Children of Hurin for Christmas

Received The Children of Hurin for Christmas. Will start reading it as soon as I finish Rogue Angel - Destiny. Also, I just finished reading The Thirteenth Tale on december 24th.

James Bama: American Realist

I recently recieved my copy of James Bama: American Realist and let me tell I'm just floored by this incredible collection by a true master painter. Bama is relevant to this blog because his speciality was book covers, mostly of the mass market paperback variety where his incredible visions of adventure were needed to catch the eye of readers.
I knew him only for his iconic portrayal of pulp legend Doc Savage, but there is a whole lot more in this book, covers for westerns, war stories, science fiction and even romance and teen novels.
The highlight for me, of course, was the Doc Savage section, with cover reproductions of every single Bantam Books Doc Savage novel with a James Bama painting. These covers almost cry out READ ME as they are filled with incredibly visions of adventure. Sadly, these Doc Savage novels are long out of print so finding them can be a challenge. Nostalgia Ventures has reprinted a few Doc Savage adventures in 3 volumes but without the Bama covers (dammit!), opting instead for the original pulp magazine covers, which is cool, but still, the Bama covers would have been cooler.
The book ends with a section of Bama's western themed paintings which is what he does nowdays, and these too are fantastic evoking serene visions of cowboys, indians and wildlife, always with his characteristic realistic style.

Famous Monster Movie Art of Basil Gogos

I thought I'd write about this book which I purchased a few months ago and is one of my favorite art books, Famous Monster Movie Art of Basil Gogos. Basil Gogos is best known for being the cover artits for Famous Monsters of Filmland, a cult sf & horror magazine that existed from the late 50's to the early 80'.
What made Gogos' art stand out was his wild use of color. Up until then people only knew black and white versions of the classic movie monsters like Dracula, Frankenstein's creature, the Wolfman and others. His paintings use several colored light sources to illuminate his monster portraits giving them a very unique look to say the least. One of the main things about Gogos' is that he always manages to evoque an air of sympathy for the monsters he paints.
The book also includes a section with many astounding pencil drawings (or maybe charcoal) which really showcase a whole different side to his technique. My favorite is an incredible portrait of Elsa Lanchester as The Bride of Frankentsein that is as riveting as any of Gogos' color pieces.
Aside from the monster stuff we are treated to several examples of Gogos' illustrations for various men's adventure magazines with scenes of war and adventure in exotic locales. These are painted in a more traditional style without the crazy color schemes he would later use for Famous Monsters but they are nonetheless very good.
It's important to note that Gogos doesn't look down on his subject matter. He has great respect for the classic monsters and the actors that portrayed them, his portraits of Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi are prime examples of this.

A Song of Ice and Fire

Unless you're new to the world of fantasy fiction you will no doubt have heard of and more than likely even read George R.R. Martin's epic series A Song of Ice and Fire. And when I say "epic" I'm not kidding, each of the 4 tomes published to date is well into the "doorstopper" category as has come to be the norm in the fantasy genre.
Instead of writing a review of the series, I'd like to discuss the many things that set this series apart from others. No spoilers ahead.
1) Martin takes it seriously. Though the tale is set in the usual imaginary medieval setting, there is very realistic feel to the series, it almost reads like historical fiction with plenty of political intrigue and warfare.
2) No quest for a magic object. Perhaps the most overused of all the fantasy clichés, the search for some magic sword/amulet/you-name-it, that will solve all the world's problems once it's found. I really can't believe authors are still (mis)using this tired old plot device.
3) Magic is used sparingly. There is magic in the series, but it doesn't take center stage. In this way when it does make an appearance, it's impact is even greater than it would be if characters were casting spells left and right.
4) No farm boy that becomes a great wizard/warrior. Though there are characters that start out small and then go out do heroic things, this really is not what this story is about.
5) Realistic characters. Perhaps the single most praised aspect of this series is the incredible cast of characters that Martin has assembled to populate his epic. At the top of most everyones list of favorites is Tyrion Lannister, the prince with a small body but a giant mind. There are no clear cut heroes and villains here, just shades of grey like in real life.
For those few who have not read the series I of course reccomend it highly, but be warned, the series is not even close to being finished. The series was originally planned for six books but the fourth novel - A Feast for Crows was deemed too long and was cut in half for publication, so there will now be seven and maybe more books in total. Mr. Martin is also in no hurry to finish them so we're all in for a long wait.

Daughter of the Blood

I just finished reading Anne Bishop's Daughter of the Blood, book 1 of the Black Jewels Trilogy and found it a somewhat interesting read though not exactly my cup of tea.
This debut novel by Anne Bishop is quite popular and paved the way for the rest of the series which is comprised not only of the initial trilogy but additional novels and stories set in the Black Jewels world.
For a debut novel Bishop avoids most if not all of the fantasy clichés like the magic sword/ring/whatever and the quest for said magical object. Also mising are elves, trolls or goblins leaving the story centered around more or less human characters, which in this case is a good thing, believe me.
The story centers around a 12 year old girl who shows signs of becoming the most powerful witch ever and the power struggles of those around her as they strive to sway her one way or another knowing what she will be when she grows up.
The one big problem I had with this book is that it reads too much like a romance novel with prose that tries to evoke a lot of ardous longing and sensous feelings as is the case (I suppose, since I've never read a romance novel) in romanctic fiction. The very fact that this book is praised highly over at Romantic SF & Fantasy Novels should prove my point.
Many have described this novel as dark fantasy or even fantasy horror, but quite frankly I don't see it. Sure, there a couple of grisly scenes here and there but I found it quite tame as a whole. Also, three of the main characters are called Saetan, Daemon and Lucivar (I kid you not), though they are nowhere near as evil as their namesakes.
The book is quite well written as a whole and I suppose if you like a lot of romance mixed in with your fantasy this may be the book for you.
The edition I read was the mass market paperback version (cover shown above) but a newer trade paperback version was published this year with a much cooler cover (at right).

Welcome to the Bookshelf of Shadows!

Welcome to the Bookshelf of Shadows where I will be regularly posting reviews on fantasy, horror and SF books, as well as the occasional non genre novel. Greetings to all.