The Western Lights series by Jeffrey E. Barlough

I haven't read/reviewed much S&S lately. After I read Captain Alatriste, I found myself gravitating toward other things, hence Jeffrey E. Barlough's Dark Sleeper today, and James Blaylock's The Stone Giant next time. There's no straight line from Pérez-Reverte's swashbuckler to those books, but with it's eccentric characters, it's a less crooked one than one might think. 

Jeffrey E. Barlough has been writing his Western Lights books for nearly twenty years. He's written nine books, the last six self published (something I suspected, but didn't know for sure until today). I've only read three of them, but I own 'em all and dead set on fixing that soon. 

It's hard to describe exactly what Barlough's doing. In an interview at Black Gate with, he said, among his many inspirations was wondering what it would be like if
"H.P. Lovecraft had written the Perry Mason mysteries, or if M.R. James had created Sherlock Holmes." Ideas like that coupled with a mastery of pitch-perfect discursive, sardonic Dickensian prose, make Dark Sleeper a blast. That there are Ice Age megafauna, real and invented, only makes things even better.

One of the things that impresses me most about the self-published Western Lights books is their quality and presentation. The first three books in the series, Dark Sleeper, The House in the High Wood, and Strange Cargo were all published by Ace. The first one's cover with a mastodon-drawn coach is very good. The second, with a bear and a house on high is boring, and the third is just too-science-fictiony and, again, boring.

The later books all have paintings not created for them on their covers. All are wonderful and wholly appropriate 19th century paintings. I don't know for sure, but I assume Barlough does his own art direction and, man, are his covers of a better quality than most of what I see out there. If you can't paint your own terrific covers like Raphael Ordoñez, this is definitely the way to go.

Original Ace covers

Dark Sleeper has inspired me to go back to one of its primary sources: Charles Dickens. I read Great Expectations and Hard Times in school, but have little memory of them. As an adult I read, and loved A Christmas Carol, A Tale of Two Cities and the monumental Bleak House. 

The latter is a madhouse of intertwined mysteries revolving around a probate case that has dragged on for decades. Its evocation of Victorian London is powerful, as it contrasts the splendor and squalor, the powerful and the folks barely eking out a living. At times it's a strange phantasmagorical tale, others a bitter critique of the "system," and others a goofy comedy. Bleak House's pages are filled with virtuous heroes, dastardly villains, and utterly useless flit-abouts. Despite the mountains of exaggeration and ridiculously oddball characters, Dickens manages to make it an affecting tale. 

I'm not sure which book I'll dig out. I've always been curious about Barnaby Rudge, a novel of the anti-Catholic Gordon Riots in 1780, so maybe that'll be my choice.

So here's my first work playlist. It's fairly short and utterly inappropriate for Dark Sleeper, but what the hey. Most of the songs are linked by having roots in the same proto-punk/proto-metal/glam scene of NYC in the mid-70s. The last song's just there 'cause I love it. Enjoy!

Playlist 1