Heroic Dreams - All Things Medieval

I have been getting some lucky finds lately when it comes to fantasy books. Here are some of the books and some interesting information and thoughts about them. I will be reviewing all of these books as I make my way through them. If not on this blog then on my Fantasy Guide Website.

The Period after WWII in Great Britain was a remarkable time for Fantasy. A couple of names that come to mind are JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis. But there are other fantasy authors that were part of this beginning of the new genre of fantasy and one of these is Mervyn Peake. His Gormenghast Trilogy of books is one of the most remarkable fantasy series ever written yet he isn’t as well known as others. If you are a big fan of fantasy you really should look into snagging a copy of this series. The books are Titus Groan, Gormenghast, and Titus Alone. Much like JRR Tolkien Peake’s creativity wasn’t just limited to writing. He was also an artist and the book copies I picked up are illustrated by him. I don’t think the cover you see is his work but there is no attribution inside.

I am a big fan of Robert E. Howard’s Conan (who isn’t?) and I am also a big fan of Robert Jordan (The Wheel of Time) and I have known that he has done some authorized Conan writing but have never read any of it. Well, here is my chance. It is Conan The Invincble written by Robert Jordan. It will be interesting to see how Jordan handles the Barbarian and the world of Aquilonia.

The Charwoman’s Shadow by Lord Dunsany - Lord Dunsany is one of the originators of the modern genre of fantasy. He wrote in the late 18th an early 19th century. This book was originally published in 1926 and just about everybody in the world of fantasy pays homage to him by openly acknowledging him as an influence. These include Robert Howard, HP Lovecraft, Ursula K. LeGuin, Neil Gaimon and even filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro. This book will be an adventure to the roots of modern day fantasy.

If you are a fan of fantasy you are no doubt familiar with the sub-genre of Arthurian Fantasy and of course you know the book “The Once and Future King” by T.H. White. It is the ultimate Arthurian legend book. But did you know that it is not complete? There was a whole new section that White wrote and it is called “The Book of Merlyn”. It contains Arthur’s final lessons from Merlyn before his death. If you have read The Once and Future King you should read this final addition.

Lots of books to read and I have some more great finds that I want to talk about but I will save them for a future post. And I will be writing reviews of these books either on this blog or my Fantasy Guide site.

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Snagging these books from Amazon.com

The Gormenghast Novels

Conan the Invincible (Conan #1)

The Charwoman’s Shadow (Del Rey Impact)

The Book of Merlyn (Once and Future King)

Popularity: 3% [?]

Rummaging around my local public library (it’s over a hundred years old) I ran across a copy of a book called “The Road Goes Ever On”. It is a Song Cycle book written by J.R.R. Tolkien and it is set to music by Donald Swann. The book itself is quite beautiful. The pages are a dark cream color and along the top and bottom run lines in elvish. Looks like this:

But the thing that struck me, or should I say awestruck me was the sheer genius of it. How can a man create such a remarkable and all encompassing world? Complete with well you know how complete it is. He even created new languages for this world. The Road Goes Ever on book even has some of the songs completely written in elvish. Of course, for us common folk, there are translations into English at the back of the book.

I just think it is astoundingly remarkable that a man could create such a thing. And we live in a mysterious and remarkable universe. It leads me to think that somewhere Middle Earth really does exist. Maybe Tolkien created it or maybe he didn’t - he just told us about what he saw.

The Road goes ever on and on,
Down from door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, If I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say. - Tolkien

There is a youtube video of Tolkien himself reading this verse here

The book can also be had through amazon.com

The Road Goes Ever on

Popularity: 12% [?]