Shaw Books

The graphics are lovely. The book has a lot of information without talking over the heads of kids. It's well done.

From Front Jacket

"The story of the Canadian climb of Mount Everest is one of human triumph over awesome weather conditions, avalanches, conflict, and death. This book is the first official account of the Canadian team's world-record-breaking assault on Mount Everest in the late summer and early fall of 1982.

Mount Everest, whose Tibetan name 'Chomolungma' means 'Goddess Mother of the Land,' is universally recognized as the highest mountain in the world. Lying in the Khumbu Himal, on the border between the Kingdom of Nepal to the south and Chinese Tibet to the north, the mountain rises to a height of 29,028 feet (8,848 metres). Since its discovery during the Survey of India in 1849 (when it was named after the former Surveyor General, Sir George everest), it has been the objective of mountaineers of many nationalities to climb to this highest point on the earth.

With over 115 magnificent color photographs throughout, 'Everest: The Ultimate Challenge' follows the team during the early, most dangerous part of the climb through the Khumbu Icefall where one Canadian and three Sherpa porters were killed. The text, employing the journal entries of all members of the team, follows the men through the climb -- from the decision of six members to abandon the expedition to the summit itself. In addition to accounts of the planning and organization which went into this multi-million-dollar expedition, emphasis is placed on the teamwork - in the face of tragedy, personal conflict, and uncertain weather conditions - that eventually placed two Canadian climbers on top of the world.

Marcia puts into words what those of us (like myself) with chronic illnesses have trouble telling others. Even when we do, they don't seem to believe us. This book has helped me to not feel so alone; provided excellent tips for more than just survival, but also even life enhancement; and given me something to wave under the unbelievers nose and say, "see, I TOLD you so!" (grin). Honestly, it can help those who care for you to see your side, and since it's Marcia putting it into writing, it sounds less like YOU complaining. If you have a chronic condition, or care about someone who does, the small cost of this book is less than most gifts, and it is the best way to say, "I care" that I know of.

Love brings healing, restoration and comfort. Never has there been a greater need for love than now in these very difficult days.

So many hearts are broken. So many lives are shattered. Everywhere we turn there is pain and heatache. It seems as though a river of tears has flowed from the hearts of the hurting people of the world.

Love will heal these wounds and ease the terrible pain that is in so many hearts. Most of us seek to receive love. This book will help us to give love, and in the giving we will receive, and we will ourselves be healed.

Love is the greatest gift that God has given us. It comes from His very own heart. It is limitless and timeless. As His love flows through us, we become like Him, for God is love (1 John 4:8b).

During a time of great need in her life, the author experienced the overwhelming diving love of God. It was then that the Holy Spirit revealed to her the wonderful truths which she so freely shares in this book.

This book is undoubtedly the greatest of the author's writings. It is life changing, and it will change your life as she shares with you the truths that were revealed to her when her life was changed.

Since reading a magazine short story by Irwin Shaw in the mid-1960's, I have through the years become a true admirer, having most of his work in hardcover. A couple of his novels, however, I had never read: A TROUBLED AIR and LUCY CROWN as I felt the first too political and aged, while I felt the CROWN book uninteresting to my taste.

Recently I delved into LUCY CROWN and was both surprised and pleased just how well the book read. Especially after knowing the pain this particular book caused both the author and his critics, several of whom, including TIME magazine, to label him a 'strictly commercial novelist'. This book from its publishing date in March, 1956, was always a popular success with an original press run of close to 37,000 which quickly sold out.

LUCY CROWN is based on a true story that Irwin Shaw heard about in 1938, keeping his written notes until THE YOUNG LIONS had been published, he then began to write LUCY CROWN to "come to terms with the deep complexities of adultery." How certain books can mirror an author's life is often very revealing to just what occupies their thoughts and fears.

By 1953 Random House had given Irwin a $15,000 advance toward the LUCY CROWN project. By the fall of 1953 and into November, 350 pages had emerged. By 1954 Irwin realized he had a book which "refused to take shape", with pages of the manuscript now verging on 500 page level. In a letter to a friend Irwin referred to the incomplete manuscript as a "novel of fragments". Having his wife read it, she "recommended he discard it". In fact, there is a story that he did just that, by throwing it into the fireplace in front of friends; later they felt he must have had a carbon copy somewhere. Throughout the year 1955, Irwin continued his attempts to finish the stubborn LUCY CROWN manuscript.

During all of this time, Irwin Shaw was busy with other projects too, he was involved with bringing THE YOUNG LIONS to the movie screen and he had also started a new novel, one eventually seeing print as TWO WEEKS IN ANOTHER TOWN. While THE YOUNG LIONS was always a success, whether in book form or on the screen, TWO WEEKS IN ANOTHER TOWN was to suffer the same fate as LUCY CROWN, being seen as too autobiographical of Irwin's own life, with several critics telling him to cease whining about his personal life in public. As is now known, neither of these two books would win Irwin Shaw any fame or friends among the many literary critics during his lifetime.

As we know, LUCY CROWN was finally published to popular acclaim, with the film rights eagerly sought by Burt Lancaster with the bidding said to have reached the $750,000 level.

The LUCY CROWN novel is today mostly overshadowed by both Irwin's earlier short stories and his later novels such as RICH MAN, POOR MAN. When I started to read the LUCY CROWN novel I had no idea of the travail laying behind its production and later publishing. And though it is relatively dated, the writing and the characters are still very lifelike with some of the messages Irwin drops along the way still hold meaning even today.

The book is no longer fragments of short episodes or confusing flashbacks as it started out, but is a smooth well written work. It is one of those books I find surprising and unusual for Irwin Shaw to have written, with some readers saying only a woman could have written this type of book. And though I find books such as NIGHTWORK the epitome of his work, this book from long ago, about a world now long gone, remains very enjoyable too. Hope you the reader will find it so.

Semper Fi.

I believe there were only four 'Magic in Ithkar' volumes, which is a shame because Norton and Adams did a great job of soliciting (and editing?) these commonly-themed fantasy shorts.

Each of the four collections has the same prologue by Robert Adams, which explains how the fair originated in Ithkar (a religious anniversary turned pilgrimage), the set-up (temple, campgrounds for the merchants, docks and canals for the riparian traffic, etc.), and the difficulties encountered on a pilgrimage or trading voyage to Ithkar (Death Swamp, dragons, outlaw wizards). All weapons must be surrendered before entering the fair and wizards are discouraged from glamorizing shoddy goods with their spells. Of course, as at any large festival, the fair at Ithkar has its share of rogues, piratical merchants, bravos, potion-makers and witches, troupes of entertainers (not a few of them turning tricks), and gullible pilgrims.

A sampling of the fourteen stories in this volume:

"The Clockwork Woman" - Ann R. Brown
A mechanical doll is so deceptively life-like that when she is exhibited at the fair, a wealthy man in the audience tries to buy her. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) for him, there's a real woman concealed within the doll. She is a dwarf and has fallen in love with her tall, beautiful mechanical persona. When she persuades her friend and fellow dwarf to take his place within a newly constructed mechanical man, she learns an important lesson in love.

"First Do No Harm" - Mildred Downey Broxon
Young Lithras is a character who could have been lifted from one of Norton's own fantasies--a young, untrained witch who is enslaved, then kills her master and escapes to the fair in Ithkar. She competes for a job as a body healer to a wealthy nobleman, and confesses to one of the other competitors: "I am no anointed healer, but a maimed thing, unfinished."--Doesn't that sound like a character from the pen of the Gandalf Grand Master of Fantasy herself? This story also has one of Norton's ambiguously romantic endings.

"Honeycomb" - Esther M. Friesner
Author Esther Friesner has also written and published many fantasy series, including the Twelve Kingdoms ("Mustapha and his Wise Dog"), New York ("New York by Knight"), and Tim Desmond ("Gnome Man's Land") novels. "Honeycomb" is one of the most magical stories to come out of Ithkar, and involves a mysterious candlemaker and her effect on a young woodcarver. A truly sweet, funny story in which an unfaithful lover is changed into a bear and a young not-so-maidenly maiden is forced by an enchanted candle to confess her urgent need for a husband.

If you are searching for good sword & sorcery short stories, you might find exactly what you crave at Ithkar's magical fair.

What a standout 1st Edition this is! Actual photos of the author; stage pictures of the debut American performance in New York; binding and paper designed to stand up to the years; all in all the treatment this fine play deserves!

This is an extremely useful book. It begins with northern England and covers the continent west of the Elbe and north of the Alps, including Scandinavia. Since most American readers tend to have some familiarity with England if with any region, this may be practical. However, it leads to a recommendation that the reader definitely should not stop with the first chapter, because only later does it become apparent that there were many other ways of handling "commons" and many different definitions of what was "common."

"Since Market Square has in recent years become internationally known, and since its architect, Howard Van Doren Shaw, has become a subject of study for architects and architectural historians, we are proud to publish this book. It is the first book devoted entirely to Shaw or to one of his works, and it is the first attempt of any kind to do a thorough study of his best-loved architectural achievement, Market Square. Susan Dart, because of her relationship to Shaw ... has been able to collect family data and memorabilia that might otherwise have been lost." Arthur H. Miller, Jr., Lake Forest-Lake Bluff Historical Society, November, 1983

Here's another winner from the author of SATIN AND LACE. Like its predecessor, MARRIED TO SINCLAIR is a warm, wonderful romance, but this time, it's set in Scotland. The background of a family company is something different, and the characters are almost all appealing. Even Gina, the hero's unstable wife, has a problem that, once revealed, puts her behaviour in a different light. If you enjoy romance where the characters have families and responsibilities, where they are fully rounded people instead of types or silhouettes, do yourself a favour and get a copy of this book.