Anders Monsen

Lost worlds and ports of call

Month: May 2025

Book added: Jules Verne’s Little Blue Book of Icy Perils

May 10, 2025 /

Jules Verne (1828 – 1905) was a French writer. His most famous stories are Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864), Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas (1870), and Around the World in Eighty Days (1872), all classic “science fiction” books. Back then, the term science fiction didn’t exist, but he’s since been hailed as one of the first science fiction writers. I’m not sure if I’ve ever read the orignal books, though I know the stories well. Somehere in my library I do have a copy of A Journey to the Center of the Earth.

Borderlands Press, continuing it’s mission to publish stories from past masters of horror, fantasy, and science fiction, recently published A Little Blue Book of Icy Perils, which collects three of Verne’s stories, plus a (bonus) sonnet. Edited by Tom Connair, and limited to 500 signed and numbered copies, it joins the ever-growing stack of such books in my library. The copyright date states 2024, but I believe it was offered for sale in early 2025. At least, that’s when I saw it offered for sale, and then bought a copy.

I much prefer the rougher cloth bound versions of these books, at least compared to the smooth bindings. The various bindings and sizes means that these books aren’t 100% uniform, but it is what it is. The series continues, at least for now. If I were the editor in charge, I might pick other writers, but the fact that I’m not the editor in charge means that I’m always surprised, and that’s a good thing!

I also learned from the introduction, that there was no balloon ride in Around the World in Eight Days. My perception of this book had been clouded by various movie versions, where balloon rides were de rigeur. It was strange, then, to read in the first paragraph of the first story about balloon rides. C’est la vie. Verne these days, then, is more well known for cinematic interpretations than his actual words. Quelle surprise.

Book added: Swords Against the Shadowland

May 9, 2025 /

As a long-time fan of Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser books, when Centipede Press started re-releasing the books in hardcover, I had to have them. Leiber published seven books in the series, starting with Swords and Deviltry and ending with The Knight and Knave of Swords. As Leiber aged, so did his heroes. They endured loss, hardship, delight, love, pain, and injuries along their adventurous lives.

Robin Wayne Bailey, an accomplished writer in his own right, was asked by Leiber to write a book with these two characters. He finished one of three contracted books, but various publishers involved with the books folded, and so there’s only one completed book. Swords Against the Shadowland was published in April 2025 by Centipede Press in a signed an unsigned version. As all my copies are unsigned, as is this one. The book comes with a gorgeous wrap-around cover. After a brief introduction from the author, we dive right into the story. Interestingly, it’s a sequel of sorts to the first book in the series, Swords and Deviltry. The pair are transported back to Lankhmar, a city they vowed never to re-visit after the tragic events they experienced there in the first book.

Centipede Press publishes a wide variety of books. These books are always professionally done. The exterior, the binding, and the interior are carefully crafted. The contents are comprehensive, and illustrated throughout. The books are virtually works of art, more so than a book you’d read. Most of their books sell out quickly, and subsequently fetch a premium on the secondary market. In my case, I bought the first book direct from the publisher back in 2017. Each year since, I’ve plonked down my coin for the next book. I own the first six in Ace paperback editions, and the seventh as a hardcover, but to have these is a crown jewel sort of feeling.

Book added: A Pair of Lansdales

May 5, 2025 /

Joe R. Lansdale has written (and continues to write) a ton of books. I buy them as I find them, which these days isn’t often.

Radiant Apples is a novella published by Subterranean Press in 2021. I found this book online, listed for $20 plus tax and shipping. It’s a slim book—in effect, the kind of book you can read in one sitting. The main character is Nat Love, who previously appeared in the novel, Paradise Sky. My copy is number 301 of 1,500 signed and numbered copies, originally published for $40 in 2021.

Nat Love is now in his 50s, a porter on the Pullman railway in north-east Texas. A train robbery and murder sets him on a quest, and he recruits an old friend as he chases these robbers into Oklahoma from Texas. It appears to be set in 1919, but feels like an old Western from the previous century. Lansdale tones down some of his usual banter, but not by much. Overall it’s a good read, and I think it would be cool to see more stories with Nat Love. That might be tough, however, as between Paradise Sky and this book he got married, had kids, and gave up much of his old life. A glance at Lansdale bibliography told me there were some other Nat Love stories, which led me to the next acquisition.

Fishing for Dinosaurs, also published by Subterranean Press (2020), is a collection of five novellas. It includes “Black Hat Jack,” an earlier Nat Love novella. “Black Hat Jack” previously was published as a separate book (just like Radiant Apples) way back in 2014 by Subterranean Press. It’s cannibalized into this collection (along with another Lansdale novella that also came out by Sub Press), which saved me from having to hunt down the older novella.

Each of the stories is introduced by another writer: Robin Hobb for “Black Hat Jack,” plus Poppy Z. Brite, Richard Chizmar, David J. Schow, and Norman Partridge for the other stories. My copy is number 660 out of 2,500 signed and numbered books, also bought for $20 online, as I’m a few years late from the original publication event, and the book is sold out from the publisher. An edition of 2,500 seems like a lot for a “signed, limited edition,” but, as I care more about the stories than the rarity of the book, I don’t mind. However, I do wish I’d known about it sooner, as I feel guilty that Lansdale isn’t getting a cent from my purchase.

In terms of the other stories, “The Ape Man’s Brother” was published as an eBook and hardcover edition by Subterranean Press. “Prisoner 489″ was published by Dark Regions Press as a lettered edition, a limited edition hardcover, and trade paperback. From what I can tell, the other two stories—”Sixty-Eight Barrels on Treasure Lake,” and the title story—are collected here for the first time, though “Fishing for Dinosaurs” first appeared in 2014 in Limbus Inc. Book II. I may be wrong, as although I own 44 Lansdale books, this is but a fraction of his output.

From the introduction by Lansdale, I learned there are some other Nat Love stories floating around somewhere, and maybe they will turn up in a collection, and maybe I’ll eventually read them.

Books added: Closing out the Nocturnia trilogy

May 4, 2025 /

Tom Monteleone and F. Paul Wilson are both noted horror/sf/suspense writers. Between 2013 and 2018 they co-wrote a Young Adult trilogy under the aegis of Nocturnia. These books take place in an alternate reality inhabited by “monsters”—vampires, werewolves, trolls, zombies, and more. In Nocturnia, humans are rare, treated as slaves or food. Into this place are transported two young humans, who get sucked up in an inter-dimensional tornado while looking for their missing older brother. In Nocturnia they meet various monsters (some good and some some decidedly bad), along with other humans, including Amelia Earhart and Ambrose Bierce, both of whom also were transported there from Humania, as our earth is known. Will the siblings make it back to “the real world?” Will they get eaten or killed by the various monsters? You need to read all three books to learn their fate.

I bought the first book some time last year, as part of my ongoing effort to collect of all F. Paul Wilson’s books. This year I went ahead and picked up the second and third books. All three were published as a joint effort by Borderlands Press and Gauntlet Press. The three hardcovers that I have are all signed/limited editions; prices are not listed in the books, but I think I paid a fair price for each one.

Strangely, the three books have different print runs: The first volume was published in 350 copies, the second 300, and the third 500. While my copy of the first volume is #138 of 350, the second and third are both #69 of those respective numbers. Also, while the covers of the second and third books look similar, they diverge wildly from the cover of the first book. Granted, the cover of the first book was somewhat bizarre, almost as if a child had drawn something for a school project. The second and third covers appear somewhat more professional. Family Secrets, the second book in the series, list a final proofreading credit, but this person missed the copyright page, which mentions the first book in the series, Definitely Not Kansas; this was fixed in the third book, The Secret Ones, as it mentions itself (not the only time Borderlands Press has failed in proofreading something, and in one place the writers use “there” instead of “their” which is almost unforgivable). Per a comment in the third book, chapbook was published, called Secret Ingredient. So far I’ve not seen this chapbook listed anywhere. Is it real? I don’t know.

These books are intended as young adult novels, so the protagonists are young kids. To move the plot along, there are side characters who vary in age and act as foils, mentors, antagonists, love interests, etc. Both the first and second books end on cliffhangers, but that’s not unknown for YA series. At times I think I see which writer is at work, but then again, I’ve read a ton of F. Paul Wilson books, and almost nothing by Monteleone, so I have no sense of the latter’s writing voice or style. I do wonder, in this parallel universe, how all the characters speak English, and how the Nocturnians know certain terms than are unique to American culture, and there only are two scientists in the entire culture in this universe that’s almost a parallel version of our own. But, I guess in cases like this one must suspend all disbelief.

amonsen - AT - gmail - DOT - com

© 2025 Anders Monsen

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑

css.php