PaperBack Swap Blog

Brak the Barbarian by John Jakes

Review by Chris C. (chrisnsally)

I recently read the pistachio joy that is Brak the Barbarian. I didn’t know John Jakes had written these novels of adventure until I read The Year’s Best Fantasy Stories vol. 2  as edited by Lin Carter.

I was familiar with Mr. Jakes for his novel North & South which appeared as television mini-series when I was an adolescent. I have probably mentioned, a time or two, I love the old Swords and Sorcery tales because they are just plain, fun reading. So, I found a copy of Brak the Barbarian through Paperback Swap to study this earlier work of Mr. Jakes.

 Any questions about the influences for this work are answered in the dedication to this volume;

for my son Michael, who has yet to make the acquaintance of Conan,

The Mouser and Fafhrd, Cugel, or the rest of that splendid company

that Sprague de Camp has so aptly named The Brotherhood of the Sword.

During the entirety of this book Brak has one garment of clothing, a lion skin girded about his loins, and one weapon, a broad sword. While I find it hard to believe, I got the impression he wore the same lion skin through the entire tale. I know the broad sword had to be replaced after he threw the original sword into the eye a T’muk, a giant spider-like beast of the desert which bleeds acid.

Brak is no magician, diplomat or politician. He is just a simple barbarian who wants journey to the southern extreme of known civilization to Khurdisan the Golden. Brak’s knowledge of Khurdisan is limited to the rumors of the splendor and glory, beauty and treasures to be found there. As an outside observer of Brak’s world, I have to question why he’d believe the Khurdisan would be any better the perilous lands which precede it.  Perhaps I want to route for the underdog but I just can’t admit that Brak is an Oaf as well as a barbarian.

In each chapter Brak faces a unique monster, each a new and deadly opponent from the imagination of Mr. Jakes. One of the most memorable passages from the novel is, appropriately, Jakes’ description of one of many of the vile beasts which Brak is forced to face in combat;

“Brak realized dimly that the monster must be some vile crossbreeding of life forms older than time. It was able to lift its long fish’s body half out of the pool by means of a series of frog-like webbed appendages down either side of its shimmering scaled body. Brak counted eight, ten, twelve of those webbed half-legs on one side. They churned in a rhythm like galley oars as the Fangfish bore down.”

Although he is paired with a new and seemingly more beautiful maiden in each of his adventures Brak is also the most chivalrous barbarian I have ever encountered. In the end Brak’s journey requires that he take up residence with one of these ladies;

“He and Rhea had taken a poor upper chamber in a bad quarter. They had slept on pallets with a straw screen between them, and lived all the months much like brother and sister, untouched and untouching, although several times … Brak had yearned to speak to her.”

But Brak the chivalrous remains chased to the end.

Mr. Jakes wrote 5  Brak the Barbarian books,  if you’ve read the Conan books, over and over, just click on the following links to the listings on PBS for these books to fill your barbaric adventure needs.

1. Brak the Barbarian (1968)
2. Brak the Barbarian versus the Sorceress (1969)
3. Brak the Barbarian versus the Mark of Demons (1969)
4. When the Idols Walked (1978)
5. The Fortunes of Brak (1980)

Dogged Pursuit: My Year of Competing Dusty the World’s Least Likely Agility Dog by Robert Rodi

Review by McGuffyAnn M. (nightprose)

Robert Rodi rescues a pathetic little Shetland Sheepdog named Dusty. He decides that to help create a bond and forge a relationship he and Dusty should join Dog Agility. This training offers a competitive world of shows, where trainers take their dog through an obstacle course by commands. Robert explains and educates on the world of agility dog shows, and the difference from traditional dog shows.

Robert thinks this is an excellent way to bond with Dusty, though Dusty does not make it easy. Dusty seems to do everything his own way and “wrong”. Together, they literally learn by trial and error. This becomes a challenge for Dusty and Robert, and a funny but touching book to read.

Robert, an educated urbanite and Dusty, a pitiful little rescue dog bond make their way through many situations, including the dog show world. Both make many mistakes, but ultimately with perseverance, they find success together.

The book is interesting, inspiring, and very funny. Whether your dog is a show dog or not, you will love Dusty, and Robert Rodi, too.

Miss Dornton’s Hero by Elisabeth Fairchild

Review by Jerseygirltoo

This book is part of the Signet Regency line of romances. Signet Regencies were published from the late 1970’s up until the beginning of 2006, but in my opinion their heyday was in the 1980’s and 90’s.  I think they were the first romance books that I ever read and I still love them. Many of the authors, like Mary Balogh, Catherine Coulter and Loretta Chase became very well known and went on to publish longer historical best-sellers. Signet Regencies are easy to spot because they all have the same cover design. All of them take place roughly during the era of British history known as the Regency, the first two decades of the 1800’s, which also covers the time period of the Napoleonic Wars, when England was at war with France. Since they are fairly short books, the plot has to move along quickly; you won’t find any long digressions into spy or mystery subplots or secondary romances. You are mainly reading about the hero and heroine falling in love, which is fine with me! These are also good reads for people who enjoy romance but don’t want an erotic novel. Although some of the authors, like Mary Balogh, venture past the bedroom door, you generally won’t find explicit love scenes. In keeping with the historical period, many of them, like this book, end the same way as Jane Austen did, with a marriage proposal and a kiss.

I got “Miss Dornton’s Hero” and another by the same author through PaperBackSwap. It was my first book by Elisabeth Fairchild, but I never hesitate to try out a new author in the Signet Regency series because they are consistently well written and edited. Some of the authors are more to my taste than others, but there really isn’t a loser in the bunch.

Miss Dornton’s Hero was a nice surprise because the hero, Captain Evelyn Dade, is a war veteran who is suffering from PTSD (not that they knew what it was then) and his feelings and experiences are described in a grittier, darker way than you might expect in a light romance novel. The heroine, Miss Margaret Dornton is young and naïve and she has some unreal, idealistic notions about heroism. But underneath that, she is a warm and sympathetic person with strong principles, who strikes a chord in Captain Dade. They prove to be a perfect match. The hero’s recovery from complete despair and depression, to falling in love, and feeling a sense of hope about life in general, is gradual and realistic. I won’t go into more plot details, except to say that most of the story takes place in London, among the haunts of the upper class at that time, and that society’s expectations are the main obstacle to the hero and heroine getting together. Elisabeth Fairchild writes in a slightly formal old-fashioned style, similar to Edith Layton or Georgette Heyer, which is perfect for this type of story. I really enjoyed the book and plan to read more of her works.

If you are a fan of Regency romance, PaperBackSwap is the best place to get the out-of-print Signets, although some of the most popular ones have impossibly long waiting lists, and on Amazon they sell used for well over their original cover prices. However, some of the lesser known authors are also excellent, so if you see them on someone’s bookshelf, take a chance and try one out!  Here are some recommendations:

The Duke’s Wager by Edith Layton

Mrs. Drew Plays Her Hand by Carla Kelly

The Notorious Rake by Mary Balogh

A Highly Respectable Marriage by Sheila Walsh

A Step in Time by Anne Barbour

The Would-Be Widow by Mary Jo Putney

A Bird in Hand by Allison Lane

Lord Rathbone’s Flirt by Gayle Buck

Lord Harry’s Angel by Patricia Oliver

An Honorable Rogue by April Kihlstrom

Turn on the Heat by A.A. Fair

Review by Matt B. (BuffaloSavage)

Published in 1940, Turn on the Heat is the second Bertha Cool & Donald Lam PI mystery by Erle Stanley Gardner writing as A.A. Fair. An untrustworthy client hires them to find a woman who disappeared around 20 years before. Another investigator who was poking around the case then gets murdered. Cool and Lam must find the missing woman, but throw sand into the eyes of the police to keep them from getting close to their client. The title, therefore, refers to law-school grad Lam creating confusion and distraction.

The plus is that the story gets tangled plenty fast as Cool and Lam scramble to avoid jail and charges as accomplices after the fact. Lam tries to protect Cool by keeping her out of the loop, but as usual she blunders into the thick of things anyway. Another positive is that in the Cool and Lam novels, more than the Perry Mason novels, Gardner examines the rough side of local politics: seedy cops, crooked politicians, co-opted news reporters, mean gangsters, and cowed citizens. As in the Mason novels, the killing takes second to the complex criminal scheme that goes bad and leads up to the killing.

The negative is that being elaborate, plot and incident may be hard to follow and at least some of the time make extreme demands on intelligence and memory. Another qualm I had – this time it wasn’t enough telling myself to make allowances for 1940s attitudes – was related to the tone when Gardner described female characters. The running joke in the series is that the females fall for Lam due to his gentlemanly ways and willingness to listen without handing out advice. But in this one the young woman swoons for Lam, unbelievably. Bertha Cool’s dependence on Lam to see them through to the end wasn’t consistent with her confidence, assertiveness, and toughness. The chuckling references to her pounds didn’t do much for me.

Still, I think the Cool and Lam novels are funnier, grittier, and sexier than the Perry Mason novels. Well-worth reading. I found 10 Cool and Lam mysteries in a used book store this past summer. It was the find of the year so far.