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Dead Titans, Waken! and Invisible Sun: Two Complete Novels by Donald A. Wandrei
Dead Titans, Waken! was an early draft of The Web of Easter Island , but also a significantly different version. Here published for the first time with an afterword by S.T. Joshi, this also includes Donald A. Wandrei's dazzling novel Invisible Sun , also published here for the first time. Includes color and black and white artwork.
- GenresHorrorScience Fiction
536 pages, Hardcover
First published April 10, 2012
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About the author
Donald Wandrei
125 books32 followersDonald Albert Wandrei was an American science fiction, fantasy and weird fiction writer, poet and editor. He was the older brother of science fiction writer and artist Howard Wandrei. He died in St. Paul in 1987.
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/w/d...
Along with August Derleth, he was co-founder of Arkham House publishers.
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/w/d...
Along with August Derleth, he was co-founder of Arkham House publishers.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 8, 2013
This book is an omnibus edition of two novels by Donald Wandrei, the only novel length works he produced. The first, Dead Titans Waken!, is a Lovecraft pastiche recalling both 'The Shadow Out of Time' and the 'Call of Cthulhu'. Wandrei avoids the trap that so many of the Lovecraft circle fell into by resisting the urge to create either a new book of blasphemous lore to join the Necronomicon in the locked vaults of the Miskatonic University Library or a new alien god antagonist with numerous tentacles and an unpronounceable name. The dark cosmic forces are only glimpsed in brief snatches which heightens the suspense of the story. Though Dead Titans Waken! starts strong it loses steam as it progresses towards it's climax, possibly due to the variety of stylistic devices that Wandrei employs (The story is related in first person and third person narratives as well as diary entries, newspaper clippings, letters, etc.) On the whole it's an enjoyable read, and a bit better than the stuff that usually turns up in the numerous Lovecraft anthologies put out by Chaosium.
Invisible Sun is a completely different kettle of fish. It is a semi-autobiographical novel about a young sensitive poet type and the girl he loves who doesn't quite love him back. This novel also employs a variety of stylistic devices with mixed results. Several sections are written as stream of consciousness and can take a bit of effort to slog through. I was pretty lukewarm on Invisible Sun at first but as the story progressed I found myself increasingly drawn in. It's worth a read, just don't expect any cosmic horror.
Invisible Sun is a completely different kettle of fish. It is a semi-autobiographical novel about a young sensitive poet type and the girl he loves who doesn't quite love him back. This novel also employs a variety of stylistic devices with mixed results. Several sections are written as stream of consciousness and can take a bit of effort to slog through. I was pretty lukewarm on Invisible Sun at first but as the story progressed I found myself increasingly drawn in. It's worth a read, just don't expect any cosmic horror.
October 30, 2013
October 30, 2013: Completed reading Dead Titans, Waken!
An uneven story. Wonderful, atmospheric writing in places but clumpsy and incredible, pulpish elements in other places. And first half is quite different from the last half.
That said, not a bad first novel by a man in his early twenties. Clearly there is potential.
An uneven story. Wonderful, atmospheric writing in places but clumpsy and incredible, pulpish elements in other places. And first half is quite different from the last half.
That said, not a bad first novel by a man in his early twenties. Clearly there is potential.
August 3, 2017
Finished "Dead Titans, Waken!"
Wandrei did not publish this work in his lifetime in this form, and he showed good judgment in not doing so. It is uneven, to speak politely. The science fiction jargon is embarrassing.
The book attempts to recapitulate an advent similar to that which Lovecraft covered in a quarter of the space in his "The Call of Cthulhu."
Wandrei later revised the novel as The Web of Easter Island, which I have not read.
Wandrei's narrator enjoys the usual sub-Lovecraftian bombast:
....Life is a game played in darkness, against unknown opponents, with man for ever the loser.
....The kingdom of man totters. The game was worth it only because of the struggle, since causes were never found, and the end will never be known. The triumph and the failure, the past and whatever is to be of the future, even this uncertain and perishing present, the whole of the destiny of earth is but a dream of dust.
Wandrei did not publish this work in his lifetime in this form, and he showed good judgment in not doing so. It is uneven, to speak politely. The science fiction jargon is embarrassing.
The book attempts to recapitulate an advent similar to that which Lovecraft covered in a quarter of the space in his "The Call of Cthulhu."
Wandrei later revised the novel as The Web of Easter Island, which I have not read.
Wandrei's narrator enjoys the usual sub-Lovecraftian bombast:
....Life is a game played in darkness, against unknown opponents, with man for ever the loser.
....The kingdom of man totters. The game was worth it only because of the struggle, since causes were never found, and the end will never be known. The triumph and the failure, the past and whatever is to be of the future, even this uncertain and perishing present, the whole of the destiny of earth is but a dream of dust.
October 14, 2023
This is only a review of the first part of the book: Dead Titans, Waken! I have not read Invisible Sun.
Dead Titans is an early draft of a novel that was eventually revised and published in 1948 by Arkham House under the title, The Web of Easter Island. This Centipede Press edition, published in 2011, prints Wandrei's original manuscript for the first time. I'm not entirely familiar with the differences between Dead Titans and Web, but I have confirmed that Wandrei extensively revised the ending before The Web of Easter Island was published.
I found the early portions of the story to be very effective. Lovecraft's Call of Cthulhu seems to have been Wandrei's primary inspiration. The pace begins to flag as the main character travels to Easter Island to stop an invasion of Earth by the so-called "Dead Titans," who are far from dead and instead inhabit the fourth dimension. Consequently, they can touch down on Earth at any time, whether it be now or many centuries hence.
Wandrei seems hell-bent on outdoing Lovecraft with florid descriptions of cataclysmic, cosmic events. These descriptions go on for pages and pages and instead of building horror or suspense, they just bog the story down. Wandrei's stylistic gifts are nevertheless impressive, so I'm willing to look past some of the resulting structural damage.
The ending of the novel contained some interesting material. It is set in the far future of Earth, and Wandrei seems to have anticipated something similar to the internet.
I'm now looking forward to reading more work by Donald Wandrei. Years ago, I read some stories from Colossus, a science fiction collection published by Fedogan & Bremer. At the time, they struck me as somewhat clunky and juvenile, so I didn't read many of them. F&B did a follow-up collection of fantasy and horror works by Wandrei, so I just ordered a copy and hope to dig in soon!
A final note: while this Centipede Press edition has beautiful artwork and is handsomely bound, typographical errors plague page after page. Some of the errors were bad enough that I had to stop and puzzle out the intended words. I think I succeeded for the most part, but it was very distracting. I believe that F&B eventually published a paperback edition of this book. I'd be curious to know if they corrected Centipede's (or should I say, S.T. Joshi's?) many errors.
Dead Titans is an early draft of a novel that was eventually revised and published in 1948 by Arkham House under the title, The Web of Easter Island. This Centipede Press edition, published in 2011, prints Wandrei's original manuscript for the first time. I'm not entirely familiar with the differences between Dead Titans and Web, but I have confirmed that Wandrei extensively revised the ending before The Web of Easter Island was published.
I found the early portions of the story to be very effective. Lovecraft's Call of Cthulhu seems to have been Wandrei's primary inspiration. The pace begins to flag as the main character travels to Easter Island to stop an invasion of Earth by the so-called "Dead Titans," who are far from dead and instead inhabit the fourth dimension. Consequently, they can touch down on Earth at any time, whether it be now or many centuries hence.
Wandrei seems hell-bent on outdoing Lovecraft with florid descriptions of cataclysmic, cosmic events. These descriptions go on for pages and pages and instead of building horror or suspense, they just bog the story down. Wandrei's stylistic gifts are nevertheless impressive, so I'm willing to look past some of the resulting structural damage.
The ending of the novel contained some interesting material. It is set in the far future of Earth, and Wandrei seems to have anticipated something similar to the internet.
I'm now looking forward to reading more work by Donald Wandrei. Years ago, I read some stories from Colossus, a science fiction collection published by Fedogan & Bremer. At the time, they struck me as somewhat clunky and juvenile, so I didn't read many of them. F&B did a follow-up collection of fantasy and horror works by Wandrei, so I just ordered a copy and hope to dig in soon!
A final note: while this Centipede Press edition has beautiful artwork and is handsomely bound, typographical errors plague page after page. Some of the errors were bad enough that I had to stop and puzzle out the intended words. I think I succeeded for the most part, but it was very distracting. I believe that F&B eventually published a paperback edition of this book. I'd be curious to know if they corrected Centipede's (or should I say, S.T. Joshi's?) many errors.
August 20, 2020
This volume contains both the Wandrei's weird fiction novel Dead Titans, Waken! and the much longer roman a clef Invisible Sun. I couldn't finish the latter, but the title novel is a fun pulp jaunt with lots of bizarre imagery.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews