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Book Review: The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath by H.P. Lovecraft

The Dream-Quest of Unknown KadathThis collection of six bizarre fantasy tales share a common theme of protagonists who dream of strange journeys to exotic places far more desirable than anything found in our reality—or so they think.

In some cases, such dreams lead the hero back to the very home from which they departed, allowing them to regard the familiar in a new light. For others, however, the unbridled pursuit of fantasy leads to a grim fate.

For Massachusetts native Randolph Carter, his dreams of a city bathed in the golden glow of eternal sunset lead him on a fantastic and perilous journey through a world of loathsome creatures and ancient evils to find the onyx kingdom of unknown Kadath where the gods from outer space reside. Despite obstacles and warnings, Carter intends to beseech the gods to show him the way to this fabled city in “The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath.”

In “Celephais,” a London native known only as Kurane experiences lucid dreams of an ancient and eternal city of eternal youth. So determined is he to return there each night—and ultimately forever—that he resorts to extreme measures.

Disenchanted with the world around him, Randolph Carter finds true solace and beauty only dreams. After finding “The Silver Key” passed down through generations of his family, Carter travels to the woods of his boyhood and into adventures of his own past.

Several years after the disappearance of Randolph Carter, four men meet in the home of a mystic to divide Carter’s estate. One of the men, a lawyer, believes none of the fables and legends espoused by the other three, including a Swami named Chandraputra who imparts the fate of Carter in surprising detail and asserts that the man is still alive—in alien form—after passing “Through the Gates of the Silver Key.”

When third generation lighthouse keeper Basil Eaton finally accepts the invitation from the captain of a ghostly sailing ship, he is given a tour of many legendary and tempting lands such as Thalarion, the City of a Thousands Wonders, and Xura, the Land of Pleasures Unattained. However, Basil soon learns that each place holds sinister fates for those who enter. He remains steadfast until reaching the heavenly Sona-Nyl where time and death wield no power. Basil eventually become restless there and yearns to find the fabled land of Cathuria farther to the north—ignoring the repeated warnings of the captain of “The White Ship.”

Atop the lofty, unscalable cliffs of Kingsport, there lies “The Strange High House in the Mist” that for generations has become a source of rumor and myth among the coastal town’s citizens. Shortly after moving to Kingsport with his family, Thomas Olney’s curiosity impels him to undertake the arduous climb to uncover the truth about the strange cottage, with its front door flush with the edge of the cliff. Shortly after his return, both Olney and the cottage are noticeably changed…

As always, Lovecraft’s writing is lush in opulent detail, but can become repetitive and tiresome. This was especially true in the novellas “The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath” and “Through the Gates of the Silver Key,” both of which became a laborious read in the middle and could easily have been trimmed in half.  My two favorites from this collection are “Celephais” and “The White Ship,” the shortest of the six.

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Book Review: Murray Leinster’s Doctor to the Stars

Murray Leinster - Doctor to the StarsThis collection of three thoroughly enjoyable novellas by William Fitzgerald Jenkins (aka Murray Leinster) focuses on the characters of Calhoun, from the Interstellar Medical Service, and his diminutive furry companion Murgatroyd, a tormal. Together, they travel in the medical ship, Esclipus Twenty, to perform routine planetary health inspections—but the various crises they encounter are anything but routine.

Stories include “The Grandfathers’ War”, “Med Ship Man”, and “Tallien Three.”

In responding to an emergency call for medical assistance, Calhoun and Murgatroyd find themselves caught in the middle of an interplanetary war between generations. After their sun was predicted to explode in the near future, the Phaedrans sent their children to the Canis system to begin colonizing its third world. Afterward, the elders continued to ship out children and grandchildren until the new colony become overburdened and could no longer adequately feed or care for them, resulting in an outbreak of disease—and rebellion. As Calhoun works to manufacture a cure in his med ship, he must also stop a pending invasion by the elder Phaedrans in “The Grandfathers’ War.”

In “Med Ship Man,” Calhoun and Murgatroyd land in what appears to be an abandoned spaceport on the planet Maya and are later joined by an arrogant, wealthy businessman from an orbiting cargo vessel. As Calhoun pieces together the reason for the abrupt disappearance of the citizens of Maya City, he realizes that a technology imported from another planet might have frightened the people into abandoning their lands—and that the businessman knows more about the scheme than he’s willing to admit.

While attempting to land on the planet, “Tallien Three,” to perform a long overdue health inspection, Calhoun learns that an uprising is in progress committed by a growing group of mentally ill citizens called  “paras.”  While the government works to find a vaccine for this pathogen, Calhoun learns that the planet’s chief scientist might himself be a para. Can Calhoun make his way back to his ship and find a cure before he, too, succumbs to insanity?

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Book Review: Neil deGrasse Tyson’s Astrophysics for People in a Hurry

Astrophysics for People in a HurryAstrophysics for People in a Hurry“The universe is under no obligation to make sense to you.” – Neil deGrasse Tyson

In between reading other books, I listened to this one on audio. I not an astrophysicist by any means, but I enjoy astronomy and planetary science. I am an admirer of Carl Sagan, Michio Kaku, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Amy Mainzer, Alex Filippenko, Carolyn Porco, and others. While some of the concepts described by Tyson in this book are familiar, many are certainly beyond my experience, but as a writer of speculative fiction, I enjoy learning and reviewing scientific concepts both for my personal edification and as research for current and future stories.

Tyson’s writing and narration—concise, enthusiastic, and humorous—make this book a joy to absorb, even if I had to stop and review some of the chapters to gain a better (or in some cases, even a glimmer of) understanding of some of the material.

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Book Review: Farmer in the Sky by Robert A. Heinlein

Heinlein-Farmer in the SkyBill Lerner and his father George decide to emigrate to Jupiter’s largest moon, Ganymede, to begin a new life as farmers along with George’s new wife Molly and her young daughter, Peggy.

During their journey aboard the interplanetary colony ship Mayflower, the kids decide to form new branches of the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts and Bill becomes a hero when he uses his old Scout uniform to plug a hull breach in his shared quarters compliments of a fist-sized meteor.

The pacing slows once they reach Ganymede and begin to build their new lives. George takes up a part time job as an engineer, his profession back on Earth, while Bill sets out to terraform his family’s allotted land and build their new home. Along the way, the Lerner’s receive help from their neighboring farmers and the Ganymede Boy Scouts.

Then, disaster strikes…

Compared to Heinlein’s other juvenile space adventures—such as Have Space Suit, Will Travel, Citizen of the Galaxy, or Starman Jones—Farmer in the Sky lacks suspense, tension, and developed characters beyond the protagonist. Instead, it is a first-person POV chronicling of emigration from Earth to Ganymede with several dramatic events scattered throughout. For example, I was disappointed when a certain supporting character’s death happened “off camera” and was glossed over in the final chapters. However, this might be to due to the fact that the book was intended for younger audiences during a time when writers trod lightly when dealing with sensitive topics.

As usual with Heinlein, his attention to even the minutest scientific and practical details—however fictionalized—offers the reader a sense of verisimilitude and plausibility. There is a fair balance between moving the story forward and describing the processes and pitfalls involved in taming the inhospitable surface of Ganymede.

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Book Review: The Colour Out Of Space by H.P. Lovecraft

The Colour Out Of Space by H.P. LovecraftThis collection of seven stories includes such legendary Lovecraft gems as “The Call of Cthulhu”, “The Whisperer in Darkness”, “Cool Air”, and of course, “The Colour out of Space.”  Interspersed among these are two shorter—yet no less eerie—spine tinglers “The Picture in the House” and “The Terrible Old Man.” The final tale, “The Shadow out of Time,” deserves its placement in this collection. It’s a novella that could easily be reduced to a short story, sparing the reader from repetitive and monotonous descriptions.

We begin with one of H.P. Lovecraft’s most popular stories in which a glowing green meteorite crashes into a field of crops and proceeds to poison both soil and water, driving the farmer and his family insane. As local scientists attempt to study fragments of the bizarre rock, it is soon discovered that the vile, luminous substance that infected the land around the crash site might be intelligent. How will the locals rid themselves of “The Colour Out of Space”?

In “The Picture in the House,” a young cyclist takes shelter from a torrential downpour in what he thinks is an abandoned house, only to find it occupied by a jovial old man with a sinister taste in reading material.

After the suspicious death of an elderly anthropologist named Professor Angell, his nephew Francis inherits all of his notes detailing a bizarre series of events involving a primitive, savage cult who worship a grotesque creature named Cthulhu, a member of the Great Old Ones who will someday return to dominate the Earth. Angell’s notes and collection of newspaper clippings detail shared visions and dreams around the world that coincided with an earthquake in the seas of the South Pacific—during which an island of unearthly design surfaced from the depths bearing  an ancient evil. Could it be that these events are all related to “The Call of Cthulhu“?

After suffering a mild heart attack in his flat, a destitute man seeks treatment from an elderly eccentric physician living directly above him. Upon entering the frigid apartment of Doctor Muñoz, the man observes that one of the bedrooms has been converted into a laboratory complete with machinery to maintain the temperature below fifty degrees. While administering treatment, Muñoz reveals that he has been experimenting with methods for prolonging life. When our hero finally discovers the true subject of Muñoz’s experiments, he develops a mortal fear of “Cool Air.”

Following a flood in the remote mountains of Vermont, the corpses of several grotesque creatures are observed floating in the surging rivers. This inspires the locals to resurrect tales of ancient evils living in the dense and menacing woods. When such legends are printed in the local papers, Albert Wilmarth, a professor of literature at Miskatonic University in Massachusetts and an expert on folklore, responds to the editors with skepticism. Wilmarth cites fables and myths dating back generations as the source of these ludicrous superstitions—until he begins corresponding with an elderly Vermont farmer named Henry Akeley whose terrifying encounters with strange creatures escalate with each letter and finally convince Wilmarth to travel to Akeley’s home and witness these creatures for himself. What he finds, however, is merely “A Whisperer in Darkness.”

When three burglars decide to target the seaside home of a recluse, they swiftly learn why the locals consider him “The Terrible Old Man.”

A professor of economics at Miskatonic University in Arkham, Massachusetts suffers a five-year long amnesia during which he was possessed by a different personality. Afterward, he recalls scraps of the experience that lead him to believe that his consciousness was exchanged with that of a superior being from Earth’s prehistoric past. After publishing an account of his experiences, he is contacted by a mining engineer in Australia who sends pictures of ruins unearthed in the desert—oddly constructed stone blocks bearing hieroglyphs that correspond precisely to the professor’s memories. Accompanied by a group of scholars, the professor leads an expedition to Australia in a search for answers, but while exploring the ruins alone one night, he finds the shocking truth in the form of “A Shadow out of Time.”

 

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Book Review: Robert A. Heinlein’s Space Cadet

Space Cadet by Robert HeinleinThe first sixty percent of the story follows young protagonist Matt Dodson as he undergoes rigorous training as a cadet in the Solar Patrol Space Academy. While there, he befriends fellow cadets Tex Jarman, Oscar Jensen from the Venus colony,  and Pierre “Pete” Armand from Jupiter’s moon Ganymede.

Upon graduating from the Academy, Matt, Tex, and Oscar are assigned to the Patrol vessel Aes Triplex on a mission to the asteroid belt to locate the Pathfinder, a vessel reported missing during a scientific mission.

After successfully locating the lost ship, damaged as a result of a freak meteor impact, the Pathfinder is repaired and flown to Deimos, the outermost moon of Mars. Meanwhile, the Aes Triplex is assigned to investigate a deadly native uprising against the crew of the Gary, a merchant vessel that landed in the equatorial region of Venus. The cadets depart the Aes Triplex in a small rocket commanded by Lieutenant Thurlow, who is knocked unconscious after a perilous landing—leaving the cadets stranded in the swamps of Venus. Fortunately, Oscar is well acquainted with the customs of the amphibious natives, but can the cadets maintain peace with the rankled “Venerians” long enough to find a way off the planet and save Thurlow’s life?

Space Cadet differs from some of Heinlein’ other juvenile SF novels—such as Spaceman Jones and Citizen of the Galaxy—in that it does not offer much detail about the main protagonist’s background and is not a “rags to riches” tale. By the time we meet Matt Dodson, he has already arrived at the Academy fresh from his hometown of Des Moines, Iowa and returns home only once for a brief visit during leave. In fact, once Matt, Tex, and Oscar are assigned to the Aes Triplex, the role of the main protagonist is shared among the three.

I found that much of the first 65 percent of the book dealing with the cadets’ training could have been trimmed or condensed. Nevertheless, Space Cadet is a reasonably enjoyable adventure, especially in the final chapters dealing with the Pathfinder and the cadets’ subsequent adventures on Venus.