Conference noted::sf

1187.0. "Arnason/Laubenthal/Chambers" by VERGA::KLAES (Quo vadimus?) Thu Oct 28 1993 14:53

Article: 414
From: dani@netcom.com (Dani Zweig)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews
Subject: REPOST: Belated Reviews PS#18: Fantasy by Arnason/Laubenthal/Chambers
Organization: Netcom Online Communications Services (408-241-9760 login: guest)
Date: 27 Oct 93 22:51:06 GMT
 
  Belated Reviews PS#18: Misc.4: Fantasy by Arnason/Laubenthal/Chambers
 
Another small grouping, this time of authors with a single fantasy work I
wish to review -- and that one off the beaten track.  Of the three, the
Chambers is the only 'classic'.  The others are personal picks of books
that made a brief appearance and then sank.
 
"The Sword Smith" (***+) is a relatively recent novel (1978) by Eleanor
Arnason.  It's my favorite of her books, and the hardest to find.  (She is
also the author of "A Woman of the Iron People" (***+), a science fiction
novel which has received better press, the uninspired "To the Ressurection
Station" (**-), and the new "Ring of Swords", which I haven't read.)  "The
Sword Smith" is one of the most *understated* fantasies I've read.  We've
come to expect a certain flamboyance from a novel which features heroes
and dragons and sorcerers and trolls and gods, and this one doesn't
provide it.  Limper, the sword smith of the title, is making his way
through a world in which heroes and dragons and sorcerers and trolls are
dying breeds, and (with the possible exception of the trolls) are inclined
to be reasonable.  It's a dangerous enough world, and nobody goes out of his
way to make it more dangerous than it has to be, through unnecessary heroics.
 
Limper himself is a reasonable character, at least by his own lights.
He's also a superb blacksmith, and when he gets fed up with working for
the king, and quits, the king want him back.  He flees, accompanied by a
pint-sized dragon.  (People's typical reaction upon meeting her is not
"Eek!  A dragon!", but more along the lines of "Gee, I've never seen a
dragon before.  I thought they were bigger.")  It's a world in which even
heroes put their pants on one leg at a time, and the combination of the
props of heroic fantasy without its excesses makes for a pleasant change.
 
"Excalibur" (***), by Sanders Anne Laubenthal, is also fairly recent
(1973), and works a similarly refreshing change on the Arthurian mythos.
Many of the expected Arthurian props are in place -- Arthur's heirs and
Morgan le Fay racing to find Excalibur, with the odd Elf and Holy Grail
thrown in -- but the context is modern.  Which is what you might expect,
if you accept the premise that Excalibur has lain hidden in Alabama all
these years.  The book starts clumsily, with a lot of poorly-disguised
exposition thrown at the reader, but it gathers strength as it tells its
undramatic story of a modern Pendragon, a surprisingly sympathetic Morgan,
and a scholarly pair of women in search of the Sword.  "Excalibur" is what
people like to call "a strong first novel":  It's fun, but I'd like to have
seen what Laubenthal could do as a more mature author. 
 
"The King in Yellow" (***), by Robert W. Chambers, is an anthology which
first appeared in 1895.  The book takes its title from a forbidden book
(of which we only see or hear snippets) which links the first four stories
in the collection.  A best-seller in its day, this anthology has lost much
of its power, and is significant largely because of its influence on later
authors. 
 
The first four stories in the collection feature a book (a play,
apparently) which leaves madness and horror in its wake.  To read it is to
end badly.  The first story, "The Repairer of Reputations" is set in the
'future' (1920s?).  In that story, the book is a manuscript titled
"Imperial Dynasty of America", and through those who have read it, we
first hear of the King in Yellow, the Pallid Mask, and the Yellow Sign, of
Hastur and Aldones, of Hali and the mystery of the Hyades.  (For a
relatively lengthy pastiche of the play, see "More Light", by James Blish.
It can be found in McCaffrey's anthology "Alchemy and Academe".)   In 
subsequent stories, the book itself is explicitly referred to as "The King 
in Yellow". 
 
I'm not sure why Chambers's horror stories have lost so much of their
power over the years.  Perhaps it's because they were written for an
audience for whom plague and madness were the prominent horrors.  (Do
modern readers associate the color yellow with plague?)  Perhaps the
Victorian melodrama is overdone for our tastes.  In any case, I commend
this book to you primarily as an historically important curiosity.
 
%A  Arnason, Eleanor
%T  The Sword Smith
 
%A  Laubenthal, Sanders Anne
%T  Excalibur
 
%A  Chambers, Robert W
%T  The King in Yellow
 
=============================================================================
 
The postscripts to Belated Reviews cover authors of earlier decades who
didn't fit into the original format -- whether because the author seemed
an inappropriate subject, or because I was unfamiliar with too much of the
author's work, or whatever -- or sometimes just isolated works of such
authors.  The emphasis will continue to be on guiding newer readers
towards books or authors worth trying out, rather than on discussing them
comprehensively or in depth.  I'll retain the rating scheme of ****
(recommended), *** (an old favorite that hasn't aged well), ** (a solid
lesser work), and * (nothing special). 
 
-----
Dani Zweig
dani@netcom.com
 
"The best lack all conviction, while the worst
 Are full of passionate intensity." -- W.B. Yeats