phantasms leviathan homunculus adventures

books:

9 reviews
James P. Blaylock

Del Rey, 1982

Marvelous twice over
Reading this book has a wonderful effect on a person, and every one I have ever reccomended to was so grateful after reading it. It is charming, lyrical, and full of whimsey... yet it is an adventure first and foremost. Blaycock has a writing style that makes the words sound delicious in your mind, as each carefully chosen word fits together like a song. He is also at his humerous best here, ...

The Digging Leviathan

4 reviews
James P. Blaylock

Babbage Press, 2002

A DELIRIOUS LITERARY FANTASY
In brief: Young Jim Hastings, his eccentric father William, his bookish uncle Edward and his best friend Giles (who has webbed fingers and vestigial gills), become involved with an odd collection of poets, madmen and explorers in a frantic race through (and under) Los Angeles, seeking a way to the center of the hollow(!) earth. If you have read Blaylock's later novels this wild, funny, ...

Pilot Light

3 reviews
William Ashbless, Tim Powers, ...

Subterranean, 2007

Ashbless: Poet for the 21st Century
In spite of sabotage by the postmodern pranksters Blaylock and Powers, this memoir shows the true greatness of William Ashbless.

The Knights of the Cornerstone
James P. Blaylock

Ace Hardcover, 2008

An exquisite novel of fantasy from a “true one-of-a-kind original” (Neil Gaiman). Calvin Bryson has hidden himself away from the world, losing himself in his work and his collection of rare and quirky books. He never meant to let so much time go by without visiting his aunt and uncle in the tiny town of New Cyprus, California. When he gets there, he’ll discover the town’s strange secrets and a mysterious group dedicated to preserving and ...

The Adventures of Langdon St. Ives
James P. Blaylock

Subterranean, 2008

A good deal of controversy arose late in the last century over what has been referred to by the more livid newspapers as The Horror in St. James Park or The Ape-box Affair.... So begins the first chronicle in the long and often obscure life of Langdon St. Ives, Victorian scientist and adventurer, respected member of the Explorers Club and of societies far more obscure, consultant to scientific luminaries, and secret, unheralded savior of ...

Thirteen Phantasms and other Stories

1 review
James P. Blaylock

Ace Trade, 2003

An Important Collection From a Master of Fantasy Fiction
This book collects almost all of Blaylock's short fiction and includes an introduction by the author which is just as entertaining as any of his stories. The pieces included here were originally published in various magazines and anthologies and most of them have never been reprinted. Blaylock is one of the quirkiest and most original writers around and if you've never read anything by him this ...

Lord Kelvin's Machine

4 reviews
James P. Blaylock

Ace Books, 1992

An astutely told science fiction adventure
Deftly written by James P. Blaylock (a winner of the World Fantasy Award and the Philip K. Dick Memorial Award), Lord Kelvin's Machine is a fantastic steampunk saga set in Victorian London. Our intrepid hero, Langdon St. Ives, is devastated by murder and surrounded by mayhem in the midst of an uproar over (and battles to possess) a wondrous machine with the power to travel through Time itself. An ...

The Last Coin

19 reviews
James P. Blaylock

Ace, 1996

Offbeat Genius
Like most of Blaylock's contemporary fantasies, this book left me with the odd but pleasurable sensation that the author was either a scant few inches from discovering the secrets of the Universe, or he was a complete idiot. Although I've met Mr. Blaylock on two or three occasions, I still can't make up my mind. In either case, this book is one of my very favorites. Only Blaylock would pit a ...

Homunculus

6 reviews
James P. Blaylock

Babbage Press, 2000

So What !!!???
Ok.It's not an easy read. Ok.It's digressive. Ok.The plot is convoluted and complex as hell. Ok.The characters don't feel "realistic"or "believable" Ok.He is not Tim Powers So What !!!??? HOMUNCULUS is undiluted quintessencial Steampunk.Blaylock's prose is stylish, intricate and labyrinthine.Sometimes witty, sometimes dark and blackly humorous, and like Joe Lansdale and Norman ...

The Man in the Moon

1 review
James P. Blaylock

Subterranean Press, 2003

Fun Fantasy
One review I read of this book said it had no polt and just sort of wandered around as a slow read. The book does have a plot! And it's not a slow read but a rich and colorful read. This book is the first telling of the story that will later become the longer and different "The Elfin Ship". It is the story of a master cheese maker and his raft journy down a mighty river to save the christmas like ...

On Pirates

1 review
William Ashbless

Subterranean, 2001

Tim Powers and Jim Blaylock at their most playful.
This excellent little book is purported to be a collection of the work of a purely fictional writer named William Ashbless. The authors originally created him when they were literature students at Fullerton State University near L.A. Over the years he has either appeared in or been referred to in most of their books and Tim Powers considers him a "good luck charm".

The Stone Giant

4 reviews
James P. Blaylock

Ace, 1989

My all time favorite fantasy novel.
This novel is without a doubt the best fantasy novel I've ever read. Read it and you'll find yourself re-reading it and enjoying it many times! Mr. Blaylock, If you're out there, PLEASE give us more Balumnia books. They make my world a better place.

All The Bells on Earth

12 reviews
James P. Blaylock

Ace Hardcover, 1995

Beware the bluebird of happiness
This is one of Blaylock's best and it would be an excellent place to start if you're not familiar with this author. The plotting is tighter than in most of Blaylock's books, so the story is intricate and intriguing enough to keep you turning the pages, and the ending is particularly nice. It is a fantasy tale in a contemporary setting, with somewhat of a monkey's paw concept driving the ...

Night Moves and Other Stories

3 reviews
Tim Powers

Subterranean Press, 2001

The other side of Tim Powers
Fantastist Tim Powers writes very few short stories. He has published over 10 novels, yet only a half-dozen short stories, all now collected in this handsome edition by Subterranean Press. Anyone familiar with Powers knows his penchant for densely plotted, magical stories with a unique bent on history. He has written about poker and the Fisher King, vampires stalking Keats and Shelley, pirates ...

Night Relics

3 reviews
James P. Blaylock

Ace Hardcover, 1994

Spooky
This is unlike most of the stuff that Blaylock has written already so if you're expecting the same old stories, get ready for something a bit different. He tackles ghost stories this time out and while the themes are nearly the same as always, basically normal everyday people trying to cope with the extraordinary (or just plain weird) and as usual set in California. But it gets waaayy ...

Land of Dreams

3 reviews
James P. Blaylock

Ace Books, 1988

A MAGIC THAT STAYS
While Land of Dreams works admirably as a supernatural thriller (the Solstice heralds a series of weird events, including the return of a sinister carnival, with diabolical results for the people of a northern California coastal town) and as an adventure yarn (three orphans face great perils as they unravel the mystery of the Solstice, the carnival, and the fabled Land of Dreams), the novel ...

Thirteen Phantasms

1 review
James P. Blaylock

Subterranean Press, 2005

Astounding future
The year is 1997, and Landers has just rented a house. Mrs Cummings, the widow who lived there, has moved into a retirement home 20 years after the death of her husband. While exploring the attic, Landers discovers four large, neatly tied boxes maked 'ASTOUNDING'. Untying one he finds a collection of 'Astounding Science Fiction,' and begins reading with the first issue, dated 1947. The back ...

The Paper Grail

7 reviews
James P. Blaylock

Ace Hardcover, 1991

The Universe in Small Things
This was the first Blaylock novel I ever read, and it hooked me hard. Probably best labeled as Contemporary Fantasy, many of his books paint a world of eccentric heroes and off-beat villains, locked into bizarrely-magical combat in suburban America. 'The Paper Grail' puts an entirely new twist on the grail legend. Howard Barton, genial and somewhat bumbling curator, drives to Mendocino, ...

The Rainy Season

22 reviews
James P. Blaylock

Ace, 2000

A true Gem
When I bought this I was expecting it to be more "creepy" than it turned out to be. I am glad I did buy it though, since it turned out to be a delightful surprise. I thought this book had a great storyline & was well written. Even though the book was a fantasy it didn't seem totally "out there." The characters were sympathetic & believable. Blaylock even gives the villains a humanistic side. ...

search for books
adventures, cornerstone, homunculus, leviathan, phantasms

Impressum / about us