The Paper Grail

The Christian Trilogy #2

by James P. Blaylock

A California museum curator goes to Mendocino to pick up a nineteenth-century woodcut sketch for his collection and runs into strange characters who seem to think the folded scrap of paper holds magnificent powers. Reprint.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction, Thriller, Speculative Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Steampunk

352 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

James Paul Blaylock is an American fantasy author. He is noted for his distinctive style. He writes in a humorous way: His characters never walk, they clump along, or when someone complains (in a flying machine) that flight is impossible, the other characters agree and show him why he's right.

He was born in Long Beach, California; studied English at California State University, Fullerton, receiving an M.A. in 1974; and lives in Orange, California, teaching creative writing at Chapman University. Many of his books are set in Orange County, California, and can more specifically be termed "fabulism" — that is, fantastic things happen in our present-day world, rather than in traditional fantasy, where the setting is often some other world. His works have also been categorized as magic realism.

He and his friends Tim Powers and K.W. Jeter were mentored by Philip K. Dick. Along with Powers he invented the poet William Ashbless. Blaylock and Powers have often collaborated with each other on writing stories, including The Better Boy, On Pirates, and The William Ashbless Memorial Cookbook.

Blaylock is also currently director of the Creative Writing Conservatory at the Orange County High School of the Arts, where Powers is Writer in Residence.

Reviews

[Eli Bishop · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has a lot in common with Blaylock's All the Bells on Earth , which is to say that they're both basically things Charles Williams might have written if he'd lived 50 years later in California and if he'd been a bit more cheerful. There's the same sense that cosmic magical systems are just ambling along like a friendly game of cards that people keep taking breaks from; that everyone's flawed, but that the bad guys' flaws are pettier and ickier; and that everyone, including most of the bad guys, will probably be okay. Unlike All the Bells, this one is set on the coast of northern California, and there's a great sense of the landscape and the combined hippie/redneck culture (art cars play a major role). There's not much to most of the characters (especially the hero) and Blaylock tends to pile on chaos in the the denouement, but there's always some great piece of dialogue or physical detail to keep it grounded.

[Lissa Notreallywolf · Rating 3 out of 5]

Blaylock has an ability to create a setting, which although populated by mad characters is as real as the taste mustard after a picnic. A museum curator, Howard, is a typical rootless drones, who returns to a coastal Northern California town familiar from his youth, with people from an era when his heart was more engaged. He has some dream-like episodes, and like one awakening from a long sleep, he is disoriented and confused throughout most of the book. Some of this is directed at an old flame cousin Sylvia. The tower reminds me of Robertson Jeffers' tower, the Tor House in Carmel. Many of the characters have a Dickensian feel in this novel: the mad curator Jimmers, and Howard's Macawberish uncle. The bones of Rushkin are part of magical experiments which lurk in the background. One of the most charming aspects of the book is the cult of Gluers, people who reassemble bits and pieces to make art, shrines, and fantastic machines. In any small town with a depressed economy crafting becomes a desparate attempt to maintain sanity with the promise of a little income. Here it has become entangled in the fulfillment of desires somehow associated with Humpty Dumpty. And you know when you read Blaylock's books that there is always a heavy respect for the various kinds of love in the world-love of things yes, but more important the love of parents for their children, the love of friends who manage to heal betrayals, the genial tolerance of families for their stranger components, long term partners and a returned romance.

[Mike (the Paladin) · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting quest by a man who starts out apparently looking for one thing...and ends up on a quest he never expected. Along the way he meets some strange, unusual, and meaningful people.

I found myself a little surprised that I enjoyed this book, but I did. It's one of 2 Blaylock books I've read. I plan to read more.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

First, I'm horrified to see that it's been months since I updated my Goodreads page. Of course, I've barely updated anything FB-related or sourced for a while, something I hope to change.

Meanwhile, I've gotten back in touch with James Blaylock, a writer I've known as a friend and an author I've read for something like 25 years. Somehow I'd managed to miss reading PAPER GRAIL, a story about a fairly quirky quest for an important piece of paper in a small community on the coast of northern California. Blaylock's characters are people you know -- people you might be. His voice is . . . well, it's chatty and California.

If you like Wes Anderson movies such as MOONRISE KINGDOM or RUSHMORE, you'll enjoy PAPER GRAIL. Or almost any Blaylock novel.

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

I became completely immersed in this book. There's fog, and hippies who glue things onto other things, and a central strangeness, and at some point I realized I'd dropped all hints of analysis and was just reading to find out what happened.

The main character has lost his purpose in life, leading him to fixate on a task he thinks he can do. Trying to do it leads him to find much more than he was seeking for, in an unpredictable and often silly way. A very lighthearted book, for all the fog and death.

[Tim Meechan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the first Blaylock novel I read and I was immediately hooked. His quirky characters, even crazier plots, and ability to weave mysticism with reality, are matched by no one.

I read this so many years ago so I will not try to summarize it or describe it's genius, but I am willing to guarantee you'll love it.

[Ben Loory · Rating 4 out of 5]

so much fun. didn't want it to end. haven't enjoyed flipping pages like that in a long time.

[Kari Gritzan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aaaaaah I love this book.

[Phillip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great yarn about an unlikely hero caught up in an extraordinary plot based, like The Last Coin, on some of the mythology the arose about the origins of Christianity.

[Rebecca Stevenson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blaylock ruled weird *way* before weird was cool.

[Robert Whelan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strange story but not bad, rapidly moving plot with enough to keep tge story interesting.

[Dru · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars; enjoyable and quirky. It took me a bit of time to get hooked but the characters are very distinctive even if you know where the plot is going.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

If the windup is better than the setup in The Paper Grail, it's still another satisfying dose of James P. Blaylock's endearing oddness, a crackerjack finish leaving a nice afterglow.

Yes, the first half of this 1991 novel (a re-read for me in 2020), can be a bit of a drag, but Blaylock has put enough fun and intriguing elements before us to hold interest: ghosts riding in a Studebaker; the forearm bones of Joseph of Arimathea lashed together for use as a dowsing rod; an odd machine that seems to summon a ghost; roving bands of "gluers" who cover cars and such objects in adhered toys and doodads; a wooden Humpty Dumpty figure perched on a roof; an origami paper grail supposedly stained with blood from Golgotha.

Blaylock swirls all this together in another charming "urban fantasy," though again there's not much urban about it in his usual North Coast California setting. Blaylock's everyman hero this time is Howard Barton, who is drawn to relatives on a visit up the coast and finds himself hip-deep in this fun bit of domestic surrealism. Howard has a nice (well, not so nice, actually) old-woman enemy in Mrs. Lamey. Things rarely get too fearsome in a Blaylock novel, and The Paper Grail is no exception. Even the bad guys are usually understandable in their motivations. The Paper Grail is a little bit shorter on the amusing oddness than Blaylock had usually brought to the table at this point in his career, but it hits the spot decently enough.

The Paper Grail (3.5 stars) wins us over by the end. Blaylock hasn't yet written a truly great novel (and may never pull that off), but his winsome, odd tales nearly always are quite worthwhile, appealing enough that I've read every full-length book he's written since the first in 1982.

(By the way, Goodreads calls this #2 in the Christian Trilogy, but don't let that put you off. It is not a sequel and has only a tenuous thematic link to the other books; read them in any order.)

[Carolyn V. · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is one of the funnest, most unusual contemporary fantasy novels out there.

[Benjamin Kahn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book. It reminded me a lot of Tim Powers, especially his Fault Lines series. It had some very good stuff in it. I found it a little slow at times - I didn't really understand Howard or his actions a lot of the time - but for the most part, I thought Blaylock came up with an interesting story. I did find the end scenes too drawn out, especially the final scene at Graham's house, which I thought tried to tie up to many ends and instead just became a big mess. It probably cost the book a star in my rating, as I found it very frustrating and not very effective. But for the most part, an enjoyable read, and now it's got me interested in reading the first book in this series.

[James S. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Everything I've tried by Blaylock has been...fine, and this one's no exception. It's readable, and even mildly interesting, but nothing by him has ever gripped me whatsoever. Also, apparently this novel is supposed to be funny, which was news to me. Thomas Disch once described another author's works as "toothless whimsy," and that phrase seems to describe everything I've attempted to read by Blaylock.

[Jason Burns · Rating 5 out of 5]

Liked this one even better than I remembered. X is lured to Northern California from LA by a letter from an old acquaintance who has what he remembers is a Hokusai sketch, and would like to sell it to the Getty Museum, where X is a curator. But the sketch turns out to be the holy grail, which is somehow created through origami from the sketch. Folding the grail allows certain people (not just anyone) to control the weather, and X has been drawn North as he has been selected by the ancient current owner, Michael, to become the keeper of the grail. X has an Aunt, Uncle, & female cousin in the area as well, and so stays with them. He has a thing for his cousin, which turns out to be ok (phew!) as she turns out to not be his cousin.

Of course, a thing of such power draws evil forces toward it looking to possess it, and the villain here is Heloise Lamley, who is completely corrupted (and is the half-sister of the current keeper of the grail). Her minions are hilariously inept typical Blaylock buffoons. In typical Blaylock fashion, nothing is ever confronted head-on until the very end, resulting in no end of bizarre pranks and strange occurrences.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

My rating is probably closer to 2.5 stars, but I rounded up. This was the weakest book in Blaylock's Christian trilogy. While I thought the main protagonist was less of an odd-duck than the heroes of the other two books (The Last Coin and All the Bells on Earth), this book seemed more odd and obtuse than the other two. I was never quite sure why anything was happening and felt that most of the key elements of the book were discussed minimally and a lot of focus on minute events that didn't affect the story one way or another.

Having said that, I finished the book and did get a fair amount of enjoyment out of it. I think it is important to "go with the flow" when reading Blaylock; while enjoying the odd characters and not expect to really understand the mechanics of what is happening.

[Margaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

This forms sort of a loose trilogy, apparently, with All the Bells on Earth, which I haven't yet read, and The Last Coin, which I read and enjoyed several months ago. Here, the various characters are on a quest for the Grail, which takes an odd, yet powerful form. I liked the misty north coast California setting, and I always like Blaylock's quirky characters, but I did think the plot took too long to get going.

[Larry · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the legend of the Fisher King, set in 20th century northern California.

This has a bit more gravitas than The Last Coin, though it's still pretty funny.

A Hero's Journey.
Arguably, a MacGuffin story.

[Brown Robin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think Blaylock is the most underappreciated US horror writer. He's easily the equal of King, Rice, Koontz, et al. This novel disappointed me, though I suspect it's my fault. There's an aimlessness to the proceedings that didn't work for me, and the transfer of the Holy Grail to California doesn't seem right somehow.

It's still very much a Blaylock novel, so don't let me dissuade you from reading it. For a first Blaylock, I recommend The Last Coin or Land of Dreams instead, if you care for my preference.

[Jon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed with this Blaylock story. It is hilarious at times but the plot is not compelling enough for me to recommend to anyone but hardcore Blaylock fans. That said, I would like to move out to the west coast now, particularly the little town of Mendecino (if it exists) and buy an old boarded-up shack to for storing John Ruskin artifacts.

The Last Coin is still number in my Blaylock list.

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

The main difference between James Blaylock and Tim Powers is that Blaylock's bad guys are more bumbling. As are his heroes! But the crazy situations and the secret societies abound, and I love it all. This is my kind of fantasy. Don't let the idea that this is the second in a series scare you off. That has more to do with the theme than the plot. I wouldn't even try to explain this plot. Just follow the ricocheting Humpty Dumpties.

[R. Lee Frankenstein · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been a Blaylock fan since reading "The Land of Dreams in 1987. It was my introduction to what I called modern surrealistic fantasy, now commonly know as Fabulism. I originally read "The Paper Grail" when it was newly released over 30 years ago. As I needed something to fill the time until my next series arrived, I pulled this from my personal library to re-read. Great story! Reminds me of why I love Blaylock's books.

[Pickle · Rating 2 out of 5]

im giving this a 2/5 though i might amend to a 3/5 after some thought, or maybe after a re-read.

This reminded me a david lynch setting, small town with small town people involved in something large but its not entirely obvious what it is.

certainly one i will come back to in a 1 year or so to make a final judgement. :)

[Patrick]

First read around 1992.

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blaylock is basically the same author as Tim Powers, but I don’t mind because I love Tim Powers. This book is a lot funnier than most of Powers’s, though. And it beautifully evokes the atmosphere of the Northern California coast.