J. R. Campbell (2) (1963–)

Camelot’s Light Shines On
King Arthur may or may not show up in any particular story of this anthology but what does show up is a sincere, delightful and well-crafted set of stories that open the door into an intelligent and suspenseful experience of the Arthurian Legends.
While all the stories are excellent, two in particular elucidate the heart of the Grail legend. They are The Terrible Knitter by Simon Curtis Unsworth and The Root of All Things by William Meikle. Both stories grapple with show more the search for the Grail as a spiritual journey, an inner as well as outer process, and while neither shies from the pain of the acceptance of one’s birthright, one sojourner discovers new identity and the other sacrifices inner subjectivity for the sake of duty. Too much like real life? Not at all! These gems have all the castles, knights and quests you could hope for.
Speaking of identity, no modern writing would be complete without a nod toward gender identity issues and there are couple of good stories here that deal with these sensitive issues in an accepting and affirming way. My advice to you is to savor each story because before you know it your search for another anthology of this quality will be almost as elusive and transitory as a search for the grail itself. Highly recommended. show less

I received an ARC of "By the Light of Camelot" from Edge, the publisher, through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewer program. As the title suggests, these are original short stories (and 2 short poems which serve as front and end pieces to the book) having to do with the Arthurian mythos as interpreted by a baker’s dozen of contemporary authors. Of those, I had only known the work of Jane Yolen, Lawrence Watt-Evans and Diana L. Paxson before now, but I was happy to discover new writers, show more especially Fiona Patton, Wendy N. Wagner, R. Overwater and Renee Bennett in these pages. Most of the stories are set either during the fictional/fantastical period known as Camelot, or some time after the probable Roman soldier on whom Arthur is said to be based, say during the period after the Roman retreat from Britain, when Angles and Saxons and Danes arrived, followed by Franks. I was a bit surprised to note the Wagner story, “Loyalty of A Thousand Years,” which turns up early in the anthology, is the only one set in modern times; its placement in the book made me think there would be more stories told in the current era. Aside from that quibble, I liked pretty much all the stories here, especially editor Allen’s “Before All Else” (which of course put me in mind of Lloyd Alexander), Overwater’s “House of the Knight’s Nail,” Patton’s “Brannon and the Raven,” Watt-Evans’s “The Prisoner of Shalott” (I’ll never read the poem the same way again) and Paxson’s gritty “Shadow of the Wolf.” Many of the stories feature quests, but there is enough variety in both the types of quests and the individuals questing that I didn’t feel any sense of “sameness” to the book that might be tiring to the reader. Of course each reader will prefer certain stories over others, but if you’re either an Arthurian buff or Arthur-curious, this is a volume well worth reading. Recommended! show less

I'm a bit of a King Arthur nut and will read pretty much anything if you stick him or his knights in it, which has led to me reading more than a few crappy books. Fortunately, this collection was full of very good stories; some were more to my taste than others, but I don't think there was a single one I didn't like.

A new anthology of short stories featuring the eponymous Professor Challenger, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's irascible scientist/adventurer first encountered along with his various friends in The Lost World. A disarming introduction by co-editor Charles Prepolec readily admits that the good Professor has very much played second fiddle to Sherlock Holmes (and maybe even third fiddle to Brigadier Gerard). Nonetheless Prepolec makes a convincing case for Challenger to be better known, citing his show more influence on science fiction and his undoubted longevity. A lengthy foreward by Christopher Roden expands on these themes as well as comprehensively examining Challenger and Co's origins, both real life and fictional.

I have admit to having some reservations about many of the stories in this anthology – there seemed to be a few too many borrowings from other authors such as HG Wells, Algernon Blackwood, HP Lovecraft and William Hope Hodgson. This kind of literary name dropping has been pretty much done to death by the likes of Kim Newman whose near obsessive recycling of other people's work has yielded ever decreasing returns in the Anno Dracula series. Never mind the story just check out those references! In the main though this anthology's use of other authors' creations is well done: Josh Reynold's Time's Black Gulf rather gratuitously adds Blackwood's John Silence and Hope Hodgson's Carnicki the Ghost Finder to the cast of Conan Doyle regulars yet redeems itself by making excellent use of two of the Cthulhu Mythos's time travelling entities to wrong foot the reader with a just-when-you-think-it's-all-over false climax.

The Cthulhu Mythos also rears its ugly head in Simon Kurt Unsworth's “The Fool's Sea” as Challenger takes on HPL's most infamous creation (or possibly just one of its spawn). Although action packed Unsworth's story is subtle in the way it avoids what Lovecraft himself jokingly termed “Yog-Sothery”, nary a mention of Great Old Ones, forbidden books, or nameless cults.

HG Wells' influence makes itself felt in a number of stories, most notably in King of the Moon by Lawrence G Connolly which sees Challenger and a motley band of lunar explorers engage in a bout of Selenite baiting. It's a slight tale but enjoyable for its sheer breakneck pace and raucous humour. Professor Challenger and the Crimson Wonder is humorous in a different way, a clever pastiche of the epistolary novel by Guy Adams and James Goss, featuring a wry thread of proto-feminist wit.

Not all of the stories are a success: Hind and Horn by Wendy Wager is bafflingly opaque while Out of the Depths by Andrew J Wilson is a sprawling mess. Yet even they're not without interest. Hind and Horn has an atmospheric Irish post WW1 setting which I'd like to have seen explored in more detail. Out of the Depths is overwhelmed by the sheer number of ideas it tries to shoehorn into its relatively short narrative. I suspect it would make a highly entertaining novel where its multifarious outlandish concepts and globetrotting storyline would get more room to breathe.

Realistically this collection isn't going to see Professor Challenger topple Sherlock Holmes from his position at the head of the Conan Doyle pantheon. It is though a justified and mostly worthwhile tribute to a character who deserves more recognition. show less