has one of the wildest similes any writer every dared to print:  like a hot-clefted slut, cheated of her climax  When I first encountered the line I had to re-read it a couple of times to make sure that is what Wagner actually dared to write and a publisher actually agreed to print.)

One of the more charming elements of fantasy Kane is his affinity for sidekicks and respect for mortal humans of ability or character.  At times, he even acts against his own interests because of his feelings of love or friendship.  None of that is present in Wagner's later stories.  Kane is pretty much laughing at us...and it does not show a good side of Wagner himself.  

Another factor that I find charming about Kane is his ability to brood mightily and break endless wine bottles...and then emerge to continue the plot.  He is mad at God, and and drinks away his frustration.  None of that is present in Kane The Mocker, who has actually killed God and is now after Satan's ass.

(There is a similar brooding and bottle smashing scene involving Corwin of Amber in Zelazny's novel, Sign of the Unicorn.  Every time I read it I wonder if Zelazny had read Wagner, or vice versa.  The two writers were pretty much contemporaries.  I also wonder if Elric's brooding was a part of the formation of Kane...except that The Gothic Touch is pretty much contemptuous of poor dumb Elric.)

Maybe I should finish reading Misericorde.  (Which...you know...seems only fair before I say it sucks.)  One problem with the story is that there is nothing interesting about the Vareishei clan.  They are all four pretty much cardboard characters.  It seems pretty ironic that Kane traps their souls...since they don't seem to have any soul at all.  If you read the other Kane fantasy stories you will find that almost all the villains and major characters are themselves heroes of a sort.  No one in Misericorde even seems worth the killing.

Probably ought to re-read....

Badmike wrote:
Reflections is one of the best fantasy werewolf stories every written...and the coolest way to kill a werewolf I've ever read.  Cold Light is another D&D scenario waiting to happen...both also show Kane in a different light than usual, more reflective and reactive, more pensive, less evil--- they both almost read like Conan tales if you ask me.

Mike B.

This is another scene that makes me wonder about Wagner and Zelazny.

There is an almost identical wrestling/strangulation scene pitting superman versus beastman in Zelazny's Amber novel, The Guns of Avalon.

Who was cribbing from whom?

FormCritic wrote:
The Guns of Avalon.

Great film - Gregory Peck, David Niven et al. - didn't much like the sequel with Harrison Ford though.


(just kidding)

OK...looked up Manicheanism online.

Apparently, g026r wasn't joking.  It is, literally, the teachings of Manes.

For everyone else here equally mystified..."Manichean characters" means that there is a strong division between "light" and "darkness" and characters are either alighned with one or the other.

F. Paul Wilson's characters, Glaeken and Rasalom, from The Keep, would be excellent examples of Manichean characters.  They might even have been drawn by Wilson from Manichean ideas, except that the book is not that deep and the movie is...um...less deeperer.

sleepyCO wrote:
Talk about a name from the past--I haven't seen a Perry Rhodan book/novel in a long time; the only book I've ever seen (German or English translation) was The Fortress of the Six Moons, and that I bought in a bookstore in New Mexico in the mid-1970's.  (I do still have it, read it about once or twice a year, and still enjoy it.)

Apparently, the original format is slightly different than a novel; this is listed as #13 in the series (the novel version is book #7 on the novel I have).

Have you or anyone else run into the Rhodan series in any of the brick-and-mortar bookstores, or is it more available in the (shrinking number of) local booksellers?  

Melvin H.

Half Price Books carries them occassionally.  They are well worth reading in order, because they form a very well put together series despite being written by different authors.

I'm going by memory here....

In 1971, the american astronaut Perry Rhodan, his friend Reginald Bell (Reginald Bull in the original German), and some others are going to land on the moon.  (seeing as how this was written in the early 60s, it was remarkable prescient almost getting the year correct of man's eventual landing on the moon). When they arrive, they find a crashlanded spaceship of a race called the Arkonides.  They make friends with two of the aliens, Crest and Thora (Khrest in the American so as not to confuse him with the toothpaste!), and bring them to earth. In exchange for saving Crest's life, Rhodan is given the technology of the advanced civilization.  He has big plans, many to stop war on earth by declaring himself the "Third Power" between the US and Russia (remember, this was written during the cold war), and sets up in the Gobi Desert. Through the first few books he consolidates his power, and gathers up Earth's mutants to form a special "Mutant Corp", his special police force.  He uses his advanced science to set up a world government and benevolently rules, striving to advance civilization because he realizes at some point they are going to be discovered and destroyed by a superior, warlike alien society if they don't get up to speed quickly. Soon Rhodan and his friends are travelling the universe hunting for an immortal alien that has the secret of immortality.  

The series is divided up into stages, each taking place many years after the other. The first "stage" is 50 issues and ends when Earth fakes it's destruction to give it time to catch up militarily with hostile forces in the galaxy, particularly the Arkonides. The second stage starts many years after, and eventually through the series Rhodan (and Earth) rise in power and eventually begin conquering their enemies.  Along the way they battle anti-mutants, various aliens, sub dimensional baddies, and other obstacles.  Rhodan is eventually joined by two of the most popular members of the series, Atlan (a ancient Arkonide that lived in Atlantis many centuries ago) and Pucky (Gucky in the German, and intelligent "mouse beaver" from another planet that has the power of teleportation).  

The series is really great because it's very space opera like, with a larger theme than most SF series, a very large cast of characters (Rhodan doesn't even appear in many of the novels, the cast is so huge), the serial aspect (tune in next week!), and pretty exciting plots.   In the first 150 stories (all that were printed in English, unfortunately) there are very few bum or boring issues, most occuring near the beginning as the writers began to feel their way, and soon the writing and plotlines get very tight, cliffhanging and well written as the series continues. I believe over 2000 stories have now been written as it has continued over FORTY YEARS since the humble beginnings.  

For collectors, it's easier to try and buy a large lot on ebay than to piece meal it, and I've found the prices to be pretty affordable when I ocassionally check on sets.  The series is interesting because the editor, Forrest Ackerman, included lots of backup features to fill n space (the books were released a couple monthly, trying to duplicate the weekly releases of Germany, but each story wasn't enough to fill one paperback).  Stories, movie reviews, letter columns, etc lead to a really fun and homey reading experience....reading the stories then all the backup features, and Ackerman's comments, made me as a kid feel like I was sitting around with friends hanging out.  

The books start to get scarce about 109 or so, as Ace began lowering the printings, and the books became "double issues" to include more bang for the buck. Soon, the issues even became subscription only (very far ahead of it's time, unfortunately way too far ahead for 1979 or so), and these (#119 on) are much, much harder to find. Unfortunately the series was cancelled with #137, never finishing the last storyline, but years later unofficial translations of the last few books began popping up on the internet....however these are the only way to finish The Posbi saga (the numbering is off on the German and American versions, because the US left out a few of the non-essential early stories to get to the "good" stuff earlier, and condensed others).  BTW, the Posbi sage predated The Borg by 30 years, and are essentially The Borg with a few twists...IMO a Star Trek writer read these in the late 70s and was inspired by them!

Anyway, my advice is to find the first 118 issues or so and read them through, that should kill some time, and try to find the difficult to locate subscription issues (I got some at the time they were offered in the 70s, and some on Ebay years later).  If you enjoy space opera and serialized adventures this is really a good series.  I see a few lots up on Ebay now, but I'd wait until a large lot came up and buy a bunch at once, as the lots never seem to get about $1 a book (two lots of 100 or so Rhodans sold for $75 and $133, that sounds about right).

Highly recommended!!!

Mike B.

FormCritic wrote:OK...looked up Manicheanism online.

Apparently, g026r wasn't joking.  It is, literally, the teachings of Manes.

Well, I'd personally say I was joking because my definition wasn't a very helpful one for you even if it was technically accurate.

Has anybody read the Gormenghast novels by Mervyn Peake?
I stumbled across a reference to this series and must admit that I had never heard of it.

Amazon Review Quote

Mervyn Peake's gothic masterpiece, the Gormenghast trilogy, begins with the superlative Titus Groan, a darkly humorous, stunningly complex tale of the first two years in the life of the heir to an ancient, rambling castle. The trilogy continues with the novels Gormenghast and Titus Alone, and all three books are bound together in this single-volume edition.

The Gormenghast royal family, the castle's decidedly eccentric staff, and the peasant artisans living around the dreary, crumbling structure make up the cast of characters in these engrossing stories. Peake's command of language and unique style set the tone and shape of an intricate, slow-moving world of ritual and stasis:

   "The walls of the vast room which were streaming with calid moisture, were built with gray slabs of stone and were the personal concern of a company of eighteen men known as the 'Grey Scrubbers'.... On every day of the year from three hours before daybreak until about eleven o'clock, when the scaffolding and ladders became a hindrance to the cooks, the Grey Scrubbers fulfilled their hereditary calling."

Thanks! I'll watch for a used copy since the price at the local bookstore for the compilation paperback edition is approximately $28.00.

I'll have to add it to my eBay searches.

The mini-series was a horrorshow:  It's hard to capture the quirkiness  and depth (or the, "bloody hard slog" as one friend put it) of the books.

Jason, I found the trilogy at a used bookstore for next to nothing.  $28.00!  ouch.  If you were closer I'd lend you my set  

Good luck with the search, and don't hammer me if you hate them!