Trollheart's Bookshelf

[Trollheart]

I was always a great reader. I'm not any more, for various reasons, though I do still read of course. But I started young: Kipling's The Jungle Book (not the Disney cartoon I hasten to add) at about age seven. I remember waiting till I was old enough to cross the "great divide" between the junior and the adult section of the library I went to, where the books in the latter looked so much more interesting and inviting. The junior, or children's section, was filled with what you would expect - nursery rhymes, Ladybird books of this and that, the adventures of the Mister Men and lots of books with dogs, cats and rabbits on the covers, though they did also carry the likes of Enid Blyton's children's classics such as the Famous Five and the Secret Seven, and some interesting historical novels and books, suitably dumbed down for kids of course. And a lot of books about space. Sort of started me on my lifelong love affair with science fiction really.



So I have my favourite authors of course, but you may be surprised to find that that is not what this thread is about. Well, it is, but not solely. I intend to concentrate not only on my own favourite writers - poets as well as authors - but ones who have made the biggest contribution to the world of literature down the ages. I'll be telling you about them and who they are, what they wrote and maybe featuring, certainly in the case of poets, one or two of their works.



The first writer I want to talk about is someone who I actually don't like. Well, that's not entirely true. I like the odd story or poem, but in general I find his stuff to be so unremittingly dark and disturbing that it's like what I assume listening constantly to Depressive Black Suicidal Metal must be like. I know millions of people enjoy his work, and rightly so. But I don't. Not much anyway. So let me introduce you now to



Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)



Credited with almost singlehandedly creating the detective fiction genre and very instrumental also in, and more known for, the Gothic horror genre, Edgar Allan Poe was certainly a man who put his own life into his writing. A man dogged by tragedy, death and despair, it's perhaps not surprising that so much of his writing is sombre, reflective and, ultimately, filled with terror, doom and dread. At an early age he lost both his father and his mother, and though taken in by foster parents at the tender age of three years they never really took to him, never formally adopted him and he fell out with them, though he remained in their care up to about 1826, at which time he was seventeen years old. After a brief spell at university, where he began running up the gambling debts that would dog his pretty miserable life, he enlisted in the army in 1827. This same year he published his first ever collection of poetry and short stories, but unlike his later work it sold very poorly, as did his second and third.

However following the death of his brother in 1831 Poe decided his future lay in writing and made an effort to knuckle down to it seriously. Between his less-than-distinguished military career and his time at university it was the most energy he had devoted to anything in his life. Having found something of a benefactor and landed a job at a newspaper he was now in a position to pursue a career in writing, however this was at the time something that had been attempted by few if any Americans: making a living as an author alone. Most who tried supplemented their income with other jobs, or wrote as a sideline, hoping to make a little money out of it. Lack of copyright laws and his own innate alcoholism hampered his efforts, and the latter robbed him of many contacts he could have made had he kept appointments with the gentlemen instead of the bottle.

Tragedy was not finished with Edgar Allan Poe, and it followed him around almost like a little puppy dog, or a black cloud intent on destroying any chance of happiness he might try to enjoy. In 1835 he married his cousin, Virginia, but the marriage would last less than ten years, as in 1842 she would succumb to consumption (tuberculosis) , dying in 1847, two years after her troubled husband had finally secured the fame and respect he had struggled to achieve all his life. In 1845 he published a poem, the first of his major works and some would say the greatest. It was called "The Raven".

The publication of his dark, doomy poem made Poe a rich man. That is of course a lie. He was paid the princely sum of nine dollars for it, and indeed he would follow Virginia into the afterlife a mere two years later, in 1849, dying from causes which are still hotly disputed to this day. What is clear is that he was found on the streets in "a state of distress", taken to Washington Medical College where he died at five in the morning, raving and in great apparent fear, his last words reported as "Lord help my poor soul".


Though he had a short career, it has impacted upon, as I mentioned, at least three separate genres of literature, with a fourth if you include gothic fiction, though I tend to lump that in with horror (which is probably wrong); the one common thread that tied all his works together is a sense of dread, fear, loneliness and horror: some of his best-known works have become major horror movies, and elements of his stories have been parodied down the years. Another major theme is the loss of a loved one, usually a woman, reflecting his own loss in life. He is still seen as one of the fathers of horror writing, and his legacy stretches across a broad swathe of literature, his influence evident in everyone from Clive Barker to Stephen King: in fact, without Poe it's doubtful if these, or any modern horror writers, would have risen to the prominence they have. Today's horror has a lot to thank Edgar Allan Poe for.


As "The Raven" was his first published successful poem, and is even today so identified with him, I'm featuring that first. If you're unaware of the poem, I'd be surprised as like I say it's been quoted and parodied by everything from The Simpsons to heavy metal, and there was recently a movie which envisaged Poe being blamed for a series of murders which uncannily showed all the hallmarks of some of his darker stories. It was called, you guessed it, The Raven. But anyway the basic idea in the poem is that a man is reflecting on the loss of his wife when a raven comes into the room and scares him. It sounds stupid, but that's the premise. However it's the way the poem is written, the dark aura Poe constructs over the simple figure of a bird perching above his door, and the malevolent intelligence he sees or causes us to see in its unblinking eyes that makes the story so chilling. A man, alone, is brought face to face with his darkest memories and loss, and is held transfixed by them. Below is the entire thing, performed by the late great Vincent Prince. There is, perhaps inconceivably, a better version, spoken by Brent Fidler from the film Poe: Last days of the Raven, but I can only find parts 2, 3 and 4 so I can't use it here. But if you get a chance and are interested in this poem I advise you to seek out the movie. You will not be disappointed.

"The Raven"

[close]

Without meaning to be supercilious, the language used in the poem is mid nineteenth century and a little flowery, so for the benefit of any who may not have understood or grasped the meaning behind the poem, here's a modern translation of the important bits:


As I sat reading in my chair one December night, a knock came to my door. But on checking I found nobody there. After I had settled back with my books the knock came, but this time at the window. When I opened it a raven flew in. It perched above my door, on a bust of the Greek goddess Pallas. I thought its eyes looked very odd and came to believe it was the soul of some person passed on, and asked it rather foolishly if it has seen my lost love, Lenore? But the bird said nothing except "Nevermore". I cajoled it, I threatened it and in the end I became very frightened of it, as it did not move and said nothing but that one word. I came to believe that I was in the presence of a demon, and I cowered under its shadow, afraid to move.


This is of course a completely simplistic and abridged version of it, but it captures the main points put forward in the poem. If you have not read it, I recommend you do, or at least click the YouTube and let Vincent read it to you.


Tales of Mystery and, you know, Imagination: some of the stories of Edgar Allan Poe in brief

(Note: if you haven't read these and intend to, skip over this section, as there are spoilers for each.)





The Fall of the House of Usher (1839)


The first of many gothic horror/murder stories that would follow a theme of revenge and betrayal. Although Poe had written some stories before this, it is recognised as his first real story and would go on to be made into a major motion picture. It tells the harrowing tale of Roderick Usher, who believes his dilapidated house has a life all of its own. He is sick, and so is his sister, who later dies and is entombed in the family vault. However, strange sounds and happenings within the house soon conspire to drive Roderick and his friend, the narrator, mad, and Roderick finally reveals that his sister was alive when they buried her. She comes back then and claims him and they both die. As the narrator flees the house it splits in two and sinks into the earth. Yeah, like I said: not cheery stories.




The Masque of the Red Death (1842)


The tale of a powerful prince who, with his retinue and court, believe they will be safe from the terrible plague sweeping the land, the Red Death, which is claiming all in its wake. Amusing themselves by holding a masquerade ball, they are horrified and terrified to encounter the figure of Death himself, who has made his way into the palace and thereby takes the lives of all present.





The Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841)


Possibly one of the silliest stories ever written, certainly the silliest Poe wrote, and yet Murders in the Rue Morgue has gone on to be one of his most famous and respected works. Meh. Shows what I know. But come on! A detective rather than a horror story, it introduces us to Dupin, who sets out to solve the mystery of how two women could be horribly murdered in a fourth-floor apartment when there is no sign of entry. Turns out to be an escaped Orang-Utan. No, I'm serious. Perhaps this is evidence that even Poe liked a laugh from time to time, though the story is delivered with his characteristic dourness and fatalism. Still, the closest we come to a lighthearted tale in the repertoire of this master of the macabre.




The Pit and the Pendulum (1842)


A strange story with a lot of inconsistencies, and yet again this has become one of Poe's best-known and quoted works. Set at the time of the Spanish Inquisition (No I will not say it!) it concerns a prisoner who finds himself on trial and not surprisingly condemned, for the Spanish Inquisition did not tend to believe in the notion of innocent until proven guilty (still not saying it!) and thrown into a dark cell. After a while he realises there is a huge pit in the centre of the cell, and above him is a massive double-bladed scythe, which is swinging slowly from side to side and descending towards him. With the help of rats who infest his cell and eat the meat he has been left, he manages to escape the pendulum as the rats chew through the ropes binding him, but then finds that the walls have become so hot that he is forced towards the dread pit. At the last moment he is rescued as the French take the town and oust the Spanish Inquisition (NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition! There! Happy now?) and he is set free.




The Tell-tale Heart (1843)


A classic story of guilt driving a murderer to confess, The Tell-tale Heart is about a man who kills an older man because he does not like his "vulture-like eye", and after dismembering the body conceals it underneath the floorboards. A neighbour, alerted by the old man's dying scream, calls the police but the murderer is so calm and affable, believing he has pulled off the perfect crime and will never be discovered, that he satisfies the police officers that it was only his own cry, from a nightmare suffered in the small hours, that the neighbour heard. He invites them to sit and talk to him in the old man's room, under the floorboards of which he has hidden the body. But though neither officer can hear anything the protagonist believes he can hear the sound of a heart, beating louder and louder, until he can stand it no longer, and believing that everyone can hear it and that he will be damned, confesses and tells the police to tear up the floorboards, whereupon they find the grisly evidence of his actions.





The Cask of Amontillado (1846)


One of the last of Poe's works, this concerns the efforts of one man to take revenge upon another for some insult he was paid. The first man entices the second into a wine cellar, wherein he walls him up alive. That's it: there are no sudden or unexpected escapes or twists in Poe's fiction, and rarely if ever a happy ending. If there is a moral here it escapes me, other than that sometimes it is possible to commit murder and get away with it, as the main protagonist goes on to live for at least fifty more years and is never caught.





This is a small selection of Poe's stories, which number well over fifty, but all follow a general theme, of disillusionment, often disgust in mankind, of loneliness, despair, revenge and betrayal, loss and hopelessness. Few if any of Poe's protagonists are heroes, with the possible exception of Dupin: most of them are either evil men - as in The Tell-Tale Heart or The Cask of Amontillado - or uncaring, such as Prince Prospero in The Masque of the Red Death. Occasionally they are innocent, or at least uninvolved, bystanders, such as the narrator of The Fall of the House of Usher, or the unnamed prisoner in The Pit and the Pendulum. Indeed, that story is one of the few of Poe's to have what could be considered a happy ending, as his characters usually die or are horribly marked by their experiences in his tales.


His poetry fares no better. Much of it is concerned with the afterlife, with such titles as "To One in Paradise", "For Annie", "To My Mother", "Deep in Earth" and "The Conqueror Worm". Even his most famous, "The Raven", concerns a man who isolates himself from the outside world and spends his time grieving for his lost lover to the point that he drives himself mad, thinking he has been visited by a demon in the form of a raven, and is paralysed both with fear and possibly anticipation that he may be taken to be reunited with Lenore.



The impact of the work of Edgar Allan Poe on today's fiction cannot be overstressed. I've already said that the great horror, gothic and even science fiction writers working today owe him a debt of gratitude, even if they don't know it, and he set new standards for literary critics, as well as inspiring - probably unintentionally - a whole host of so-called psychics who believe they can channel his spirit and write in his style. Of course, he had his flaws, and they were many, and his detractors, among them some literary giants like WB Yeats, Aldous Huxley and of course his great rival Henry Longfellow.


But whatever you think of him, whether your read him or not, whether you enjoy what you read or not, and even if you have somehow never heard his name before, the chances are that Poe has influenced your life in one way or another. If you've ever read a mystery, science fiction, horror story, enjoyed a gothic movie or even listened to early Iron Maiden, he's in there. As I already noted, there was a movie recently using Poe as the main character, and in the smash US crime drama The Following, the serial killer uses Poe's works as the basis for his grisly murders.


These constant adaptions and reinterpretations of Poe's work, and links to him continue to keep the man well to the forefront of the public eye, and ensure that though from time to time he may fade into the background, he will always be with us, waiting, watching, subtly influencing and opening and re-opening the doors of his dark world to ever new legions of fans and followers. Like the heart of the murdered man in The Tell-Tale Heart, the genius and the influence of Edgar Allan Poe is still beating under the floorboards of literature, thumping loud in the ears of the human consciousness, and it's doubtful it will ever be stilled.

[Guybrush]

I suspect the image you create of Poe gives a more dour picture of the man than what was real. This is the general way we like to imagine Poe, but as editor David Galloway (who has worked with Poe's fiction) notes: "comedies, satires and hoaxes account for more than half his total output of short stories, and the last of them, 'X-ing a Paragrab,' appeared only a few months before the author's obscure death in 1849". So there's a comedy side to Poe that accounted for a significant part of his output, but which seems often forgotten or often left out.

This aside, I really enjoyed reading this.. and now feel like reading a bit of Poe. I expect you will cover more authors?

[Trollheart]

Wow, I did not know that. I assumed like everyone does that he was just a miserable old sod who got a terrible deal in life. Good to know he was able to be happy once in a while.

I'll certainly be doing more authors. I would take requests, but I need to know the writer and their work, as I'm not really in the mood to go totally researching a new writer. So it will be limited to those I do know, and have read, unless I decide to tackle some major figure like Hugo or Austen, which possibly may happen. You can certainly expect Dickens, King, Pratchett, Tolkien, Doyle, Rice, Clarke, Asimov, Barker and Koontz, but I will definitely make an effort to research other writers outside of my own personal tastes. I was also thinking of Wheatley, whom my mam used to read, and maybe some like Hardy, DeFoe and Swift. We'll see.

[Trollheart]

Been over a year since I updated this thread, and we all know why. Sometimes, even the thought of reading brings back painful memories of Karen and when I used to read for her every morning. I still can't bring myself to finish the last book I was reading for her when she passed away, the very last of these readings performed by me as she lay in her hospital bed, which, unbeknownst to any of us, she was never to leave again. I suppose it will always remain unfinished, as it's just too raw a pain at the moment to revisit.

But were she here, I'm sure she'd remind me that both she and I loved both reading and writing, and that the former certainly brought both of us not only joy and entertainment, but helped us be closer in the final years of her life. Hopefully, wherever she is now (and I hope it's a better place than here) she remembers when I would settle her in the bed with her cuddly toys around her, hop up on the stool in her bedroom, slip out my phone and return to where we last finished the previous morning, and help her back into a world of literature, be it fantasy, horror or even history, and allow her a chance to drift away from her very real personal troubles and worries into a different world, where all things were possible.

So in that spirit, and in her memory, let's draw the curtains against the night's chill, build up the fire in the hearth and curl up in our favourite easy chair as the shadows jump and dart and cavort on the walls like crazy dark dancers, and select another volume from



The last time I did this we looked at a very famous author, one whose name has gone down in history and become synonymous with the horror story and dark gothic fiction. The writer I want to feature this time is nowhere as famous as Poe, but well respected in her field and certainly a favourite of mine. Sadly, since I originally wrote this in 2014, I've had to fill in the second bracket, as a mere year later she passed away at the age of 68. Taken too soon.

Tanith Lee (1947 - 2015)
Born in London just after World War II ended, the fact that both of Tanith Lee's parents were ballroom dancers comes through in many of her books, where dance and the fluid and graceful movements both suffuse her characters and drift among the titles of her novels, such as "Dark dance". Another writer snubbed by her homeland, her first novel, "The Birthgrave", was rejected by many English publishers and looked unlikely to ever see the light of day till she turned to an American concern, DAW Publishing, who released it and who then went on to publish almost thirty of her books over a fourteen-year period.

Lee wrote mostly what could be described as "adult fantasy", though she has also written many children's stories, and dipped her toe into historical novel writing. Her fantasy novels range from light-hearted, Fritz Leiber-style magical tales with demons, princesses and dragons to darker, more gothic works. She strikes the kind of balance well that few other writers in her genre manage, having some of her stories set in totally fantasy, imagined worlds while others are deeply rooted in the mundane and the normal, to which she brings a strong sense of the old world intruding on the new, magic lurking and working in the background, the old ways still extant.

Although she is a favourite author of mine, I have not read a tenth of what she has written, and my experience of the wide variety of her work is quite minimal really. But almost everything of hers I have read I have enjoyed, and in the list below I'll annotate anything that impressed or disappointed me about the books. At the moment I've just finished reading "Dark dance" for my sister. I remember thinking when I bought it originally that it was very dark, depressing and bleak, and I don't believe I finished it at the time, passing it on to my sister. Now, re-reading it for the first time, and for someone else - a situation which precludes throwing in the towel halfway - I think I appreciate it much more, and indeed the ending was quite satisfactory if a little perhaps predictable. We're now waiting for the second and third books to arrive so we can continue the story. (Note: At the time, obviously Karen was still alive, and I was ordering books through the post like a  caveman, having not yet sampled the delights of instant delivery with Kindle, nor indeed having such an item).

Selected list of works

The Dragon Hoard (1971)

Her first ever novel, published for children and with a suitably childish story featuring a spurned sorceress, a cursed king and of course a quest, it nevertheless must have given Lee great confidence to have had one of her works published, and would lead to greater things as the years wound on and her writing style developed.

Animal Castle (1972)

The unlikely story of a kingdom without animals, and how, with the arrival of a shaggy dog one day to his kingdom, the king suddenly decided he must have animals. And of course the story of what then happened. Another children's book, her second publication, this time a picture book.

The Birthgrave (1975)
First in the Birthgrave Trilogy

Her first proper fantasy novel for adults, this was the book that so many British publishers passed on, and that she eventually had to look to America to achieve its publication. It's part of a trilogy, as above, and though certainly not one of her best novels in my opinion, would go to solidify her place as one of the most exciting new emerging feminist writers in the genre.

It's a long time since I read any of her books, so rather than try to describe them from memory - apart from one or two which really impressed me -I'll leave it to reviewers who can talk about them better than I can. Here's what one has to say about this, her first real novel.

"The main character is a woman of the old race- humanlike creatures with apparent immortality and powers above and beyond that which we possess. She awakens in a volcano, and is told by the spirit in the fire that she is the last of her kind and will spreada curse of unhappiness*across the land, unless she can unlock the secrets to the power and knowledge hidden within herself. Thus she leaves the mountain on a series of adventures, trying to discover the lost truth of her own past."

Marion Zimmer Bradley, already a big name in the fantasy genre and one of the doyennes of British fantasy fiction, wrote an introduction to the book - so impressed was she by the newcomer - that says it all really: "It's filled with adventure and beauty, rich alien names, half-sketched barbarian societies, ruined cities, decadence and wonder. " Indeed.

Don't bite the sun (1976)
First of the Four-BEE sequence
Lee's first step away from fantasy and into the world of science-fiction, "Don't bite the sun" tells the tale of indolent humans who live on a doomed world, where they are required to do nothing but have endless sex, use drugs and even kill themselves, whereupon they are reborn into a body of their choosing. Suicide, in fact, becomes less a last desperate act and more a way of ending a boring existence and starting a new life. The main character tires of life in the city though and ends up joining an expedition to explore the blasted, desolate wilderness outside the city domes, realising that perhaps she belongs here rather than in the sterile cities.

The Storm Lord (1976)
First in the Wars of Vis trilogy

Only a year after her first major novel was published, Lee was already hard at work on a second trilogy, this one concerning, according to the book's jacket: "an unknown planet and of the conflict of empires and peoples on that world. It is the story of a priestess raped and slain, of a baby born of a king and hidden among strangers, and of how that child, grown to manhood, sought his true heritage. It is a novel of alien gods and lost goddesses, of warriors and wanderers, and of vengeance long delayed. It is an epic in every sense of the word."

To go further, in the words of one reviewer: "The Storm Lord follows the path of a young man, Raldnor, son of Ashne'e, a priestess of Anackire the Snake Goddess, and Rehdon, King of Vis. The Lowland people are nearly albinos, pale skinned, blond to white haired, golden eyed; the Vis are dark. Raldnor is born too early, as Rehdon's Queen, Val Mala, sends poisons to Ashne'e to make her abort the child and keep her standing, as well as her son's. She insists her woman, Lomandra, provide her with the dead child's finger. Ashne'e, in turn, cuts of Raldnor's pinky finger to send back to Val Mala, and the poisons take her. Lomandra, in turn, carries Raldnor out of the city, only to die in the Lowlands herself, trying to keep him safe. He is adopted into a Lowlands family, but when his adopted mother dies, he leaves to seek his way in the world.

As this is a Tanith Lee novel, nothing is ever easy, and Raldnor must go through a great many trials and tribulations to reach his goal - which turns out to be raising up the Lowlanders to shake off the yokes Vis put on them. His half brother, Amreck, the Storm Lord, threatens at every turn, as well as pirates and other dangers, including war. And above everything, Anackire watches, the great Snake Goddess of the Lowlanders, and Her presence is felt throughout the story."


Drinking sapphire wine (1977)
Second in the Four-BEE sequence
The continuation, and conclusion of the story begun in "Don't bite the sun", as the main character is exiled from the city and must learn to survive in the harsh, inhospitable wilderness that makes up most of the doomed planet.

Volkhavaar (1977)

As far as I can see, apart from her early children's stories, the first novel Tanith Lee wrote that was not part of a trilogy or sequence, and to my mind suffers for it. The first of her novels I read that I remember being desperately disappointed in, having already read later books and loved them. Though it is over thirty years since I read it, and perhaps I might appreciate it more through the lens of age and experience, as they say, life's too short to listen to bad music or read bad novels.

Here's what the jacket has to say about it. "A novel of witchcraft and wonders on a world far removed from those we know. Here the gods contend for power - the Dark forces against the Light - and here an entire city and its land is plunged into the shadow of an evil beyond anything conceivable. It is the story of Shaina the slave girl and of Volk the outcast who enslaved himself to cosmic forces to gain total power - and of how they were finally to meet and clash - with an entire world as their prize. "Volkhavaar" is high fantasy comparable only to the best of Andre Norton and Michael Moorcock."

High praise indeed, given that Moorcock was and is one of my alltime favourite fantasy writers (I'll certainly feature him at some point later), but the recommendation loses some of its impact when you realise it is not attributable to anyone, except the publisher, who would of course have wanted to put the most positive spin on the book that they could.

Night's Master (1978)
First in the Tales from the Flat Earth sequence

Now we're cookin'! The first ever Tanith Lee novel I read and it just floored me with its tales of capricious but somehow lovable demons, enchanted gardens, doomed youths and weird creatures, and above all striding taller and more dangerous than any demon, the indomitable greed and folly of mankind. Or as the jacket would have it: "In those days the Earth was not a sphere and the demons dwelled in vast magical caverns beneath its surface. Wondrous cities dotted the land and strange peoples and fabulous beasts prowled the deserts and jungles of the world.

Supreme among those mighty demons was Azhrarn, Night's Master. He it was whose pranks made nightmares on Earth, who brought desire and danger to those it amused him to visit, and who could grant wonders and create horrors unspeakable."

I can't praise this novel enough. It fed right into the kind of fantasy I had become entranced with via the likes of Michael Moorcock, Craig Shaw Gardner, Jack L. Chalker and Alan Dean Foster. Much less portentous and poe-faced than Tolkien, but taking itself more seriously than Pratchett, this was the apex, for me, of Tanith Lee's writing, when she got it spot on. The demon Azrhrarn likes to use humanity as his amusement, his plaything, but comes to realise that he needs them as much as they need him. Just superb, and led into a series of books that varied in quality but generally held up to, but never eclipsed, this opening volume.


Shadowfire (1978)
Second in the Birthgrave trilogy

For some reason retitled "Vazkor, son of Vazkor" for the American market (surely a more confusing title than "Shadowfire"?) this "tells the story of Tuvek, a warrior in a barbarian tribe, his alienation from his people, and is discovery of his family history and the Power that he has inherited. Alienated from his tribe and following a raid by survivors from the fallen cities, Tuvek is captured and taken to the city of Eshkorek, where he comes into his own Power  Tanith Lee did a great job of sketching out the history of the tribes and the ruins of the fallen civilisation close by them. She also deftly described the world through Tuvek's eyes, exploring his own growth and the cultures and people he discovers." Artwork on this looks very Boris Vallejo or Frank Frazetta, I must say!

Quest for the White Witch (1978)
Third in the Birthgrave trilogy

The final book of three, this concentrates on Vazkor, eponymous (in the American version anyway) hero of the previous one, as "he retraces her (his mother) steps, like her tells the story in his own voice, and if the fascination of the first book lies in the mystery of her identity, the fascination of this middle lies a great deal in his so very different perspective. Vazkor is very hard to like in that book--a raping sword-swinging barbarian. But there is more to him here, as in his quest--for revenge against his mother--he increasingly comes into his powers and sees the value in others. Lee's style and her world could both be described as lush. Though along with Tanith Lee's poetic prose you're going to get a psychological complexity you're not going to find in Conan the Barbarian."

Electric Forest (1978)
Another excursion into pure science-fiction, as Lee tells the story of an outcast who becomes the only one who can save her planet. "The world called Indigo turned upside down for Magdala Cled one unexpected morning. From being that world's only genetic misfit, the shunned outcast of an otherwise ideal society, she became the focus of attention for mighty forces. Once they had installed her in the midst of the Electric Forest, with its weird trees and its super-luxurious private home, Magdala awoke to the potentials which were opening up all about her. And to realize also the peril that now seemed poised above Indigo ... which only she, the hated one, could possibly circumvent."

[Trollheart]

Death's Master (1979)
Second in the Tales from the Flat Earth sequence

Again I remember this carrying on the grand fantasy tradition of "Night's Master", and it was a series I really could not get enough of. Concentrating this time on Uhlume rather than Azhrarn, as the jacket explains: "In those days the world was flat and demons dwelled beneath who walked among the cities and kingdoms of the surface with powers and mischiefs to please themselves.
Among those demons there were two who were mighty above all others. One was Azhrarn, Night's Master, and the other was the lord of darkness whose name was Uhlume, Death's Master.

This is Tanith Lee's epic fantasy novel of the strangest exploit of these two demon-lords among the men and women of Earth. It is a novel of odd erotic desires, of twisted ambitions, and superhuman feats. It is the story of two boys who became men under the stresses of witcheries and wonders that surpass even the fabled lore of the Arabian Nights ... and the story also of queens and witches, of kings and commoners - and of the two terrible lords of darkness."

The book was nominated for the 1980 Balrog Award and actually won the August Derleth Award that year, two very highly coveted recognitions of a writer's talent in, and contribution to the genre.

Delusion's Master (1980)
Third in the Tales from the Flat Earth sequence

Once again Lee takes us to the realm of one of the dread lords of the Underearth, this time it is Chuz, lord of madness. "When the world was flat and the gods had not yet restructured the universe, the cities and hopes of mankind hung upon the whims of the immortal lords of all diabolical powers.
For these, such as Azhrarn, Night's Master, and Uhlume, Death's Master, the world was a flesh-and-blood playground for all their strangest desires. But among those demonic lords, the strangest was the master of madness, Chuz.
The game that Chuz played with a beautiful woman, with an ambitious king, with an ancient imperial city, was a webwork of good and evil, of hope and horror. But there was always Azhrarn to interfere - to bend delusion to a different outcome - and it was a century-long conflict between two vain immortals with women and men as their terrified pawns."

Delirium's Mistress (1981)
Fourth in the Tales from the Flat Earth sequence

The point at where I recall the quality beginning to slide just a little. I remember being slightly disappointed with "Delerium's mistress", feeling that it somehow didn't hold up to the high standard of the last three novels. But then, that bar had been set very high by the author, so I suppose you can't expect perfection every time. But given that it was the last full novel in the series, you can't help but wonder was she growing bored of it, or running out of ideas? I seem to remember some of the ideas from the previous books being rehashed, changed slightly, though again as I say it was thirty-some years ago. But the memory of disappointment definitely remains to this day.

"In the age of demons, when the Earth was still flat, a daughter was born to a mortal beauty and Azhrarn, Demon Lord of Night. This Daughter of the Night was called Azhriaz, and she was hidden away on a mist-shrouded isle, spirit-guarded, to spend her life in dreams. But Azhriaz was destined for more than dark dreaming. For if her father was the Lord of Night, her mother was descended from the Sun itself.

And her beauty and power soon called to another mighty demon lord, Azhrarn's enemy, Prince Chuz, Delusion's Master, who worked a magnificent illusion to free Azhriaz from her prison and transform her into Delirium's Mistress.
As Mistress of Madness and Delirium would she become known in realms of both demon and humankind. And her destiny would make her goddess, queen, fugitive, champion, seeress - and her to whom even the very Lord of Darkness would one day bow down...."

[Trollheart]

The Silver Metal Lover (1981)
First in the S.I.L.V.E.R series

1981, and Lee returns with another stunning novel of romance in the far future, a science-fiction love story between a woman and a robot. SILVER stands for Silver Ionised Locomotive Verisimulated Electronic Robot, and Lee's heroine falls in love with one.

"It is a world of the future, where beauty is available to all, given the sophistication of technology and medicine. Yet Jane is - well, surely pleasant-enough-looking, with her soft brown hair and slightly plump body. Years back, when Jane was tiny, her beautiful, wealthy mother had her analyzed for perfect body type, and now cosmetic medications keep her true to form. And she questions little. After all, her mother has so much authority, so many opinions, that there's nothing for Jane to say.
And Jane's lovers are largely in her mind - men from films she's seen, from books she's read. The thought of confronting a flesh-and-blood lover makes Jane grow cold. What would she say to him? What would he think of plain Jane?
Until she meets Silver, a singer and guitarist. And a robot - with all the adoration and compassion that in-the-flesh lovers lack.
But, unlike human lovers, Silver is for sale, and Jane - desperate for his love - risks estrangement from her mother and friends to possess him. With Silver as her partner, she tastes the first happiness and independence she has ever known. She even grows pretty, as she stops taking the pills and treatments her mother had ordered for her.
Yet - what would you do if the manufacturer decided to recall the particular model of lover you'd bought?"

Lycanthia, or Children of Wolves (1981)

And that same year, not happy with producing one of the most innovative and clever science-fiction stories of the year, she tries her hand at folklore, with the tale of werewolves who come to claim a castle which has been taken by a lord as his inheritance.

"Even in today's world there are corners where past evils still cast their terror-haunted shadows. When the young man, Christian, came to his inheritance - a once grand mansion in just such a remote corner of France, he knew only that there was some sort of alternate claim to that ancient building and it lands. Even as the villagers acknowledged him as lord of the manor, there came two from the forest to stake out their interest. And with them came fear and desire, terror and love ... a combination which could be irresistible-and also fatal. "

Red as Blood, or Tales from the Sisters Grimmer (1983)

And here, in a collection of short stories and reimagined tales, Lee takes on the fairytales of our childhood, seeking deeper truth under the rainbows and unicorns and rewriting the old stories with a view to a much more adult way of looking at these fables. Or, to quote the jacket:

"How would it be if Snow White were the real villain and the "wicked queen" just a sadly maligned innocent? What if awakening the Sleeping Beauty should be the mistake of a lifetime - of several lifetimes? What if the famous folk tales were retold with an eye to more horrific possibilities?
Only Tanith Lee could do justice to it, and in "Red as Blood", she displays her soaring imagination at its most fantastically mischievous. Not for nothing was the title story named as a Nebula nominee. Not for nothing was the author of "The Birthgrave and "The Storm Lord" called by New York's Village Voice, "Goddess-Empress of the Hot Read."
Here are the world-famous tales of such as the Brothers Grimm as they might have been retold by the Sisters Grimmer! Fairy tales for children? Not on your life!"

Sung in shadow (1983)

Here, she reinterprets the story of Romeo and Juliet, in the first of what would become several varied novels set in alternate versions of cities around the world. In this, obviously, we're in another Venice.

Anickire (1983)
Second volume in The Wars of Vis series

"The lowland girl seemed to contain fire. Her hair stirred, flickered, gushed upward, blowing flame in a wind that did not blow.
A tower of light shot up the sky, beginning where the girl stood. For half a second there was only light, then it took form.
The form it took was*Anackire.
She towered, she soared. Her flesh was a white mountain. Her snake's tail a river of fire in spate. Her golden head touched the apex of the sky, and there the serpents of her hair snapped like lightnings. Her eyes were twin suns. The eight arms, outheld as the two arms of the girl had been, rested weightlessly on the air, the long fingers subtly moving
The girl standing before the well, unblasted by the entity she had released, seemed only quiescent. At last one could see that her face, as it had always been, was the face of Anackire."

Tamastra, or The Indian Nights (1984)

And here, she tackles the mythology and culture of India. "All the magic and mystery of fabled India is woven into these marvel tales of seven strange nights. For that vast land which many have conquered and none have subdued is the home of ten thousand gods and a hundred thousand demons - and the teeming races that dwell on its shrouded plains and marbled cities have kept their mystic secrets.
Only the vivid imagination of Tanith Lee, who has been rightly called "Princess Royal of Heroic Fantasy," could penetrate the nighted veils of India's lore. In*Tamastara*she does so to delight the mind and season with scented curry the imagination of the West.
Here are hidden gods and demonic possession, here are were-beasts and subterranean terrors, here are beings transformed and souls reborn, here is Terror and Wonder. Winner of the World Fantasy Award and the August Derleth Award, Tanith Lee is at her best in this new book."


Night's sorceries (1986)
Fifth and final volume in the Tales of the Flat Earth sequence

Five years after what I took to be the final book in the series, Lee came up with a collection of stories based on the events in the last four books. Although I had been, as I said, somewhat disappointed in "Delirium's Mistress", I still hungered for more Flat Earth tales, and these did not disappoint. From the tale of the girl said to be the daughter of night itself to the priest who rides to the sun, and from the updated story of the prodigal son to the return of Azhrarn himself, this collection of novelettes, novellas and short stories reaffirmed my faith in Lee and her Flat Earth tales. Sadly, it was the final volume.

"In the age of demons, when the Earth was still flat, Prince Chuz, Delusion's Master, stole Azhriaz, daughter of the Demon Lord of Night, from the underworld citadel meant to be her eternal prison. Pursued by the vengeful Lord of Night, Chuz and Azhriaz fled to the world above, to the lands of mortal men, seeking a haven for their love.
Yet when demons dwelt in the realm of men, terror and wonders were bound to result. And so it was for all who came in contact with Chuz, Azhriaz, and their dread pursuer. As all three worked their powerful sorceries, men and women, from the highest lords to the lowest peasants, were led into new kingdoms of enchantment where a man could learn to commune with beasts, where magicians found their spells recast, where a woman's kindness could turn back time, and where a mortal might fulfill a prophecy that would place the very sun and moon within his grasp ..."


The Book of the Damned (1988)
First in the Secret Books of Paradys series

This time we're in an alternate version of Paris, where strange people carry out stranger deeds of vengeance, reprisal and betrayal. "Jehanine: demon or saint? Her days she spent at the Nunnery of the Angel; her nights in the vicious back-streets of Paradys, wreaking revenge on men for the wrongs she had suffered at their hands.
'How fast does a man run when the Devil is after him?' Andre St Jean is about to find out, as a young man collapses at his feet and presses into his hand a strange scarab ring, containing the secret of life...
The stranger pushed a note across the table:*'In a week or less I shall be dead.'*In a week, he was, and most unnaturally. She found herself drawn to the house where he died, to unravel the web of mystery and horror that had been spun about him..."


The Book of the Beast (1988)
Second in the Secret Books of Paradys series
"It*was created on the fifth day of the Earth; scaled not feathered- the Beast.
From the most ancient of days, passed through the seed of generations, still it preys on the unlucky, the unwary and the unchaste. Its appetite is ravenous and eternal.
Tanith Lee weaves a chilling tale of horror through the streets of Paradys: from the times when the Legions ruled the Empire, and Centurion Retullus Vusca hoped to change his luck... to the wedding of an innocent maid who hoped to win the affection of a cold, but handsome lord, unaware of the consequences of her seduction... to a scholar, wise in the ways of magic, who was determined to end the terror... And all the while there were cries in the night, and blood on the stones in the morning."

The White Serpent (1988)
Third in the Wars of Vis series
"THE WHITE WITCH -
She is Aztira, one of the magical Amanackire race, a pure white albino with powers both mysterious and terrifying. She can grant life and defy death, enchant men - or destroy them!
AND THE WARRIOR -
He is Rehger. Sold into slavery at the age of four, he will become one of the finest warriors and charioteers in the land. Yet all his prowess with arms will not save him from the spell of the White Witch, a dangerous bewitchment that will lead him to challenge the mightiest of mortals and immortals ... and to embark on a fearsome quest in search of the legendary city that is home to the Amanackire."

The blood of roses (1990)

One of the first books I read that dared to equate Christianity with vamipirism, but if you look closely and with unblinkered eyes, the similarities are there: people who dress in black, profess to drink blood, and who can only be killed by ramming a stake through ... nah, just kidding about that last part. But this amazing novel really set me to thinking about the links between the two, and it makes for some disturbing and at the same time illuminating reading.

"LOVE, HISTORY OR BLOOD: WHICH IS THE STRONGEST?
Mechail Korhlen, deformed son of a forest lord and a woman rumoured to be a witch, is an enigma. In his childhood something black settled on him and drank from his throat. Perhaps it marked him out as forever belonging to the dark...
At twenty-one Mechail, a victim of intrigue, is murdered. But astonishingly, he rises from the dead and takes a terrible revenge before fleeing his home. And the fulfilment of his destiny begins.
The fate of all who live in this magically forested world is subject to the seductive will of Anjelen, a priest possessed of enormous powers. He is a terrifying and dynamic force- but for good, or for evil?
And what is the mystery at the heart of the seemingly Christian monastery Anjelen rules?
Is it that he - and his followers - drink blood?"


The Book of the Dead (1991)
Third in the Secret Books of Paradys series
"Paradys too has its cemeteries...."; The search for dark secrets deepens in Book III of the Paradys tetralogy, a powerful collection of short stories peopled with the tortured souls that lie buried here as in a fragile prison.
A handsome youth shocks his family by marrying a white weasel. On their bridal bed a beautiful maiden emerges from the weasel's discarded pelt, but it's not just her previous form that holds the bride captive. For her to be released she must be loved, but her beloved must die at her hands as he bestows the kiss that releases her.
Two childhood lovers wed. Their union seems to be blessed. Little does Roland know that Marie-Mai's pure body is host to the pointed fangs of Evil. Finding this on their wedding night, he kills her and chooses to take the truth to the gallows with him-not for him the responsibility of unmasking the naked face of the Devil.
Children and weak things wither after coming in contact with Julie d'Is. What ancient curse was bestowed upon this infant poisoner in the womb of her foolish mother? Only her death will reveal the truth, for no one can approach her in life.
With her finely crafted and masterful prose, Tanith Lee brings to life these agonized souls and twisted half-creatures, wreaking havoc in their twilight world, where death is only the beginning."

[Trollheart]

Dark Dance (1992)
First in the Blood Opera sequence

The book I mentioned I was just up until today reading for my sister. Dark, bleak and gothic with some very morose reflections on human life, it's nevertheless a gripping tale that drags us into the quiet, still, ancient and macabre world of the Scarabae, a family so old that they can remember the French Revolution, the Napoleonic Wars, perhaps even the Great Fire of London, which may have been linked to them. Rachaela is drawn almost unwillingly but by persistent fate into the world of these people, whom she does not know and yet somehow feels she does; knows and fears, for it is here, in the dark dank claustrophobic house with so many stained-glass windows that occlude the light, that she will finally meet her destiny.

The Book of the Mad (1993)
Fourth in the Secret Books of Paradys series
"In her darkly dazzling finish to The Secret Books of Paradys, Tanith Lee tempts the reader with a tale of horror, lust and madness that leaves no perversity untouched, no taboo unbroken.
This time, the seductive nightmare unfolds in three parallel versions of the City-Paradis, Paradys and Paradise. Connected by a labyrinth of ice whose dangers are amplified by the will and emotion of its lunatic travelers, these cities and their mad and near-mad denizens provide the stage for a drama of mythical proportions that none of the players can fully comprehend. Among the mad and the doomed are the murderous, remorseless siblings Felion and Smara; the violated woman-child Hilde; and Leocadia, the artist and visionary. Combining horror and hedonism, art and eroticism, Lee offers an aesthete's amoral view of beauty, pleasure and pain in her inimitable high style.
This fourth book in the Paradys series is linked brilliantly to the previous three -*The Book of the Damned,*The Book of the Beast, and*The Book of the Dead*- not by plot but by its shared venue: the fantastic, Gothic, atmospheric and changeable city of Paradys."

Personal darkness (1993)
Second in the Blood Opera sequence

Continuing the dread story of the ageless, timeless Scarabae, as they reach out to reclaim what was theirs and set in motion a series of events that will have far-reaching consequences.

"The House is destroyed, the Scarabae dead or scattered. And the youngest and most dangerous of them, voracious for destruction, is free. As Ruth, a mind as old as evil in the body of a teenage girl, unleashes blood and fire across southern England, the other survivors regroup their formidable resources. Scarabae wealth and power can replicate The House and even withstand the sun, while help is summoned from others of their kind.
But when Malach and Althene arrive, ageless and exotic, nothing transpires as Rachaela had supposed. For she and Ruth, the demon bred on her by Adamus - father and lover, now dead - are also Scarabae, and Scarabae cleave to their own. Rachaela, irresistibly drawn to Althene's mysterious web, must accept that her daughter belongs to dark, tormented Malach, and find new reasons for hope ...
Yet it is Camillo - malign, geriatric biker with the strength and soul of a child - and the women unwittingly entangled in his mischief, who will finally dispose Ruth's fate, and play the wild card in the Scarabae's endless game.
Subtly blending the human menaces of London's contemporary underworld with a dark vampiric seduction, "Personal Darkness" enmeshes the reader further in the insidious enchantment of the Scarabae."

Darkness, I (1994)
The third and final in the Blood Opera sequence

As the story reaches its shattering conclusion, Rachaela's second daughter is born, but there is something very odd about her rate of maturity. Stolen by Cain, an outcast from the Scarabae, Rachaela finds she must ally with her hated enemies in order to try to save her child.

"'And how old, Doctor, Would you say she was?' 'She appears to be about sixteen ... perhaps a well-developed fifteen.' 'My daughter, Doctor, is three years of age.'
Lapped in the luxury of Scarabae wealth, lulled by her relationship with Althene, Rachaela has carried and given birth to her second child. A girl. Beautiful, white-haired, green-eyed. But children do not grow and mature as fast as this one.
Her name is Anna, to honour the dead. On her breast is a small blue mark ... Who is she? What is She?
Before Rachaela can decide, or Malach, self-exiled to his Dutch castle, can make up his mind, in sudden violence, Anna is abducted.
And all around the world, someone is stealing the children. From Tesco's ... from the banks of the Nile ... Taking them to a place at the end of the earth, the white pyramid hidden in the ice.
A shadow - darker than all the darkness of this dark family. Monster, master, blood-lusting genius: Cain, the outcast of the Scarabae.
He has Anna now. Means to keep her. Will Malach be able to claim her back?"

These are, believe it or not, just a tiny sample of the volume of work put out by Tanith Lee over a career spanning more than forty years. In her long career she wrote over ninety novels, her last four (!) completed - or at least, published - in the year she died, over three hundred short stories as well as various collections and books written under other names. She died on May 24 2015 from breast cancer, and is survived by her writer husband of twenty-three years.

If fantasy, mythology, science-fiction or a peculiar slant on historical fiction is your thing, then you should really pick up one of her books. Just don't be too scandalised: she doesn't pull any punches when it comes to sex! JK Rowling she is not! But if you want to escape the humdrum for a few hours, then Tanith Lee could very well be the enchantress to weave a spell that will carry you far from the mundane cares of the workaday world and into her dark, often dangerous, but always entertaining world.

How, or indeed if, you find your way back to our own plane is another question.