Shalee lhaih 2013: Shiaghtin 38

Jerrey hoghtoo hiaghtin jeih as feed ny Shallee Lhaih. Shoh ny lhiah mee yn çhiaghtin shoh chaie:

The Mammoth book of short fantasy novels (ymmodee)

As ish ny lioar-haglymit, verrym shilley bieau da dagh skeeal. Trooid as trooid ghow mee ram soylley assjee; va skeeal ayn nagh b'vooar lhiam ee, as daa elley as troyn oc voir orrym.

• "The Gate of the Flying Knives" liorish Poul Anderson. Tappee as lane anaase; she contoyrtys beg t'ayn, picaresque as pishagys anaasoil aynjee.
• "Unicorn Tapestry" liorish Suzy McKee Charnas. Fansee "jeianagh" beggan quaagh, lane dy chooid fallsoonagh-shickoaylleeagh v'ad coontey mooar jeh ayns ny 1970yn. Ben-hickoayllee smooinee er va surransagh oc ny hooder-folley ny dyn, as er jibbag. Ronsaghey ennagh er aigney ben 'sy çhymbyllaght shen, foddey, agh cha by vooar lhiam ee, chamoo v'ee olk. Quaagh, shen ooilley.
• "Sleep Well of Nights" liorish Avram Davidson. Skeeal neughooghyssagh, cha nee fansee hene t'ayn. V'ee meein as kenjal, as ga dy row eh dooillee toiggal eh ny keayrtyn, ghow mee soylley jeh.
• "Black Heart and White Heart" liorish H. Rider Haggard. Contoyrtys-yillyn rere y çhenn aght 'syn Affrick. Ta contoyrtyssagh bane ayn, lane henelys as kialgagh dy lioor; dy cadjin ta'n lheid screeuit myr ard-charracteyr y skeeal, as yn ughtar gyn cur enney da falleilys yn 'er, agh ta Haggard toiggal dy mie. Ta'n skeeal feeit mygeayrt cummaght olk yn 'er, as she ny fir ghorrym ta feniee y skeeal, ga dy vel drogh-ir nyn mast'oc myrgeddin. Beggan creoi ny keayrtyn, er coontey reddyn olk ta taghyrt, agh mie dy liooar.
• "Red Nails" liorish Robert E Howard. Um. Wahll, by vie lhiam y chaayr ard-yindyssagh varroo, as ny cummaltee keoie as y sheer-chaggey folley eddyr oc, as y caggey noi y jiolgan atçhimagh. Agh t'eh goaill toshiaght marish ben-feniagh ta goll er ceau magh rish duillag ny ghaa er son Conan. As ta Conan, 'sy skeeal shoh, ny vaarder as ny vock mooar, ta loaghtey y ven noi e mian tra t'ad shirrey aght dy scapail y veishteig. Cha nel tro erbee echey ta feeu yindys agh y schlei caggee echey. Atreih.
• "Storm in a Bottle" liorish John Jakes. Skeeal aitt, as y karracteyr shirrey aght dy scapail ny mooie-cheeaylley ree as y pishagagh echey, as y jees oc lane chialg.
• "Ill Met in Lankhmar" liorish Fritz Leiber. Screeut dy mie, as lane phishagys quaagh as dorraghey. Ta'n skeeal hene dorraghey dy liooar, agh she contoyrtys mie t'ayn ny yei shen. By vie lhiam ny karracteyryn, as by hreih lhiam dy varr eh ny mraane - dennee mee dy row blass beg "fridging" er shen, ga nagh row yn eie shen ayn tra screeu eh eh.
• "The Lands Beyond the World" liorish Michael Moorcock. Feer whaagh, agh ayns aght mie. Ta Moorcock jannoo obbyr 'ondagh jeh seihll ashlishagh as ard-charracteyr nagh vel ny ghooinney agh red ennagh elley. Ghow mee ram soylley jeh.
• "A Man and His God" liorish Janet Morris. Ach. Hoshiaght, cha nel eh baghtal ny ta taghyrt ny keayrtyn, ny cre'n fa, as t'eh doo dy liooar. Cha by vie lhiam aght Morris lesh y charracteyr "Ilsig", noadyr. V'eh feer faggys da'n aght screeu ad er sleabyn gorrym. Ta'n cailtynagh Ilsigagh gymmyrkey gollrish moddey thie rere coontey Morris, as t'eh gooashlaghey yn ard-charracteyr Tempus dy bolvaneagh. Rish duillag ny ghaa ta Tempus torçhaghey y fer boght dys raad y vaaish, agh cha doig mee y chabil shen rish tammylt; chreid mee hoshiaght dy row ad jannoo jibbag, faggys, 'syn aght quaagh t'eh screeuit - as ta'n cailtynagh boght foast cur graih er! Agh t'eh leodaghey foast, chaardjyn. Ta'n broutid shen er y fa dy cheayll Tempus coraa y chailtynagh 'sy thie raad v'eshyn ny chappee as goll er torçhaghey. Gyn gra dy row laue yn 'er 'sy chooish shen, ny çheet er niart as aigney sleabyn, shegin da goll er marroo, rere eie Hempus. Smooinee foast, ny fir va kyndagh rish goaill as torçhaghey eh, t'eh lhiggey da fer 'sy jees goll seyr - ga dy row adsyn nyn vir jeh deiney Hempus hene ren brah eh! Shegin dou gra, cha by vooar lhiam red erbee 'sy skeeal shoh, ga dy row blass anaasoil ny ghaa aynsyn ny keayrtyn. She drogh-'er faghidagh eh yn ard-charracteyr, as cha nel Morris toiggal shen, er lhiam. Ny jumm traa er, charrey.
• "Spider Silk" liorish Andre Norton. Ard-charracteyr bwoirrinagh, fy-yerrey! Skeeal feer anaasoil as noa, ga dy dod mee insh rolaue ny haghyragh dy mennick (bentyn rish yn ennym, foddee) - cha nee neuyerkallys ta jannoo skeeal mie, vel? As va reddyn ry-insh rolaue ayns ne skeealyn elley myrgeddin. Fondagh.
• "Where is the Bird of Fire?" liorish Thomas Burnett Swann. Cha lhaih mee eh; rere coontey giare dennee mee dy beagh eh trimshagh, as cha row mee son shen.
• "Guyal of Sfere" liorish Jack Vance. Skeeal mie, mea, noa as anaasoil. Ta pishagys quaagh as agglagh aynsyn, as by vie lhiam yn aght screeuee cramp as shenn-emshiragh v'echey. Feer vie.
• "Tower of Ice" liorish Roger Zelazny. Skeeal mie elley, ass y raad cliaghtagh as lane dy reddyn neuyerkallit aym. T'eh jannoo obbyr vie lesh folliaghtyn beggey nagh vow soilshaghey erbee.

Mayo Chiki y.l. 1(Asano Hajime)

Skeeal quaagh dy liooar ayns scoill Hapaanagh, lane dy inneenyn quaaghey as guilley boght ta fud-y-cheilley bentyn rish ny reddyn quaaghey t'ad jannoo. V'eh castreycair. Ta ram cooid lieh-cheintyssagh ayns stoo Shapaanagh, er lhiam, tra nagh vel feme erbee ayn... shen quaagh dy liooar dooys.

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The end of week thirty-eight of the Reading Project. Here's what I've read this week:

The Mammoth book of short fantasy novels (various)

As it's a compilation, I'll quickly address each story. Overall I enjoyed it very much; there was one that wasn't my thing, and sadly two had aspects I was really quite uncomfortable with.

• "The Gate of the Flying Knives" by Poul Anderson. Quite enjoyed this quick fantasy adventure, a sort of picaresque style with some fun magic.
• "Unicorn Tapestry" by Suzy McKee Charnas. A bit odd? Modern fantasy as much as it's fantasy at all, and mostly more of that odd 70s philosopsychological stuff. Possibly supposed to be psychological drama. Not really my thing.
• "Sleep Well of Nights" by Avram Davidson. An interesting supernatural tale, rather than fantasy as such, quite gentle and friendly, if occasionally slightly hard to follow.
• "Black Heart and White Heart" by H. Rider Haggard. No-holds-barred boys' own adventure, with the kind of self-interested and treacherous white adventurer who's so often a protagonist, but Haggard has deliberately built this around the man's failings and the native characters are where the real action is. Slightly tough going at times as it's fairly grim, like all Haggard, but decent.
• "Red Nails" by Robert E Howard. Um. Well, I like the fantastical dead city, and the psychotically feuding inhabitants, and the lich-wizard, and even the fight with the dinosaur. Only the apparent heroine gets demoted from adventuress to feeble woman after the first two pages, in favour of a Conan presented as a smug, lecherous groper with no redeeming features except combat prowess. Shame.
• "Storm in a Bottle" by John Jakes. Pretty fun stuff, with our hero trying to escape treacherous wizards and kings.
• "Ill Met in Lankhmar" by Fritz Leiber. A well-written, dark but enjoyable tale full of weird and sinister magic. My only real regret is that he kills off the female characters (at least one of whom's apparently competent) which felt a bit fridgy to me.
• "The Lands Beyond the World" by Michael Moorcock. Weird, but in a good way. Moorcock does a good job of presenting an odd dreamworld and an inhuman protagonist, and I enjoyed this pretty well.
• "A Man and His God" by Janet Morris. Most notably, it's not really clear what is happening or why in this story, and it's really quite grim at times. Morris' handling of the conquered Ilsig character was uncomfortable reading for several reasons. It's too close to old racial stereotypes, and the eunuch's worshipful style of adoring the hero, described as dog-like, contrasts with the presentation of his white adorer's affection. Within about a page the protagonist Tempus is torturing the poor eunuch and leaving it with mortal injuries, in a scene which initially seemed like it was an unexpected sex scene - in fact the scene was pretty confusing, and it took me a while to work out that Tempus was torturing the eunuch rather than just having sex with him, and that "dead by sunset" referred to horrific injuries from the torture rather than shooting the messenger. Said brutality is explicitly revenge for having heard the eunuch's voice in the building where Tempus was held captive and tortured. Because that must be proof of complicity and guilt, especially with him being a slave. It's a particularly striking contrast that Tempus lets one of the people actually responsible for his torture go free, even though the guy is actually one of his own underlings who betrayed him. I wasn't particularly impressed with any aspect of this story, even though it had some intriguing touches occasionally. Also I didn't notice any reason to care about the protagonist or find him interesting. One to skip, seriously.
• "Spider Silk" by Andre Norton. Hooray, a female protagonist! An interesting and thoroughly creative tale, even though it's predictable in many plot aspects (it's not like most of the other stories aren't). Good stuff.
• "Where is the Bird of Fire?" by Thomas Burnett Swann. I didn't read this because the blurb made it sound depressing.
• "Guyal of Sfere" by Jack Vance. A nice, rich, creative quest tale with strange and terrible magic, in a compelling style (especially if, like me, you quite like wordy writing). Thoroughly enjoyable.
• "Tower of Ice" by Roger Zelazny. Another great one, unusual and full of good and unexpected touches.

Mayo Chiki v. 1 (Asano Hajime)

A strange story set in a Japanese school (like so many), full of strange girls (ditto) and an unfortunate youth who gets dragged into their bewildering schemes (ditto). It was okay. Manga seem to be quite keen on unnecessary semi-sexual content, which I find a bit weird.