By Colin Steele
It's difficult to remember that the hardback first editions of J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings were remaindered in the 1950s. It was only the success of the American paperbacks on American college campuses in the 1960s that sparked the boom that still continues in Tolkien's work.
The latest book, to appear from the Tolkien archival mine, is The Story of Kullervo (Harper Collins, $39.99), edited by Professor Verlyn Flieger. Kullervo swears revenge on the magician who killed his father, but incest and despair lead him to a tragic end. Tolkien's 1912-16 re-imagining of part of the Finnish saga Kalevala and the tale of "Hapless Kullervo" was never completed. It was, however, Tolkien says, "the germ of my attempt to write legends of my own". Kullervo ultimately segued into Túrin Turambar, the tragic hero of The Silmarillion. Flieger's background information is supplemented by Tolkien's drafts, notes and lecture material.
Sorcerer to the Crown (Macmillan, $29.99).
The Keys of Middle-Earth (Palgrave, $39.95) by Oxford academics, Stuart Lee and Elizabeth Solopova, is subtitled Discovering Medieval Literature Through the Fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien. It is a comprehensive scholarly sourcebook to the medieval languages and texts that underpin key episodes in The Silmarillion, The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings. The extracts, including some from the Kalevala and Beowulf , are presented in the original alongside English translations. The Keys of Middle-Earth will prove to be an extremely valuable resource for university courses.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (Harper Voyager, $39.99), by George R.R. Martin, collects three previously published novellas : The Hedge Knight (1998), The Sworn Sword (2003) and The Mystery Knight (2010), set nearly a century before the events seen in the The Game of Thrones. This omnibus, which is enhanced by 160 new illustrations from noted fantasy artist Gary Gianni, harks back to the history of Targaryen rule, as seen through the adventures of the young knight, Ser (sic) Duncan the Tall, and his squire, Egg, whose true identity as Aegon Targaryen remains a secret. Martin fans will still wish for his completion of the original Song of Ice and Fire saga, even though Martin has two more novellas planned in this Dunk and Egg series, The She-Wolves of Winterfell and The Village Hero.
The Watchmaker of Filigree Street (Bloomsbury, $29.99),
Harry Potter: The Character Vault (Titan, $49.99) by Jody Revenson is the third in the Harry Potter Film Art Book series. Each of the book's nine chapters, all superbly illustrated in colour, contain extensive profiles of the main characters, the actors who played them and much background detail , including sets and costumes. Particularly interesting are the comments by the actors on how they interpreted and developed their roles, such as Alan Rickman on Severus Snape and Emma Thompson on Professor Sybill Trelawney, whom Thompson states is, "mad as a bucket of snakes". All Potter fans will relish this beautifully designed Harry Potter character overview.
Canberra author Craig Cormick conjures up a fast-paced historical fantasy in The Floating City (Angry Robot, $16.99) the second in his Shadow Master series, although it can be easily read as a stand-alone book. Cormick says his novel is "set in a world very much like Renaissance Italy, and this city is very much like Venice, but where magic and demons abound". The magic seers who protect the city are being murdered and new power blocks are emerging. Cormick's narrative is bolstered by the impact of three strong female characters linked to Shakespeare's Juliet, Desdemona and Isabella.
The House of Shattered Wings (Gollancz, $29.99) by French -Vietnamese author Aliette de Bodard sees another magical war between ruling houses, run by fallen angels, in a devastated Paris. Bodard begins strongly, as the "pure" powers of a recent fallen angel, become the focus of new conflict. The narrative, however, falters as the action becomes too internally focused and byzantine within one ruling house. An ambitious fantasy that would have benefited from firm editing to allow the filling out of characters and the apocalyptic back story.
Natasha Pulley's debut novel, The Watchmaker of Filigree Street (Bloomsbury, $29.99), is set in late 19th-century London, Oxford and Japan. Thaniel, a Home Office telegraph operator, finds a gold watch in his room, which subsequently rings to save his life from a bomb that destroys Scotland Yard. Thaniel tracks down its Japanese maker, who has the power to interpret the future and may or may not be the key to the bombing. Thaniel teams up with feisty Oxford physics student Grace Carrow, as Pulley examines issues of gender, predestination and identity in a rich and imaginative historical fantasy.
The House of Shattered Wings (Gollancz, $29.99)
Zen Cho, a London-based Malaysian author, makes another impressive debut in Sorcerer to the Crown (Macmillan, $29.99). The first in a trilogy, it has echoes of Susannah Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. Cho mixes magic and adventure in an alternate Regency England, where Zacharias Wythe, England's first African Sorcerer Royal, struggles with colour prejudice and the decline in magic, as practised by the Magicians of the Royal Society of Unnatural Philosophers. Further challenges arise when he is forced into an alliance with another strong-willed young woman, Prunella Gentleman, who may be the key to overcoming the magic drought.