THE CASTLE OF LLYR, Lloyd Alexander
LIGHT, M. John Harrison
THIS SKIN WAS ONCE MINE, Eric LaRocca
THE LANGUAGE OF THE NIGHT, Ursula K. Le Guin
THE BIRTHGRAVE, Tanith Lee
FORGOTTEN SISTERS, Cynthia Pelayo
JAPANESE TALES OF MYSTERY & IMAGINATION, Edogawa Ranpo
JOHN THE BALLADEER, Manly Wade Wellman
My thoughts in the replies...
LIGHT is a sci-fi mosaic -- three loosely-linked narratives spanning 400 years. Challenging and often unclear. The present narrative reads like vintage Harrison, but the future story of VR addict Ed was the most compelling of the three.
Not sure if I’ll move straight to the sequels or re-read this first.
LANGUAGE came highly recommended. In spite of the snobbery that occasionally crept in, I find myself still thinking, days and weeks later, about much of what Le Guin wrote here in regard to SF/F.
Contains the famed (infamous?) essay, “From Elfland to Poughkeepsie”.
JOHN THE BALLADEER doesn’t fit neatly into a single genre, sitting along the intersection of fantasy and horror. Wellman immerses the reader in the Appalachian setting through the use of regional folklore and dialogue, which never feels hokey or overdone.
Happy to see this back in print at last.
Mike Palumbo
Sanjay Mathew