Thoughts of a Depressive Diplomatist: M R James

Showing posts with label M R James. Show all posts

Monday, 30 January 2023

Reading in Jan 2023

The first two are books left over from December.

CS Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

The book that introduced me to Narnia over 45 years ago. I wrote about it last month.

Peter Moore, Endeavour: The Ship and the Attitude that Changed the World

I really enjoyed this splendid biography of Capt Cook's ship, covering 1764-1778. As the author says, these years “form a mini-epoch in the development of Western society”, and he was able to use the ship to explore that.

I knew Endeavour ended up in the American War of Independence, but it was news to me that she was instrumental in the early British settlement of the Falkland Islands.

CS Lewis, The Silver Chair

Things start to get a bit darker in Narnia.

This and Dawn Treader were always my favorite of the Chronicles. Quite possibly because Eustace Scrubb is a lot less annoying than his cousins and I always liked Puddleglum.

Bayt al Azif: A Magazine for Cthulhu Mythos Roleplaying, No 3

An interesting read, as always. I must have had this on my to-read pile for over a year, as I see that No 4 is already out.

The main articles were the round-up of mythos gaming publications in 2019, a look at why Call of Cthulhu is the leader in the Japanese TTRPG scene, and an article on using Sanity loss. There were three scenarios, which all looked interesting, but you never know until you play them.

Paul StJohn Mackintosh, Casting the Runes: Occult Investigation in the World of M R James

A guide to running RPGs in the world of MR James and other horror writers of the 1900s-1920s. It's a setting that I'm interested in (I consider myself a fan of James), and I will certainly steal the premise if I ever get around to running a horror game. The reservation I have is that it's written for games using the GUMSHOE system, which I don't know. Quite frankly, I don't want to go down the rabbit-hole of a new system, when I haven't really got my head fully around Call of Cthulhu: if I was to run a game it would be using CoC or Pulp Cthulhu.

CS Lewis, The Last Battle

Narnian eschatology.

Everyone's least favourite book in the Chronicles. Partly because of the subject matter, partly because Lewis allegory (and some would say, racist elements) are the most heavy-handed here.

And I really should mention Neil Gaiman's short story 'The Problem of Susan', which deals with Susan's exclusion from Narnia and paradise for liking nylons and lipstick too much. It can be read here (but isn't suitable for youngsters).

Various, Murder Under the Christmas Tree

Another from the anthology series I read back in December.

Publishing this sort of thing must be money for old rope when people are desparate for Christmas presents! But it was a good mix of stories.

Scott Lynch, The Lies of Locke Lamora

This is the first in the 'Gentleman Bastards' series about a group of conmen and theives. I was re-reading it because, although I've read the first two books in the trilogy (and typically, I see that there is a "second trilogy" planned), I've only just acquired the third.

In this instalment we're introduced to the Locke Lamora and the Gentlemen Bastards, a gang of conmen posing as petty theives. While secretly doing one of thier Big Jobs, they get entangled in a bloody underworld succession battle.

I'd remembered this as a masterclass in world-building, and the opening pages confirmed this. It's really an excellent piece of work. Whether reading three 600-odd page books after another is sustainable remains to be seen.

Scott Lynch, Red Seas Under Red Skies

Locke and Jean flee their home city and plot a casino heist. But old enemies follow...

And there are pirates!

Thursday, 15 December 2022

Occult Investigation in the World of CS Lewis

Suffering another bout of insomnia, I've decided on a whim to re-read CS Lewis' The Magician's Nephew.

I've only got to the opening chapters, but it being 3.30am, I've realised that Uncle Andrew, his experiments and Atlantean researches wouldn't be out of place in Lovecraftian fiction - or more properly in MR James' occult world. I wonder if Lewis had James' 'Lost Hearts' somewhere in mind in Andrew's dealings with Polly and Digory?

Of course, Lewis will shy away from the occult, but I wonder what we could make of it?

And, of course, it's Christmas. Time for us all to sit down and think of Monty James and all his works.

All of which, makes me think that I should dig out Casting the Runes, the RPG set in James' world. I bought it back in February of last year, put it on a pile to read and review, and let it collect dust.

Just one of those little projects we set ourselves in the pre-dawn which go nowhere...

Monday, 1 March 2021

Books & Stuff (NS, No 12) - Reading in Feb 2021

Finished Reading

WH Hodgson, The Casebook of Carnacki: The Ghost Finder

I was disappointed by this. Mainly because a friend recommended Hodgson last month knowing that I am a fan of MR James. I already had Carnecki on my shelf, so put it on the pile to read when I'd finished James' Complete Ghost Stories.

Frankly, I just found these stories tedious. The corny and repetative framing device (Carnacki summons three friends, barely talks to them over supper, tells them his tale and then throws them out) can be excused by the fact that they were originally separately published as magazine stories. But I found the situations the 'Ghost Finder' found himself in unengaging. And there's too much use of deus ex machina - solutions to problems hinge on Carnacki using his trusty Electric Pentangle or reciting the last stanza of the Rite of <insert foreign-sounding name here>.

I may be being a little harsh. Perhaps I was spoilt by just having read the James stories.

But then...

John Birmingham, the Dave Vs the Monsters Trilogy (Emergence, Resistance and Ascendance)

...I went completely low-brow.

These books about an oil-rig worker who becomes an acidental hero with super-powers after the world is invaded by demons doesn't pretend to be anything is they're not (though I wonder if there was an aspiration to a movie deal): competent nonsense.

Jonathan Stroud, Lockwood & Co: The Screaming Staircase

The first in a series of urban fantasy books aimed at Young Adults (and like most of the best of YA fiction, perfectly serviceable of Older Adults), this deals with a Great Britain which has been suffering from a 50-year-long 'Problem' of ghost hauntings, which has resulted in the establishiment of a number of agencies of ghost hunters. The twist is that the talents to see the ghost fade with adolescence, so that the agences are staffed by teenagers and pre-teens.

Very nicely done, with an interested plot and some nice characters. It might seem odd to compare a contemporary YA book with a 'Classic' such as Carnacki, but it is so much better than the latter.

I understand that an adaptation is in development for Netflix.

Currently Reading

Julian Whitehead, Rebellion in the Reign of Charles II

Oddly enough, it's the non-fiction that's provided the most enjoyable read this month.

It's taking me time to read this well-written study of intellegence gasthering during the Restoration. The main reason is that it's a book I've been reading from the stock of Diplomatist Books - and I keep selling it! (I've sold out twice since starting reading it).

Sunday, 31 January 2021

Books & Stuff (NS, No 11) - Reading in Jan 2021

Finished Reading

Robert A Heinlein, The Worlds of Robert Heinlein

A small collection of stories by Heinlein that seems to have passed me by in the 40 years that I've been reading him.

Most are pretty indifferent stuff. The introductory article on sci-fi writers as prophets is interesting enough, as is the final story 'Solution Unsatisfactory' which has an important part to play in Heinlein's 'future history' chronology.

MR James, Collected Ghost Stories

The Master. What more can one say?

I really enjoyed this, both old favorites and some that I hadn't come across before.

Currently Reading

Julian Whitehead, Rebellion in the Reign of Charles II

This continues my on-going forray into Restoration history.

The title is something of a misnomer. On reading it, it turns out that this is actually a study of Charles II intelligence-gathering machine. Fascinating stuff, and well-written.

It seems to have also appeared with an alternative title, which is why the picture differs from my description.

WH Hodgseon, The Casebook of Carnacki: The Ghost Finder

A little early to comment on this one, as I've only just started it.

Thursday, 31 December 2020

Books & Stuff (NS, No 9) - Reading in Dec 2020

Finished Reading

Fritz Leiber, Swords in the Mist

In which our heroes Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser (strangely) transfer from the fantasy world of Newhon to the (equally fantastic) Ancient Near East.

Atomic-Age Cthulhu: Mythos Horror in the 1950s

A series of seven 1950s-set Call of Cthulhu scenarios. Most are based in the United States (the one exception follows a US Army tank crew in the Korean War) and tackle 1950s bugbears: - communist villains, nuclear power, juvenile delinquency, rock and/or roll and Stuff from Outer Space.

It's always hard knowing a scenario just from reading it, but these seem an interesting, if mixed, bunch. There's also a brief over-view of the 1950s (in the US) and how one might set mythos RPGs there.

I read some very mixed reviews online, but at the moment it's in warehouse clearance for UK buyers, and worth the £7.34 they're asking for softback copy and pdf. But you'll need the pdf - the reproduction of the (not great) artwork in the hardcopy isn't very good.

Currently Reading

Fritz Leiber, Swords Against Wizardry

After a tedious mountain-climbing story with a shaggy-dog of a climax (and which I was surprised to see was nominated for a Hugo Award in 1966), the heroes get down to some proper Swords and Sorcery adventures.

MR James, Collected Ghost Stories

What would the period between Christmas and New Year be without the genius of Montague Rhodes James? Dull, that's what.

Friday, 6 July 2018

Recent Reading (and Zombies)

I've went a bit vintage with my reading last week.

Spurred on by the repeat of the TV series featuring Rowan Atkinson as a rather slimline Inspector Maigret, I read My Friend Maigret, one of the Simenon books I've picked up recently. The Maigret series is one I've always thought I'd want to read but never got around to. I was surprised by how slight My Friend was*, but I enjoyed it. And I wasn't at all put off by The Wife saying "I remember reading that at school in French"!

*Perhaps explained by the fact that Simenon wrote 75 Maigret novels and 28 short stories!

I was struck by the fact that although the book was written in 1949 it didn't mention the war, even when discussing suspects' backgrounds. These days any thriller set in the 1940s or '50s isn't considered complete if it doesn't have an ex-POW or a bevy of former SOE or Bletchley types. In recent TV adaptations of Agatha Christie and the like, the plot is changed to shoe-horn them in. A reflection of changing perspectives on the period, I suppose.

After that, I've gone even further in time to read M R James' Thirteen Ghost Stories in a rather nice German edition* from the '30s. James** is another author that I've thought I should read and would probably enjoy; and I am finding that to be the case. Certainly, some of the TV adaptations have scared the willies out of me in the past!

*Don't get me wrong - it's an English-language edition!
**A medievalist and the originator of the "antiquarian ghost story" - you can see the appeal!

And so on to Zombies...

For some reason I often find myself thinking of the Zombie Apocalypse when walking No 2 Dog. This is possibly because I try to do it when the streets and paths are deserted* or because of the number of beat-up camper vans we pass**. Perhaps it because Moley has the right attitude to survive the apocalypse - he'd have no problem decapitating a little old lady (or preferably a zombie labrador).

*No 1 Dog on the other hand prefers to walk during or just after the school run - all the better to find half-eaten slices of toast or chocolate crepes, which are his latest favorite.

** I have this half-intention to post some photos on the blog of vehicles for a British Post-Apocalyse (given the lack of US-style school buses outside Suffolk).

Moley ready to devour something or other

So I've acquired these