Today’s recommendations include another eclectic mix of titles: two older fantasy trilogies, a reprint short story collection of weird tales, and a new omnibus reprint collection by one of the acknowledged masters of science fiction and science fantasy.

Before the days of the Internet, book shoppers were largely limited to perusing the shelves at their local bookseller or chain book store. Occasionally other options were available: I learned about the work of some science fiction authors with whom I had had limited or no experience by listening to the Hour 25 radio program on Friday nights during the 70s and 80s. But still, it was the book stores where most discoveries were made. During such a shopping trip during the 1980’s, I happened to pick up The Borribles by British author Michael de Larrabeiti, and a bit later its sequel The Borribles Go for Broke. The books were apparently written for the “juvenile” or “young adult” market – that is certainly how they were marketed – but this was not an issue. I have read and enjoyed a great deal of such “juvenile” fiction over the years – still do, for that matter – including works by Madeleine L’Engle, John Bellairs, and Philip Pullman (see below). I enjoyed the Borribles books so much that I read and reread both novels several times, and gave copies to friends and relatives who were also avid readers. Wanting more, I watched for new Borrible titles to appear, but none did. Eventually, I stopped searching.

Fast forward to a couple of years ago: it occurred to me one day to search online for further Borrible books, and I was pleased to discover that de Larrabeiti had indeed written a third (and apparently final) book called The Borribles: Across the Dark Metropolis. As my two paperback copies were now two decades old, I purchased the trilogy as a single volume from Tor Books (shown above). This edition is now o.p., but the three novels have been re-released separately and are now available.

Okay, so what are the books about, and what is a Borrible? To quote from deLarrabeiti’s own website:

“Borribles are runaway children whose ears become pointed as they take to the streets, indicators of their independence and intelligence. As long as their ears remain unclipped they will never age; for this reason, they wear woollen hats pulled low over their ears in order to remain undetected by the authorities, who find their freedom threatening to the social order. Borribles are skinny, scruffy, and tough; they have nothing to do with money, and steal what they need to survive.”

The stories revolve around a particular group of Borribles who live in Battersea and their adventures in and around London, Battersea, and other English cities and towns, fighting Rumbles (intelligent, child-sized rats) and other Borribles, all the while trying to evade the SBG, the section of the London police force dedicated to capturing all Borribles. Synopses of each of the three volumes are available here: http://www.michaeldelarrabeiti.com/books/borribletrilogy.html.

Suffice it to say that with the Borrible trilogy, de Larrabeiti has created one of best and most unique fantasies that you will ever read. Highly recommended.

The next item is another fantasy trilogy written for a younger audience that can be enjoyed by readers of all ages. Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy is: The Northern Lights (published in the U.S. as The Golden Compass, soon to be a feature film), The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass. Like de Larrabeiti, Pullman has created an alternate reality in which his stories play out. In the case of the Borribles, that alternate reality substitutes for our own. In Pullman’s case, that alternate reality coexists alongside our own, with characters crossing between the two worlds as the storylines proceed. This alternate reality is one in which science and magic co-exist and all humans have a personal animal familiar called a daemon. The stories are rich, complex, and fascinating in their inventiveness. Again, highly recommended.

Next is a short story collection by a writer who I was unfamiliar with until I purchased this book. From the 1930s to the 1960s, Eric Frank Russell was best known for his science fiction, much of which remains in print today. But, he was also a master of the weird tale. Darker Tides is a limited edition collection from Midnight House that reprints the contents of his long out-of-print volume Dark Tides along with many of his other stories originally published in pulp magazines like Weird Tales, Fantastic, and Strange Stories. I love making literary discoveries like these: it’s a fine book, and a great read.

Finally for this post, there’s the new collection by one of my favorite authors, Jack Vance. Much has been written elsewhere about this writer and his works, so I’ll simply say that I’ve read most of what he has written over the years, and there is no finer writer in the realm of science fiction and science fantasy. Among my very favorite titles are his five volume Star King series. Smart, witty, clever, and inventive, Vance is a master of the form. He has a clean, refreshing style that avoids contrivances and the many clichés of the genre. The Jack Vance Treasury is a “best-of” collection from Subterranean Press; it is currently only available as a signed limited edition, but Vance titles are widely available in paperback format. I urge you to check them out – don’t miss the many amazing worlds of Jack Vance.

I tend to keep two or three books in my reading rotation at any given time, unless I happen to have picked up one of those stay-up-all-night-to-finish titles (you know the ones). Lately, I’ve been juggling a few cross-genre titles, including several from a handful of late, great British authors and one from a new young American fantasy writer.

First up is Strangers and Pilgrims, an outstanding new omnibus collection of supernatural fiction by Walter de la Mare. Published by one of my favorite specialty publishers, Tartarus Press in the UK, it’s a beautiful monster of a book at 500+ pages, and is not to be missed if you are a fan of ghost stories or supernatural fiction in general, especially by the early masters of the genre.

Second is Thermopylae: Battle for the West by popular historian Ernle Bradford. I’ve been fascinated by ancient history since childhood (yes, that long ago), particularly Egypt, Greece, and the Roman Empire. After reading Frank Miller’s graphic novel 300 last year, I had the urge to go back and take a longer, deeper look into the epic but hopeless battle for the Hot Gates in 480 BC that has been widely considered ever since as a turning point in the development of Western civilization. Bradford’s book, first published in 1980, takes a detailed look at the events leading up to and throughout Persian king Xerxes’ ultimately doomed campaign against the West, as well as the aftermath of that campaign. Highly recommended, particularly if ancient Greek history is your thing.

The next book is Summer Lightning, the latest in the seemingly endless flow of P.G. Wodehouse titles that make their way into my rotation. The prolific author, considered by many to be the greatest British comic writer ever, may be best known for his Wooster and Jeeves stories. As good as they are, my own favorites are his stories about Blandings Castle and its colorful cast of characters, of which Summer Lightning is the third novel in the series, and the fourth book chronologically (the preceding title was a short story collection). Some Wodehouse critics claim that he merely tells the same story over and over. Sure, there are similarities – the stories are typically light, humourous, period pieces dealing with the foibles of a revolving group of characters in a more or less constant group of settings. But does this make them any less enjoyable? Hardly – in fact, each book let’s the reader visit once again with comfortable and quirky old friends. And that’s a good thing indeed. If you don’t know Wodehouse (pronounced “wood-house”), I encouraged you to become acquainted.

Finally, we have dragons – but more on that in a minute. I read a lot of fantasy in the early days, including all of the old masters, along with many of the more modern ones. Still, I haven’t read much pure fantasy in a long time. This is due in large part to my current preferences in fiction literature. But the fact remains that the book racks at the chain book stores these days are overflowing with new science fiction, fantasy, and horror titles, much of it less than satisfactory. Still, there are terrific new authors working in the field, while many old favorites are still writing. What’s more, many of the classics are being reprinted again.

Now, back to those dragons. Among those terrific new writers is Naomi Novik. Her Temeraire tetralogy of historical fantasies involves the unlikely combination of dragons and the Napoleonic Wars! I bought the first novel, His Majesty’s Dragon, for my wife, and decided to start reading it myself last night. When dragons are handled well – Ursula LeGuin comes to mind – they can make for great stories. However, they’ve been overused and abused by lesser authors so often that although I had read much of the hype online regarding these books, I was still skeptical. Much has already been written elsewhere about the Temeraire saga, but for now I’ll simply say that fifty pages in Novik had me. First, she’s a fine writer, which was a pleasure to learn for myself. Second, she tells a good story. And third, she has – thus far at least – avoided most of the typical dragon cliches. As many others have noted, Novik is more fond of semicolons than any other author I can think of, and she has yet to totally convince me that these dragons are the real deal. Still, I’m hooked now, and will report further here after I have finished the series.