tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504598332261057441.post2783365944778121455..comments2024-03-21T19:03:19.133-04:00Comments on Where there had been darkness...: Roger Zelazny Book Review: The Hand of Oberon, Part IIJugularjoshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03768939120752611597noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504598332261057441.post-45932306375454020512015-03-30T02:40:49.047-04:002015-03-30T02:40:49.047-04:00Here is a higher resolution image:
http://artlemon...Here is a higher resolution image:<br />http://artlemon.ru/imagesbase/1/big/targete-jean-pierre/the-hand-of-oberon-artfond.jpgAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504598332261057441.post-87715901408074121632015-03-30T01:40:47.212-04:002015-03-30T01:40:47.212-04:00A google search reveals what seems to be an image ...A google search reveals what seems to be an image of the original painting on a different site. It seems it is the artist's error.<br /><br />https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/2a/02/ef/2a02effc68156cba3c6d5259650c234d.jpgAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504598332261057441.post-86252835118670045312015-03-30T01:37:28.736-04:002015-03-30T01:37:28.736-04:00I like many aspects of the cover painting shown ab...I like many aspects of the cover painting shown above (notably NOT that Benedict looks like Fabio), but what bothers me is that it is erroneous. Benedict lost his right arm and used the mechanical arm that Corwin found, but the painting depicts the left arm being affected. I don't know if the artist (J.P. Targete) made the error or if during production someone decided to use a mirror-image of the painting. I looked at the artist's website and none of the Amber covers are shown. He did covers for a reissue of all ten Amber paperbacks back in the mid-90s.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504598332261057441.post-62242342815439884792013-08-10T15:36:08.823-04:002013-08-10T15:36:08.823-04:00I'd been meaning to revisit my Nine Princes re...I'd been meaning to revisit my Nine Princes review. It's one of the earlier, flabby 'em " I needed a new heel for my shoe, so, I decided to go to Morganville, which is what they called Shelbyville in those days. So I tied an onion to my belt, which was the style at the time" reviews that ramble off on ridiculous tangents of no particular meaning to anyone but me.<br /><br />I'm not sure if I want to revisit that review or just post a review of the Nine Princes comic instead.Jugularjoshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03768939120752611597noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504598332261057441.post-92051834274689973312013-08-07T12:04:02.264-04:002013-08-07T12:04:02.264-04:00Yeah, "Fye-ohna" makes more sense with t...Yeah, "Fye-ohna" makes more sense with the abbreviated form of her name, because I can't imagine you'd pronounce "Fi" as "Fee."<br /><br />Mind you, I'm still going to continue calling her "Fee-ohna" in my mind, but that's just because I'm stubborn and I like my way better.<br /><br />Anyway, thanks for checking on this! Also, that's an interesting note on the change in the audio book; and it's awesome that you had a sharp enough ear for the true text to recognize it.Zachhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07692070094174090593noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504598332261057441.post-76802246536494059802013-08-07T11:34:13.741-04:002013-08-07T11:34:13.741-04:00It's funny. I was listening to 9 Princes just ...It's funny. I was listening to 9 Princes just recently and I noticed some minor differences between the book and the audio version. ("Instead, she walked across the room to the bar, poured herself a shot of Jack Daniels, and tossed it off like a man" was changed to remove "like a man" at the end.) I wonder if that change persisted in the new recordings of the audio book.<br /><br />I had to check on his pronunciation, because I couldn't recall for certain. I queued up the Hand of Oberon, and he pronounces it "Fye-ohna" at least twice, and probably does so the same way throughout the story. Jugularjoshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03768939120752611597noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504598332261057441.post-52376942132045042252013-08-07T11:14:56.503-04:002013-08-07T11:14:56.503-04:00Josh, you've mentioned that you've listene...Josh, you've mentioned that you've listened to Zelazny's narration of these books, and I'm curious: how does he pronounce Fiona? Is it Fee-ohna or Fye-ohna? I've always done the former, but when I read the shortened version of her name ("Fi"), I find myself saying "Fye."<br /><br />Also, I just realized that in the book cover you posted above, the artist put Benedict's mechanical arm on the wrong side of his body. Whoops.Zachhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07692070094174090593noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504598332261057441.post-52078551524019279282011-04-28T16:02:33.216-04:002011-04-28T16:02:33.216-04:00We had exactly the same issues with The John Coltr...We had exactly the same issues with The John Coltrane Reference -- we reprinted a lot of album covers, and got complaints that they were too small and in black-and-white. But then we got complaints that the book is too expensive. (Although to be fair, the Coltrane Ref IS too expensive, by far. But we didn't have any say in that.)<br /><br />--Chris DeVitoAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504598332261057441.post-69161895203590218102011-04-27T16:30:39.492-04:002011-04-27T16:30:39.492-04:00And since I'm editing older posts, I put the c...And since I'm editing older posts, I put the cover that Zach mentioned in this one.Jugularjoshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03768939120752611597noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504598332261057441.post-45006435504352322322011-04-27T16:15:17.752-04:002011-04-27T16:15:17.752-04:00I have high-res color scans of everything in the b...I have high-res color scans of everything in the bibliography. I find it funny that a few people have simultaneously complained that a) the images weren't reproduced much larger and in color and b) the book isn't cheaper. Those complaints are mutually exclusive, i.e. you can't have it both ways, and you can't have either alone. The issues were simple:<br /><br />1) Color increases the production cost enormously and with it the price of the trade paperback would have become unrealistic.<br /><br />2) If the images were larger the book would have been longer and more expensive. I forget the exact count but there's 600-700 images in there.<br /><br />3) The size of the images had to be small in order to comply with "fair use" interpretation of copyright law, in this case that the images in the bibliography are being used as a reference (to identify a particular edition) and not to, say, admire the artwork. If the images were larger then every artist would have to have been contacted for permission and paid for use of the image. And then the cost would have become insane and the book would have never been finished. Plus it would have been impossible to track down all the artists or their Estates anyway.<br /><br />Chris KovacsAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504598332261057441.post-75155844322209234302011-04-27T15:41:30.111-04:002011-04-27T15:41:30.111-04:00The isfdb site has color reproductions of most of ...The isfdb site has color reproductions of most of the covers, though they're low-rez. I can email high-rez scans of the books and magazines I have (though my collection is nowhere near as comprehensive as Chris K's!) to anyone interested; my email is my name (all one word) at aol, plus the usual dot com.<br /><br />--Chris DeVitoAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504598332261057441.post-52756410578788688832011-04-27T14:17:21.951-04:002011-04-27T14:17:21.951-04:00Thanks for the link. There's really been a lot...Thanks for the link. There's really been a lot of nice art associated with Zelazny's work. I really need to get off my ass and pick up a copy of Ides of Octember already.Jugularjoshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03768939120752611597noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504598332261057441.post-61056815329641626742011-04-27T14:13:52.988-04:002011-04-27T14:13:52.988-04:00Something that struck me is how appallingly incuri...Something that struck me is how appallingly incurious the Amberites are. Sure, if you can walk to anything you desire, that lends itself to a certain hedonism, but even that must pale after a while, and you would think that they'd start wondering about things. Benedict mentions that he hellrode to the Courts when he was young, but in the thousands of years they've had to play around, it never occurs to them to investigate real nature of the universe? <br /><br />I've been reading the Merlin books more closely, and Dworkin not only created the Trumps and drew the Pattern, but he also penned the Book of the Unicorn. He was locked away after that by Oberon, but he was around for decades, if not centuries, and if someone in my neighborhood was making me all these magical things AND he wrote my society's holy book, then I think I'd have more than a few questions for him. <br /><br />It's possible that Oberon discouraged inquiry along these lines, but still...Jugularjoshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03768939120752611597noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504598332261057441.post-71985269948834938002011-04-27T11:43:43.173-04:002011-04-27T11:43:43.173-04:00Josh, that's funny that you mention the "...Josh, that's funny that you mention the "obvious" meaning of Hand of Oberon being Oberon's influence on events, whereas the secondary meaning is the actually hand from Tir-na Nog'th. For me, it was the opposite.<br /><br />When I first read The Hand of Oberon, it was this copy of the book: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/519RS1JVZEL._SL500_.jpg<br /><br />So, seeing the title next to that cover image, I assumed "Hand of Oberon" was referring to that strange-lookin' mechanical arm before I even started reading. As such, that was the only way I ever interpreted the title, until now, when you pointed out the "obvious" meaning to me.<br /><br />Funny how that works. =PZachhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07692070094174090593noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6504598332261057441.post-85642670462542422362011-04-26T23:18:38.125-04:002011-04-26T23:18:38.125-04:00Yes, the Ganelon/Oberon disconnect is a glaring mi...Yes, the Ganelon/Oberon disconnect is a glaring mistake. And very distracting -- I kept waiting for someone, anyone, to voice a suspicion that Ganelon was more than he seemed. This is a somewhat similar "disconnect" to the one in Eye of Cat mentioned by Chris Kovacs (see his comments to the Eye of Cat review), but I found it much more distracting because it's so central to the book (and the series). But I managed to get past it because I like so many other aspects of the book, many of which are discussed by Josh in his review.<br /><br />--Chris DeVitoAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com