George MacDonald Books

Stories can heal. This important yet unbalanced work by MacDonald acts as treatise on the medicinal power of a well told narrative. Framing some of MacDonald's best known short stories is one girl's struggle for meaning and the awakening of her imagination by a group of storytellers.

"Adela Cathcart" showcases the three George MacDonald personas that dominate his cannon. The three main storytellers in this work, Mr. Smith, the curate and the doctor represent the whimsical fairy-tale writer MacDonald, the mystical preacher MacDonald, and the gothic MacDonald. Mr. Smith has told more than "The Light Princess," and "The Giant's Heart." He has also told "The Princess and the Goblin," and "The Wise Woman." He is the spirit of play, of whimsy, the love of nonsense that united him with his friend Lewis Carroll. Likewise, the curate has told more than his tales in the "Adella." He has written parts of the novels, like "Donal Grant," some poetry, and the "Unspoken Sermons." His preaching can either be presented through the vision, the abstract and mysterious, or through the direct absolute moral. The latter can disrupt a narrative, the former brings added depth and significance to the events. The final persona is the doctor who represents the dark gothic side to MacDonald's work. This side of MacDonald has been seen not only in the "Cruel Painter," but in "The Portent" and parts of "Lilith," the story of Cosmo in "Phantastes," and some of the novels.

MacDonald is at his best when all three parts are combined as they are in "On the Back of the North Wind," "Phantastes," the "Golden Key," and even "Lilith." While "Adela" has many wonderful stories, the problem with them is that MacDonald's personas are divorced from each other and can only influence the other through critical or praiseworthy comments after the story is finished. The doctor and the curate cannot collaborate as they do in MacDonald's novels. Neither can Mr. Smith collaborate with the curate as they do in the longer fairy tales. This is bipolar MacDonald: fascinating, full of wonder, but flawed and lacking balance.

A note on the text: Johannesen prints the best copies of MacDonald's work at a reasonable price. All three volumes are included in this copy.

This is a very well put together book. People into Ghost stories will enjoy it. It was only printed for a limited time and is hard to find.

Wonderful, rousing, and educational - you have to read this with a bookmark in the footnotes section, and you'll probably enjoy doing so - the historical research Fraser does is astounding, and exposes much of the hypocrisy of John Company's stay in "Indja".

Yet Another Flashman adventure, this time to Abyssinia, 1868, on a British rescue/punitive mission against mad King Theodore (Toowodoros) at Magdala. Another fine outing for Flashy, and more entertaining reading for us: ". . a tawny young beauty remarking to my captors: 'If we feed him into the fire, little by little, he will speak. . . .' Aye, it's an interesting country, Abyssinia."

"Sir Harry Paget Flashman isn't just another eminent Victorian; he is also the stuff of legend and truly an inspiration to us all." -- Wash Post review (Google)

Hard to believe Fraser been cranking these things out for almost 40 years. He's 81 now, but then, Flashy 'lived' to well past 90....

Happy reading--
Peter D. Tillman

The Gentlewoman's Choice is a sweet story of one woman's devotion to God in spite of the cultural pressure of her day. I enjoyed the story and admired Hester's courage, though the ending wasn't at all what I had anticipated. The ending was perfect for the author's point, however, and made the reader respect and admire the character even more. Hester Raymount provides an excellent example of one willing to obey God by caring for His children in spite of their social or financial standing. A story with a message that's just as relevant today as it was in MacDonald's time.

C.S. Lewis considered George MacDonald his mentor and inspiration, and one can well see why. MacDonald has the amazing subtle insight into human nature and the relevance of Christ to modern man that made Lewis famous. MacDonald's prose style is often awkward, but it contains such incredible magic and truth that it should not be passed by. It's mostly impossible to find MacDonald's works in their original form, and frankly they are very difficult to read that way. This book contains a selection that I didn't always agree with, but I suppose some cuts need to be made. If you like C.S. Lewis at all, read MacDonald. He's worth it.

This is an inexpensive paperback edition of an important book. However there are some typing errors in the text; there is no identified publisher; and the title page states "Home Again"/ "The Elect Lady"--implying there are two George MacDonald novels in the volume instead of only one.

Fantasy collections tend to be like the genre itself: a few gems among the dross. This collection is a refreshing exception, with many good stories and only a few that I didn't enjoy. Mike Ashley displays a great deal of knowledge about the genre and about what makes a good fantasy story.

"Mammoth Book" kicks off with an intriguing story by Theodore R. Cogswell, "The Wall Around the World," a HP-esque story of a wizard boy who yearns to cross an incredibly high wall that blocks off another part of the world. "Darkrose and Diamond" is one of Ursula Le Guin's returns to Earthsea, a touching little love story. Robert E. Howard's "Valley of the Worm" is a relatively dry piece of work about a warrior reliving a battle against a monster. Ashley then digs back to the very beginning of fantasy for George MacDonald's "Golden Key," a story about a young boy who finds a strange golden key. Another pre-Tolkien master is Lord Dunsany, whose chilling "Hoard of the Gibbelins" tells about a man's run-in with the goblin-like Gibbelins, who eat "nothing less good than man." Clark Ashton Smith's "The Last Hieroglyph" is a vaguely Dunsanian story taking place on a future time when the world is dying. Jack Vance's "Sorcerer Pharesm" is an intriguing story about the naive thief Cugel and the creature TOTALITY.

Darrell Schweitzer's "King Yvorian's Wager" is a very traditional-feeling fable about a proud king who makes a wager with Rada Vatu, a very sinister god. Fritz Leiber's "Howling Tower" is a story about a barbarian and his sidekick Gray Mouser, who find a strange tower in a wasteland, and a man who has been afraid for many years. Michael Moorcock and James Cawthorn bring back Moorcock's classic anti-hero Elric of Melnibone for an adventure with a love interest, ghouls, and a mad minstrel. Robert Zelazny brings Dilvish the Damned from Hell for a new battle in "Bells of Shoredan." Tanith Lee produces an intriguing, beautifully-written short story in "Hero at the Gates," where a strange man arrives to help a desert city escape an evil scourge. Patricia McKillip's beautiful "Lady of the Skulls" has a group of men arriving at the home of the mysterious Lady. Louisa Cooper's "Sunlight on the Water" is an excellent story, in which a man mourning his beloved late wife finds out a few things he hadn't noticed about her personality. Harlan Ellison's "Paladin of the Lost Hour" is about young Billy's friendship with the strange old Gaspar, who hides a secret side to his personality.

Theodore Sturgeon provides the slightly disturbing "Yesterday Was Monday," in which it is found that the world is only illusion. Charles de Lint's "Pixel Pixies" is a light fantasy about irritating little pixies and industrious hobs. Another classic fantasy is A. Merrit's "Moon Pool," a bizarre fantasy about strange and beautiful things along the moon path. Lucius Shepard's "Man Who Painted the Dragom Griaule" includes many of the usual trappings of fantasy, but thankfully does not fit into the ordinary mold. James P. Blaylock's "Nets of Silver and Gold" is an intriguing story about two childhood friends, one of whom definitely has an unusual outlook. Lisa Goldstein's "Phantasma of Q____" takes place in a world quite like ours, except slightly different in its fantasy elements, in which a phantasma has shown up in front of the author. James Womack earns an "Audience," a poignant story in which a curator tells a saddening story to the narrator. And the collection rounds out with Michael Swanwick's "Edge of the World," a slightly bizarre but very snappy story.

With a gorgeous, intricate cover and a foreword by Ashley before every story, this is obviously not a quick-and-dirty collection. Rather, it shows a great deal of thought. Only a few of the stories left me unaffected; I wasn't really impressed by Moorcock's, Howard's, or Sturgeon's. On the other hand, most of the others were ones I had not read before, and I enjoyed the introduction to underrated fantasy authors.

Fantasy fans searching for good, original, non-derivative reads should check out this book, for stories ranging from earliest fantasy to modern-day twists and turns. Good work, Mr. Ashley.

This book is the story of a noble heart. It is the sequel to Malcom. A young fisherman-turned-groom seeks to do right by his half sister after learning that he is the true Marquis of Lossie. This book is in its original form. The dialect can be a little hard to sift through ("I canna weel du that, sir; she canna be muckle waur," said the youth.) MacDonald can be a bit preachy. A quote from this book: ''You are like all the rest of the Scotch I ever knew...the Scotch are always preaching! I believe it is in their blood." The book does not move as fast as modern readers are used to, but is well worth reading. There is intrigue, humor, scandal and redemption. Enjoy!

I apologize, first, for writing this in such a hurry. I'm in a pubilc library, waiting for a bus.

It's very difficult for me to criticize any of this authors works since almost all of his books have provided me with uncountable pleasure I cannot imagine finding anywere else. But my first impression of this work was that it was garbage beneath contempt and that my favorite author must have turned to cheap bhang for the long haul through the many, many, many pages written.

After several years collecting dust I returned to this book, hoping that perhaps I had been mistaken. Perhaps I had merely had a bad week. Perhaps it wasn't tripe but my frame of mind that made it seem so.

That turned out to be the case. Picking it back up and starting from the beginning I read it again with great pleasure. Several years later I read it again and enjoyed it very much for now (or then rather) I accepted it's over the top Monty Pythonesque charicatures. This is the story Graham Chapman wanted when he directed 'Yellowbeard'.

And Yellowbeard plays a part in this book as one of the charicatures, fortunately left mostly to growl and batter like a simian dwarf ball of fur. But his role, infinitely stereotyped as it is, is a minor one.

This book is an aggresive and impressive shock treatment of all of the stereotypes and charicatures of pyrates writ large. At first passing I found this intolerable because I simply could not accept the author I held so dear driving so deep into well manured fields of idiotic humour. But those fields are green and verdant and when you settle in and become accustomed to the smell of silage and the farm one really finds verdant pastures of humor and whit carried along successfully to the very end, a feat that seemed improbable, if not impossible, at the very begining.

So buy it, read it, and please have faith that you will not be dissapointed.