Customer Reviews (2)

the sorcerer's ship
Fantastic reading, I love this book. I had read it years ago and am so thrilled to read this classic book again.

Sailing the seas of another world
When a young American of the 1940s falls through a momentary crack between worlds while at sea, he finds himself a passenger on a strange ship in a world of sorcery & warring kingdoms. At first unsure of his situation, he soon sizes up the beautiful princess, the scheming minister, and the not-quite-human being who possesses unusual powers ...

Here's one of the more obscure treasures reprinted in the classic Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series. While it's not a masterpiece of the genre, it has a certain sprightly energy & inventiveness, and deserves better than to be forgotten. There's a bright, almost breezy quality to the storytelling -- but the moments of unleashed magic have some real weight to them.

Hannes Bok was primarily known as a science-fiction & fantasy artist. His brief forays into writing were inspired by the works of A. Merritt, who was his foremost literary idol. That inspiration is obvious in these pages ... but at the same time, he avoids the ornate (some would say purple) prose of Merritt, which nobody but Merritt could make work anyway, and achieves a simpler, more modest prose style. And it's a success.

As always, series editor Lin Carter provides a short but informative introduction, one more personal than usual, as he knew & clearly loved Bok. The feeling of loss at his early death comes through in Carter's heartfelt remembrance. I'm not sure if this novel will ever see print again soon, so don't hesitate to pick up a used copy if you should stumble upon it. You may be pleasantly surprized! ... Read more

Product Description
From the Dust Jacket. Hugo award-winning artist Hannes Bok's fantastic illustrations graced the pages of many science fiction magazines and books. Bok's paintings achieved a luminous, stained glass quality through the use of an arduous glazing process, reminiscent of the work of Bok's early mentor, Maxfield Parrish. With ninety illustrations, forty-five in full color, A Hannes Bok Treasury is a lavish collection of three decades of Bok's fantasy and science fiction artwork. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A MUST FOR ALL MERRITT COMPLETISTS
When Abraham Merritt died of a heart attack on August 21, 1943, at the age of 59, the world lost one of the greatest writers of adventure fantasy of all time. He left behind a number of novels in various stages of completion, including the first quarter of "The Black Wheel." Hannes Bok, an artist and illustrator who did almost 150 covers for assorted pulp magazines, starting with the December 1939 issue of "Weird Tales," took on the formidable task of completing Merritt's story. Bok was the first artist, by the way, to win a Hugo award, and went on to pen several other novels of his own. I must say that he does a rather good job at pastiching Merritt's style; were it not for the copyright lines at the front of the book, one would never know that Merritt's writing concludes at the end of Chapter 7, and that Bok then added Chapters 8-27.He admirably copies the densely written, hyperadjectival purple prose of Merritt's early period. Unfortunately, what he fails to do is get Merritt's feel for pace and suspense. Much of this novel is overwritten, wordy and slow moving. The story is a fascinating one, but somehow Bok, despite all his $2 words and flair for language, doesn't give the tale a sense of immediacy and creeping dread. Still, the reader's interest IS engaged, for the most part, and the book's final 50 pages or so are quite thrilling.
The story concerns a young doctor, Ross Fenimore, who tells us of his adventures after he signs on for a trip on the Susan Ann. This sailing ship is owned by a millionaire lawyer who has gathered an oddball assortment of friends and crew for a Caribbean pleasure trip. A hurricane maroons the lot on a deserted isle, where the wreck of a 200-year-old ship is discovered. The ship contains the mummified remains of a white man and half a dozen Africans, and before long, their spirits are (seemingly) inhabiting the various members of the Susan Ann. I say "seemingly" only because, despite the reader's certainty that the strange occurrences have a supernatural origin, Fenimore insists on rationalizing everything away materialistically. These unwanted explanations eventually become tiresome (for this reader, anyway); like Dr. Lowell in Merritt's "Burn, Witch, Burn" and Alan Caranac in "Creep, Shadow, Creep," Fenimore refuses to accept anything that hints of the otherworldly, even when the evidence is overwhelming. The entire middle section of the book is taken up with the various characters telling of their dreams and visions, and Fenimore explaining them away. There are some other problems that the reader will face, also. The eye color of one of the characters keeps changing from violet to blue and then back to violet. A Scottish woman on board speaks the pure Scot to the extent that a reader will need a good, UNabridged dictionary to follow her. Worse still is the inclusion of a Stepin Fetchit-like character, with all the embarrassing black stereotypes that one can imagine. I might also add that the McTeague character in the book, an Irishman with the gift of second sight, is a wee bit too much like the fey Irishman Larry O'Keefe in Merritt's first novel, "The Moon Pool," but that may be carping. Fortunately for "The Black Wheel," things really DO pick up during those final 50 pages, which include another monster storm, a lost race of albino cannibals, and the deaths of most of the book's characters (that last is NOT a spoiler; it's mentioned on page 1!). But I still feel that this book, the longest of any Merritt novel, could have been edited down by at least 50 pages. There is one seemingly endless section, for example, in which Bok needlessly gives us what seems to be every bit of historical and cultural lore regarding the mystical uses of wheels and circles, from the Egyptians to the Druids to the Buddhists, all of which, despite its interest, will probably make most readers want to scream "get on with it!" Still, "The Black Wheel" IS an interesting read, and certainly a must for all Merritt completists. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Really good fantasy story
Hibbert is a rather trusting soul, one of those who lets himself be conned right into prison. He is paired with a bruising hulk named Scarlatti, who keeps talking jailbreak. With the help of a man named Burks, the jailbreak is successful. Hibbert is brought along against his will, so he won't blab to the authorities. Heading for the Florida Everglades, they hook up with Carlotta, Scarlatti's girlfriend.

In the middle of nowhere, the four come across a golden stairway into the sky. They ascend, and find a giant pool which may be The Fountain of Youth, guarded by a blue flamingo. It attacks them, and doesn't last long after several shots from Burks' pistol. They ascend another stairway to a land called Khoire.

It is something like being inside an M.C. Escher drawing. They meet a man named Patur, who has each of them put a crystal mask to their faces, which shows their true feelings. They are told that they will change into whatever their true essence is within 24 hours, and that they cannot stay in Khoire. Burks volunteers to turn into a blue flamingo, to take the place of the one he destroyed. He'll accept being on the doorstep of Khoire, and do whatever is necessary to get himself an invitation back to Khoire. Carlotta and Scarlatti experience their Change; it is not pretty, and they end up eaten by a large carnivore. Meantime, Hibbert has fallen head over heels in love with Mareth of the Watchers. His Change is relatively minor; he is still very much human. He returns to Earth, passing Burks the flamingo. Hibbert's quest is to find those people, who cannot reveal themselves beforehand, who will help him do what is needed to get his own invitation to Khoire.

First published in greatly shortened form in 1948, this is an excellent piece of writing. Bok was best known as an artist and illustrator during the pulp era; this shows that he was also a fine writer. If the reader can find a copy of this novel, it is very much recommended.

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Product Description
Chapters: Brian Froud, Frank Kelly Freas, Hannes Bok, Ed Emshwiller, Frank Frazetta, Michael Whelan, Phil Foglio, Vaughn Bodé, Leo and Diane Dillon, Rick Sternbach, Frank Wu, William Rotsler, Roy Krenkel, Jim Burns, Donato Giancola, Don Maitz, Brad W. Foster, Bob Eggleton, Jack Gaughan, John Schoenherr, Stephan Martinière, Alicia Austin, George Barr, Vincent Di Fate, Tim Kirk, Alexis A. Gilliland, Joan Hanke-Woods, Teddy Harvia. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 112. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Frank Frazetta (February 9, 1928 May 10, 2010) was an American fantasy and science fiction artist, noted for work in comic books, paperback book covers, paintings, posters, LP record album covers and other media. He was the subject of a 2003 documentary. Born Frank Frazzetta in Brooklyn, New York City, he removed one "z" from his last name early in his career to make his name seem less "clumsy". The only boy among four children, he spent much time with his grandmother, who began encouraging him in art when he was two years old. He recalled in 2010, a month before his death, When I drew something, she would be the one to say it was wonderful and would give me a penny to keep going. Sometimes I had nothing left to draw on but toilet paper. As I got older, I started drawing some pretty wild things for my age. I remember the teachers were always mesmerized by what I was doing, so it was hard to learn anything from them. So I went to art school when I was a little kid, and even there the teachers were flipping out. At age eight, Frazetta attended the Brooklyn Academy of Fine Arts, a small art school run by instructor Michael Falanga. "e didn't teach me anything, really," Frazetta said in 1994. "He'd come and see where I was working, and he might say, 'Very nice, very nice. But perhaps if you ...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=387771 ... Read more

Product Description
limited to 350 copies ... Read more