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Title: Shadows Bend: A Novel of the Fantastic and Unspeakable by David Barbour, Richard Raleigh ISBN: 0-441-00765-1 Publisher: Berkley Pub Group Pub. Date: 10 October, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3 (8 reviews)
Rating: 1
Summary: A Novel of Horrible and Unspeakable Fantasy
Comment: Even when two writers write well, collaboration is an itchy thing. Unless the pair is deliberately writing two different voices, they must carefully mesh their styles and dialog into a seamless narrative designed to maintain the illusion that the book you are holding is a cohesive and unified whole. When done well, it can be a beautiful thing; two voices telling the same tale, adding idea to idea and raising the entire project to a sublime place.
If the writers are unqualified hacks, however, the mess resembles the result of a Creative Writing 101 final after the TA trips while carrying the manuscripts.
Can you guess into which category "Shadows Bend" falls?
Unqualified ha...I mean, writers David Barbour and Richard Raleigh have imagined a world in which two famous pulp writers meet in order to drop a coin into the jukebox from Hell in order to prevent the end of the world as we know it. "Oh," you think. "It's going to be that kind of novel."
Though HP Lovecraft and "Conan" creator Robert E. Howard never met, Barbour and Raleigh ask us to imagine that they did. Also, that Cthulhu and the rest of the Old Ones are real and trying to rend the fabric of time and space in order to occupy our universe. Also, that any godlike being would think our universe was worth occupying, but that's another matter completely.
It's an interesting premise, interesting enough to get me to plunk down my money and take my chance. But the result is something less than promised.
Lovecraft and Howard set off on a nostalgia tour down Route 66 in order to destroy "the artifact" that would allow the Old Ones into our parking space. Along the way they meet Glory, a college-educated former prostitute who has read the works of Lovecraft and Howard, as well as that of Clarke Ashton, who makes a brief appearance later, who joins them in their travels. Terrible things happen. They save the universe. Blah blah blah.
My quibbles with this novel are large, broad ones. Well, I have small, subtle ones, but I won't bore you with them unless you write and ask for them. First, it appears that Raleigh and Barbour did not even read one another's work as they wrote. In some chapters Robert Howard, a Texan, is portrayed as a fellow with a decent command of English. In others, he nearly eats the scenery by aw-shucksin' his way through his dialog like a cartoon cowboy. Second, do I really need to point out how damned unlikely it is that a woman in the late thirties would be educated in medieval literature, read pulp fiction and work as a prostitute? Third, Lovecraft is written as though he were Oscar Wilde or Quentin Crisp. Fourth, why didn't someone tell Barbour and Raleigh that Southwestern Indians aren't the cool mystical minority they once were? Fifth, well, the ending is so lame you won't believe it. I would assume that the reason a writer would want to include historical characters in a modern novel is because he has something to say about that person, or that person is just the right character on which to hang the plot. In this novel, Barbour and Raleigh might just as well have written about *me*. *I* can slip a coin into a slot, too. And I bet I would have picked the right one the first time out.
If you're a Lovecraft or Howard fan, you might want to read this, but my guess is that it would be just too painful to see these two men massacred in print like this. If you read only one book using Lovecraft and Howard as characters this year, um, on second thought, read something else.
Rating: 1
Summary: Macabre Mish-mash
Comment: This book was a severe disappointment. The writers have no grasp of characterization: HPL is portrayed as a mincing wimp, REH as a thuggish nitwitted goon. The dialogue is excruciatingly bad throughout. The plot (what there is of it) is ludicrous, especially since it contradicts itself. Basically, Our Heroes team up with the Happy Hooker to thwart some shoggoths (currently masquerading as a dust-free black sedan) to stop some extradimensional invaders who can't make up their mind whether they want a heavy, carcinogenic, chameleon-like McGuffin put into a cave or not. REH's father is portrayed as a cross between Hannibal Lector and Herbert West, and he's left to perform the ULTIMATE primal scene (as Freud called it) in Bobby's dreams, while the authors put an unpleasantly sexist slant on HPL's well-known dislike of fish. Add a truly imbecilic scene in which HPL and REH exchange potty jokes and you've got the whole picture. This was so out of character that I wanted to throw the stupid book out of the window.
Rating: 5
Summary: Creepy and terrific!
Comment: I'm an old fan of pulp fiction, and the works of Lovecraft, Howard, Smith, et al. I found out about this book through an excellent review in Realms of Fantasy mag. by Gahan Wilson. Now, Wilson is no slouch, so when he likes a book, I know it's worth reading. Once again, he led me straight to a great read. The readers below seemed to have read a different book than me, or Mr. Wilson. It's a terrific, literate, haunting read, and does fascinating things with the main characters. I'll read this one again, and recommend it to friends. Bravo to the authors.
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Title: Shadows Over Baker Street by MICHAEL REAVES, JOHN PELAN ISBN: 0345455282 Publisher: Del Rey Pub. Date: 30 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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Title: The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian (Conan of Cimmeria, Book 1) by Robert E. Howard ISBN: 0345461517 Publisher: Del Rey Pub. Date: 02 December, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Tower of the Elephant & Other Stories (Chronicles of Conan, Volume 1) by Robert E. Howard, Roy Thomas, Barry Windsor-Smith, Peter Dawes, Ian Sokoliwski, Dennis Kashton, Wil Glass ISBN: 1593070160 Publisher: Dark Horse Comics Pub. Date: 01 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: The Zombie Survival Guide : Complete Protection from the Living Dead by MAX BROOKS ISBN: 1400049628 Publisher: Three Rivers Press Pub. Date: 16 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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