HYPERBOREA » Lyonesse

rhialto · 1/17/2019 10:39 am

So I started re-reading (after a couple of decades...) Vance's Lyonesse trilogy, and forgot how wonderfully written it is: dark, sly humor, told in subtle prose, dark, horrible deeds, told in spare prose, absurd farces shoulder-to-shoulder to with poignant scenes. Not a typical inspiration for swords and sorcery gaming, but one I'm happy to be revisiting.

Handy Haversack · 1/17/2019 3:10 pm

Definitely. It's not S&S -- Vance is too mannered and stylized to ever really hit S&S, though he excels at picaresque. But this is a great series. I lost my copy of one of the books and so haven't reread in a while. I should deal with that situation . . .

Ghul · 1/17/2019 7:22 pm

Handy Haversack wrote:
Definitely. It's not S&S -- Vance is too mannered and stylized to ever really hit S&S, though he excels at picaresque. But this is a great series. I lost my copy of one of the books and so haven't reread in a while. I should deal with that situation . . .

It's a wonderful series. After The Dying Earth, it was the first Vance series I read, although my favorite has to be the Planet of Adventure books. I absolutely adore those. The Demon Princes, too. Ahh, Vance!

rhialto · 1/18/2019 9:51 am

Handy Haversack wrote:
though he excels at picaresque. But this is a great series. I lost my copy of one of the books and so haven't reread in a while. I should deal with that situation . . .

It's a very dark picaresque, certes.

I'm the beneficiary of a Vance Integral Edition copy, and it is a beauty to hold and behold: bookbinder's art befitting a work of literary art.

Handy Haversack · 1/18/2019 10:28 am

Nice.

I also agree with Ghul on the PoA books--Vance's most D&D series. A party of people all working toward individual ends but finding the best guarantee of success together. There's an entire book about killing (intelligent) monsters and taking their stuff!

I am a super sucker for the DAW editions of PoA and The Demon Princes, though Palace of Love is a little tricky to read on the subway . . .

lige · 1/21/2019 5:16 pm

Ghul wrote:
Handy Haversack wrote:
Definitely. It's not S&S -- Vance is too mannered and stylized to ever really hit S&S, though he excels at picaresque. But this is a great series. I lost my copy of one of the books and so haven't reread in a while. I should deal with that situation . . .
It's a wonderful series. After The Dying Earth, it was the first Vance series I read, although my favorite has to be the Planet of Adventure books. I absolutely adore those. The Demon Princes, too. Ahh, Vance!

I've loved finding all the stuff inspired by the Planet of Adventure books in Hyperborea!

lige · 1/21/2019 5:19 pm

Handy Haversack wrote:
I am a super sucker for the DAW editions of PoA and The Demon Princes, though Palace of Love is a little tricky to read on the subway . . .

Trullion is another cover less than safe for public transportation! On the topic of that book has anyone ever put together some sort of Hussade table top game?

Ghul · 1/21/2019 5:20 pm

Handy Haversack wrote:
Nice.

I also agree with Ghul on the PoA books--Vance's most D&D series. A party of people all working toward individual ends but finding the best guarantee of success together. There's an entire book about killing (intelligent) monsters and taking their stuff!

I am a super sucker for the DAW editions of PoA and The Demon Princes, though Palace of Love is a little tricky to read on the subway . . .

Not as tricky as Servants of the Wankh.

Ghul · 1/21/2019 5:20 pm

lige wrote:
Ghul wrote:
Handy Haversack wrote:
Definitely. It's not S&S -- Vance is too mannered and stylized to ever really hit S&S, though he excels at picaresque. But this is a great series. I lost my copy of one of the books and so haven't reread in a while. I should deal with that situation . . .
It's a wonderful series. After The Dying Earth, it was the first Vance series I read, although my favorite has to be the Planet of Adventure books. I absolutely adore those. The Demon Princes, too. Ahh, Vance!
I've loved finding all the stuff inspired by the Planet of Adventure books in Hyperborea!

There are several! I'm glad you enjoy it.

rhialto · 1/22/2019 8:51 am

Ghul wrote:
There are several! I'm glad you enjoy it.

I guess those are next on my revisit list.

Handy Haversack · 1/22/2019 1:58 pm

lige wrote:
Handy Haversack wrote:
I am a super sucker for the DAW editions of PoA and The Demon Princes, though Palace of Love is a little tricky to read on the subway . . .
Trullion is another cover less than safe for public transportation! On the topic of that book has anyone ever put together some sort of Hussade table top game?

I have actually thought about it in my quest to figure out if there's a way to make gambling and minigames actually a fun part of gaming and not just being a servant of the DM's wankh, if you know what I mean. Research is ongoing.

grodog · 1/23/2019 11:52 pm

Handy Haversack wrote:
Definitely. It's not S&S -- Vance is too mannered and stylized to ever really hit S&S, though he excels at picaresque. But this is a great series. I lost my copy of one of the books and so haven't reread in a while. I should deal with that situation . . .

Which one are you missing? I have several duplicates I've inadvertently picked up on the cheap over the years.

Allan.

Handy Haversack · 1/24/2019 3:37 pm

grodog wrote:
Handy Haversack wrote:
Definitely. It's not S&S -- Vance is too mannered and stylized to ever really hit S&S, though he excels at picaresque. But this is a great series. I lost my copy of one of the books and so haven't reread in a while. I should deal with that situation . . .
Which one are you missing? I have several duplicates I've inadvertently picked up on the cheap over the years.

Allan.

I had them all in those nice 1983ish trade paperbacks. I seem to have lost Lyonnesse proper while keeping The Green Pearl and ending up with an extra, mass-market-size Madouc. Sometimes, I swear, the books go book shopping without me.

grodog · 1/24/2019 3:45 pm

Handy Haversack wrote:
I had them all in those nice 1983ish trade paperbacks. I seem to have lost Lyonnesse proper while keeping The Green Pearl and ending up with an extra, mass-market-size Madouc. Sometimes, I swear, the books go book shopping without me.

I may have misread your comment then: I thought you meant that you were missing one off the Demon Prince and/or Planet of Adventure books?

Allan.

Handy Haversack · 1/24/2019 4:13 pm

Ah, no: all of those proudly displayed in yellow-spine DAW goodness!

Have I mentioned that Ms. Haversack and I had a book purge over the holidays and extracted *five bankers boxes* of books from our small Brooklyn apartment? And that you can't even bloody tell? Treasure your dens and rec rooms, O dwellers far from the metropole!

The homeless shelter where we donated those and the *other* seven boxes of books from our storage space was touting how HBO had contributed a thousand books to their book drive. I mean, Ms. H and I are just two people, and we probably contributed 700. I don't see David Milch making a show on us!

If I ever disappear, look for me under a collapsed bookshelf.

Ghul · 1/24/2019 6:47 pm

Handy Haversack wrote:
Ah, no: all of those proudly displayed in yellow-spine DAW goodness!

About a year ago, I was on such a Vance kick (all yellow DAW), followed by some other yellow DAW books, that when the subject of reading and literature came up, my middle child, Logan (then 15), said to me, "Dad, all you read are those old yellow books. You need to get out of your comfort zone and read something new."

grodog · 1/24/2019 8:47 pm

That's hilarious! :D

Allan.

Handy Haversack · 1/25/2019 9:52 am

Ghul wrote:
Handy Haversack wrote:
Ah, no: all of those proudly displayed in yellow-spine DAW goodness!
About a year ago, I was on such a Vance kick (all yellow DAW), followed by some other yellow DAW books, that when the subject of reading and literature came up, my middle child, Logan (then 15), said to me, "Dad, all you read are those old yellow books. You need to get out of your comfort zone and read something new."

I imagine much muttering and imprecations against youth followed!

Ghul · 1/25/2019 11:26 am

grodog wrote:
That's hilarious! :D

Allan.

Yeah, so I asked him what I should try, and he tried to turn me on to the Divergent series, which cracked me up, because everything in those stories (assuming they are similar to the films) has been done in my "old yellow books" time and time again! ;)

Hackhamster · 2/07/2019 4:19 pm

Just wanted to mention I had finally acquired the Gollancz omnibus hardcover of The Complete Lyonesse, so I gave my best friend my paperback copies of the trilogy. He had never read his work before, but I made an instant fan.