Update on Volumes 3 & 4 of The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny
ckovacs
and on their way to the printer. They are expected to be released in
July prior to Readercon and certainly should be available by the time
of Worldcon barring unforeseen delays at the printer. Ordering
information won't be available on the NESFA Press website (and later,
Amazon) until the books are actually released. The NESFA Press page
is: http://www.nesfa.org/press/Books/Zelazny-Project.html.
Volume 3 - This Mortal Mountain - begins with newly written
introductions by Neil Gaiman and David Hartwell. There are 30 short
stories covering an interval from the late 1960s through the early
1970s, 7 nonfiction essays, 41 poems, several "curiosities," and part
3 of the biography "...And Call Me Roger." Plus all the annotations
of stories and the "A Word from Zelazny" sections where Zelazny
comments on why he wrote a particular piece or what he thought about
it in retrospect. Some of the notable stories include "This Mortal
Mountain," "The Engine at Heartspring's Center," "Angel, Dark Angel,"
and "Damnation Alley." As with the earlier volumes there are many
previously uncollected (e.g., "Here There Be Dragons" and "Way Up
High") and several previously unpublished stories (e.g., Zelazny's
tale in the Cthulhu mythos, "The Insider," and his pessimistic yarn
about the consequences of overcrowded cities, "The Hounds of Sorrow").
Three collaborative short stories -- two with Dannie Plachta, and one
with Harlan Ellison® -- are included. One of the curiosities is the
notorious sex scene that editors required Zelazny to delete from The
Guns of Avalon because it was too explicit for 1972 (and perhaps too
tame for 2009). Another curiosity is a family tree that Zelazny
sketched of the characters in Creatures of Light and Darkness so that
he could keep them straight in his own mind.
Volume 4 - Last Exit to Babylon - begins with new introductions by Joe
Haldeman and Steven Brust. There are 25 short stories spanning from
the late 1960s through the early 1980s, 7 nonfiction essays, 21 poems,
and part 4 of the biography "...And Call Me Roger." Plus the
annotations and "A Word from Zelazny" sections after many of the
pieces. Notable stories include the three tales of the nameless
detective from the My Name is Legion arc, as well as "The Last
Defender of Camelot," "Unicorn Variation," "Halfjack," and four more
Dilvish stories. Two obscure pieces about Jack of Shadows are
included. Among the essays are two that Zelazny wrote about Amber
characters and their genealogy, and a previously unpublished hard
science essay on black holes and other astrophysical phenomena.
Work continues on polishing volumes 5 and 6 with the expectation that
they should be ready for release in December to complete the set.
An image of what the spines of all six volumes will look like is
available at this link: http://alicelewisdesign.com/pages/bk-zelaznyspines.html
and a high-res version of Michael Whelan's cover art is available
here:
http://www.nesfa.org/press/Books/images/ZelaznyArt-600.jpg
Chris
mun dot ca not mac dot com to reply
bchocob...@gmail.com
update their website very often.
ckovacs
> any word from nesfa about the publication dates yet? they dont seem to
> update their website very often.
As I mentioned, the release date for volumes 3&4 is anticipated to be
prior to Readercon and the books should be on sale there too.
Readercon is July 9-12 and so we are looking at a release date of late
June/first week of July. So far everything seems on schedule at the
printer.
NESFA Press will definitely update the website as soon as the books
are available for on-line ordering, and Amazon will follow suit within
a week or two of that. I've asked for updates in the meantime to list
the full TOC of volumes 1-4 but it hasn't yet happened. I'll extract
that info myself and post a full TOC of all 4 existing volumes here in
a few minutes.
Chris
change @ mac dot com to at mun dot ca to reply
ckovacs
The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny, Volumes 1-6
Threshold: Volume 1
Introductions:
Out of Nowhere, by Robert Silverberg
Before Amber, by Carl B. Yoke
Stories:
A Rose for Ecclesiastes
And the Darkness is Harsh
Mr. Fuller’s Revolt
Youth Eternal
The Outward Sign
Passion Play
The Graveyard Heart
Horseman!
The Teachers Rode a Wheel of Fire
Moonless in Byzantium
On the Road to Splenoba
Final Dining
The Borgia Hand
Nine Starships Waiting
Circe Has Her Problems
The Malatesta Collection
The Stainless Steel Leech (as by Harrison Denmark)
The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth
A Thing of Terrible Beauty (as by Harrison Denmark)
Monologue for Two (as by Harrison Denmark)
Threshold of the Prophet
A Museum Piece
Mine Is the Kingdom (as by Harrison Denmark)
King Solomon’s Ring
The Misfit
The Great Slow Kings
Collector’s Fever
The Night Has 999 Eyes
He Who Shapes
Articles:
Sundry Notes on Dybology and Suchlike
“…And Call Me Roger”: The Literary Life of Roger Zelazny, Part 1, by
Christopher S. Kovacs
Curiosities:
Conditional Benefit
Hand of the Master
The Great Selchie of San Francisco Bay
Studies in Saviory
Poems:
Braxa
Ecclesiastes’ Epilogue
Bok
Diet
Slush, Slush, Slush
The Agnostic’s Prayer
On May 13, 1937
The Cactus King
Our Wintered Way Through Evening, and Burning Bushes Along It
In the Dogged House
Future, Be Not Impatient
Flight
Sense and Sensibility
The World of Stat’s a Drunken Bat
The Cat Licks Her Coat
From a Seat in the Chill Park
Rodin’s “The Kiss”
To His Morbid Mistress
Old Ohio Folkrag
How a Poem Means
Concert
Iceage
Hart Crane
Southern Cross
I Used to Think in Lines That Were Irregular to the Right
Hybris, or The Danger of Hilltops
St. Secaire’s
In Pheleney’s Garage
The Black Boy’s Reply to William Butler Yeats
Rite of Spring
Decade Plus One of Roses
See You Later, Maybe
Also:
Most stories and many poems are followed by notes compiled and written
by Christopher S. Kovacs. These include the author commentaries
(entitled “A Word from Zelazny”) and the annotations (entitled
“Notes”).
States:
Uncorrected proof in wrappers bearing grayscale version of Michael
Whelan dustjacket artwork. States “ADVANCE UNCORRECTED PROOF” on cover
and “April 2009” on spine. 6 copies.
1st edition hardcover, edited by David G. Grubbs, Christopher S.
Kovacs, and Ann Crimmins, NESFA Press ($29), 2009. “FIRST EDITION,
February 2009” on copyright page. Dust jacket artwork by Michael
Whelan. ISBN 978-1-886778-71-9. First printing was 1,640 copies.
Power & Light: Volume 2
Introductions:
Lyricism and Warmth, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
A Singular Being, by Walter Jon Williams
Stories:
The Furies
Lucifer
The Salvation of Faust
The New Pleasure
The Monster and the Maiden
For a Breath I Tarry
Passage to Dilfar
Thelinde’s Song
The Bells of Shoredan
A Knight for Merytha
The Injured
Devil Car
Of Time and the Yan
The Drawing
This Moment of the Storm
Comes Now the Power
Divine Madness
But Not the Herald
Late, Late Show
Love Is an Imaginary Number
The Keys to December
The House of the Hanged Man
Death and the Executioner
Auto-Da-Fé
The Juan’s Thousandth
There Shall Be No Moon!
Through a Glass, Greenly
Time of Night in the 7th Room
…And Call Me Conrad, Part One
Synopsis of Part One
…And Call Me Conrad, Part Two
Articles:
Guest of Honor Speech, Ozarkon 2
On Writing and Stories
Shadows (speech)
“…And Call Me Roger”: The Literary Life of Roger Zelazny, Part 2, by
Christopher S. Kovacs
Poems:
Thoughts of the Jupiterian Frantifier Fish
Holy Thursday
The Men of Westrim
Magic Fire
The Wind Doth Blow
Blondel de Nesle
Chou de Mal
The Thing That on the Highways
Indian Days in KY
Antode to Winter
“…Good Old Martian Soldier…”
Devices of Heraldry
Lines Written Concerning the Acceptability of Alcohol
Brahman Trimurti, A Modern Hymn to the Trinity
Appendix B
Bodhisattva
Faust Before Twelve
Apocalypse of a Summer’s Night
On My Giving Up of Regular Metrics
I Never Met a Traveller from an Antique Land
The Last
Also:
Most stories and many poems are followed by notes compiled and written
by Christopher S. Kovacs. These include the author commentaries
(entitled “A Word from Zelazny” and “A Word from [Author X]”) and the
annotations (entitled “Notes”).
States:
Uncorrected proof in wrappers bearing grayscale version of Michael
Whelan dustjacket artwork. States “ADVANCE UNCORRECTED PROOF” on cover
and “April 2009” on spine. 6 copies.
1st edition hardcover, edited by David G. Grubbs, Christopher S.
Kovacs, and Ann Crimmins, NESFA Press ($29), 2009. “FIRST EDITION,
February 2009” on copyright page. Dust jacket artwork by Michael
Whelan. ISBN 978-1-886778-77-1. First printing was 1,600 copies.
This Mortal Mountain: Volume 3
Introductions:
Of Meetings and Partings, by Neil Gaiman
On Roger Zelazny, by David G. Hartwell
Stories:
This Mortal Mountain
The Man Who Loved the Faioli
Angel, Dark Angel
The Hounds of Sorrow
The Window Washer
Damnation Alley
The Last Inn on the Road (with Dannie Plachta)
A Hand Across the Galaxy
The Insider (as by Phillip H. Sexart)
Heritage
He That Moves
Corrida
Dismal Light
Song of the Blue Baboon
Stowaway
Here There Be Dragons
Way Up High
The Steel General
Come to Me Not in Winter’s White (with Harlan Ellison®)
The Year of the Good Seed (with Dannie Plachta)
The Man at the Corner of Now and Forever
My Lady of the Diodes
Alas! Alas! This Woeful Fate
Sun’s Trophy Stirring
Add Infinite Item
The Game of Blood and Dust
The Force that Through the Circuit Drives the Current
No Award
Is There a Demon Lover in the House?
The Engine at Heartspring’s Center
Articles:
Tomorrow Stuff
Science Fiction and How It Got That Way
Self-Interview
The Genre: A Geological Survey
A Burnt-Out Case?
Ideas, Digressions and Daydreams: The Amazing Science Fiction Machine
Musings on Lord of Light
“…And Call Me Roger”: The Literary Life of Roger Zelazny, Part 3, by
Christopher S. Kovacs
Curiosities:
Family Tree from Creatures of Light and Darkness
The Guns of Avalon: deleted sex scene
Bridge of Ashes (Outline)
Doorways in the Sand (Summary)
Poems:
Lover’s Valediction: Forbidding Day’s Sacrament
Song (The Leaves are Gone)
Fire, Snakes & the Moon
Lobachevsky’s Eyes
Beyond the River of the Blessed
Chorus Mysticus
Permanent Mood
Maitreya
Tryptych
Avalanches
Somewhere a Piece of Colored Light
We Are the Legions of Hellwell
Awakening
Night Thoughts
Paintpot
Reflection from an Oriental Ashtray
T. S. Eliot
Wall
Morning with Music
I Walked Beyond the Mirror
Museum Moods
Sentiments with Numbers
Storm and Sunrise
Oh, the Moon Comes on Like a Genie
Between You & I
Words
Augury
Pyramid
Thundershoon
What Is Left When the Soul is Sold
LP Me Thee
The Thing That Cries in the Night
Dim
Dark Horse Shadow
Missolonghi Hillside
Ducks
Lamentations of the Venusian Pensioner
reply
Testament
Sonnet, Anyone?
Philip K. Dick
Also:
Most stories and many poems are followed by notes compiled and written
by Christopher S. Kovacs. These include the author commentaries
(entitled “A Word from Zelazny” and “A Word from [Author X]”) and the
annotations (entitled “Notes”). The exception to this is that “A Word
from Harlan Ellison®” was written and revised by Harlan Ellison for
this volume.
States:
Currently in press.
Last Exit to Babylon: Volume 4
Introductions:
The Prince of Amber, by Joe Haldeman
What I Didn’t Learn from Reading Roger Zelazny, by Steven Brust
Stories:
My Name Is Legion: Précis
The Eve of RUMOKO
’Kjwalll’kje’k’koothaïlll’kje’k
Home Is the Hangman
Stand Pat, Ruby Stone
Go Starless in the Night
Halfjack
The Last Defender of Camelot
Fire and/or Ice
Exeunt Omnes
A Very Good Year
The Places of Aache
A City Divided
The White Beast
Tower of Ice
The George Business
The Naked Matador
Walpurgisnacht
The Last of the Wild Ones
The Horses of Lir
Recital
And I Only Am Escaped to Tell Thee
Shadowjack
Shadowjack: Character Outline
Unicorn Variation
Articles:
Some Science Fiction Parameters: A Biased View
Black Is the Color and None Is the Number
The Parts That Are Only Glimpsed: Three Reflexes
Future Crime
A Number of Princes in Amber
The Balance between Art and Commerce
Amber and the Amberites,
“…And Call Me Roger”: The Literary Life of Roger Zelazny, Part 4, by
Christopher S. Kovacs
Poems:
Diadoumenos of Polycletus
Come, Let Us Pace The Sky-Aspiring Wave
On the Death of a Manned Stellar Observation Satellite
I, a Stranger and Revisited (as by Harrison Denmark)
On the Return of the Mercurian Flamebird After Nesting
There Is Always a Poem
Doctrine of the Perfect Lie
Pelias Waking, within the S. C.
Torlin Dragonson
Wriggle Under George Washington Bridge
Lamentations of the Prematurely Old Satyr
Moonsong
Nuages
Friend
The Burning
Dance
Ye Who Would Wish to Live
Shadows
great cummings
The Man Without a Shadow
When Pussywillows Last in the Catyard Bloomed
Also:
Most stories and many poems are followed by notes compiled and written
by Christopher S. Kovacs. These include the author commentaries
(entitled “A Word from Zelazny”) and the annotations (entitled
“Notes”).
States:
Currently in press.
Nine Black Doves: Volume 5
TBA
(I know what’s in them, but the author intros haven’t been submitted
to us yet and the contents will shift a bit within and between volumes
5 and 6)
The Road to Amber: Volume 6
TBA
(I know what’s in them, but the author intros haven’t been submitted
to us yet and the contents will shift a bit within and between volumes
5 and 6)
bchocob...@gmail.com
ckovacs
> thanks Chris.
The books were completed at the printer sooner than expected and can
now be ordered at the NESFA Press website:
http://www.nesfa.org/press/Books/Zelazny-3.html
http://www.nesfa.org/press/Books/Zelazny-4.html
Expect Amazon to have the listing within a couple of weeks.
The copyright pages indicate the expected publication date of July
2009, but the actual release date is June 2009. Will anyone complain
that we're early???
Chris
change @ mac dot com to mun dot ca to reply
news.tpg.com.au
The 3rd and 4th volume look good - great job.
I was interested to see the Creature of Light and Darkness family as I
have long been intrigued by certain aspects of it. Unfortunately my
expectations were not met, but then it is just because my imagination
was too active.
The trouble is with the last chapter, in the nativity scene where the
Three Wise Men: Madrak, the Steel General and Vraimin visit the holy
family of Megra of Kalgan(?spelling), the infant son of God (ie son of
Set - note that Megra had been a virgin until she met God) and the
foster father Horus. As they leave the stable (brothel) the star of
Bethlehem (exploding Kalgan that Set destroyed) shine overhead.
Sorry if I have the names wrong from memory.
Now I have always tried to imagine that the son of Set and Megra was in
some way connected to that son of Set, Prince Thoth, or at least to the
repeating time cycle.
So I was disapointed - but now I know :-)
Matt Underwood
ckovacs
Matt:
Thanks for the comments; the books have involved a tremendous amount
of work and it is good to receive some positive feedback.
About that family tree, I think Zelazny sketched it before the book
was complete and that's why it doesn't address the child of Megra. You
may be right.
Also, Zelazny had jotted something on the backside of the family tree:
"Horus + the machine." Recall that Megra had become the sexcomp: a
device that Horus had to have sex with in order to obtain the
information that he needs. "...thou art my Prince, and thou hast
come." He frees Megra and later learns that she has already been
forcefully impregnated by Set. Horus falls in love with her.
I think "Horus + the machine" means Horus and the sexcomp/Megra, and
it may imply that Zelazny hadn't yet decided what would result from
that coupling. And then it turned out that Set got there first.
I didn't include this is the Notes to the family tree, but maybe I can
squeeze something in for the second printing (which will fix any
typos).
Chris
change @ mac dot com to @ mun dot ca to reply