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 Ancient Echoes by Robert Holdstock
reviewed by XXXXX
Original appearance: Albedo one issue ??, date?
Robert Holdstock has come a long way since Mythago Wood in which he first presented his Jungian myth images of ancient beasts and peoples, remembrances not of past lives but of the very fabric from which our legends and myths were created. Many of the figures which roamed the dark edges of Ryhope Wood were the archetypes for the gods, demi-gods and heroes of British and European folklore. But not only were the inhabitants of the mystical forest myth images, but vast tracts of the greenwood existed not in our tangible world but in that elsewhere of the mind. So perhaps it was only logical for his imaginings to progress from there to an entire myth city of the communal psyche.
Jack Chatwin has experienced visions since he was a child. But his visions produce tangible evidence of their existence beyond the confines of his mind. There are sounds and smells which linger afterwards. An aura can be observed when he is in the throes of his visions. What he sees are two primitive figures with painted faces - Greyface and Greenface, whom he calls bullrunners - a brother and sister who run endlessly and are pursued endlessly.
He is introduced to John Garth who is involved in the excavation of an ancient city beneath Jack's home town of Exburgh. Garth is a city dowser who has sought the mythago city of Glanum for many years. Part of it may be beneath Exburgh, perhaps even an entryway to the elusive city. Garth believes Jack's bullrunners may be connected to Glanum and befriends the boy. And when Garth finally finds the elusive Glanum the boy is with him and witnesses the extraordinary events at the end of his quest which result in the city dowser's disappearance.
As an adult, Jack enters into experiments to investigate his bullrunners. But events come to a head when the male, Greyface, breaks free of Jack and takes corporeal form. The bullrunner wants his sister-wife to follow him and believes Jack can force her out, even against her wishes. In order to enlist Jack's help Greyface kidnaps his young daughter. Though she is returned, Greyface keeps what he terms a shadow of her which also takes on a life of its own. He explains to Jack that the shadow will drain his daughter's vitality, personality and her very future unless he co-operates.
The story of Jack's internal search for Greenface, the inner landscape through which he treks in pursuit of her and the connections between the bullrunners and the mystical city of Glanum deepen, becoming ever more intriguing as Holdstock weaves another of his resonant tales of ancient mythic wonder. This is how fantasy should be. What he has created in Ancient Echoes, as with the remainder of his mythago novels, comes not only from his own mind but from some deep well of group memory into which we can all dip. It is this commonality which gives his mythagos the power to affect us at the basest of levels, even below conscious thought. If we can believe him, all of us can access these images. And somehow, it feels true. Which may explain the underlying power of his writing. Read Ancient Echoes for yourself and see. It is not necessary to have read any of the other mythago novels, this stands alone on every level and is his best since Lavondyss.
Merlin's Wood by Robert Holdstock
reviewed by Underview
Original appearance: Albedo one issue 7, 1995
The latest in the MYTHAGO WOOD cycle from ROBERT HOLDSTOCK is called MERLIN'S WOOD. For such a distinctively English author - Anglo-Saxon at the very least - this is an oddly Celtic departure. The novel is set in France and there is a short story included which is set in Ireland. But despite the settings, the characters in both offerings never feel anything but English. Not that this detracts from the enjoyment provided.
The background to the story is, once again, a wood, but this time a wood that reeks of evil. Martin, the central character, was raised on the edge of the wood and, in common with all the local children, encountered strange ghost-like creatures on the path that led into its depths. When he returns to his home after years abroad, he is immediately warned that he should leave.
Rebecca, an orphan who lived with Martin's family, also returns for the funeral and is also warned off. But there is a depth of love between Rebecca that had never been allowed to bloom when they were children. Now, as adults reunited after a long separation, that love can be consummated.
Despite the dire warnings, Martin and Rebecca stay, marry and have a child. But their beautiful son, Daniel, is born without sight, speech or hearing. Thus begins the descent into tragedy that is the heart of MERLIN'S WOOD: the search for a cure for Daniel that becomes a search for the power at the heart of the wood that becomes a search for Merlin himself.
MERLIN'S WOOD is easily the shortest of Holdstock's Mythago books and certainly the most slight, in terms of content and impact. It is the length that necessitates the inclusion of two short stories to bolster the page count but this does little to hide the fact that MERLIN'S WOOD is hardly more than a novella. Another two or three stories might have boosted this into something comparable with THE BONE FOREST but then that might have reduced the importance of the lead story and rendered it less than a novel.
The Bone Forest by Robert Holdstock
reviewed by Underview
Original appearance: FTL issue 10, 1991
There is one major flaw with THE BONE FOREST by ROBERT HOLDSTOCK . It is a collection of his recent short fiction and in order to enjoy the title story it is essential to read his last two novels first MYTHAGO WOOD and LAVONDYSS. To compound the problem the story itself, The Bone Forest, is of novella length and swallows over a third of the available space.
Even as a fan of the two Mythago novels I found the lead story slightly dissatisfying. It is a prequel to Mythago Wood and clarifies some events alluded to in that novel. But as a tale in its own right it is little more than excursion into the forest world he as so beautifully created as background, and virtually central character, in the novels.
The other pieces in the collection have a similar feel to the Mythago atmosphere, dealing in the main with Britain in the Dark Ages and before (though in some cases there were overtones of an anachronistic future). As with all of Holdstock's work, the stories superbly written, the background has a tremendously evocative feel and you get the distance impression that It has been thoroughly researched and accurately rendered.
If you like your heroes barbaric, smelly, dirty and authentic, you'll love Robert Holdstock. If you enjoy tales in which magic is presented with a feel of realism, quite the opposite to the magic realism school - the mysticism is not just designed to cloud the fact that the writer doesn't know the mechanics of the sorcery portrayed - then Holdstock is for you. If it is not self-contradictory I would say that he depicts the gritty reality of the age of fantasy.
Other Edens III edited by Robert Holdstock and Christopher Evans
reviewed by Underview
Original appearance: FTL issue 10, 1991
Good short stories set up a resonance in the mind. If you read a lot of short fiction it may take something more than just the title to enable you to tune into its particular pitch. It is a little over two months since I read Other Edens III - the last in a now sadly defunct series of anthologies that have been dropped following of Unwin by a bigger fish. Picking it up and casting an eye over the title page was enough to sharply focus on two of the pieces here and a glance at its opening sentence crystallised the echoes of a third. Most of the others needed a further nudge; a couple would have to be re-read, if I had the will or the stamina. Three memorable stories out of how many, you might ask. And when I say sixteen you might imagine that's not an impressive percentage. With which I would have to disagree strongly. Even one truly memorable story is enough to lift a collection above the ordinary, three is a bonus which, along with the super cover art, should have been enough to guarantee mega-sales. It wasn't.
Anthologies are difficult to sell. Which is why the publishers spend their marketing budget thrashing the bejaysus out of the easy targets - blockbusters, anything by Stephen King, you get the picture - and create a self-fulfilling prophesy when sales of anthologies like this are disappointing.
Down off the soapbox and to the point:
OTHER EDENS Ill is a bloody good read by anyone's standards. Rainmaker Cometh by Ian McDonald is a wonderfully atmospheric tale of a dusty old town, a somewhat supernatural raincloud and the man who could bring them together.
Country Matters by Gill Alderman focuses on those aspects of country life that could be considered mystical or occult. In her hands they seem as reasonable and commonplace as rust on a British motor card. When the Music Stopped by Christian Lehmann and Garry Kilworth focuses on an old 78 gramophone record from which the instruments are disappearing one by one. It is a bittersweet tale of loss and acceptance.
Perhaps the real world has echoed its precept in the fate of Other Edens and the others whose only aim is excellence, which unfortunately is not always marketable: an indctment of fans not publishers.
Mourn the passing of this series. But check it out first, if you can still find a copy anywhere
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