James Blaylock is an American fantasy author celebrated for his distinctive, humorous style. His characters are known for their peculiar ways of moving and engaging in conversations that humorously question the impossible, like the feasibility of flight. Blaylock's works often blend the fantastical into our present-day world, a style termed fabulism or magic realism. Mentored by Philip K. Dick, he frequently collaborates with fellow author Tim Powers.
Mentored by Philip K. Dick, James P. Blaylock is best known for his Langdon St Ives sequence - one of which, Homunculus, won the Philip K. Dick Award - and, along with contemporaries Tim Powers and K.W. Jeter, is regarded as one of the founding fathers of Steampunk. All three of the novels collected in this omnibus were shortlisted for the World Fantasy Award.
"With a 100-year storm threatening the southern California coast, Jane Larkin is approached by a strange, audacious woman who wants to invest much-needed money in Jane’s Old Orange Co-op. Meanwhile Jane’s husband Jerry discovers an ancient excavation beneath the Larkin home. On that ominous morning in autumn, shadows descend over the deceptively quiet neighborhoods of Old Orange, ushering in a flood of chaos, terror, and murder
This is a whimsical story of a cheesemaker, Jonathan Bing, who sets out on a quest to discover why trade to his river town has halted inconveniently right before the Winter holiday season. He and his friend, the Professor Wurzle, seek answers to the mystery, and they transport cheeses themselves to use in trade for dwarven cakes and children’s toys to take back to their village. Along the way, they run afoul of goblins masterminded by a nefarious dwarf, and they find surprising allies in the carefree Linkmen and elves.
[Penguin Readers Level 5]The War of the Worlds is one of the most frightening science fiction novels ever written. When a spaceship falls from the sky and lands in southern England, few people are worried. But when strange creatures climb out and start killing, nobody is safe.
The secret log of a murdered lighthouse keeper falls into the hands of the immensely wealthy Gilbert Frobisher, who discovers encoded within it a stunning and dangerous mystery. Against all odds Langdon St. Ives and his companions set sail in the dark of night for the West Indies aboard Gilbert Frobisher’s steam yacht, pursued by murderous pirates and bound for an uncharted volcanic island on the verge of eruption. There they undertake the perilous search for a hidden treasure protected by an unspeakable pagan god, and in the process unleash a power that will ultimately threaten the devastation of London.
The story begins with an inheritance. Following a protracted legal battle, Alice St. Ives, Langdon’s wife, has come into full possession of Seaward, the house left to her by her late Uncle Godfrey, a man with a number of bizarre proclivities. Heartened by this good fortune, Alice, Langdon and their surrogate son Finn prepare to take possession of the house. From this point forward, events spin out of control, taking on a madcap logic of their own that is exhilarating and—in typical Blaylock fashion—often quite funny. What follows is, in a sense, a tale of two houses. The first, of course, is Seaward, a “rambling, eccentric old house” with it its history, its secrets, its priceless accumulation of volumes of arcane lore. The other is a neighboring house known, for good reasons, as “Gobblin’ Manor,” home base of The Gobblin’ Society, a “culinary establishment” with its own peculiar—and very dark—traditions. In the course of an event filled few days, St. Ives and his cohorts will encounter smuggling, mesmerism, kidnapping, cannibalism and murder. It is, in other words, a typical—and typically eccentric—Langdon St. Ives adventure.
Determined to avert the doom of his beloved wife, scientist and detective Langdon St. Ives sees his only hope for doing so in Lord Kelvin's time machine, but the diabolical Dr. Ignacio Narbondo has other plans for the invention. Reprint.
LATE EXTRA! BOMB OUTRAGE IN LONDON! A masked terrorist has brought London to its knees -- there are bombs inside books, and nobody knows which ones. On the day of the launch of the first expedition to Mars, by giant cannon, he outdoes himself with an audacious attack. For young poet Orphan, trapped in the screaming audience, it seems his destiny is entwined with that of the shadowy terrorist, but how? His quest to uncover the truth takes him from the hidden catacombs of London on the brink of revolution, through pirate-infested seas, to the mysterious island that may hold the secret to the origin not only of the shadowy Bookman, but of Orphan himself... Like a steam-powered take on V for Vendetta , rich with satire and slashed through with automatons, giant lizards, pirates, airships and wild adventure. The Bookman is the first of a series. File Under: Steampunk [ Alternate History! | Reptilian Royalty! | Diabolical Anarchists! | Extraordinary Adventure! ]
It is the late 19th century and a mysterious airship orbits through the foggy skies. Its terrible secrets are sought by many, including the Royal Society, a fraudulent evangelist, a fiendish vivisectionist, an evil millionaire and an assorted group led by the scientist and explorer Professor Langdon St. Ives. Can St. Ives keep the alien homunculus out of the claws of the villainous Ignacio Narbondo?
Der Autor ist Preisträger des »Philip K. Dick Award« und des »World Fantasy Award« Wer meint, die Sache mit Judas und seinen dreißig Silberlingen sei lange vorbei und vergessen, irrt sich gewaltig. Denn diese Münzen existieren noch immer, verteilt über die ganze Welt. Und sie verheißen demjenigen, der alle wieder zusammenbringt, unvorstellbare Macht und ein ewiges Leben. Doch wer damit in Berührung kommt, sollte lieber schleunigst das Weite suchen. Wie zum Beispiel Andrew Vanbergen, dessen Versuche, ein Restaurant aufzumachen, die gesamte Nachbarschaft in Angst und Schrecken versetzen. Oder Tante Naomi, die einen Silberlöffel mit geheimnisvoller Gravierung erbt und sich fortan so merkwürdig benimmt. Und besonders der aufdringliche Mister Pennyman, den nur noch fünf Münzen von der Unsterblichkeit trennen, dann vier, dann drei... »Die Fabulierkunst des Amerikaners Blaylock ist wirklich einmalig.« WILLIAM GIBSON »Blaylocks Mixtur aus Fantasy, Horror und SF setzt Maßstäbe. Auch sein neuestes Buch wird ohne Zweifel dazu beitragen, den Ruf dieses Autors als Trendsetter nachhaltig zu festigen.« SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE Fantasy Deutsche Erstausgabe
Der beste Fantasy-Roman seit Jahren! Der Autor erhielt den »Philip K. Dick Awa als bester Nachwuchsautor. Set in the same world as Blaylock’s award-winning “Paper Dragons,” Land of Dreams takes place in the magical atmosphere of the 12-year Solstice as it comes to a northern California coastal town. When a boat-sized shoe and giant spectacles wash up on shore, three of the town’s orphans—Jack, Skeezix, and Helen—know there’s something fishy going on; and the old ghost in the orphanage attic is inclined to agree. An evil carnival comes to town, run by a sinister gentleman who can turn himself into a crow. A mouse-sized man hiding in the woodwork leaves Jack an elixir that might, just might, allow him to cross during Solstice to another world, a mysterious land of dreams that holds the key to Jack’s past and all their futures.
Winter in Südkalifornien: Alles scheint grau und feucht. Nach dem Unfall seiner Frau bewohnt Phil Ainsworth das alte Haus seiner Familie ganz allein. Sind die schattenhaften Gestalten, die sich in der Nähe des Brunnens herumtreiben, die Wahnvorstellungen eines Einsamen? Phil atmet auf, als nach dem Tod seiner Schwester deren 10-jährige Tochter Betsy zu ihm zieht. Doch er weiß nicht, dass Betsy ein sehr besonderes Kind ist. Sie hört die Stimmen der Toten und ahnt, welch ein Unheil sich über dem Haus zusammenbraut ...
Blaylock's Night Relics is a chilling novel of unearthly emotional power, a ghost story that pushes beyond the classic form. It is the tale of a man haunted by the ghosts of the human heart--both real and imagined--where lost memories and lost loves whisper on the wind. It is a perfectly captured nightmare.
