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Post by deuce on Nov 26, 2016 20:35:41 GMT -5
I picked up several of the "Planet Stories" book line but have never gotten around to reading them. Five of them were Leigh Brackett, I believe. Just sitting on my shelf. I need to read those! Here I go. quoting myself...  I found the stack of books and have tried to put them in some sort of logical order for reading. Does this make sense? (?) The Sword of Rhiannon (1) The Secret of Sinharat (2) The Ginger Star (3) The Hounds of Skaith (4) The Reavers of Skaith Sword of Rhiannon doesn't seem to quite fit with the others in the series, but the other four all mention Eric John Stark on the back so I know they must be connected. Any insight on this would be appreciated. They're connected, but not particularly tightly. "Rhiannon" was written first, then Brackett came up with Stark.  Honestly, if you want to read the tales in fairly sequential internal order, you should read "Rhiannon" and then the three short EJS tales. After that, if you can find The Coming of the Terrans and "The Shadow Over Mars"/ The Nemesis From Terra, read them in that order. Then, read the Skaith trilogy. The jump from the short EJS stories to the Skaith EJS novels isn't so abrupt then. Also, "Nemesis" references back somewhat to "Rhiannon". You can find some here: www.baen.com/the-solar-system.html |
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Post by finarvyn on Nov 27, 2016 12:19:44 GMT -5
Just finished reading Rhiannon. It was really good, but didn't really have the ERB feel that I expected. I guess there is something simplistic about Burroughs that folks have trouble copying.
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Post by finarvyn on Nov 27, 2016 12:27:46 GMT -5
(?) The Sword of Rhiannon (1) The Secret of Sinharat (2) The Ginger Star (3) The Hounds of Skaith (4) The Reavers of Skaith They're connected, but not particularly tightly. "Rhiannon" was written first, then Brackett came up with Stark. Honestly, if you want to read the tales in fairly sequential internal order, you should read "Rhiannon" and then the three short EJS tales. After that, if you can find The Coming of the Terrans and "The Shadow Over Mars"/ The Nemesis From Terra, read them in that order. Then, read the Skaith trilogy. The jump from the short EJS stories to the Skaith EJS novels isn't so abrupt then. Also, "Nemesis" references back somewhat to "Rhiannon". You can find some here: www.baen.com/the-solar-system.htmlHmmm. Must ponder this. I only have the volumes I listed above and I was hoping that reading order would be a quick answer. Now I may have to hunt around for the other stuff you mentioned. |
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Post by deuce on Nov 27, 2016 13:28:15 GMT -5
Just finished reading Rhiannon. It was really good, but didn't really have the ERB feel that I expected. I guess there is something simplistic about Burroughs that folks have trouble copying. Leigh was never trying to "copy" ERB. Burroughs was her big, first love. That doesn't mean she wrote like him. An analogy could be found with Eddie Van Halen. EVH's big hero was Clapton. Does EVH sound like Clapton? Clapton made EVH want to play guitar, but Eddie's big influences, sound/technique-wise, were players like Page, Gibbons, Blackmore, Beck and others. The same goes for Brackett. Her immediate inspiration was CL Moore. In some ways, one could look on LB's "Solar System" tales as pastiches of Moore. In addition, both women were huge fans of Merritt and REH. "Rhiannon" is basically LB reworking elements from Merritt's The Ship of Ishtar and The Dwellers in the Mirage and then setting the tale on "Old Mars" with more of a Howardian feel. Brackett's Mars derives much more from Howand and, especially, Moore than it does ERB. ERB was just the fundamental inspiration. Ray Bradbury's overwhelming literary idol was ERB. In fact, Bradbury and Brackett bonded early on over a love of Burroughs. Don't read Ray if you're expecting ERB pastiche. |
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Post by deuce on Nov 27, 2016 13:34:26 GMT -5
They're connected, but not particularly tightly. "Rhiannon" was written first, then Brackett came up with Stark. Honestly, if you want to read the tales in fairly sequential internal order, you should read "Rhiannon" and then the three short EJS tales. After that, if you can find The Coming of the Terrans and "The Shadow Over Mars"/ The Nemesis From Terra, read them in that order. Then, read the Skaith trilogy. The jump from the short EJS stories to the Skaith EJS novels isn't so abrupt then. Also, "Nemesis" references back somewhat to "Rhiannon". You can find some here: www.baen.com/the-solar-system.htmlHmmm. Must ponder this. I only have the volumes I listed above and I was hoping that reading order would be a quick answer. Now I may have to hunt around for the other stuff you mentioned. You don't have to read them that way, but you'll have a more complete, nuanced read. What you've got will work. What you've got is one tale of Old Mars and then all of the EJS tales. You can read what you have and pick up the others if you feel like it. I just reread most of Leigh's stuff a year ago for her centennial. Over 90% of her stuff is worth reading. |
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Post by finarvyn on Nov 27, 2016 16:37:03 GMT -5
Deuce, can you be more specific about "the three short EJS tales" so that I know for sure what I'm looking for? (I see that the other titles you mentioned are full-length novels, but am not sure about the names of the short stories.)
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Post by deuce on Nov 27, 2016 23:44:33 GMT -5
Deuce, can you be more specific about "the three short EJS tales" so that I know for sure what I'm looking for? (I see that the other titles you mentioned are full-length novels, but am not sure about the names of the short stories.)
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Post by finarvyn on Nov 28, 2016 6:11:28 GMT -5
Oh, good. I have that one. My confusion was that (1) Sinharat doesn't look like short stories, and (2) my copy is says it contains "The Secret of Sinharat and People of the Talisman," which is two and not three. Interesting that mine is a Planet Stories edition as well, and the cover art is essentially the same, but the cover (and apparently contents) isn't quite the same.  |
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Post by deuce on Dec 1, 2016 7:42:53 GMT -5
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Post by paulmc on Dec 1, 2016 9:52:22 GMT -5
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Post by deuce on Dec 7, 2016 14:03:55 GMT -5
Sanjulian's rendition of Eric John Stark:  |
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Post by deuce on Dec 18, 2016 19:06:11 GMT -5
Eric John Stark on Skaith as done by Steranko... .jpg) |
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Post by deuce on Jan 3, 2017 12:35:41 GMT -5
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Post by deuce on Jan 14, 2017 11:43:37 GMT -5
The high priestesses of scifi litcrit over at the website, From Couch to Moon, think that Leigh Brackett only wrote one good novel and that most female readers are "repelled by the childish pulpiness of most of her short fiction". www.castaliahouse.com/why-you-no-review-leigh-brackett/Apparently, the Cosmic Riot Grrrls over at FCoM then made the strong, powerful move of deleting the conversation. I can confidently say that Leigh wouldn't want the acclaim of such snowflaking she-weasels.  |
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Post by almuric on Jan 14, 2017 12:01:29 GMT -5
I remember getting some ridicule for suggesting that modern SF feminists were sidelining Brackett.
Life comes at you fast.
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