Roger Zelazny discussion

Discussion of This Mortal Mountain - Volume 3 The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny by Roger Zelazny.

I started this today. There is a wonderful introduction by Neil Gaiman. He praises Zelazny for getting him into writing, especially his book, Lord of Light.

There were many interesting tidbits shared, but one that really caught my eye was Zelazny saying that 'most of his best short stories were the last chapters of novels that he never wrote the rest of.' or something close to that. That really struck me as true & one of the reasons that his stories have so much depth.

I read a couple of stories today about cities & death. One had never been published before because the editor didn't get it. That's a shame. I thought it was quite good & horrifying. It's called "The Hounds of Sorrow" & was based on the idea that too many rats packed together will kill each other off. Very, very well done.

I am now beginning to read "Damnation Alley" which is a novella included in this volume.

I realized I never posted the table of contents for this book. Here it is:

Introductions

* 11 Of Meetings and Partings (by Neil Gaiman)
* 15 On Roger Zelazny (by David G. Hartwell)

Stories

* 21 This Mortal Mountain
* 61 The Man Who Loved the Faioli
* 71 Angel, Dark Angel
* 85 The Hounds of Sorrow
* 93 The Window Washer
* 105 Damnation Alley
* 189 The Last Inn on the Road (with Dannie Plachta)
* 195 A Hand Across the Galaxy
* 199 The Insider (as by Philip H. Sexart)
* 205 Heritage
* 209 He That Moves
* 221 Corrida
* 227 Dismal Light (series: Francis Sandow)
* 243 Song of the Blue Baboon
* 249 Stowaway
* 255 Here There Be Dragons
* 273 Way Up High
* 295 The Steel General
* 341 Come to Me Not in Winter's White (by Harlan Ellison™ and Roger Zelazny)
* 355 The Year of the Good Seed (with Dannie Plachta)
* 361 The Man at the Corner of Now and Forever
* 371 My Lady of the Diodes
* 397 Alas! Alas! This Woeful Fate
* 403 Sun's Trophy Stirring
* 409 Add Infinite Item
* 411 The Game of Blood and Dust
* 417 The Force That Through the Circuit Drives the Current
* 425 No Award
* 439 Is There a Demon Lover in the House?
* 445 The Engine at Heartspring's Center

Articles

* 457 Tomorrow Stuff
* 463 Science Fiction and How It Got That Way
* 469 Self-Interview
* 473 The Genre: A Geological Survey
* 477 A Burnt-Out Case?
* 495 Ideas, Digressions and Daydreams: The Amazing Science Fiction Machine
* 499 Musings on Lord of Light
* 503 "...And Call Me Roger": The Literary Life of Roger Zelazny, Part3

Curiosities

* 547 Family Tree from Creatures of Light and Darkness
* 549 Guns of Avalon: deleted sex scene
* 553 Bridge of Ashes (Outline)
* 561 Doorways in the Sand (Summary)

Poetry

* 60 Lover's Valediction: Forbidding Day's Sacrament
* 70 Song (The Leaves are Gone)
* 84 Fire, Snakes & the Moon
* 102 Lobachevsky's Eyes
* 104 Beyond the River of the Blessed
* 194 Chorus Mysticus
* 203 Permanent Mood
* 204 Maitreya
* 208 Tryptych
* 218 Avalanches
* 219 Somewhere a Piece of Colored Light
* 220 We Are the Legions of Hellwell
* 224 Awakening
* 226 Night Thoughts
* 242 Paintpot
* 248 Reflection from an Oriental Ashtray
* 252 T. S. Eliot
* 254 Wall
* 270 Morning with Music
* 272 I Walked Beyond the Mirror
* 292 Museum Moods
* 293 Sentiments with Numbers (second half of Museum Moods)
* 294 Storm and Sunrise
* 328 Oh, the Moon Comes on Like a Genie
* 336 Between You & I
* 336 Words
* 337 Augury
* 339 Pyramid
* 354 Thundershoon
* 360 What Is Left When the Soul is Sold
* 370 LP Me Thee
* 389 The Thing That Cries in the Night
* 406 Dim
* 408 Dark Horse Shadow
* 410 Missolonghi Hillside
* 416 Ducks
* 423 Lamentations of the Venusian Pensioner
* 435 reply
* 444 Testament
* 454 Sonnet, Anyone?
* 492 Philip K. Dick

I just finished the novella of Damnation Alley. It was good. Zelazny liked it better than the novel & I agree with him, although there isn't a lot of difference. According to the excerpts from his letters at the end, he didn't like the movie made from it (who did?) but would have made the sale again.

I read several more stories & poems, including some excerpts from "Creatures of Light & Darkness".

Last night, I read a couple of his children's stories, Here There Be Dragons & Way Up High, that he did with an artist, Vaughn Bode. They were good, but no illustrations are shown, of course. I'd like to get the illustrated book sometime, but it's a limited edition & very expensive - $135 on Amazon. Too rich for my blood, I'm afraid.

If I have any issue with the collected works, it is the lack of illustrations. More than a few of Zelazny's short stories were written based on cover art & we never get to see any of it. I am finding that very frustrating in this volume, more so than in any other, so far.

The "lack of illustrations" is not a fair criticism to make of the editors of this collection. Artwork is copyrighted; permissions and fees are required to reprint artwork in a book. Had we pursued getting artwork and succeeded, the volumes would have been far more expensive than the $29 cover price. And if color reproduction was sought to do the artwork justice (and some artists would likely insist on it), then the cost per volume would have exceeded the cost of the limited edition you're complaining about. The higher the cost per volume, the fewer copies to be sold, and the less viable the project would be. Moreover trying to get permissions for artwork would have delayed the project even further, and the space taken up by artwork would have meant bigger books or splitting the set into 7 or 8 volumes. So there are a lot of significant issues that prevented the reprinting of artwork in this series, but by far the biggest roadblock is the cost to reproduce the artwork which in turn would have meant much more expensive books.

However, in volume 5 - Last Exit to Babylon - the story "24 Views of Mt. Fuji, by Hokusai" is reprinted with the 24 woodblock paintings by Hokusai that Zelazny referred to with each section of that story. Reproduction of those paintings is possible because the work is in the public domain, but to keep the volume affordable the artwork is reproduced in grayscale. I think you will find that the experience of reading that story is enhanced by viewing the 24 images at the same time. No doubt some will complain that those images aren't in color...

It wasn't really a criticism, more of a whine. After reading how long the kid stories' publication were delayed because of the fight between the writer & the artist over royalties, I do understand why there isn't any. After seeing the price of the final book, I do understand.

That said, the continual references to a story being written for a picture can't but help keep the wish for reproductions of them constantly in mind. I've tried to find some of them on the Internet, without much luck, unfortunately. Even an alternate source & small graphic helps ease the curiosity.

I do look forward to the Mt. Fuji pictures & while color is nice, the B&W ones will likely be fine for me. I don't think Zelazny & I had the same taste in art considering the pictures that grace "A Night in the Lonesome October". I pretty much hate those.

You may find the bibliography I've compiled of interest because it will include thumbnail (2 inch high) images of the covers from the first appearance of every Zelazny story and poem, as well as the covers from all unique US and UK editions of his books. For some, such as Lord of Light or Nine Princes in Amber, there are about 20 different cover paintings. This size of image is allowable ("fair use") in a reference book and the images are intended to enable to collector to recognize the magazine/fanzine/book. There's also enough detail to appreciate the artwork but obviously not any small details. There are over 500 images in total.

The bibliography is entitled THE IDES OF OCTEMBER and should be released early in the new year as a companion to THE COLLECTED STORIES. It's also indicated by name at the front of each of the 6 volumes.

I'll be very interested. Thanks!

I read some great stories today; "My Lady of the Diodes", "Game of Blood & Dust" & "No Award".

I'm almost at the end of the book & there are a lot of interesting articles. One very welcome surprise was a re-write of the scene between Morningstar & Jack from Jack of Shadows. It makes a lot more sense now!

I haven't read it yet, but apparently Zelazny wrote a very hot scene between Corwin & Dara. It was a joke & it was pulled from the book, but I should be reading it tomorrow.

Zelazny's ideas on SF were very interesting. He writes about how he defines it. I'm happy to say, he doesn't really.

Well, the 'hot' scene between Corwin & Dara wasn't terribly hot. Racy for the day, I guess, but saying that you put your hand below a girl's waist & felt the soft flesh below isn't going to trip any censors today. It does make me think back & remember just how far we've unbent about things like that, though. Sheesh! Another century & we might even be able to deal with sex rationally. Nah!

There were outlines of a couple of books & they were excellent. It brought home his intent & thought processes. Very interesting.

I'm off to write my review, but it will come as no surprise that I was completely thrilled with it.