Tuesday, July 26, 2016

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!

13 comments:

  1. I've got the first two in that series, but I haven't read them. Keep intending to, but you know how it goes.

    I read the same Dickens novels you have except Bleak House. I put it off because of the size. I did read a bit of Dombey & Son over one Christmas break but didn't finish. Size again. I really ought to read some more Dickens, as I always liked him.

    Oh, and I want to finish the Leatherstocking Tales, as well.

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    1. Bleak House took some time, but at around 1,000 pages, it's about the length of the typical doorstopper fantasy novel.
      How is Cooper, really? I've meant to read the Leatherstocking Tales for a long time. As a New Yorker with colonial roots I feel like I really should give them a go.

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    2. Yeah, but I don't read many doorstopper fantasy novels these days.

      I've only read the first four of the Leatherstocking tales. I've not The Prairie, which I understand is a little different than the others in that one of the main characters isn't in it plus something else that would be a major spoiler to say. They're a little uneven because they weren't in the order of the internal chronology. The Pioneers was the first one written but 4th in terms of chronology. It's the weakest. Cooper improved as a writer.

      I liked the other three, although I found The Pathfinder a bit difficult at times as some elements of the story had parallels in my own life at the time. And no, I won't elaborate on a public blog.

      They're very much romances in the more traditional sense of the word. They're certainly not genre romances like you see today. For one thing love is usually unrequited. I was surprised at how dark they were in places. On the whole, though, I rather enjoyed them and would read them again (and finish the series this time).

      You should keep in mind that the writing style would be considered old fashioned, with long descriptive passages in places. But as adventure stories, they certainly work. Oh, and the Daniel Day Lewis film of Last of the Mohicans bears little resemblance to the novel.

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    3. IOW, if you can read Dickens, you can read Cooper.

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    4. That makes them sound very good. I sort of assumed they were on a continuum with Sir Walter Scott's work as historical romances.

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    5. I'm embarassed to admit I've not read Scott. I think you would like the Leatherstocking Tales. Read them in order of internal chronology: The Deerslayer, The Last of the Mohicans, The Pathfinder, The Pioneers, and The Prairie. I particularly liked Deerslayer and Mohicans.

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    6. Me neither, just Ivanhoe. But I've read a lot ABOUT him, because that's always easier.

      I'm pretty sure I downloaded a kindle copy of The Deerslayer- maybe I'll give it a go next month

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  2. add some D Generation and T Rex to that playlist. Some NY Dolls, too.

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    1. Don't know how I left the Dolls out, being part of the same scene (and that I see David Johansen buying groceries every few months). T.Rex was too light for the musical mood I was in this week.

      I saw D-Generation open for the Dickies at Coney Island High back in the mid-90s. The crowd hated them, seeing them as a NY punk rock Sha Na Na. They got bottled, and someone, I think Jesse Malin, took one in the face. We're no wusses, but it got tense for a few minutes. Then the Dickies came on and no one cared.

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  3. I just looked at amazon and Dark Sleeper is a 30 dollar paperback with no kindle or hardback edition. Lately I only want nice hardback or kindle. Jeffrey E. Barlough should get off his ass and ebook those. Perhaps your publisher should reach out to him.

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    1. I know what you mean. You can get used paperbacks (not in mint condition, admittedly) for under a dollar. According to an interview with him, there are no plans for e-books. And my publisher? I don't got no publisher. If you mean Black Gate, it's strictly a website these days. ;)

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  4. Doh, I had confused you with someone else. I use bloglines and have way too many blogs subscribed.

    What does he have against ebooks?

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    1. Don't know, Since they're self-published I suspect he just doesn't want to bother with the rigamarole. I think he's still got his day job as a biologist/virologist/veterinarian. Yeah, he should do e-books.

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