The Crusty Curmudgeon: 2024

October 13, 2024

The Chronicles of Amber, chapter 14: The conclusion

This is it. The final chapter of The Courts of Chaos and of the Chronicles of Amber. It's been a fun trip.

Spoiler alert: This post is part of an in-depth discussion of The Courts of Chaos by Roger Zelazny, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. You may well have a lot of reading ahead of you.

This last chapter is more of an epilogue. Random, appointed the king of Amber by the Unicorn and attuned to the Jewel of Judgment by Corwin, successfully turns away the Chaos storm. He, too, is now gone, and only Corwin and his son Merlin remain on the field of battle where Amber conquered Chaos.

The Chronicles of Amber, chapter 13

With the defeat of the Chaosians and the death of Brand, the Amberites won the day. But they lost their father Oberon, as well as their sister Dierdre and the Jewel of Judgment. Corwin collapsed and rested by the black road after Oberon's funeral procession passed. When he came to, Dara was riding past and berated him for killing her swordmaster, Borel, then left him to return to her own people. Corwin's son Merlin met him briefly, and they began to talk, but they were suddenly interrupted by the appearance of the Unicorn of Amber.

The Unicorn has the Jewel of Judgment around her neck. She gives it to Random, indicating that he has been chosen as the heir to the Amber throne. Though surprised, he accepts, and the other Amberites lay their swords at his feet.

Science Fiction-Free September '24 wrap-up

Last week I wrapped up the 2024 installment of my annual Science Fiction-Free September. I'm happy to proclaim this year's moratorium on SF novels (and, more broadly, commercial fiction) a success.

I planned for five novels, plus two extras if time remained. I completed six, plus a handful of plays by Aphra Behn and a few Japanese light novels (in English). So overall, I read 14 individual titles this September, with a number of them being short and light reading. But the main selections were anything but light! I noted last year that I'd chosen some heavy-hitting fiction, and the same is true this year.

The Courts of Chaos, chapter 12

Using the new primal Pattern he had created before Brand stole the Jewel of Judgment, Corwin teleported himself to the battleground at the Courts of Chaos. There, Brand took Dierdre hostage as a bargaining chip to force Corwin to help him with his own plans. However, he was shot by a mysterious green-clad archer, causing him, Dierdre, and the Jewel fell into the Chaosian abyss. The archer revealed himself as Caine, who had faked his own murder to get to the bottom of the intrigue in Amber secretly. As they spoke, they were interrupted by three trumpeters on horseback emerging from the black road.

RIP auto-posting

Sometime after Sunday, I realized that my posts weren't automatically publishing to Twitter. After a bit of investigation, I learned that dlvr.it ended their free tier. Oddly enough, I was informed that my "trial" had ended, though I've been using the service for years.

Well, that's annoying. It's their business, of course, but one of my pet peeves is when long-established free services on the Internet start demanding money out of the blue.

And then I thought, "Wait a minute, I'm a programmer." Why can't I roll my own auto-poster? Polling the site and grabbing the title and URL for new posts is easy, so the only thing I really need to learn is how to access the X API. (And in so doing, I realized I'd inadvertently been "spamming" for several months, by posting substantially identical tweets to both my accounts. I'll be a bit more creative with the second cross-post, I promise!)

Not that the Faithful Readers will necessarily notice, but automatic posting will resume shortly. That is all.

The Courts of Chaos, chapter 11

Corwin was riding from Amber to the Courts of Chaos, to bring the Jewel of Judgment to Benedict's battle there and give them an advantage against the Chaosians. However, he was overtaken by the oncoming Chaos storm of Shadow being torn apart after Oberon's possibly failed attempt to repair the primal Pattern at Amber. To protect himself from the storm, Corwin used the Jewel to create a new Pattern where he was. He was successful, but when he was finished, Brand appeared and stole the Jewel from him.

Corwin then used the new Pattern to transport himself to the battlefield in Chaos. He found Brand at a vantage point overlooking the scene, using his partial attunement with the Jewel to fight the Amberite forces with lightning. As the Amberites reached Brand, he took Dierdre hostage.

Happy birthday, Jimmy Carter

On December 12, 1952, the first meltdown of a nuclear reactor occurred in the National Research Experimental (NRX) reactor in Chalk River, Ontario. There were no fatalities or injuries, but radioactive material was leaked into the environment and vented into the atmosphere.

The cleanup took months and involved hundreds, including 150 American military personnel, led by a 28-year-old U.S. Navy submarine lieutenant named Jimmy Carter who was part of the fledgling nuclear submarine program. Disassembling the reactor involved donning protective gear and being lowered into it for only a few minutes at a time to avoid overexposure to radioactivity.

Midshipman Jimmy Carter. Supposedly, Carter's exposure to radiation was 1000 times what would be considered safe today: it's said that he peed radioactive urine for six months, and his ability to have children in the future was in question.

As it turned out, he had four children, became the governor of Georgia, and then was elected the 39th president of the United States. Following his presidency, he won the Nobel Peace Prize for his humanitarian work. And today, Jimmy Carter turned 100. Not only is he the longest-lived ex-president and the former president with the longest post-presidency, but he's the first president to become a centenarian. Carter has outlived all his predecessors in the Oval Office, and two of his successors. It would appear that the comic books are right: exposure to radioactivity endows you with superpowers.

September 29, 2024

The Courts of Chaos, chapter 10

Corwin hellrode most of the way from Amber to the Courts of Chaos, facing opposition from Brand and others all the way, only to find that he would not be able to complete the journey, as he could not outrun the oncoming storm of Shadow being undone by Oberon's failure to repair the Pattern in primal Amber. Instead, Corwin decided to create a new Pattern where he was to hold back the destruction. Where Oberon failed, he succeeded—but immediately he was attacked by Brand, who materialized, stole the Jewel of Judgment, and disappeared.

The Courts of Chaos, chapter 9

While Oberon attempted to repair the primal Pattern, he tasked Corwin with riding from Amber to Chaos, delivering to him the Jewel of Judgment by messenger bird along the way. Corwin was hindered in that mission: by his brother Brand who attempted to steal the Jewel and shot his horse, by the seductive Lady, by murderous leprechauns, and by a ponderous crow, and last by a murderous jackal. Finally Corwin reached a vast plateau he could not hope to cross before the storm of Shadow undoing itself caught up with him. On the plateau he sees the black road, proving that Oberon had failed. He realized his only choice was to use the Jewel to create a pattern where he was.

He plants the staff he cut from the tree, Ygg, in the ground. Staring into the Jewel, which contains the template of the Pattern, Corwin begins to walk its shape on the ground. He meets no resistance as he goes, unlike walking an established Pattern like the one in Amber. The act brings up pleasant memories of his past life on Earth, especially of Paris in the early 20th century. However, around the periphery of the Pattern, images of faces mock him. The advancing storm finally catches up with and overtakes him, but it does not obliterate the ground where he is working.

The Courts of Chaos, chapter 8

On his hellride to the Courts of Chaos, Corwin has been hindered multiple times: by Brand, who attempted to trap him in Shadow and shot his horse in an attempt to take the Jewel of Judgment; by Lady, a woman who tried to seduce him away from his mission; by a party of little people who stole his horse, tried to get him drunk and set upon him; by a giant trapped in a swamp who told him his quest was pointless; and, finally, by a phiosophical crow named Hugi who tried to convince him that it was just his ego striving against illusion and hindering his oneness with the Absolute. He finally stumped Hugi, and he flew away. As Corwin approached Chaos, the terrain became more difficult and misty. Out of the fog emerged the form of a large animal.

The Courts of Chaos, chapter 7

As part of Oberon's plan to repair the primal Pattern in Amber, he tasked Corwin with riding as quickly as possible through Shadow from Amber to Chaos. As he did so, he was waylaid twice by Brand trying to persuade him to surrender the Jewel of Judgment. He then narrowly escaped a group of little people who tricked him into drinking with him in their underground hall, and then a third confrontation with Brand in which he tried to kill Corwin with a crossbow, but mortally wounded his horse, Star, instead. Corwin was then rescued by his bloodbird, who pecked out Brand's eye before they both disappeared.

Chapter 7 is heavy on dialogue and philosophical ruminations, so I'm going to approach it a bit differently, by interleaving my own commentary with the plot summary.

The Courts of Chaos, chapter 6

Riding through Shadow from Amber to Chaos, Corwin was twice confronted by Brand, claiming that Oberon had failed in his attempt to repair the primal Pattern, and is now dead. Corwin did not believe Brand and escaped his traps. Spending the night in a cave, he met another man taking shelter from an approaching storm, who believed him to be the "Archangel Corwin" described in his holy scriptures. Corwin recognized the storm as Shadow undoing itself because of the change to the Pattern. He also discovered that his horse, Star, had been abducted and taken underground by a group of little people. He and Star barely escaped from them.

Corwin continues his hellride toward Chaos. As he does, the storm continues to bear down upon him, and Shadow appears to be coming apart around him, becoming more bizarre. He uses the Jewel of Judgment an area of stability.

As he rests, he is approached by a woman who calls herself simply "Lady." She has a picnic basket, and they share a meal. She also offers the hospitality of her pavilion to wait out their final hours; however, Corwin declines.

The Courts of Chaos, chapter 5

To counter the threat of Brand and the Chaosians destroying Amber, Oberon attempted to repair the primal Pattern, marred by the spilled blood of Random's son Martin, giving the denizens of Chaos access to Amber via the black road running through all Shadow. Oberon's cryptic orders to Corwin were to ride through Shadow all the way from Amber to Chaos. While en route, Corwin received the Jewel of Judgment from a messenger bird, indicating that Oberon's work was finished, successfully or unsuccessfully. Then, he was met by Brand, who attempted to take the Jewel of Judgment from him: first by trying to trap him in a pocket of Shadow, then by claiming Oberon had failed and was now dead. Corwin did not give up the Jewel, fled from Brand, and took shelter in a cave.

He is awakened by another presence in the cave: a man who has come in to take shelter from a coming storm. They note that the storm is "no natural storm": notably, it advances slowly and in a straight line, distorting what lies in its path. Using the Jewel, Corwin orders the storm away. In the process, he notices that his horse, Star, is missing. Because of his control of the weather, the stranger seems to think he is the Archangel Corwin described in his "Holy Book."

James Earl Jones, 1931-2024

James Earl Jones, legendary actor of stage, film, and television, died today at the age of 93.

Jones, a native of Mississippi, began acting on stage in the 1950s, becoming one of the best-known Shakespearean actors of the time. He made his film debut as a bombardier in Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. Notably, in 1977, he appeared in the blockbuster miniseries Roots as author Alex Haley, and in Star Wars as the voice of Darth Vader.

The Courts of Chaos, chapter 4

While Oberon attempted to repair the primal Pattern using the Jewel of Judgment, he instructed Corwin to hellride from Amber to Chaos. Partway there, a red bird created from Corwin's blood gave the Jewel to Corwin. Successfully or unsuccessfully, Oberon's work on the Pattern was finished. Then, Corwin was confronted by Brand, who tried to trap him in a small Shadow, but Corwin escaped, with the help of the Jewel.

Brand again appears and faces Corwin. He says that he has the ability to see across Shadow, and has seen Oberon fail and die in his attempt to repair the Pattern. Shadow is now being destroyed as well. Brand wants Corwin's help to use the Jewel to create a new Pattern—and a new Amber, with him as ruler—where they are. A new, unmarred Pattern would destroy the black road, denying the Chaosians access to Amber.

The Courts of Chaos, chapter 3

Oberon, the missing king of Amber, returned with a plan to repair the Pattern. However, Dara also returned to Amber, apparently allied with Oberon and issuing orders to the family in his name, but Corwin wasn't sure if she could be trusted. And it turns out he has also had a son by her, Merlin, whose loyalties, whether to Amber or Chaos, are unknown. With Chaos attempting to dominate Shadow and Brand wanting to destroy and remake Amber in his own image, Dara has chosen to restore a balance between the two realms.

Corwin went to the primal Amber to get Oberon to vouch for Dara, which he did. However, Corwin also discovered that Oberon's plan to restore the Pattern would likely cost him his own life as well. He grabs the Jewel of Judgment and attempts to carry the plan out himself, but is stopped.

The Courts of Chaos, chapter 2

Oberon, the long-missing king of Amber, has returned, having been disguised as Corwin's friend Ganelon. He reclaimed the Jewel of Judgment, and began to formulate a secret plan to counter the plot against Amber by Brand and the Courts of Chaos.

In the Amber throne room, Corwin witnessed Dara and Benedict enacting their side of the vision he saw in Tir-na Nog'th, in which he and Benedict fought and Corwin stole Benedict's strange and elaborate mechanical arm. Martin looked on, and Corwin was angered to find out he brought Dara, a professed enemy of Amber, there. He also learned that he had a son by her, Merlin. But before he threw her into the dungeon, he agreed to meet with her privately and hear her side of things.

Science Fiction-Free September s24e21

Huzzah! We made it to another September. What better way to celebrate than abstaining from reading science fiction for a whole month?

Science Fiction-Free Septembers (SFFS) are my annual moratorium on science-fiction books (and, by extension, my regular reading habits) in favour of novels that I am less likely to read otherwise. Septembers tend toward more classic or literary fiction as a result. Sometimes, the selections are themed, but generally they're just books that I've felt I wanted to read for some time, and SFFSes are a good opportunity.

Last year I chose the books that had lingered longest on The List (what real book bloggers call their TBR, for To Be Read), and enjoyed myself. So I think I'm going to repeat that theme, more or less.

The Courts of Chaos, chapter 1

This is it. The home stretch. The final novel in the original five Chronicles of Amber.

My plot summary is starting to rebel against my desire to be concise. Nonetheless—

The Hand of Oberon, chapter 13

Spoiler alert: This post is part of an in-depth discussion of The Hand of Oberon by Roger Zelazny, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. I recommend you support your local bookseller or public library, and read the book first.

Brand disappeared from Amber and made a play to steal the Jewel of Judgment from Corwin, beating him to Earth and retrieving it from the compost pile where it had been stashed. Knowing that Brand wanted to attune himself to the Jewel and access its powers, Corwin warned the Amberites to guard the Patterns in Amber and Rebma. Brand went directly to the primal Pattern instead. Corwin pursued him there and prevented him from completing the Pattern, but he escaped, taking the Jewel with him.

Meanwhile, Random found his son Martin, who confirmed that Brand had stabbed him and marred the primal Pattern with his blood. Brand's plan is to destroy the primal Pattern, and thereby the entire universe (multiverse?) of Shadow, in order to remake it to his own whims.

The Hand of Oberon, chapter 12

Late with this one. Sorry! Forgot to publish.

Corwin travelled to New York in our Shadow Earth to retrieve the Jewel of Judgment, which he had hidden on his property there, only to find his brother Brand had beaten him to it. With the help of his sister Fiona, Brand's erstwhile ally, he travelled to the primal Amber, where he narrowly prevented him from attuning himself to the Jewel on the proto-Pattern. Brand completed the Pattern and escaped with the Jewel, however.

Corwin and Martin meet for the first time. In this chapter, Corwin finally meets his nephew Martin, who has been brought to Amber by Random. Martin tells his own version of his story, which is consistent with the other Amberites' speculations about what happened to him. After walking the Pattern in Rebma, he used it to transport himself to Avalon, where Benedict taught him to use his new powers. He wandered in Shadow for years. Then, en route to visit his friends, the Tecys, he was contacted out of the blue by Brand, and stabbed. Before Brand could finish the job, Martin managed to break contact. After recovering somewhat at the Tecys', he again disappeared into Shadow, where he encountered the black road. He also met Dara, who pressed him for information about Amber, particularly about Benedict. Later, Random found him and brought him back to Amber.

The Hand of Oberon, chapter 11

Spoiler alert: This post is part of an in-depth discussion of The Hand of Oberon by Roger Zelazny, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. If you don't want me ruining the experience for you, put this post down and go read The Hand of Oberon now. I promise I won't be offended.

With his mad brother Brand trying to reach the Jewel of Judgment before him, Corwin hellrode to his house on Earth to retrieve it from the compost heap where he had hidden it for safekeeping. He discovered that the compost was gone, because his friend Bill (who was trying to sell the house for him) had hired Ed Wellan, a local contractor, to clean up the property. Fortunately, Bill told Corwin that Ed had kept the compost for himself and taken it to his own place.

Corwin meets Bill at Ed's property, but discovers that someone has already been digging through the compost. The Jewel isn't there. Then Gérard contacts him, to tell him that Brand had tried to access the Pattern, but was scared off by his standing guard. Immediately afterward, he is also contacted by Fiona to warn him Brand already has the Jewel. Corwin has the Patterns in Amber and Rebma under guard, but Brand is aiming for the primal Pattern.

Fiona trumps to Corwin (to Bill's amazement) and they depart together for primal Amber. En route, Fiona tells her side of the story. It was Brand who wanted to maintain the alliance with Chaos, and Fiona and Bleys who broke with them. Brand used Corwin's commitment in the asylum and his subsequent "accident" to keep his memories suppressed, rather than restore them, as he had earlier claimed; Fiona and Bleys were the ones trying to save him.

The Hand of Oberon, chapter 10

Learning that Brand had again disappeared, Corwin began a hellride to Earth to retrieve the Jewel of Judgment, which he had hidden in the compost pile at his New York house, before Brand could find it. He encountered Julian on a hunt in the forest of Arden. Julian warned him that Brand had become more powerful than the rest of them in the ways of Shadow, calling him a "living Trump."

When Corwin arrives at the house, he discovers that the compost pile—and with it, the Jewel—is gone. Remembering that his lawyer friend, Bill Roth, had offered to try to sell the house, he pays Bill a visit to try and track down his compost. Bill hired a local contractor, Ed Wellan, to clean up the yard and renovate the house. Ed kept the compost for himself, however, and took it to his own farm. Bill also tells Corwin that there has been buyer interest in the house: a redheaded, bearded man visited the property. It is Brand, obviously. Corwin contacts Gérard to warn him that Brand is still alive and must be kept away from the Pattern at all costs. The same goes for the mirror Pattern in Rebma. He then rides to Ed's farm to search for the Jewel.

The Hand of Oberon, chapter 9

Brand again disappeared, and there were blood and other signs of a struggle in his room. Gérard, who had suspected Corwin previously of murdering Caine and Benedict's retainers, was again enraged and tried to fight him.

Ganelon intervenes and pummels Gérard unconscious, allowing Corwin to escape so he can hellride to Earth and retrieve the Jewel of Judgment, which he concealed in a compost heap at his New York house (after being stabbed, supposedly by Fiona, in Sign of the Unicorn). As he pssses through the forest of Arden, he is spotted by one of Julian's hunting birds. He believes Julian is hunting for him. However, when he is pursued by a manticora that is taken down by Julian's hounds, he realizes it was his prey, not him.

The Hand of Oberon, chapter 8

Corwin, along with his brother Random and general Ganelon, discovered the primal Amber and Pattern, the latter of which had been damaged by the spilt blood of Martin, Random's son. Upon returning to their own realm, Random and his brother Benedict travelled through Shadow to find clues as to the whereabouts of Martin, if indeed he survived. Corwin went to speak to Dworkin, the architect of the Pattern, but was forced to escape when Dworkin's madness came upon him, and found himself transported accidentally to the surreal Courts of Chaos.

Returning to Amber, Corwin met with his brother Brand, who admitted to stabbing Martin; the resulting damage to the Pattern created the black road, which gaves his allies from the Courts of Chaos access to Shadow and to Amber itself. He also revealed that Bleys and Fiona were still organizing another attack on Amber, and suggested a plan to assassinate them, which Corwin rejected.

The Hand of Oberon, chapter 7

Corwin paid a visit to the mad Dworkin, architect of the Pattern that is the source of the Amberites' power—and, as he learned, his grandfather. Dworkin wanted to destroy the primal Pattern, which was marred with the blood of Martin (the son of Corwin's brother Random), and remake it. But Corwin, posing as his father Oberon, wanted to try and repair the damage. As Dworkin's madness came over him and he transformed into a clawed being, Corwin escaped using a random Trump from his desk—only to find himself in the Courts of Chaos.

The Hand of Oberon, chapter 6

After returning from the primal Amber, Corwin went to see the mad hunchback Dworkin in the palace dungeon. Dworkin mistook him for Oberon using Corwin's likeness. They argued over Dworkin's plan to destroy the world. Dworkin wanted to sacrifice himself on the primal Pattern to obliterate it, and thus destroy Amber and all Shadow. Oberon would then use the Pattern stored in the Jewel of Judgment to recreate the Pattern anew. Corwin, on the other hand, wanted to try to repair the damage to the proto-Pattern (as would Oberon) caused by Martin's blood. Dworkin was revealed to be Oberon's father. He realized he was speaking to the real Corwin, not a disguised Oberon. As his madness came over him again, Dworkin transformed into a beastly, clawed creature and tried to attack Corwin, but Corwin used a random Trump to escape, and teleported himself to the Courts of Chaos.

Corwin realizes he has been to this place before, though he does not remember who brought him. The Courts of Chaos are a misty, surreal landscape: one-half of the sky is as dark as night with rapidly moving stars, while the other half is a mad swirl of colours, and the whole thing rotates rapidly around a point overhead. Corwin stands at the edge of a cliff, and looking downward, he can see more sky. Far in the distance is a black mountain with an indistinct edifice upon it.

The Hand of Oberon, chapter 5

Corwin, Random, and Ganelon returned to Amber after discovering the primal Pattern, which had been damaged by spilling an Amberite's blood on it. They believed the sacrificial victim was Random's son Martin, having found his Trump and a dagger on the Pattern. Random and Benedict went into Shadow to investigate Martin's fate, while Corwin went back to the dungeon to visit Dworkin. Dworkin mistook him for Oberon, and asked him when they were going to destroy the world.

Corwin plays along with the mistaken identity; Dworkin assumes Oberon has taken Corwin's appearance, and he also transforms himself into Corwin's likeness. They get into an argument: Dworkin wants to destroy the Pattern and recreate it anew, while Corwin wants to repair the damage (as, apparently, does Oberon). Dworkin asks permission to sacrifice himself to destroy the Pattern, while "Oberon" would recreate it using the Jewel of Judgment. They go to the Pattern, which is accessible through, of all things, Dworkin's cell door, which opens into the back of the cave next to the Pattern, where the purple griffin is.

The Hand of Oberon, chapter 4

Corwin, Random, Ganelon, and Benedict compared notes after Corwin's party returned from the primal Amber, where the Pattern was found damaged by blood assumed to be from Random's illegitimate son Martin. Benedict revealed that he had been in frequent contact with Martin. The last time had been a note left with his friends, the Tecys, whom Martin had visited while suffering a serious stab wound. While Benedict and Random went into Shadow to call on the Tecys, Ganelon and Corwin returned to the palace.

There, Corwin calls on Vialle, Random's wife, to tell her Random is travelling for a day or two. After sleeping, he visits his old cell in the dungeon, where he cleans up the two sketches left there by Dworkin: one of the Lighthouse of Cabra that he used to escape, and the other of Dworkin's quarters on the other side of its wall. He teleports through the latter. Dworkin, mistaking Corwin for Oberon, asks if it is finally time to destroy the world.

The Hand of Oberon, chapter 3

Corwin, Random, and Ganelon discovered the primal Amber, where no Mt. Kolvir or palace existed: just a mesa with a Pattern embedded in it. This proto-Pattern was damaged by the spilling of Amberite blood, the source of the black road running through Shadow. They discovered a Trump of Random's son Martin at the centre of the Pattern, impaled by a dagger. Corwin recognized the Trump's art style as Brand's. He kept this knowledge from Random. They called on Benedict to return to their Amber, and brought him up to sped on what they had been doing.

Benedict had suspected that the proto-Amber had existed, and that Oberon and Dworkin had created their Amber close by to draw on its power. Learning of Martin's apparent death, he reports that Martin had spent nearly a year living with him, learning about moving through Shadow and using the Trump's (of which he gifted him a spare deck), before leaving again. The last time Benedict had heard from Martin, he turned up at the home of a family Benedict knew in Shadow, the Tecys, with a knife wound. He had left a note saying not to worry. Random and Benedict leave to visit the Tecys (with Random riding Corwin's horse, Star), while Corwin and Ganelon return to the palace.

The Hand of Oberon, chapter 2

After a trip to the ghostly, floating city of Tir-na Nog'th, Corwin, with his brother Random and general Ganelon, were led by a unicorn to a place that appeared to be Mt. Kolvir, but with the top of the mountain and the palace missing, and only the Pattern remaining. They realized they were looking at the primal Amber and Pattern.

The Pattern was marred with black splotches, and at the center they found a dagger impaling a Trump of an unknown person. They figured out that the damage to the Pattern was caused by spilling blood of Amber. Random realized that the figure on the Trump was his missing son, Martin.

The Hand of Oberon, chapter 1

Today I continue my readthrough of Roger Zelazny's The Chronicles of Amber. I've been sick, so I'm late—sorry! So far I have competed the first three books in the series, so we pick up the story with the fourth novel, The Hand of Oberon.

And now ... this - June 6/24

Hot and cold running waterfalls

Yuntai waterfall, supposedly the tallest waterfall in China, was reveled this week to be (at least partly) artificially supplied by a water pipe.

Yuntai Mountain Park's management responded to the video, explaining how changes in the dry season necessitated the extra boost to the falls.

"(The waterfall) cannot guarantee to meet the public in its most beautiful appearance due to season changes," they said, adding that the waterfall underwent "a tiny improvement during dry season."

[Full Story]

Remember the CGI-enhanced fireworks at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, or the little girl who lip-synched during the opening ceremony? I'll bet we'll soon be finding out that everythng in China is artificial. The whole country is a fictitious theme park designed by Disney.

May 30, 2024

Sign of the Unicorn, chapter 11

Spoiler alert: This post is part of an in-depth discussion of Sign of the Unicorn by Roger Zelazny, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. I recommend reading the book first. It's short, I promise.

To rest and to recover from the stab wound he has kept secret from his family, accompanied by Random and Ganelon, Corwin ascended Kolvir to visit the floating city of Tir-na Nog'th, which appears above the mountain only by the light of the full moon. In Tir-na Nog'th, he experienced several visions. The last of these, seemingly of the future, was of Dara on the throne of Amber with Benedict at her side. He has a mechanical arm, replacing the one he lost fighting hellmaidens in Avalon. She proclaimed herself the rightful queen of Amber and said Corwin had been dead for centuries. When Corwin challenged her, Benedict drew on him with his own sword, and they fought. But as day broke, Tir-na Nog'th began to fade, and Random reached out to him via Trump to draw him back.

In Tir-na Nog'th, the apparitions and Corwin were immaterial to each other. However, safely back on solid ground, Corwin learns that Benedict's metal arm is nonetheless solid enough to have grabbed him by the shoulder and be drawn back to Amber. Corwin, Ganelon, and Random have a meal, and they discuss the Amberites' complicated family tree and the line of succession to the throne.

Sign of the Unicorn, chapter 10

After being rescued from imprisonment in a tower, Brand was stabbed by an unknown assailant. Then, so was Corwin. Brand revealed that he, Fiona, and Bleys had conspired to take the throne of Amber from Oberon to prevent Eric from doing so. Corwin was presumed dead, so his reappearance on the Shadow Earth was a complication. To keep him out of the way, Brand arranged the car accident that put him in hospital. Finally, he revealed that the would-be murderer was Fiona. There was more to the story.

Corwin, Random, and Ganelon ascend Kolvir to an outcropping of stone into which three steps are carved. In the light of the full moon, the floating city of Tir-na Nog'th appears, along with the stairway to ascend to it. Corwin intends to go there, supposedly to rest.

Sign of the Unicorn, chapter 9

With the help of Corwin and the other Amberites, Grard and Random rescued Brand from his tower prison, but he was stabbed in the process. They try to piece together who was responsible for trying to silence him, but after their meeting, Corwin too was stabbed by an unknown person in his room.

He woke up in his house on Earth, where he got help for his wound from his lawyer friend Bill Roth, who found him and drove him to the hospital. There Bill filled Corwin in on some of his own backstory, still missing from his memories due to his amnesia. He had been committed to a sanitarium by his brother "Brandon Corey" and a psychiatrist, "Hilary B. Rand," but he escaped the day he had his car accident. Bill also revealed that he suspected Corwin was not exactly human.

Corwin has recovered from his wounds enough to move around on his own. He receives a Trump call from Random informing him that Brand is awake and wants to talk to him. So (surprising a nurse in he process) he teleports to Amber.

Sign of the Unicorn, chapter 8

After rescuing Brand from the Shadow tower where he was being held prisoner, Corwin, his brothers and sisters tried to piece together the nature of the conspiracy against Amber. The imprisonment and attempted murder of Brand, the disappearance of Oberon, Corwin's car accident, the murder of Caine, and the attacks on Amber by the inhabitants of the dark road through Shadow—all of them seem to be connected. Then, someone lying in wait in Corwin's room stabbed him, too.

Corwin awakes, still bleeding from the wound in his gut. He discovers that he is back in his house in New York. How he got there is unknown, but he thinks it might have something to do with the Jewel of Judgment still hanging around his neck.

Sign of the Unicorn, chapter 7

At Corwin's suggestion, all the Amberites simultaneously concentrated on contacting Brand, and succeeded in opening a clear gateway to his cell in the tower where Brand had found him. Gérard and Random freed him from his tower prison and brought him back to Amber. However, in the confusion, someone—;one of Corwin's brothers or sisters—;tried to kill Brand with a knife.

In chapter 7 the Amberites try and work out who is responsible for the stabbing, as well as the other attacks on Amber, such as the siege from the dark road and the murder of Caine, which are clearly connected.

Sign of the Unicorn, chapter 6

Caine was murdered in the Grove of the Unicorn by a creature from Shadow, apparently to frame Corwin. Corwin recognized the creature as of the same kind that had chased Random to Flora's mansion in New York. Random first encountered them at the far extents of Shadow, guarding a tower in which Brand was imprisoned. Caine and Gérard went to the grove to retrieve Caine's body where Corwin hid it after finding him. Gérard defeated Corwin in a fight and threatened to kill him, accusing him of conspiring against Amber with the dark Shadow creatures that besieged the palace. However, he relented, and before they left, they saw a unicorn, wondering what it meant.

Corwin again gathers his family together in the palace in Amber. Random retells the story of discovering the tower. Since no single person can maintain a connection to Brand, Corwin suggests that everyone concentrate on his Trump simultaneously. It works, but as Brand recognizes his brothers and sisters, Gérard grabs a battle axe and charges into the image, where he frees Brand from his chains and battles the deformed guardians in the tower. Random follows, and together they pull Brand back into Amber. Unfortunately, Brand has been stabbed, and it is clear it was one of the Amberites that did it. Gérard renders medical aid and appoints himself to guard Brand as he recovers, knowing for certain only that he is innocent. The rest try to figure out which one of them would want to imprison or kill Brand.

Sign of the Unicorn, chapter 5

Corwin was lured to the Grove of the Unicorn, in Arden Forest, under false pretences, where he discovered the body of his brother Caine, freshly murdered by a creature from Shadow. He broke the news of Caine's death to his brothers and sisters. It was met, variously, with indifference, acceptance, and doubt about Corwin's innocence.

Brother Gérard accompanies Corwin to the grove to get Caine's body where Corwin had hidden it. He challenges Corwin to a fight. They wrestle, and Gérard subdues Corwin, who regains consciousness to find himself being dangled over a precipice. Gérard accuses him of the deaths of Benedict's servants and Caine, putting Oberon and Brand out of the picture, and secretly allying with the enemies of Amber from the dark road. The rest of the family listens in via the Trumps. Gé relents when Corwin insists he is not guilty.

They continue to the Grove of the Unicorn, so called because Oberon claimed he had once seen a unicorn there, leading to him adopting the beast as the family symbol. They recover Caine where Corwin had hidden him. While there, they, too, see an apparition of a unicorn, and contemplate its significance.

Sign of the Unicorn, chapter 4

Corwin discovered that his brother Caine had been murdered by an almost-human Shadow creature, of the same kind that had attacked him, his brother Random, and his sister Flora in her mansion in New York. He learned from Random that it was one of the guardians of a tower in the outskirts of Shadow, where he believed their missing brother Brand was being held prisoner. They chased him through Shadow to New York. Corwin and Random agreed that there was a conspiracy brewing in Amber, masterminded by someone with advanced knowledge of Shadow, but did not know who was responsible. Later, Corwin took the Jewel of Judgment, the weather-changing amulet he acquired from Eric, and used the Pattern to unlock its powers.

Now, Corwin continues his fact-finding by interviewing Flora. She does indeed recognize the Shadow thing from the attack on her house, but knows nothing more. She tells Corwin how she came to be his guardian in New York while he was hospitalized. She dwelt on Earth, as Corwin had once dwelt on Avalon. Although she had presumed Corwin dead by Eric's hand in the duel, she was surprised to have met him by chance at a party in Paris, shortly before the Reign of Terror, though he was still suffering from amnesia and didn't recognize her. Eric, who had also assumed he was dead, asked her to keep him under surveillance. After Corwin's car "accident," he instructed her to keep him under sedation.

Sign of the Unicorn, chapter 3

I also realized this week that I had misnamed this book: it's Sign of the Unicorn (only one the). I've corrected my previous posts.

With Eric dead and Corwin effectively the new ruler of Amber, his brother Caine (an ally of Eric) was murdered by a man-like creature from Shadow. The creature was similar to the ones Random encountered while trying to rescue his brother Brand from a tower where he was apparently held prisoner. These creatures, which can manipulate Shadow, were the ones that chased Random to Flora's house in New York.

Corwin and Random decide there is a conspiracy within Amber, and discuss who might be responsible. Since Brand arguably knew the most about manipulating Shadow, they contemplate a rescue. Their sister Flora also saw the creatures who attacked her mansion, so Corwin instructs Random to bring her to his rooms. Finally, he takes the Jewel of Judgment, a pendant that he obtained from Eric when he died, and walks the Pattern in the cellar of the palace to unlock the jewel's power to manipulate the weather. He then teleports to the tallest tower of the palace and summons a storm.

Sign of the Unicorn, chapter 2

Corwin made good his promise to overthrow his brother Eric and take the throne of Amber—at least, indirectly. Eric died in battle with the creatures of the black road as they besieged Kolvir, the mountain on which the palace of Amber sits. Dara, Corwin's supposed great-grandniece, was revealed as one of these dark creatures, and she threatened the destruction of Amber before disappearing.

A week later, Corwin is the de facto ruler of Amber. However, his brother Caine was murdered by another being from the black road, apparently intending to frame Corwin for the deed. His brother Random encountered these creatures before, so Corwin met privately with him and demanded some answers.

Chapter 2 is told from Random's point of view as he tells Corwin that story. He was visiting a Shadow where he could pursue his hobbies—namely, drumming, gliding, gambling, and women—when he suddenly receives a communication from his missing brother Brand, who is being held prisoner in a tower somewhere in Shadow. Random can see enough of the landscape in the vision to attempt to travel there.

A giant, luminous snake guards the tower in which Brand is held prisoner. Generated with DALL-E. He finds the tower in the far reaches of Shadow, surrounded by floating, orbiting rocks, and guarded by a giant, luminous warden in the form of a snake. Random attacks but fails to kill the snake, so he is unable to rescue Brand. He is chased away by the wounded beast and several other creatures from the tower. He defeats the snake beast by causing it to be struck by one of the flying rocks, but the other beings pursue him through Shadow. He kills several of them, but cannot lose them.

Random flees to Earth and California, where he is ambushed by the creatures in a bus terminal before he escapes by plane to New York and Flora's mansion, still pursued by the remaining six creatures. Here, he meets Corwin, and they dispatch his final pursuers, as we know from Nine Princes in Amber.

During the escape from the tower, Random communicates with Julian, who informs him that Oberon is missing and presumed dead. This left a vacancy on the throne that Eric wants to fill. Corwin has already fired us in on this aspect of Amberite family politics, of course. However, Corwin was also presumed dead by his siblings, thought to have been killed by Eric, rather than (as we know) exiled to Earth. Random was actually surprised that Corwin answered Flora's phone in New York, and assumed that it was him who had sicced the Shadow things on him. We already know that's not what happened. Possibly, a traitor in Amber has it in for the Amberites.

The tower where Brand is imprisoned is "somewhere where the shadows go mad." Like literal shadows, it looks like the farther away they emanate from Amber, the more indistinct Shadows become. The floating boulders around the tower imply that the normal laws of nature break down. Does this mean that Amber and less remote Shadow worlds follow a consistent set of physical laws—beyond, say, which materials are combustible or not?

Speaking of Shadow, up until now only the Amberites have been shown with the ability to manipulate reality and move between universes. The notable exception is Dworkin, the designer of the Pattern and Trumps, who doesn't have the innate ability that the Amberites do; but somehow, he has figured out how it works. Yet now we've discovered that these Shadow freaks also know to pursue Random through Shadow. Who are these guys, and who is using them to get at … Corwin and his allies?

"Childe Random to the dark tower came," remarks Random about his approach to the tower. This is an allusion to the Robert Browning poem, "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came," published in 1855 in his collection Men and Women. Clearly Zelazny's setting for the chapter was inspired by this poem. A few years later, Stephen King took more direct inspiration from "Childe Roland" for his Dark Tower series, even naming the protagonist Roland.

Corwin already knew Brand was alive, since Corwin successfully contacted him in Nine Princes. However, he never learned his location, while Random did. Corwin also knows Oberon is alive. I would guess that some kind of rescue missions are coming up.

April 25, 2024

Sign of the Unicorn, chapter 1

This morning we return, once again, to Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber. We pick up the story at the beginning of the third novel in the series, Sign of the Unicorn. We also move from the first to the second volume of my Doubleday set. Though the cover is green instead of yellow, Boris Vallejo's depiction of a shirtless Corwin in tight jeans and a cape fighting two giant cats remains. I assume this is his encounter with the hellcats from The Guns of Avalon.

OJ Simpson, 1947-2024

Orenthal James (OJ) Simpson died yesterday at the age of 76.

Those of us of an age still remember Simpson as a football Hall of Famer and a sometime actor, perhaps known best for rôles in the Naked Gun series and the conspiracy thriller Capricorn One. But for everyone alive today, all that was upstaged in June 1994.

Christ is King!

If Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For "God has put all things in subjection under his feet." But when it says, "all things are put in subjection," it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all. (1 Corinthians 15:12–28)

Today is Easter, the holiest Sunday of the year, celebrating the fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

In dying on the cross, Jesus acted as our infallible high priest: unlike mere human priests, who had to offer sacrifices over and over, for their own sins as well as the people's, he had no sins of his own, and hence his atoning death was able to appease his Father's wrath against sinners once and for all and to "save to the uttermost" (Hebrews 7:25–;27). And when he rose from the dead, he showed that the Father was satisfied with his sacrifice. Because Jesus rose from the dead, we too can have hope that there is life beyond the grave.

On that first Easter weekend, Christ conquered our two greatest enemies: sin on Good Friday, and death on Easter Sunday.

Everything has been put into subjection to him. Christ is King!

The Guns of Avalon, chapter 9

Spoiler alert: This post is part of an in-depth discussion of The Guns of Avalon by Roger Zelazny, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. Unless you're the sort of person who likes skipping to the last page, go read the book first.

Corwin intends to use firearms to retake Amber from Eric. He and his ally Ganelon travelled to Avalon, a Shadow realm ruled by his brother Benedict, to obtain a large quantity of jeweller's rouge in Avalon to use as gunpowder in Amber, where actual gunpowder will not burn. They then travelled to our Earth to obtain firearms for their siege of Amber. Whole on Earth, Corwin visited his former house in New York state, where he found a letter from Eric, asking him to help defend Amber against attacks from creatures from the black road that has appeared in Amber and across all Shadows. Corwin ignored the request and resolved to continue with his plan to retake the throne of Amber from Eric.

The Guns of Avalon, chapter 8

Corwin of Amber arrived in a Shadow world named Avalon to obtain a quantity of jeweller's rouge to use as a gunpowder substitute, because gunpowder is inert in Amber, but rouge is explosive. His brother Benedict is the ruler of Avalon. While there, Corwin met and fell in love with Benedict's great-granddaughter, Dara. After purchasing the rouge, he and his ally Ganelon left Avalon secretly to travel to Earth, but they were pursued by Benedict, who wanted revenge on Corwin for a supposed murder. They defeated Benedict, and summoned brother Gérard to retrieve him while they escaped.

The Guns of Avalon, chapter 7

Corwin and his former enemy, now ally, Ganelon, arrived in a shadow Avalon ruled by Corwin's eldest brother, Benedict. They want to obtain a large quantity of jeweller's rouge in Avalon, and to buy firearms in Belgium on our Earth. Gunpowder will not ignite in Amber, but rouge will, so he intends to use it as a gunpowder substitute. In Avalon, he met Benedict's great-granddaughter Dara, and they fell for each other. Corwin and Ganelon then left Benedict's house secretly.

The Guns of Avalon, chapter 6

Corwin and Ganelon arrived in a shadow Avalon where Corwin's brother Benedict was the ruler. They decided to stay with him for a time, but he warned them not to use Avalon as a staging area for their planned assault on Amber. Corwin also met Dara, Bebedict's young great-granddaughter, who has a latent ability to manipulate Shadow but has not yet walked the Pattern in Amber that will fully enable her abilities.

The Guns of Avalon, chapter 5

Corwin of Amber and Ganelon, steward of a Shadow world called Lorraine, have formed an alliance to retake Amber from Corwin's brother Eric, who has placed himself on its throne. They are former enemies, but Corwin helped Ganelon defeat a dark Circle in Lorraine, a by-product of a curse Corwin placed on Eric. They travelled to a shadow of Avalon, the realm that Corwin once ruled. Corwin plans to obtain a quantity of jeweller's rouge in Avalon, and use it as the propellant in firearms purchased on Earth, because Corwin once discovered that unlike conventional gunpowder, jeweller's rouge will burn in Amber.

The Guns of Avalon, chapter 4

Corwin has been living in a Shadow world named Lorraine. The steward, Ganelon, is known to him from centuries past when he ruled another Shadow world called Avalon. However, he banished Ganelon for rebellion. Using the pseudonym Corey, Corwin helped Ganelon defeat the evil creatures of the dark Circle that had appeared in Lorraine as a consequence of Corwin's curse against his brother Eric. Ganelon finally recognized Corwin, but no longer hated him.

The two form an alliance and travel together to a Shadow resembling the original Avalon, which had fallen ages ago. Ganelon catches a youth stealing food from their camp. He is a deserter from a battle against some "hellmaids" that emerged from a cave in Avalon. They let him go, and approach the military camp, posing as mercenaries. They are brought into the camp, where they meet the commanding officer and Protector of this Avalon—who is none other than Corwin's eldest brother, Benedict. He lost an arm during the battle. They catch up on current events. Benedict informs Corwin that he desires peace and will not support any conflict between him and Eric; he is welcome to reside as a guest in Avalon but not to stage an attack against Amber. Afterward, when Corwin beds down outside Benedict's tent, he spies him using his deck of Tarots, but does not know who (if anyone) he contacted.

This chapter is heavy, and I mean heavy, on exposition. Much of it is simply a recap of the story so far. But it introduces a new major character: Benedict. He's been mentioned a few times already. He is Corwin's eldest brother and arms teacher, being the best swordsman of all the Amberites. He has been missing, and nobody knew whether he was alive or dead (Corwin tried to contact him via his Trump in Nine Princes and got no response).

Benedict's namesake is probably St. Benedict of Nursia, the fifth-century Catholic monk who founded the Benedictine order: basically, the father of Christian monasticism. Benedict of Amber has become disenchanted with the court politics of his world, and chosen to remove himself from all that strife, disclaim his entitlement to the throne, and live separated from Amber. In a certain sense, he's become a hermit.

Benedict is encouraged that Corwin regrew his eyes, because it means he may in time regrow the arm lost to the hellmaids, though his ability to regenerate is not what Corwin's is. Corwin feels responsible for that loss, as well as for bringing that corruption to Avalon.

This Shadow Avalon was also once ruled by a shadow Corwin, and like the Corwin of Lorraine, he is not fondly remembered, to say the least. Benedict does not make their kinship known. I am beginning to anticipate that we might actually meet some shadow Corwins in the future. There seem to be a lot of them. As ruler of the original Avalon, Corwin was harsh but not tyrranical. Perhaps the farther the Shadows emanate from their source, the more distorted they become. Could there be some really evil Corwins out there?

Amidst all the exposition in this chapter, we learn a lot more about the Amberites. Benedict is the eldest, who has distanced himself from family politics. He regards any ambition to seize the throne as a usurpation, since Oberon is missing but not actually dead. (Corwin does not tell him that Oberon himself encouraged him to take the throne from Eric, nor is it suggested that Benedict would support him even then.) Eric is older than Corwin, but Corwin says he has the more legitimate claim. He also calls Eric a literal bastard, implying that although they are full brothers, both being sons of Oberon's second wife, Eric was born out of wedlock while Corwin was not.

Corwin spells out his plan to retake Amber. is spelled out. I correctly guessed that he wants to obtain jeweller's rouge from Avalon. Then he will travel to Earth where, employed as a mercenary, he had made connections with Belgian arms dealers from whom to buy a considerable quantity of firearms. "My order would be complicated and expensive, I realized, because some ammunition manufacturer would have to be persuaded to set up a special production line": in other words, his plan requires custom-made ammunition using rouge as a propellant instead of gunpowder. I hope someday we're given an explanation for this wonky chemistry, in which an explosive like gunpowder will not ignite, but a relatively non-combustible substance like jeweller's rouge (ferric oxide) is energetic enough to propel bullets. I don't think I would find "because that's the way it is" a particularly satisfying answer.

Lastly, whom did Benedict try to contact with his Trumps, if that's what he was doing? Is it friend or foe? Is Benedict really as aloof from all this as he appears? The story continues next Thursday.

March 07, 2024

The Guns of Avalon, chapter 3

Corwin, having escaped from the dungeon of his brother Eric in Amber, set out in search of Avalon, a Shadow kingdom which he once ruled. Instead he found a realm called Lorraine, ruled over by Ganelon, whom he had banished there from Amber. Disguising his identity, he joined with Ganelon to destroy the dark Circle that had appeared in Lorraine, apparently an extension of the dark rift he opened in Amber when he pronounced a powerful curse on Eric. He began a relationship with a woman, also named Lorraine.

The Guns of Avalon, chapter 2

Prince Corwin of Amber has escaped after his brother Eric took the throne of Amber, blinded him, and threw him in the dungeon for three years. Travelling through Shadow, looking for a former kingdom of his called Avalon, he encounters a wounded knight named Lance and takes him to the Keep of Ganelon—under an alias, since he had exiled Ganelon from Avalon 600 years earlier. He learns that Ganelon's realm, Lorraine, is home to a darkened circle of land from which evil beings emerge to attack the surrounding area. Ganelon hires Corwin as an arms trainer for his troops.

The Guns of Avalon, chapter 1

Good morning! After a two-week hiatus, we return today to our readthrough of Roger Zelazny's fantasy series The Chronicles of Amber, the first five books of which were published from 1970–78. This is a reread, but it has been over 30 years since I last read them, and I remember next to nothing. So what you are reading is basically my first impression.

I paused at the end of the first book, Nine Princes in Amber, and we pick up the story again today with the second, The Guns of Avalon.

Nine Princes in Amber, chapter 10

Spoiler alert: This post is part of an in-depth discussion of Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. If you don't want me ruining the experience for you, put this post down and go read Nine Princes in Amber now. I promise I won't be offended.

After being blinded and imprisoned by his brother Eric in the dungeons of the castle of Amber, Corwin regains his sight, thanks to his quick healing power. His opportunity to escape comes from a chance meeting with Dworkin, creator of the Trumps that allow the Royal family of Amber to communicate with, and teleport to, each other. Dworkin draws a Trump of the Lighthouse of Cabra on Corwin's cell wall, and Corwin uses it to escape.

At the lighthouse, Corwin poses as a castaway named Corey and gets aid from Jopin the lighthouse keeper. He stays with Jopin for several months. When he announces his intention to leave, Jopin reveals that he had recognized Corwin and tells him, before he goes, to look at the Vale of Garnath through the spyglass. Doing so, he realizes that the valley has turned into a new opening into Amber that evil things are using, and it is a result of a curse he had placed on Eric while imprisoned. Sailing away from the lighthouse, he sends a message to Eric via a black bird that he is coming for him.

Nine Princes in Amber, chapter 9

Corwin, Prince of Amber, has failed in his attempt to take the throne of Amber from his evil brother, Eric. He was captured, forced to offer Eric the crown at his coronation, then blinded and imprisoned.

Three years later, Corwin is still in his cell in the dungeon. But he realizes that thanks to his unusual ability to recover quickly from injury, his eyes are growing back. The next time Eric trots him out for a celebratory banquet, his recovered sight will be discovered. So Corwin starts planning his escape.

Nine Princes in Amber, chapter 8

Corwin's and Bleys's assault on Amber to retake the throne from their brother Eric has failed. Their entire army was obliterated, Bleys fell almost at the gate to Amber, and Corwin was captured.

Imprisoned in the castle dungeon, Corwin is brought in chains to a banquet at which Eric is crowned king of Amber, in spite of many insults from Corwin. Eric has Corwin blinded and thrown back in his cell. He is left alone for over four months, until a knight named Rein, whom Corwin had befriended centuries ago, secretly brings him a gift of good food, wine, and cigarettes. On the anniversary of his coronation, Eric again drags Corwin out to a banquet. "Thus ended the first year of darkness."

Friday in the Wild: February 9, 2024

It's Friday, and that means it's time for the weekly roundup of good stuff from around the blogosphere. I've got three articles this week.

Nine Princes in Amber, chapter 7

In their attempt to take the city of Amber and overthrow their brother Eric before he can be crowned king, Corwin and Bleys have reunited on land after Corwin lost his naval fleet to brother Caine. They march over land toward Amber, but when they reach the forest of Arden, Eric burns it down while Julian deploys archers against them. Eric escapes the fire and arrows by swimming down the river alongside the forest.

Corwin returns to Bleys's camp, where only 5,000 troops remain, and they march on Kolvir, the mountain on which Amber sits. They ascend the mountain and then the long staircase to Amber, with Eric's men eliminating theirs all the way. Bleys is struck near the top and falls, but Corwin throws his Trumps after him in a desperate attempt at a rescue. Corwin himself makes it into Amber, but he is captured and imprisoned—the last one alive.

Nine Princes in Amber, chapter 6

Corwin, prince of Amber, has recovered his memories and his ability to magically travel to and from Amber. He faced his brother Eric and declared his intent to take the throne of Amber from him.

Corwin is now with his brother Bleys, who has allied with him to March on Amber and take the throne. They travel throughout Shadow, raising a military force large enough to defeat Eric before his coronation, which is to take place in three months.

Nine Princes in Amber, chapter 5

In the previous chapter of Nine Princes in Amber, brothers Corwin and Random have made their way from Earth, in the Shadows, to the real world of Amber. They found and rescued their sister Deirdre, who had been captured by their brother Eric's men. They decide to go to Rebma, an underwater city that is the reflection of Amber.

As they descend the undersea stairway to Rebma, Corwin discovers he can breathe, nonetheless. They are pursued by horsemen, whom they fight and defeat on the stairs just before they arrive in Rebma.

I Begg your pardon?

Recently, in an interview, radio pastor Alistair Begg (host of the Truth for Life program) recounted a conversation he had had with a Christian lady, whose grandson was going to marry a transgender woman. She didn't know whether she ought to attend the wedding. Begg counseled her to attend the wedding and provide a wedding gift.¹ Social media blew up, as social media is wont to do, with Christians roundly condemning this advice. The American Family Radio network also announced that it was dropping his program.

Nine Princes in Amber, chapter 4

In the previous chapter of Nine Princes in Amber, Corwin received a phone call from his brother Random in California, who was being pursued and needed protection. In chapter 4, he arrives at the front door of their sister Flora's New York mansion—much to Flora's alarm.

Friday in the Wild: January 26, 2024

Last week's Friday in the Wild was a long one; conversely, this week's is short, as was my time for reading blogs.

Nine Princes in Amber, chapter 3

Corwin has escaped from the private hospital where he was recovering from a car accident but actually being held prisoner. He has amnesia, but learns his sister Florimel (or Flora) was the one keeping him there. He finds her and (while hiding his memory loss) learns that he is actually from (apparently) an alternate reality called Amber, and stands opposed to his siblings on some as-yet-unspecified family issue.

In chapter 3 of Nine Princes in Amber, Corwin wakes up the next day in Flora's house. She isn't there, so he searches her library for more clues. He finds a secret compartment in her desk that hides a deck of tarot cards. The trump cards are lifelike representations of himself and his siblings.

Nine Princes in Amber, chapter 2

Our protagonist wakes up in a hospital after a car accident. He has amnesia, but he learns that he was admitted under the name Carl Corey, and that his sister, Evelyn Flaumel, has been paying to keep him there, under sedation. In Chapter 2 of Nine Princes in Amber, Corey has escaped the hospital and takes a bus to New York to meet with his sister. En route, he contemplates that the car accident that put him there was likely not accidental.

Friday Saturday in the Wild: January 20, 2024

Welcome to the first Friday in the Wild of 2024! Between the Christmas holidays and a lingering cold, it's been a while. But I've been collecting links for the past couple of weeks nonetheless, so rather than waste them, this will just be a longer installment than usual. (I'm also a day late due to time constraints—but hopefully not a dollar short.)

Nine Princes in Amber, chapter 1

Welcome to the first post in my readthrough of Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber. We are beginning, obviously, at the beginning: the first chapter of the first book, Nine Princes in Amber, originally published in 1970.

Our protagonist wakes up in a hospital room. He has amnesia: he remembers being in an accident, but he doesn't know where he is and can't remember his own name. His legs are in casts, but they aren't broken; whatever his injuries were, they've healed. He also realizes that he has been kept drugged.

Reading through The Chronicles of Amber

I first heard of the late Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber in high school. I worked at the public library for three years, and saw many of the volumes on the paperback rack.

On a Saturday in 1989 or 1990, needing some reading material for a bus trip, I came across a two-volume set of The Chronicles of Amber (Nelson Doubleday, 1978) at a used bookshop a few blocks from the Kitchener bus terminal, and I decided to give it a try.^[1] In those days, I was decidedly not a fantasy reader. I hadn't even read The Lord of the Rings yet (and when I tried that, the next summer, I didn't get too far). So Amber was my first fantasy. It was like nothing I had read previously.

2023 readiing review

2023 has come to an end. That means it's time for my year-end review of my reading hobby, my traditional first post of the new year.

My annual goal is to read 50 books of any type. Last year, I fell well short of that target. This year, on the other hand, I exceeded it, reading 70 books. That's a record, surpassing the 61 I read in 2020. According to my stats at Goodreads, by page count I've read only marginally more in 2023 than 2020. That means I've been selecting shorter titles, though for the most part not intentionally. (And not to cheat my way to meeting my goal!)

My first book this year was A Pale View of Hills by Kazuo Ishiguro, whom I resolved to read more of in 2022. During the year I also read his An Artist of the Floating World and The Remains of the Day. The last was meant to be my final novel for the year until I realized it was much shorter than I remembered. Oops.

Anyway, the last novel of 2023 is The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham. Technically, I finished it up this afternoon, but I'm not going to begrudge 2023 one last book over the last chapter. This was a re-read of a book that was required reading in my last year of high-school English. Like The Turn of the Screw a few years ago, I found I enjoyed it much more in middle age than my teenage years. Now I feel inclined to re-read and re-evaluate a lot of boring high-school literature. (The Catcher in the Rye and Heart of Darkness are still boring, though.)

The newest book I read this year was The Secret by Lee and Andrew Child, published in October. As the Jack Reacher series are the only books I make a point of reading soon after release, then unless the brothers Child change their publishing timetable or my overall reading habits evolve, this is very likely to be an annual constant.

The oldest book was, again, a play by Aphra Behn: The Dutch Lover from 1673. My original plan was to read all of Behn's plays during a year on weekend afternoons, as I had done with Shakespeare's works. I guess I'm less enthusiastic about Behn, since in nearly three years years I've managed only three out of (I believe) 18 plays. She's enjoyable, though.

My favourite book of the year? Well … The Remains of the Day has long been my favourite novel, nothing has yet displaced it, and I re-read it just this week (for the fourth time). If I leave it out of contention, however, and look at books I hadn't read before, then the nod goes instead to Stephen King's Revival, a surprisingly good horror story—surprising not because I have low expectations for King, but because his books just prior to this 2014 one were focused on crime (Mr. Mercedes, Joyland), fantasy (The Wind Through the Keyhole), and science fiction (Under the Dome), so his return to straight-up supernatural horror was a welcome one. Runner-up: An Artist of the Floating World. I'll grant this one to Ishiguro.

My least favourite of the year: Downbelow Station by C. J. Cherryh. I can't put my finger on anything particularly bad about this novel; it just failed to hold my interest. In my ongoing reading of the Hugo- and Nebula-winning novels, I was looking forward to this one, since I had read and enjoyed Cherryh's Rimrunners years ago, but Downbelow Station just didn't live up to the expectations I'd built up in my head. Your mileage may vary. Sometime in 2024 I'll also be reading a follow-up novel, Cyteen, set in the same universe as the other two, and I haven't been prejudiced against it yet. Runner-up: The Gray Man by Mark Greaney. Again, a novel that didn't live up to my expectations. It was entertaining enough to pass the time while travelling, but I thought it predictable and derivative of older thrillers such as The Bourne Identity.

The best new discovery of the year was a genre, rather than an author: the Japanese light novel. This isn't a genre that we have in the West, as such. I suppose the closest equivalent would be a young-adult series—or a comic book, if they came in prose. Near the beginning of the year, I watched the anime series Sword Art Online and Full Metal Panic!, and liked them enough to want to read the source material. I've read a handful of volumes of each series. Of the two, I enjoy the story in Full Metal Panic, written by Shōji Gatō more; but I think Sword Art Online by Reki Kawahara is better written. In fairness to both authors, I can't read Japanese, so I can't tell whether this is due to their own writing ability or the translators'. I'd never read a non-Western novel before the end of 2020, and now I've latched on to blatantly commercial Japanese juvenile fiction as a source of semi-disposable entertainment. Runner-up: The House Without a Key, the first of the Charlie Chan mystery novels by Earl Derr Biggers.

A book I finally finished: Bleak House by Charles Dickens. I visit with a friend weekly, and for many years it's been my habit on the walk back home to listen to an audiobook. In late 2019, I started Bleak House—specifically, the Librivox recording narrated by Mil Nicholson, which is excellent. Now, this is a long novel comprising 67 chapters, and my travel time was about enough for one chapter per week. And then there was the pandemic, which put a halt on those weekly sessions. Even without COVID it would have taken more than a year to finish; as it was, I finished Bleak House three years and ten months after starting. Runner-up: The Once and Future King by T. H. White, which took two years and ten months start to finish; it is, however, a series of four novels.

I aim to read five nonfiction books per year. In 2023, I read eight (and part of three more). Most of these were theology, as I have from time to time been studying issues such as Dispensationalism and neo-Pentecostalism. The best of these was No Quick Fix, by Andrew Naselli, a critique of the Keswick Holiness or “Higher Life” movement.

Finally, my reading goals for 2024 include:

completing my chronological reading of Stephen King's books, which I began c. 2010. Including the upcoming story collection, You Like It Darker, I've got ten books left. Then I'll have nothing else to look forward to but new Stephen King novels.
blogging a readthrough of Roger Zelazny's fantasy series, The Chronicles of Amber. I'll post more details about this in the new year.
reading Journey to the West by Wu Cheng'en, one of the four great classical Chinese novels. This is a long one. I've read the complete works of Shakespeare, Les Misérables, The Lord of the Rings, and the Bible, and I think Journey to the West outweighs any of them. Reading it is sure to be almost as much of an epic as the story itself.

My return trip to Ottawa is the day after New Year's, and my coach reading (and very probably the first novel of 2024) will be Andrew Klavan's A Strange Habit of Mind, the second of his Cameron Winter mysteries.

Happy New Year, everyone!

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