The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making - The Hermetic Library Blog
Hermetic Library Fellow T Polyphilus reviews The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making [Amazon, Bookshop, Libro.fm, Publisher, Local Library] by Catherynne M Valente, illo Ana Juan, book 1 of the Fairyland series I picked this book up from the public library on the strength of a review read … on LibraryThing. I […]
Veniss Underground - The Hermetic Library Blog
Hermetic Library Fellow T Polyphilus reviews Veniss Underground [Amazon, Bookshop, Libro.fm, Publisher, Local Library] by Jeff VanderMeer. (n.b. As I post this, there is a bundle on special offer that includes this and 10 other books, with 5 days to go, for you to consider.) Veniss Underground was VanderMeer’s first novel, written after some of […]
The Other Wind - The Hermetic Library Blog
Hermetic Library Fellow T Polyphilus reviews The Other Wind [Amazon, Bookshop, Libro.fm, Publisher, Local Library] by Ursula K. Le Guin, book 6 of The Earthsea Cycle. In her afterword to the 2012 “unified edition” of Earthsea, author Le Guin notes that the six books have been persistently called a “trilogy” and sometimes a “quartet,” while […]
Medusa's Web - The Hermetic Library Blog
Hermetic Library Fellow T Polyphilus reviews Medusa’s Web [Amazon, Bookshop, Libro.fm, Publisher, Local Library] by Tim Powers This occult magic-based thriller is set in Hollywood 2015, but its cultural epicenter is the 1922 film production of Salomé directed by Charles Bryant and starring Alla Zaminova. There is also a gothic mood, informed by overt references […]
Tales from Earthsea - The Hermetic Library Blog
Hermetic Library Fellow T Polyphilus reviews Tales from Earthsea [Amazon, Bookshop, Libro.fm, Publisher, Local Library] by Ursula K Le Guin, part of the Earthsea series. The penultimate book of the Earthsea cycle is a collection of five stories rather than a novel. In principle, it could be a point of entry to the series, since […]
"What was and what may be lie, like children whose faces we cannot see, in the arms of silence. All we ever have is here, now." - The Hermetic Library Blog
What was and what may be lie, like children whose faces we cannot see, in the arms of silence. All we ever have is here, now. Ursula K Le Guin, Always Coming Home: A Novel [Amazon, Bookshop, Bandcamp, Libro.fm, Publisher, Local Library] Consider also: “Now you’re freaking me out,” Gary said. “I’m freaking myself out,” […]
In the Green Star's Glow - The Hermetic Library Blog
Hermetic Library Fellow T Polyphilus reviews In the Green Star’s Glow [Amazon, Abebooks, Bookshop, Publisher, Local Library] by Lin Carter, DAW cover and interior illo by Michael Whelan, fifth book in the Green Star saga. The finale of Lin Carter’s Green Star fantasy kept its heroes sequestered in various hardships until the last moment, when […]
A Wizard of Earthsea - The Hermetic Library Blog
Hermetic Library Fellow T Polyphilus reviews A Wizard of Earthsea [Amazon, Bookshop, Publisher, Local Library] by Ursula K Le Guin, book 1 of The Earthsea Cycle series. A Wizard of Earthsea was an early venture into “YA Fantasy” publishing, and it set much of the pattern for the wizard bildungsroman that later made the fortune […]
The Flare Path: A breath of fresh Aer
This year I picked/packed a better holiday game than holiday book. Although J.P. Kenyon definitely knows his onions (his onions being 17th Century England) his
John Griogair Bell
Rock Paper Shotgun