Product Description
Science Fiction. Southern California -- sunny days, blue skies, neighbors on flying bicycles ... ghostly submarines ... mermen off the Catalina coast ... and a vast underground sea stretching from the Pacific Ocean to the Inland Empire where Chinese junks ply an illicit trade and enormous creatures from ages past still survive. It is a place of wonder ... and dark conspiracies. A place rife with adventure - if one knows where to look for it. Two such seekers are the teenagers Jim Hastings and his friend, Giles Peach. Giles was born with a wonderful set of gills along his neck and insatiable appetite for reading. Drawing inspiration from the novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Giles is determined to build a Digging Leviathan. Will he reach the center of the earth? or destroy it in the process? ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Whimsy
This is a good book for those it was written for, the admirers of the whimsical. I am not, I prefer picaresque. If you don't know the difference don't buy.

First of a new style of literature
I first read this book in the mid 80's, and it made me a Blaylock fan for life.I had never read anything like it, and can count on my fingers the books of this style I have read since (why couldn't Blaylock be a little more prolific?).Apparently, this book was completely misunderstood by his Balumnia (i.e. Elfin ship, etc.) publisher (Del Ray) forcing him to turn to other houses to get it published.I am grateful he was so persistent.

A young boy with gills and webbed fingers builds a digging machine to travel to the center of the earth.The machine ismuch like the many complex devices constructed by preteen inventors who are disapointed that the laws of physics didn't bend to their wills.But this boy is different...

A must-read!
The only copy of this book that I've stumbled across is the one I own ... And I've read it 4 times in as many years!

Not only, as the other reviewers here describe, is The Digging Leviathan a rollicking,post-mystical romp through a Los Angeles of indeterminate timeframe, it isalso an eloquent and beautifully rendered story. Blaylock's great power asa writer, in addition to the fantastic situations he has dreamed up in thisnovel (his best, in my opinion, and I've read them all now!), comes fromhis grace as a stylist of prose. There are imagistic moments in this bookon the level of Gabriel Garcia-Marquez that will bring tears to your eyes.

As well, his characters, although uniformly eccentric, are lifelike& believable, sympathetic & empathetic in their relationships witheach other. The under-emphasized relationship between young Jim, the book'sprotagonist, and his purportedly crazy father is subtle and wonderful. Thisnovel reinvigorated my taste for fantasy after a lapse of many years ...Get it! Read it!

highly recommended
James P Blaylock's 'Digging Leviathan' is a superb book, one of the best I've ever read in my life, asometimes frenzied, sometimes somber race betweenmad scientists, good (William Hastings and young Giles Peach) andevil (the abominable Hilario Frosticos).Mr. Blaylock loves to constantlyblur the lines--Is Hastings really crazy?Do the machines work by scienceor by Peach's will?And how did those dog droppings appear in the yard?) Most of Mr Blaylock's books have a similar theme; a good-hearted anyman(William Hastings, Walt Stebbins), usually with the help of family or friends (Blake Society, Trigimestus Club) must confront and defeat vileevil (Frosticos, Ignacio Narbondo) on the edges of a society that neverknows what it was saved from.In DigLev, Hastings must confront his ownfears and flaws in order to rescue the innocent Peach, stop Frosticos, andsave us all from catastrophe. If you can find this book, read it.

A DELIRIOUS LITERARY FANTASY
In brief:Young Jim Hastings, hiseccentric father William, his bookishuncle Edward andhis best friend Giles(who has webbed fingers and vestigialgills), become involved with an oddcollection of poets, madmen andexplorers in a frantic race through (andunder) Los Angeles, seeking a way to thecenter of the hollow(!) earth. If you have read Blaylock's later novelsthis wild, funny, gentle, occasionallydark valentine to all our silliest andnoblest pulp dreams may surprise you.Ostensibly set in Southern California,it actually takes place in a kind ofbook-lover's fantasy world: ALL theprotagonists are eccentric, bookish,single males, whether bachelor, widoweror prepubescent boy.None of thecharacters seem to have a job (exceptthe terrifying Dr. Hilario Frosticos,who runs an insane asylum).This lackof real world attachments gives the booka refreshing purity: these dilettantes,pseudo-scholars, poets and madmen havenothing to do but pursue, and be pursuedby, their magnificent obsessions, whichinclude immortality (literary andotherwise), merman hunting, miraculousinventions (the eponymous machine,antigravity), and attempts to encourageamphibious habits in mice. Blaylock's writing has since become moreassured, his characters more real, histhemes more mature, but there is a crazyjoy in this book, and a lyrical beautythat charms me silly every time.Thisis a book about dreamers, for dreamers.If you grew up reading Edgar RiceBurroughs and Jules Verne, seek out THEDIGGING LEVIATHAN but be warned: it maybreak your heart.I leave a littlepiece of mine inside everytime I readit. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent Short Story Collection Of Shiner's Best Work
It's a pity this slender tome is out of print. It certainly deserves being republished, hopefully by one of the major publishers based in New York City. Shiner's strengths in examining the human condition are abundantly evident here. Although known primarily as a writer of science fiction and fantasy, there are many tales in this collection which don't neatly fit into either category. One of the most notable examples is his homage to rock and roll in "Jeff Beck", one of his finest tales of short fiction. Yet there are memorable tales such as "Mystery Train" in which Elvis Presley sees a glimpse of his future and "Steam Engine Time", with its fascinating mix of 19th Century Western and rock and roll, and "Gold", a memorable fantasy about buried treasure and legendary pirate Jean Lafitte. Here's hoping that this fine short story collection shall be published again soon in a larger printing; it certainly deserves a wide readership. ... Read more

Product Description
Homonculus is a fascinating trip to a London that never existed ... but perhaps should have.

Darkly atmospheric, Homonculus weaves together the stories of Narbondo -- a mad hunchback who works tirelessly to bring the dead back to life, of the members of the Trismegistus Club -- a surly group of scientists and philosophers who meet at Captain Powers' Pipe Shop, and of the homonculus -- a tiny man whose powers can drive men to murder. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Lovely Novel
Blaylock is so very mad in such a charming manner that, short of religious objections to the subject matter (mad science, murder, grave-robbing), it is uite simply impossible to not like this book.

And, in fact, if your religion does cause objections to this book, I advise that you find a new religion.It's that good.

An entertaining romp
This book is not for the faint of heart for it involves fish-guts, dead/undead bodies, and on top of that it involves 1870's London.

On the other hand, it has entertaining characters ranging from hunchbacks to crazed priests to tinkers and intellectuals. The language tends to get a bit thick, but this better serves to describe the oddness that entails within.

If you prefer your tales a bit more serious this may not be the book for you. However, if you do enjoy the occasional weird event or humorous encounter this book is great!

Over-the-Top Steampunk Lunacy
This book is sort-of an absurdist parody of steampunk thrillers. Don't expect this to be anything like Tim Powers' "The Anubis Gates" or, IMHO, the work of Alan Moore or Grant Morrison. Think of the Firesign Theater doing Fu Manchu, or an epic version of one of Michael Palin's "Ripping Yarns," and you'll just about have it. I'd say if you loved "The Life of Brian" or "Time Bandits" you'll enjoy this loony nonsense from the end of Blaylock's whimsical period.

A techno-mystic airship is orbiting the late-19th-century earth; aboard may be an imprisoned extraterrestrial. When it crashlands in Victorian London all hell will break loose since its secrets are sought by the Royal Society, a fraudulent evangelist and his reanimated mother, a fiendish vivisectionist and his corrupt assistant, an evil millionaire, and a team of (other) assorted eccentrics led by the square-jawed scientist-adventurer, Langdon St. Ives. Can St. Ives and his super-competent valet Hasbro keep the alien homunculus out of the claws of the villainous Ignacio Narbondo? Can they help poor Jack Owlesby receive his long-delayed inheritance? And can they rescue Jack's beautiful fiancee from the monstrous fate implied by the dreaded Marseilles Pinkle?!? Well sure. The question is, how crazy are things going to get?

Perhaps a little TOO crazy for some folks. Blaylock has, IMHO, a tendency to pull his punches and here he throws a lot to compensate, keeping us off-balance with reanimated corpses, a lost starship, longevity serum, an exploding rocket silo, secret sewers, bizarre brothels... The plot isn't so much complex as distracted with subplotting! If you love lively lunacy, however, you'll like this.

So What !!!???
Ok.It's not an easy read.
Ok.It's digressive.
Ok.The plot is convoluted and complex as hell.
Ok.The characters don't feel "realistic"or "believable"
Ok.He is not Tim Powers

So What !!!???

HOMUNCULUS is undiluted quintessencial Steampunk.Blaylock's prose is stylish, intricate and labyrinthine.Sometimes witty, sometimes dark and blackly humorous, and like Joe Lansdale
and Norman Partridge, he has a fine eye for vivid comic book imagery and absurd situations that sometimes verges on the surreal.
To give you a taste of Blaylock magic, here is some samples picked at random:

There was no room in the world of science for mediocrity, for half measures, for wet cigars.

And another:

I'm posessed by the most evil aching of the head - such that my eyes seem to press down to the size of screwholes, so that I see as if through a telescope turned wrong end to. Laudanum alone relieves it, but fills me with dreams even more evil than the pain in my forebrain. I'm certain that the pain is my due - that it is a taste of hell, and nothing less. And I can feel myself decay, feel my tissues drying and rotting like a beetle-eaten fungus on a stump, and my blood pounds across the top of my skull. I can see my own eyes, wide as half crowns and black with death and decay, and Narbondo ahead with that ghastly shears. I pushed him along! That is the truth of it. I railed at him. I hissed. I'd have that gland, is what I'd have, and before the night was gone. I'd hold in my hand my salvation ...

HOMUNCULUS is a celebration of the absurd and a triumph of the imagination, a little masterpiece of humour and atmosphere.

Here is a short list of authors, books, movies, Tv Shows and comic books that I think share the same Blaylockean (non) sense of invention and absurdity:

Authors and Books:

R. A. Lafferty (Nine Hundreds Grandmothers; Lafferty in Orbit).

Robert Sheckley (The Mask of Manana or another collection, JourneyBeyond Tomorrow; Immotarlity Inc etc.).

Steven Millhauser (Some novellas and short stories in The Barnum Museum and The Knife Thrower)

Norman Partridge (The Man with the Barbed-Wire Fists; Bad Intentions; Mr Fox and Other Feral Tales)


Graphic Novels/Comic Books:

Ruse (Mark Waid)
Starman (James Robinson)
Sebastian O; Doom Patrol (Grant Morrison)
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Alan Moore)
Top Ten (Alan Moore)
The Airtight Garage (Moebius)



Movies:

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Time After Time
That Magnificent Man and Their Flying Machines
Young Sherlock Holmes
Fearless Vampire Killers
Robur the Conqueror
Young Einstein




TV Shows:

Wild, Wild West
Bisko County Jr
The Avengers
The New Avengers

Flaky
I didn't particulary like this book.The characters are either indistinguishable from one another, or completely over the top (or some combination thereof).The villians are stereotypically ridiculous, and there's just way too much fish-gutting for my squeamish tastes.May I suggest The Anubis Gates instead? ... Read more

Product Description
In the dead of night, a man climbs the tower of St. Anthony's Church, driven by a compulsive urge to silence the bells. In a deserted alley, a random victim is consumed by a torrent of flames. And in the light of day, a man named Walt Stebbins receives a glass jar containing the preserved body of a bluebird. As Walt unravels the mystery of the bird in a jar, he will learn that the battle between good and evil is raging every day, where you would least expect it.Amazon.com Review
This is a homey fantasy, almost excessively so. Doughnuts, family tensions, relatives who arrive in a Winnebago, Christmas decorations, business worries, Uncle Henry's womanizing, and pyramid schemes wrap Walt Stebbins in layers of detail and distraction. Walt runs a small catalog business out of his garage, and he has no notion of a demonic presence in his town until a package is mistakenly delivered to him. The contents are not the inexpensive Chinese toys and novelties he deals in. The nasty-looking pickled bluebird of happiness ("Best thing come to you. Speak any wish.") piques Walt's interest, and he keeps it when he rewraps the box and passes it on to the addressee: the one person in the world Walt loathes, his former friend Robert Argyle. But Walt's keeping back the bluebird of happiness is the best thing that could have happened to Argyle--and the worst thing that could happen to Walt. What price happiness? If you have to ask ... ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

Devil in Disguise
A pleasant and entertaining ill-got-ill-spent story in spite of a main plot line at times diluted with irrelevant subplots. JB has got an easy way of writing that gently takes your hand and leads you through terrible events with a compassionate soul. I liked it and felt quenched when I turned the last page.

terrific faustian story
What is the cost of making a deal with the devil? What sort of person enters such a deal? Can one slide into into one of these deals slowly without realizing it?

These are the questions this wonderful novel explores. Mr. Blatlock is, in my opinion, the contemporary master of combining fantastical ideas and very real, even mundane characters who tend to remind you of yourself.

I would compare this particular novel with Charles Williams' _Descent Into Hell_, which I read at about the same time. They are both fine descriptions of the road to hell and the people on it, from writers who understand that the danger involved are not just in the realm of fantasy.

Just check it out and see!

Intriguing, but slight.
When Walt receives the Bluebird of Happiness by mistake, he doesn't realize he's become part of a battle between good and evil that will eventually touch his entire family.

This was my first Blaylock, and I found it interesting, with touches that reminded me of Dick (always a good sign). I was less interested in the characters themselves than I was in the ideas that made up the plot, and the little quirky moments that seemed to fill the novel.

Based on the reader reviews, I think that I will try Paper Grail next and see if it satisfies more by expanding on the elements that I liked.

Beware the bluebird of happiness
This is one of Blaylock's best and it would be an excellent place to start if you're not familiar with this author.The plotting is tighter than in most of Blaylock's books, so the story is intricate and intriguing enough to keep you turning the pages, and the ending is particularly nice.It is a fantasy tale in a contemporary setting, with somewhat of a monkey's paw concept driving the plot(you'll never think of the Bluebird of Happiness quite the same way), but the real magic is in Blaylock's joyously eccentric characters and his ability to make very ordinary people and places seem totally fantastic.

Crashing down the hill
This book started out with a bang and slowly went down from there.Blaylock had a great idea, some wonderful characters, but just dropped the ball.He had a wonderful build but then didn't know what to do with the novel and just threw a few unrelated ideas together and ended the book.Because I've heard some good things about this author I'm willing to give him another try and just put this one down as a strikeout. ... Read more

Product Description
An evil man strives for immortality by collecting the thirty pieces of silver that once belonged to Judas but somehow ended up in California, and only a sing coin stands between the world and certain apocalypse. Reissue. PW. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (20)

I've never forgotten this book
I just want Mr Blaylock to know that even though I read The Last Coin many years ago, decades even, and have read it several times since, I've never forgotten what a perfect treasure this book is.In my closing middle age now, I'm currently putting together a list of books I want on my bookshelf and this is one of them.It's a precurser to The Da Vinci Code to say the least.A mind-blowing, fantastic, fun as hell kind of read that anyone could ask for.Thank you so much for this book!!I've read all your other books - and am always pleased with those also - but The Last Coin will remain my most favorite.Just wanted you to know.

Satisfying as a Bowl Of Cerial at Midnight
This novel is just plain fun.The characters are whimsical and endearing, even the evil Mr. Pennyman.The plot is serious, the consequences of failure dire, but what is the fate of the known world compared to the satisfaction of prank calling your mortal enemy?

There are unexpected insights into human nature everywhere, but they are never shoved in your face.You can spot them if you want or stroll merrily on past. There are moments of brilliant literalism, for example a horrendously ill wind, that doesn't blow any one any good and in fact saves our intrepid hero hours of work scraping paint.

It's an easy read and you keep turning the pages just to see what happens next. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys sticking rubber octopuses in the toes of socks, stealing the toy out of the cerial box, and going to bed in the hopes that the kitchen will miraculously clean itself over night.

A different kind of Fantasy novel
This isn't for everyone, but it is entertaining.Yes, there are somegoofy scenarios w/ some ridiculously quirky comedic characters that don't always act rationally, but so what.It's entertaining & sure to make you laugh.

Anyways, this is for people who want to be entertained while at the same time immerse themselves in a place that's not that dif. from where they live.

Offbeat Genius
Like most of Blaylock's contemporary fantasies, this book left me with the odd but pleasurable sensation that the author was either a scant few inches from discovering the secrets of the Universe, or he was a complete idiot. Although I've met Mr. Blaylock on two or three occasions, I still can't make up my mind. In either case, this book is one of my very favorites. Only Blaylock would pit a delightfully quirky would-be Innkeeper like Andrew Vanbergen against the demonic Pennyman when the fate of the world hung in the balance. The plot, including its absurd references to the current street address of Judas Iscariot, is so wildly improbable that I have to suspect that it's true. This book is a must-read for anyone who's ever wondered if miracles and toaster ovens can co-exist in the same kitchen. Oh, and if you happen to run into Mr. Blaylock... ask him about the pig.

Jeff Edwards, Author of "Torpedo: A Surface Warfare Thriller"

Foibles Foil the Apocalypse
The evil Jules Pennyman is out to collect 30 ancient silver coins, each one a magical talisman, paid to Judas to betray his Master two millenia ago. The last coin lies somewhere in Southern California, and Andrew Bergen, a foolish, but likeable loser is its unwitting caretaker.

In this unlikely setting, Blaylock unfolds a realist-fantasy of subtle humor and adventures that don't quite cross over the border into farce. Populated with such delightful obscurities of American culture as Wheetabix (used to be Ruskets, no sugar added, got mushy real fast) cereal and a Nash Metropolitan, the novel delights as much with trivial backdrops as with plot and character.

The plot unfolds as a competition between the court jester (Bergen) and the evil magus (Pennyman). Thinking himself a great schemer, Bergen's innocence keeps getting him into misadventures that slowly advance and unfold the plot. Pennyman, meanwhile, acts directly, and with Knowledge. Although he sees through Bergen, cannot fathom his behavior, and therein lies the possibility of saving the world.

Quirky. Adventurous. More fun than a barrel full of hobbits. A must read unless your fantasy just =HAS= to be populated with dragons, orcs, and the like. ... ... Read more

Product Description
A good deal of controversy arose late in the last century over what has been referred to by the more livid newspapers as The Horror in St. James Park or The Ape-box Affair....

So begins the first chronicle in the long and often obscure life of Langdon St. Ives, Victorian scientist and adventurer, respected member of the Explorers Club and of societies far more obscure, consultant to scientific luminaries, and secret, unheralded savior of humankind. From the depths of the Borneo jungles to the starlit reaches of outer space, and ultimately through the dark corridors of past and future time, the adventures of Langdon St. Ives invariably lead him back to the streets and alleys of the busiest, darkest, most secretive city in the world -- London in the age of steam and gaslamps, with the Thames fog settling in over the vast city of perpetual evening. St. Ives, in pursuit of the infamous Dr. Ignacio Narbondo, discovers the living horror of revivified corpses, the deep sea mystery of a machine with the power to drag ships to their doom, and the appalling threat of a skeleton-piloted airship descending toward the city of London itself, carrying within its gondola a living homunculus with the power to drive men mad....

This omnibus volume contains the collected Steampunk stories and novels of James P. Blaylock, one of the originators of the genre, which hearkens back to the worlds of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells, a world where science was a work of the imagination, and the imagination was endlessly free to dream.

The Adventures of Langdon St. Ives will contain the original illustrations J. K. Potter created for the novel Lord Kelvin's Machine, plus many more for the novel, Homunculus, and the short stories. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

P.G. Wodehouse meets Jules Verne - well, maybe Tim Powers
This volume collects four short stories ("The Ape-Box Affair", "The Hole in Space", "The Idol's Eye", "Two Views of a Cave Painting") and two novels ("Homunculus", "Lord Kelvin's Machine") all featuring the over-the-top adventures of Victorian inventor-hero, Langdon St Ives.If you liked The "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" series you'll probably like these; "Agatha Heterodyne, Girl Genius" is silly steampunk in much the same vein (although comic-book format.)

St Ives, his super-valet Hasbro, young Jack Owlesby, and an assortment of other colorful eccentrics try to save the world, or at least themselves, usually from villainous mad scientist Ignacio Narbondo (or at least themselves!)Airships, infernal devices, victoriana, and absurd inventions collide into (usually) absurdly satisfying endings.

I prefer Blaylock's first period ("The Elfin Ship," etc) and third period ("The Last Coin" et al) to these second period stories, but they're still consistently mildly amusing in a Wodehouse kind of way.

Received and read with joy
To be totally honest, I have to say right at the beginning that I am predisposed to love anything Mr. Blaylock writes.So it was with joy that I set in my comfy armchair, cozy under a quilt for the night, and stayed up the entire night reading this wonderful collection.What we have in this book is the Langdon St. Ives stories compiled with the novellas "The Homunculus" and "Lord Kelvin's Machine."What we get is a coherent whole, a novel really, about Professor St. Ives, and his steampunk adventures.

If you love the English language, if you love science fiction/fantasy as it might have been written by P.G. Wodehouse, if you get chills of pleasure when you read well crafted stories, this book is for you.

I cannot say enough good things about this fine author.The only negative I can think of is that he doesn't publish often enough for me! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

A cheesy fantasy
I've been anxious to try Blaylock's work for a while, but this was the only book of his that I found among three bookstores. While not a bad book by any means, it's not terribly good either. It plods. Several sentences jumped out as clunkers. As an adventure story, in fact, I'd rate this pretty low. But, though briefly at first it comes across like a cheap Tolkien knock-off, I consider more of a kind of fantasy character piece than an adventure. There are some interesting moments in the book, almost worthwhile to read the book for. (I really liked the bits about cheese making.) But it was, simply put, a book that failed to keep me wanting to read it. In fact, several times, I put it down to read other books.

Marvelous twice over
Reading this book has a wonderful effect on a person, and every one I have ever reccomended to was so grateful after reading it.It is charming, lyrical, and full of whimsey... yet it is an adventure first and foremost. Blaycock has a writing style that makes the words sound delicious in your mind, as each carefully chosen word fits together like a song.He is also at his humerous best here, and will have you chuckling along. That is when your mouth is not watering for the food that he describes here as an intregal part of the adventure.He makes the charactera part of you by making it very real and not sparing the details that somehow make you experiance the book with all of yoursenses.That is if you like the sound smell and feel of warm crackly fires on cold nights, hand ground coffee roasted on the fire, cheese from the Master Cheeser, dark nutty beer, thick dark fresh bread, reading books for hours and hours, and the scent of pipe tobacco as much as this character does.
The sequel is called "The Dissapearing Dwarf" but I saw it listed with a typo at this site as "The Dissapearg Dwarf".

Not exactly what I was looking for....
I felt like I was reading a grownup version of a Dr. Seusse book... The story was good, but for me there was too much silliness. In fact, I kept expecting ryhmes. If the silliness was removed and a little more hard details added, it would be a fine book. But, I do not think that this is what the author intended.

This is a light hearted look at fantasy/fiction. Easy to read, hard to get lost. Possibly even a fun/funny book...

I am not normally a fantasy reader, but this book has had so many good reviews that I decided to give it a try.

Bacon and cheese, a pipe and a book
As has been mentioned before, the whimsy and fancy of this book should have made it a classic. However, it has been overlooked and nearly forgotten.

As a tale for adults, it stands up well with passages that stimulate the imagination. As a tale for children, it overflows with silliness and fun, but also includes a few moral lessons on the value of work and importance of keeping your word. It is an ideal book for an adult to read to a child. The end veers off into a scene of near Lovecraftian nature, disturbing and frightening in an oddly amusing way. However, the tone quickly returns to light fantasy, and the characters all return home, happier, wiser, and richer. In all, one of my all-time favorite books.

The Elfin Ship
If you like Wind in the Willows or The Hobbit, you will love this book.The author describes well our love and appreciation for the comforts of home, but at the same time our natural desire for adventures and excitementon a fantasy quest. Great fun - over and over again. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A collection of 18 stories
This book is about possiblities that challenge our most basic assumptions, set forth promising new realities and offer hope for the future. Each story deals with desperate people embroiled in conflict, who choose to turn away from violence or war,who realize that humans & other races can learn to live in peace. The eighteen stories are written by some of science fictions brightest talents. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

A Brilliant Beginning
The Elfin Ship, and its equally enchanting sequel The Disappearing Dwarf, were easily James Blaylock's finest hour.Set in a parallel land of everyday magic, both of them center around Jonathan Bing, Master Cheesemaker of Twombly Town.Or just "Cheeser," for short.

Blaylock's special gift is to write tales of apparently goofy characters who seem at first glance to be out of touch with reality, but then slowly reveal their essential shrewdness.And by the time the books come to their end, all the seemingly disconnected plot and character threads come together magnificently, like the climax of a well-written symphony, displaying their underlying logic in an impressive way.

Sadly, after these two auspicious beginnings, Blaylock began to stray farther and farther from "pure" fantasy, appearing to prefer contemporary fantasies that are hard on the "contemporary" part and increasingly lighter on the "fantasy."He returned to the Twombly Town setting of the first two books for The Stone Giant (1989), but that was actually a sort of "prequel," giving us the background of the eccentric pirate Theophile Escargot.Three steampunk novels followed -- The Digging Leviathan, Homunculus and Lord Kelvin's Machine.All worthy books, but not up to the high standards set by The Disappearing Dwarf and The Elfin Ship.

His latter novels, from All The Bells On Earth to The Rainy Season, grow largely devoid of fantasy elements altogether.It's as though Blaylock has turned away from his fantastic roots, consciously or otherwise, to concentrate on contemporary fiction.If so, this is a real shame, since his Twombly Town books were fantasies like nothing before or since.

If you can find copies of The Elfin Ship and The Disappearing Dwarf, buy them.Better still, buy several copies, since they've been out of print for some years and were inexplicably never issued in hardcover.These two books represent a master fantasist at his best, before he turned his attentions to other -- and in my opinion, much lesser -- fields.You'll be reading them for years to come.

This is How To Do It Correctly.
The other reviews say it all.This is excellently-crafted fantasy done with tongue in cheek, without bombast.In the same league as "Bridge of Birds", and that's high praise indeed. I've bought used paperbacks of these for years and given them to friends.A hardback compilation of all three would be wonderful.

If only the Master Cheeser would get his due!
I absolutely adored James Blaylock's first novel "the Elfin Ship" and was tickled to recently discover that he wrote a sequel "the Disappearing Dwarf" and as I understand it a third novel "the Stone Giant" featuring that same lovable cheeser Jonathan Bing and his company of eccentric friends. I rushed out and purchased the Disappearing Dwarf and after reading it found that my only disappointment in it is that it wasn't longer. The fun just didn't last long enough. Now I am on a mission to secure the third volume.

My love for the Elfin Ship has caused for me to yearn for a hardcover version that could hold a place of honor in my permanentcollection, and now this desire extends to the whole series. Sadly, these first two books written by Blaylock were not issued in hardback. It is my sincere wish that someday someone does the world a favor and reprints these books preferably in hardback and as a boxed set

marvelous
Jonathon Bing, the Master Cheeser is at it again. Making cheese is important business but so is saving the world. Full of adventure, mystery, and humor, this sequal to the "Elfin Ship" is a must.You think of your children and future children when you read this.It can be hard enough to find, that I bought extra copies of the 2books to save for my son at 5 years old. He will thank me for them someday.This book has true flavor and charm, very unlike the factory mass made fantasy that is available now.This book had me grinning from ear to ear while reading it.

The Ants Go Marching, Dooby Doo.
One of my all time favorites... It's out of print, I'm afraid, but well worth the hunt for a used copy!
Blaylock seems to subscribe to Hitchcock's philosophy of:
There is no terror in a bang, only in the anticipation of it.

A search for lost treasure in the land of Balumnia...
A mad dwarf seeking revenge...
Pocket watches ground to dust...
Magical coffee that makes one talk to stuffed toads...
Headless boatmen rowing about the tweet river...

What more could you ask for?

Are you a fish? ... Read more

Product Description
An exquisite novel of fantasy from a “true one-of-a-kind original” (Neil Gaiman).

Calvin Bryson has hidden himself away from the world, losing himself in his work and his collection of rare and quirky books. He never meant to let so much time go by without visiting his aunt and uncle in the tiny town of New Cyprus, California. When he gets there, he’ll discover the town’s strange secrets and a mysterious group dedicated to preserving and protecting holy relics—a modernday incarnation of the legendary Knights Templar… ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

Amazing urban/desert fantasy
I love his books. Too bad we had to wait so long for a new James P. Blaylock book, but it was worth it. Must own for fans of "Last Coin" and "Paper Grail"

Still Superb N. American Magic Realist - Fabulist
The author of such California Gothics as The Rainy Season and All the Bells on Earth returns with another whimsical, nostalgic fantasy that seems gentle but then still manages to deliver a sharp-edged punch. Unemployed but comfortable, eccentric Calvin Bryson, a talented but not driven cartoonist, agrees to run an errand for his uncle and cancer-ridden aunt, who reside in the strange little desert community of New Cyprus. Immediately drawn into some sort of bizarre squabble between two groups of unusual people, Calvin soon learns that just about all the town's citizens are Knights of the Cornerstone, keepers of some very interesting relics such as the Veil of Veronica, which might just possibly be the real Shroud of Turin - or something. Their opponents will stop at nothing to acquire the relics and other treasure for their own unsavory purposes. Thrust and parry events escalate rapidly to a full-blown medievalist battle complete with siege engines and other logical but unexpected extremes. Revisiting similar themes as his earlier novel The Paper Grail, Blaylock effortlessly blends gentle fantasy with Knights Templar mythology transplanted to an unlikely but altogether very well-realized place. Calvin is just the sort of aimless, unfocused hero Blaylock prefers, a vessel who can be filled with purpose once a noble quest is shown to be his destiny. Deceptively simple narrative hides some astute observations about people rising to the occasion, doing right by others, the modern world, Time, and the imponderable nature of miracles and who owns them. Knights is a worthy addition to Blaylock's canon of North American magic realist novels peopled by the quirky, well-intentioned folks we might ourselves wish to be.

Nothing New
I have to start off by saying that I am a huge James Blaylock fan. I've read all of his books multiple times, especially "The Paper Grail," which I have easily read more than ten times over the years, which is why I hate to say that I was disappointed with "Knights of the Cornerstone." As I read the book I couldn't help feeling that there was very little that was new in this book; it just seemed like an edgier version of "The Paper Grail". A letter entices Howard Barton away from his comfortable life in Southern California to stay with his aunt and uncle and get wrapped up in protecting a sacred religious object, a mysterious package prompts Calvin Bryson to leave his comfortable home in Southern California to stay with his aunt and uncle and get wrapped up in protecting a sacred religious object... Even the greedy and ruthless Bob Postum bears a striking resemblance to the tugboat captain in "Lord Kelvin's Machine."
Don't get me wrong, James Blaylock is a fantastic writer and this is a great book in and of itself, but I just wish it were more original and less derivative of his earlier work.

Please Sir, may we have some more?
Being a commoner and not being able to pay the larger sums to read his latest collectible works, I was gladdened to find this book recently. It seemed like such a long wait..

It was fun, too short, and not nearly as involving as my favorites from Mr. Blaylock but it does satisfy something I can't explain. It goes on my bookshelf with the other special ones and again I will wait..

A Modern Incarnation of the Knights Templar
Calvin Bryson is an almost-recluse, focusing on expanding his collection Californiana books and pamphlets. He's invited to come visit his aunt and uncle in the little town of New Cyprus, California, and, at the same time, asked by a cousin to deliver a family heirloom to his uncle, a veil used by a dead aunt during the séances she used to hold. Before Calvin arrives at New Cyprus, the package is stolen, and soon he discovers that he was only delivering a decoy. His uncle, and others in New Cyprus, are part of a modern Knights Templar, collecting and protecting holy relics.
Blaylock is a wonderful writer, and this book is an excellent example of modern fantasy. Fans of Charles De Lint or Neil Gaiman will enjoy /The Knights of the Cornerstone./ ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

An unlikely hero
Set in the same fantasy world as The Elfin Ship and The Disappearing Dwarf, this light fantasy novel features elements of "Rip Van Winkle," "The Hobbit," "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," and probably any number of other classics.Theophile Escargot of Twombly Town is a good-hearted enough fellow, but not industrious: his favorite pastimes are eating, swapping, fishing, rambling the riverbanks by night, and reading the books of G. Smithers, who seems to specialize in fantasy-adventure set in a world very similar to his own, the parallel realm of Balumnia.He loves his baby daughter Annie, but neither he nor his wife seem able to understand each other, and when she locks him out of the house for stealing a pie he considers his, Escargot sets off in search of adventure--and of a dwarf, Abner Helstrom, who has not only swindled him but was introduced to him by the barmaid Leta on whom he apparently had something of a crush.Both Helstrom and Leta (who claimed he was her uncle) have now vanished, and Escargot resolves to find them.A series of adventures follows, in which Escargot is pursued by a hue and cry in Seaside, shanghaied to sea, then jumps overboard to avoid "deep-sea pirates" and taken aboard their submarine craft, which he manages to steal, putting them ashore on a desert island.He then blunders through a gateway into what he presumes to be Balumnia, and discovers that Leta and Helstrom are there ahead of him--and that here, Smithers's works (like Shakespeare's in A Midsummer Tempest) are not fiction but history.Meeting the challenges of haunted villages, goblins, witches, and unsympathetic elves, he comes away with, at least, Leta and his submarine intact and sets off once again in search of new experiences.

Escargot has been called a rogue, but he seems more like Frodo Baggins, an unwilling hero who's out of his depth--and indeed doesn't fully understand the scope of the events moving about him until he finally discovers, about three-quarters of the way through the book, who and what Helstrom really is.Like most of us, he blunders along intent on his own business, only to find that he has a part to play in a much greater scheme--and finds the depths within himself to play it.

It's not clear exactly what world the story takes place in: steamboats, single-shot pistols, and heavy Elizabethan cannon exist side by side with magical submarines and flying elfin galleons, tobacco and chocolate are known, and the inhabiting races include elves (who create fantastic magical devices), goblins (who haunt the dark woods, gabbling unintelligibly and making trouble for unwary travellers), dwarves (known for their skill as miners and bakers), trolls (large, stupid, and powerful), and "henny-penny men," miniature people (they can ride on leaves or owls) who function as readily under the sea as in the open air, as well as humans.Yet there are dark elements too, as when Escargot finds himself in the haunted village, which make the book best suited to adults and teens.And in the end, as it should in fantasy, good triumphs and the plots of evil are foiled.An enjoyable tale for those looking for a light read.

Prequel to "The Elfin Ship"
"The Stone Giant" turns James Blaylock's other stories about the notorious rogue Theophile Escargot and the nefarious wizard Selznak (aka Sikorsky, aka Abner Helstrom) into a trilogy.In the process some earlier information gets reinvented, and explanations are provided for things that really didn't need much explanation.It's a bit of pleasant nonsense set in a vaguely steampunk fantasy world.

Theophile, a lazy rogue, loses his wife and family after stealing his own pie.Infatuated with a sympathetic barmaid he becomes a small part of the giant plot of the fiendish balding dwarf, uncle Abner.A series of absurd misadventures follows as Escargot stumbles through the machinations of evil innkeepers, murderous merrymakers, pompous pirates, eccentric elves, and other assorted oddities.

The tale is fun and whimsical but I prefer Blaylock's two previous fantasies, "The Elfin Ship" and "The Disappearing Dwarf."

Early Blaylock Hits The Spot
This early James Blaylock novel introduces the world of Theophile Escargot, Twombly Town and the evil dwarf, Abner Helstrom, all of whom then show up later in Blaylock's The Elfin Ship and The Disappearing Dwarf. Escargot chases off after a beautiful serving girl he barely knows, butwhen she is threatened by the evil dwarf Escargot manages to steal a magicsubmarine and the race is on.The dwarf's intention to use her as asacrifice to arouse sleeping giants for his evil purposes. In his effort tosave her Escargot falls in with an a group of elves in a flying threemasted galleon and about 10,000 little men who are 2 inches tall. It allcomes to a G. Smithers' style conclusion.(You'll find out who G. Smithersis when you read the book.) Like other Blaylock fantasy it is full ofelves, goblins and mystery and stars an unlikely hero. A very good read foreveryone and for Blaylock fans it's an absolute must.

Great submarine fun
Wonderful quirky book full of Blaylockian humor, amazing characters, octopuses, submarines, underwater grotoes and just a pinch of magic. Demand that your bookstores finds you a copy. Demand that Del Rey brings back thisgreat series in print.

My all time favorite fantasy novel.
This novel is without a doubt the best fantasy novel I've ever read. Read it and you'll find yourself re-reading it and enjoying it many times! Mr. Blaylock, If you're out there, PLEASE give us more Balumnia books. Theymake my world a better place. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Blaylock Novel
Another fantastic Blaylock novel!My older sister turned me on to Blaylock several years ago, and have been a keen fan since.Lost my autographed copy of Homunculus to H. Katrina in 2005....sigh.Bought this copy to bring as a gift for my sister in the U.K. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

great stories !
James Blaylock is one of the top writers and all his books are a must read, in this collection of stories the one called "war of the worlds" is one of the best short stories I have read. I wished his other books were easier to find. I love his style of writing and 2 of his novels are in my top 10 must read list. A very good collection of stories. ... Read more

Product Description
Determined to avert the doom of his beloved wife, scientist and detective Langdon St. Ives sees his only hope for doing so in Lord Kelvin's time machine, but the diabolical Dr. Ignacio Narbondo has other plans for the invention. Reprint. AB. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Unsuccessful
Essentially a pastiche of Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, HG wells, and Victorian adventure stories.Written with a breathless style and not enough humor to overcome the cliched characterization.The plot features a slightly confusing effort at use of time travel paradoxes.

Not my cup of tea
This book wasn't to my liking.Like its predecessor, the villians are absurd - even more so than in Homunculus.They are like bad Adam-West-era Batman villians.And the time travel/history altering that goes on makes this hard to follow at points.And sometimes the characters' motivations are kind of difficult to understand (I mean, let your enemy die already!)Explosions, cackling insane villians damaging toy elephants (is that supposed to be symbolic or suggestive of the later animal damaging that goes on?)... this book was weird.Plus... why do the villians in these books always have to do yucky stuff to animals?Ugh.

That being said... the end is subtle and wonderful.Blaylock does a wonderful job of throughly crushing his hapless hero, and so his final redemption is completely, and convincingly, sweet.

An astutely told science fiction adventure
Deftly written by James P. Blaylock (a winner of the World Fantasy Award and the Philip K. Dick Memorial Award), Lord Kelvin's Machine is a fantastic steampunk saga set in Victorian London. Our intrepid hero, Langdon St. Ives, is devastated by murder and surrounded by mayhem in the midst of an uproar over (and battles to possess) a wondrous machine with the power to travel through Time itself. An astutely told science fiction adventure laced through and through with humanity, reflection, high escapades, drama, and coming to grips with the terrible specter of death, Lord Kelvin's Machine is enthusiastically recommended reading for all dedicated science fiction enthusiasts.

An entertaining jaunt
Probably the best thing one can say about this book is that after this he got loads better.This novel shows Blaylock attempting to write a alternate historical fantasy (I think, though it's never clearly said) with a knotted twisting plot while at the same time having a little fun with it.Most of it comes off like he was reading his good friend Tim Power's novels and thought, "Hey I could do that!" but this kind of thing definitely isn't where his strengths are.The blurbs on the back and front tout it as a time travelling novel and it sort of is one of those but you have to get through two other parts with the same characters . . . the main character is a detective/scientist named St. Ives who is trying to stop a diabolical professor, especially after the man killed the love of his life.The title machine comes in early for a totally different reason (and it's never explained how they decide to use it to travel in time) and the science must be parody but it's played dead serious which sort of deflates the purpose.So they're entertaining but don't seem to move any kind of plot forward . . . it's also hard to get a handle on St Ives, all you ever hear is how brilliant he is but you never really see him dedude anything or work hard at it, he just knows everything and Blaylock seems to operate on the idea that if you repeat something often enough people will believe you.The third part, featuring mostly only St Ives nearly redeems the novel . . . after nearly beating it into you that he's at his wits end and is totally depressed and numb, things finally start happening and lots of interesting twists come in . . . unfortunately the ultimate resolution of the book makes you wonder why he just didn't do it earlier . . . frankly this feels like a short story padded out for whatever reason.Maybe Blaylock liked the characters.But honestly if you just took the prologue and the third part you would have a fine novella or the like.After this I think he abandoned the historical fantasy stuff and leaned more towards merging modern fantasy with the viewpoint of ordinary people and how it affects them . . . that he did brilliantly and those are the books you should seek out.(...) ... Read more

Product Description
The World Fantasy Award-winning author of WinterTides presents the haunting story of a grieving widower, a littlegirl with an unusual gift, and an old house permeated by thepast.

"Blaylock is a singular American fabulist."-WilliamGibson

"A chillingly realized tale of how the past haunts ourlives."-Dallas Morning News

"Ambitious." -PublishersWeekly (starred review) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (24)

Disappointing.
I originally purchased this work at Powell's Books in Portland when I found it via one of those "Staff Recommends" cards they use. It said something like "If you like Charles de Lint, you will probably like this book too!"

Well, I didn't, not particularly. It was slow, very slow, and filled with unnecessary detail that Blaylock seemed to write in because he felt it was character development... but really, it just made the storyline abysmally slow. The dialogue was stilted and unnatural, and often had me thinking "Does he really believe people speak like that?" Perhaps they do in his locale, but not mine.

All in all, a disappointment. Similar to Charles de Lint's work it was *not* - de Lint's work is full of hope for the future in the midst of tribulation, and the story in this book was far from that.

Definitely Not A Ghost Story
I've read several of James Blaylock's novels, but this one was quite different. It's not a ghost story, it's more of a fantasy, or something. It is hard to catalog this novel. While it is good, and the story kept me interested, it lacked the necessary elements to keep me reading and on the edge of my seat. The story revolves around a crystal that supposedly has the spirit of a young girl trapped within it, and her father's search for that crystal. To me it was rather convoluted, and was about 100 pages too long. I believe Mr. Blaylock could have completed his plot in a shorter period of time. All in all I rated it about a 3.5 because it did hold my interest, but it wasn't up to his usual standard.

A true Gem
When I bought this I was expecting it to be more "creepy" than it turned out to be.I am glad I did buy it though, since it turned out to be a delightful surprise.I thought this book had a great storyline & was well written.Even though the book was a fantasy it didn't seem totally "out there."The characters were sympathetic & believable. Blaylock even gives the villains a humanistic side.This book has a little fantasy, mystery, suspense, & warmth all rolled up together.

Turned out better than expected
What looked like a creepy, mournful psychological ghost story turned out to be a fun, time-traveling mystery.In Orange, California, our hero Phil inherits custody of his 10 year-old niece Betsy when his sister suddenly dies.This also draws the vengeful attentions of Betsy's crazy neighbor who was obsessed with being a surrogate mother to the girl.

Meanwhile, there's a creepy old antiques dealer and his conniving, pretty assistant sneaking around trying to find a valuable piece of crystal on Phil's property.The crystal is a repository for a ghost's memory.

There's also a well on Phil's property through which people from the past traveled through time and got stranded in his present.This links us with a couple of chapters of their drama in the 1880s.

A well-written fantasy, notable for the "hook" with which the author ends every chapter:e.g., "The doorbell rang."And then you have to read through the next chapter and the 1880s story, to get to the next chapter after that to find out who was at the door.

My only complaint:the ending felt a little mechanical to me, like he'd set up his characters to shuffle through the prescribed actions rather than making them threaten more or resist more.Recommended!

I just didn't care...
This is the first book I've ever read by Blaylock, and I doubt I'll ever bother reading anything else he's written.To give credit where it's due, I found the idea of the drowning ritual and the memories trapped in objects very intriguing.But while it's a very good and very original idea (as far as I know), it's completely overshadowed by the under-developed, dull, and mostly emotionless characters.I'll use Betsy as an example since the story is supposed to center around her.Betsy is a child whose mother has just died, but she seems apathetic about it.Not even that she's come to terms with it, or that it just hasn't really sunk in yet, but that she just doesn't care.In fact, the only time that Betsy expresses sadness about anything is when she discovers that her crystal has been stolen.There is some sort of interaction with Jen, but we don't get to see any of it.Also, it says on the back cover of the book that Betsy has some kind of link to the "emotions of the past" and the dead, but I'm not sure where that ever came into the book.She could experience the memories inside the crystals, but so could everyone else who touched them.Maybe it was because she could tell that an object contained a memory just by looking at it, but so could several other people in the book.And her "special power" is just another thing that she doesn't seem to feel one way or another about.I didn't feel sad or any other way about her situation, because she didn't seem to feel any particular way it.The same is true for most of the other characters in the book.In fact, the only characters who came even close to being well-written were the three "villains," Elizabeth, Mr. Appleton, and Mrs. Darwin.At least they had motivations and showed emotions, albeit mostly psychopathic ones.Something they teach you in college fiction-writing courses is "don't just tell, show."Blaylock does TELL the reader at certain points that a character is sad or confused or angry, but he can't seem to find a way to SHOW through their actions, dialogue, or any other means that they do indeed feel that way.The end effect for me was that I just didn't buy it and I didn't really care what happened to any of them.I had to force myself to finish the novel.I'm really surprised that anyone would compare Blaylock to "Stephen King at his best" because one thing that King doesn't have trouble doing (even in his more recent novels) is making his characters believable.To sum things up, I think this novel had a lot of potential and the plot itself was interesting (or should have been, anyway), but the lack of character depth ruins it.It just doesn't work for a novel that deals with things like death, loss, and grief to be entirely plot-driven.Save your money, there are a lot of good ghost story authors out there. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Must for Fans of Powers and Blaylock
Blaylock and Powers have been collaborating for thirty years, often implicitly influencing each other and sometimes, like here, collaborating on stories with both their names on them.Fans of either should appreciate the brief account of that collaboration in this book's afterward and introduction and, specifically, the comments on the volume's three stories.

As is typical for his shorter work, Powers abandons his characteristic secret histories.In "Through and Through", a weary, lukewarm priest confronts a ghost in the confessional and rethinks the power and significance of Catholic ritual.But, if we don't get an epic combining of magic and history, Powers still works in some interesting thoughts on the Garden of Eden.

The modern obsession with inclusivity on college campuses is satirized in Blaylock's "The Devil in the Details".A college president's attempt to build a Christian chapel is thwarted by forces both silly and sinister.

I must admit that I appreciated and understood Powers' and Blaylock's collaboration "Fifty Cents" more after reading Blaylock's afterward.But, even on the first reading, the protagonist's quest -- searching in used bookstores for a book once given to him by his dead wife -- and the odd characters he meets in his drive through the desert Southwest, kept me interested.

Each story gets its own introductory illustration, and Blaylock's afterword is in the form of an inserted pamphlet.

Collectors or fans of either of these authors will want this book not only for the stories but the accounts of a longstanding literary friendship. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Fun Fantasy
One review I read of this book said it had no polt and just sort of wandered around as a slow read. The book does have a plot! And it's not a slow read but a rich and colorful read. This book is the first telling of the story that will later become the longer and different "The Elfin Ship". It is the story of a master cheese maker and his raft journy down a mighty river to save the christmas like holiday for his village. There are trolls, goblins, elves and even a trip to the moon. Blaylock has a style that reminds me of older english authors who steep their books with atmosphere and a feel of being there. The Man in the Moon as it is printed in this book was rejected by the publisher and Blaylock rewrote the book changing the direction of the story starting around chapter 10. The original Man in the Moon got lost for many years and was finally found, and thanks to Subterranean it was printed in this beautiful version for us all to read. ... Read more

Product Description
Attempting to come to terms with a failed marriage and longing for his son, Peter Travers's struggle to build a new life is haunted by mysterious visions of a woman and child as the spirits of the past come alive and a dark and terrible secret refuses to die. Reprint. AB. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Very disappointed
This book had it's moments, but overall it was slow.There was just to much of Peter and his new girlfriend's son that didn't add much to the story.Also, the ending just made me go "what?"

I was VERY disappointed in the end.There was a great build up to the mystery, however nada was ever fully explained.None of the questions are really answered.I really wanted to know what happened to his ex-wife & son.How did they disappear???I was just disappointed w/ this book & after the ending I donated book to local library.

The storyline w/ Pomeroy was the most interesting.He was a great character, however, we never learned about the Linda he mentioned.Someone he stalked before????

If you want to read this book go to your local library.

Very disappointed
This book had it's moments, but overall it was slow.There was just to much of Peter and his new girlfriend's son that didn't add much to the story.Also, the ending just made me go "what?"

I was VERY disappointed in the end.There was a great build up to the mystery, however nada was ever fully explained.None of the questions are really answered.I really wanted to know what happened to his ex-wife & son.How did they disappear???I was just so disappointed w/ this book & after the ending I donated book to local library.

The storyline w/ Pomeroy was the most interesting.He was a great character, however we never learned about the Linda he mentioned.Someone he stalked before????

If you want to read this book go to your local library.

Excellent Supernatural Mystery
I found Night Relics at a used book sale.The evocative title and the glowing moon on the cover greatly piqued my interest.Somehow, I just knew this would be a good story.And I was correct.Being from the Southwest, it was an extra delight to find the story is set in Southern California.People don't usually associate the desert with ghosts, but there you have it.

James Blaylock is an excellent writer.He weaves a tale by bringing the setting and characters to life.The story is about Peter, whose ex-wifeand young son have mysteriously disappeared.The wife was leaving for Hawaii, and the police suggest she has run away in a custody dispute.The mystery is further compounded by the recurring appearance of a woman and a boy in the windy canyons of Trabuco Oaks, where Peter and his new girlfriend Susan like to hike. Susan has a young son of her own.

Susan has a fateful encounter with Pomeroy, a used-car salesman with illusions of his own grandeur.He becomes obsessed with Susan.Pomeroy has shady business dealings with Susan's next-door neighbor Klein.Klein wants Pomeroy out of the way; Pomeroy wants Susan.But everyone is touched by the strange apparitions, and things get out of control.

I recommend this book to anyone who likes a well-written mystery with a touch of the supernatural.

Spooky
This is unlike most of the stuff that Blaylock has written already so if you're expecting the same old stories, get ready for something a bit different.He tackles ghost stories this time out and while the themes arenearly the same as always, basically normal everyday people trying to copewith the extraordinary (or just plain weird) and as usual set inCalifornia.But it gets waaayy different from there, for the first timethings are really frightening, this is the darkest book he might have everwritten.And his characters feel more real for once, mostly gone are thelikable but quirky folks who populate his other books, here everyone isjust like you and me, they have their flaws and benefits just the same asanyone else.And I don't think he's ever written a character as odious asPomeroy, he's quite the convincing psychopath.As for the ghost part, wellthat's not all that clear but then it's a ghost story it's not supposed tomake perfect sense.What counts here is the atmosphere and the pages aredripping with wind and dark and the nighttime and all the horrors that itbrings.Not really scary but certainly gets you into the novel and helpsyou live in the character's world.In essence this is the most"mature" book he's ever done, tackling more serious subjects ofrelationships (both starting and ending them), abnormal psyches, sexuality,all the good stuff that's in the world the rest of us live in.In shortthis is the book that we may not have all been waiting for, but knew he wascapable of doing all the same and I for one am not complaining. ... Read more

Product Description
Fifteen years ago, Dave Quinn swam out into the winter ocean to save two drowning girls--identical twin sisters. He was only able to save one. Now, years later, he meets Anne, a struggling artist from Canada. He has no idea that she is the child he saved so long ago. And he has no idea that Elinor, the long-dead sister he couldn't save, has come with her. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Not what I expected
_Winter Tides_ disappointed me, but I suppose I must put the blame on the publisher rather than the author.Mainly I was miffed because the blurb on the back promised something totally different from what was actually in the book.The blurb spoke of a man named Dave, and his relationship with the girl he had saved from drowning years before, and with the ghost of her sister whom he failed to save.What I got was a novel about a psychopath named Edmund, who wasn't even mentioned on the cover.

Dave and the sisters were there, all right, but they were dealt with shallowly.Even when the story was being told from Dave or Anne's point of view, the author never really went deeply into what they were thinking or feeling, just their physical actions.Elinor, the ghost sister, gets even shorter shrift, and mainly seems to be a plot device.The romance between Dave and Anne is skimmed over, and both of their feelings for Elinor are summed up in a few sentences here and there.The only intricate characterization in the book is that of Edmund, a true loony who thinks torturing people is a fine art form.Blaylock does a good job of depicting him, but I wasn't expecting a psychopath story, I don't really like psychopath stories, they're just not my thing.I was led to expect a ghost story and a love story.

If you like novels about psychopaths and serial killers, go ahead and buy this--it's well done if you like that sort of thing.Blaylock's subtlety and restraint leave the worst bits to the imagination, thereby creating a more palpable terror.Just don't buy this if you're looking for a dark fantasy or a romance.

A ghost story looking for a ghost
Blaylock has improved his storytelling skills over the years in leaps and bounds, making subtle changes to his style in nearly every novel.Not every thing he does succeeds absolutely but you have to give credit to the guy for trying.Here he attempts a spooky ghost story of revenge but as it turns out the ghost is hardly necessary at all . . . which maybe was the point.Fifteen years ago, Dave Quinn attempted to save twin girls from drowning . . . one didn't make it and he still feels guilty about it.Working for an eccentric old man (the closest Blaylock comes to one of his classic character stereotypes) and being constantly creeped out by the boss' son Edmund he eventually runs into Anne, who turns out to be the girl he managed to save, it was her sister Elinor who died that night.From there the tale becomes a story of gradually escalating obsessing, told mostly from the POV of Edmund, who is truly probably the sickest character Blaylock has ever written, I had to wonder about the author's mental state since he seemed to so perfectly capture the effortless madness of Edmund, how even the most depraved act makes perfect sense to his twisted mind.The kicker is that the ghost of Elinor is supposed to be pushing Edmund to do the things he does, inspiring him and whatnot but Elinor really never develops anything resembling a presence, besides moving stuff around and causing ghostly footsteps and appearing as misty human shapes in the air . . . there's not much else she does . . . fortunately when Blaylock keeps the focus on Edmund and his rather strange passions, life stays interesting and the suspense is nicely done even if toward the end it tends to dissolve into standard "We must stop the villain" stuff complete with cliched, "Let me explain my plan so that you have a chance to stop me" . . . fortunately Dave and Anne are fun characters and you do root for them to get together (even if little is done with it) . . . Dave Quinn is one of the more rounded characters to come down the Blaylock pipeline in a while and remains interesting on his own, especially since he does actively forward the plot, often times Blaylock protagonist let stuff happen to them for a while before they start reacting.All of these are minor flaws, while reading this pages literally flew and I finished this way faster than I thought I would . . . as a psychological study on sickness it's great, as a ghost story, well it's no Night Relics but you can't knock every one completely out of the park, can you?Any Blaylock fan can't go wrong here though.

It's not a ghost story.
Don't be mislead by the cover of this book or its synopsis. This book isn't a creepy ghost story. It's a boring romance with a pathetic villan. The characters are flat and unrealistic (not to mention the plot). The bestthing about this book was the first chapter. Too bad Blaylock couldn't keepthe rest of the story up to that par.

Blaylock shakes things up a bit
Other reviewers have noted that with this book Blaylock puts his trademark whimsy in the background and replaces it in the foreground with a really creepy villain.Perhaps the book's greatest flaw is that the nastiness ofthe human villain, towards the end, eclipses the eeriness of the deceasedvillain -- the ghost whose pervasive presence gives the book so much of itstense atmosphere.Although the ghost is responsible for the chills in thefirst half or three quarters of the book, by the end it seems practicallybenign in comparison to the vile Edmund, and one begins to wonder whetherthe book could have been written without the supernatural component and hadequal impact.

Still, a suspenseful and interesting read.

Dark supernatural horror from the author of "Land of Dreams"
This is a kind of tricky one - there were some great elements but some loss-of-nerve as well - it could have been better.I really loved "The Paper Grail" which is evidentally more the classic Blaylock- fantasy in a contemporary setting with engaging characters.This is asupernatural horror story with one of the greatest occult villains I've runacross, but somehow Blaylock wimps out before delivering the level ofterror the character calls for.The romance between the hero and heroinenever develops the necessary depth either, though the characters are, asalways, well drawn.4 stars for characterization, 3 for atmosphere, 2 forstory. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Astounding future
The year is 1997, and Landers has just rented a house. Mrs Cummings, the widow who lived there, has moved into a retirement home 20 years after the death of her husband.
While exploring the attic, Landers discovers four large, neatly tied boxes maked 'ASTOUNDING'. Untying one he finds a collection of 'Astounding Science Fiction,' and begins reading with the first issue, dated 1947. The back cover advertises Clark Ashton Smith's 'Thirteen Phantasms' for a dollar 'within seven days, and one dollar monthly until six dollars has been paid.'
Landers mails a dollar to the address in the ad. Days later his books arrive. And so begins one man's journey.
James P. Blaylock is a contemporary fabulist. He can take the simplest of situations, the most everyman of characters, and weave a tale evoking an unmistakable sense of wonder. His are worlds to return to again and again.
This chapbook contains both the title story from 'Thirteen Phantasms' (Edgewood Press, 2000) and a 2005 introduction by the author.
'Landers wryly wondered what sort of things Mr. Cummings might have considered astounding. and, after a moment, he decided that the man had been fortunate to find enough of it in one lifetime to fill four good-sized boxes.' ... Read more