Tag: Patricia A. McKillip

One Green Eye and One Black Eye

What grabbed me the moment I opened Patricia A. McKillip’s The Forgotten Beasts of Eld, her 1975 World Fantasy Award-winning novel, was the sheer evocativeness of the language. Like, just read this opening paragraph:

The wizard Heald coupled with a poor woman once, in the king’s city of Mondor, and she bore a son with one green eye and one black eye. Heald, who had two eyes black as the black marshes of Fyrbolg, came and went like a wind out of the woman’s life, but the child Myk stayed in Mondor until he was fifteen. Big-shouldered and strong, he was apprenticed to a smith, and men who came to have their carts mended or horses shod were inclined to curse his slowness and his sullenness, until something would stir in him, sluggish as a marsh beast waking beneath murk. Then he would turn his head and look at them out of his black eye, and they would fall silent, shift away from him. There was a streak of wizardry in him, like the streak of fire in damp, smoldering wood. He spoke rarely to men with his brief, rough voice, but when he touched a horse, a hungry dog, or a dove in a cage on market days, the fire would surface in his black eye, and his voice would run sweet as a daydreaming voice of the Slinoon River. 

The world of Eldwold feels lived-in and real just on the strength of those similes. We don’t lose focus from what is ultimately a character-focused narrative for lengthy discourses as to the setting; even the titular beasts’ deeds are initially related compactly, by way of introduction. But we get enough from the sheer language of the novel to sense that we’re reading in a world that’s fully copulated and has a deep history even while the first half of the book is set almost entirely on Eld Mountain. We don’t actually visit Fyrbolg, but we have no doubt that it exists.

This is also a novel that doesn’t overstay its welcome. It tells the story of Sybel, the two she loves, and her quest for vengeance; it has no need to sprawl beyond that. I have nothing against the occasional fantasy epic but I certainly wouldn’t mind if the 217-page standalone secondary-world fantasy came back into vogue.

File #63. McKillip, Patricia A. The Forgotten Beasts of Eld. San Francisco: Tachyon, [2017].

Books Acquired, 11-17 March 2019

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Big week this week. First of all, Monday night means free books from FOPAL:

Adams, Douglas. So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish. Harmony Books, 1984. U.S. hardcover edition, 2nd printing. Has some notable dust jacket tears and overall isn’t the nicest copy I’ve ever seen, but it was also signed by the author. Fourth in a five-book series.

Dickson, Gordon R. The Dragon and the George. Del Rey, 1981. Mass market paperback, seventh printing. World Fantasy Award nominee. No. 878 on Mt. Tsundoku.

Hobb, Robin. Royal Assassin. Bantam, 1996. Trade paperback, third printing. Second in a trilogy. A later printing of the first U.S. edition. No. 288 on Mt. Tsundoku.

McKillip, Patricia A. Harpist in the Wind. Del Rey, 1982. Mass market paperback; fifth printing of the Ballantine edition. Inscribed by the author on the inside front cover: “Damon / best wishes”. Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel; Hugo finalist. Third in a trilogy. No. 412 on Mt. Tsundoku.

Varley, John. Demon. Berkley, 1984. Trade paperback. Third in a trilogy. Per ISFDB, the Berkley trade paperback was published simultaneously with the Putnam hardcover. No. 1114 on Mt. Tsundoku.

Willis, Connie. Futures Imperfect. GuildAmerica Books, 1996. Hardcover. Omnibus collecting three short novels: Uncharted Territories, Remake (Locus Award for Best Novella; Hugo finalist for Best Novel), and Bellwether (Locus Award for Best Novella). Some noticeable water damage. No. 919 on Mt. Tsundoku.

Then Half-Price Books had a bunch of daily coupons:

Delano, Jamie, et al. Hellblazer, Volume 1: Original Sins. DC Comics, 2011. Trade paperback collecting John Constantine, Hellblazer #1-9 and material from Swamp Thing #76-77.

Jordan, Robert. New Spring. Tor, 2004. First edition hardcover. Prequel to the fourteen-volume Wheel of Time. I’ve been gradually working on obtaining all of these. Mostly a question of condition/price at this point given that everything I don’t have is either pretty common or hilariously expensive.

McGuire, Seanan. One Salt Sea. DAW, 2011. First edition mass-market paperback. Fifth in the October Daye series, which is at twelve books and counting. Like the above, I’ve been gradually working on obtaining all of these, although due to being mostly paperback and it’s a lot cheaper.

The 2018 Hugo finalists for Best Novel.Scalzi, John. The Collapsing Empire. Tor, 2017. First edition hardcover. First in a series. Nicely completes my set of 2018 Hugo finalists for Best Novel.

Finally, the Friends of the Sunnyvale Library book sale continues to provide extremely discounted comic book collections. All of these are ex-library and usually not in the greatest shape but … this in total cost $14.50:

Azzarello, Brian, et al. Wonder Woman Volume 6: Bones. DC Comics, 2015. Hardcover??? collecting the New 52 Wonder Woman #30-35 and a story from Secret Origins #6.

Cloonan, Becky, et al. Gotham Academy Volume 2: Calamity. DC Comics, 2016. Trade paperback collecting Gotham Academy #7-12 and the sneak peek from Convergence: Green Lantern Corps #2.

Ellis, Warren and Kaare Andrews. Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis. Marvel Comics, 2011. Hardcover collecting Astonishing X-Men: Xenogenesis #1-5 and the Director’s Cut of #1.

Ellis, Warren, et al. StormWatch Vol. 3: Change or Die. WildStorm, 1999. Trade paperback collecting StormWatch #48-50, Stormwatch Preview #1, and StormWatch (vol. 2) #1-3.

Ennis, Garth and Steve Dillon. Preacher Volume 9: Alamo. DC Comics, 2001. Trade paperback collecting Preacher #59-66; the final volume in the series.

Fletcher, Brenden, et al. Gotham Academy Volume 3: Yearbook. DC Comics, 2016. Trade paperback collecting Gotham Academy #13-18 and Annual #1.

Mignola, Mike, et al. B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth, Vol. 3: Russia. Dark Horse, 2012. Trade paperback collecting B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth: Russia #1-5 and “B.P.R.D.: An Unmarked Grave” from Dark Horse Presents #8.

Millar, Mark, et al. Superman: Red Son. DC Comics, 2004. Trade paperback collecting Superman: Red Son #1-3. Elseworld asking what would have happened if Superman had been raised in the Soviet Union.

Moore, Alan, et al. V for Vendetta. DC Comics, 2008. Trade paperback collecting the complete series. Remember, remember, the fifth of November.

Morrison, Grant, et al. All-Star Superman, Volume 2. DC Comics, 2009. Hardcover collecting All-Star Superman #7-12.

Morrison, Grant, et al. Batman Incorporated, Volume 1: Demon Star. DC Comics, 2013. Hardcover collecting Batman Incorporated #0-6.

Morrison, Grant, et al. Batman Incorporated, Volume 2: Gotham’s Most Wanted. DC Comics, 2013. Hardcover collecting Batman Incorporated #7-13 and Batman Incorporated Special #1.

Seeley, Tim, et al. Grayson Volume 1: Agents of Spyral. DC Comics, 2015. Hardcover collecting Grayson #1-4, a story from Secret Origins #7, and Grayson: Futures End #1.

Seeley, Tim, et al. Grayson Volume 2: We All Die at Dawn. DC Comics, 2016. Trade paperback collecting Grayson #5-8 and Annual #1.

Seeley, Tim, et al. Grayson Volume 3: Nemesis. DC Comics, 2016. Trade paperback collecting Grayson #9-12 and Annual #2.

Simone, Gail, et al. Wonder Woman: Ends of the Earth. DC Comics, 2010. Trade paperback collecting Wonder Woman (vol. 4) #20-25.

Finally, a couple of $1.99/pop Kindle deals:

McAuley, Paul. Fairyland. Gateway, 2010. Ebook. 1996 Clarke and Campbell Awards for Best Novel. No. 118 on Mt. Tsundoku.

Watson, Ian. The Embedding. Gateway, 2011. Ebook. 1975 Nebula finalist for Best Novel. No. 119 on Mt. Tsundoku.