The Sorcerer's Ship Ballantine Unicorn Fantasy

by Hannes Bok

Book Overview

Mass-market paperback This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B00476JCQG
• Release Date: January 1969
• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Magic, Aristocracy, and Villainy on the High Seas

I rather think that I would have liked Hannes Bok if I had known him. It is true that I am an astronomy man rather than an astrology buff. But it can be refreshing to listen to somebody who is passionate about certain things-- even if they aren't what you are passionate about yourself. Bok also waxed enthusiastically about the art of Maxfield Parrish (whom he had studied under), the music of Max Steiner, and the fantasy writing of Abraham Merritt. After Merritt's death in 1943, Bok completed two of Merritt's unfinished stories, "The Fox Woman" and "The Black Wheel". And he wrote three solo novels in the vein of Merritt: _Starstone World_ (_Science Fiction Quarterly_, 1942), _The Sorcerer's Ship_ (_Unknown_, 1942), and _The Blue Flamingo_ (_Startling Stories_, 1948). The last two novels have been reprinted in book form, the third under the title of _Beyond the Golden Stair_ (1970). I have been unable to find evidence that Bok's first novel was ever a book reprint, but I would be delighted if some alert reader could provide contrary information. According to Lin Carter's introduction to _The Sorcerer's Ship_ (1969), Bok at one point copied Merritt's _The Ship of Ishtar_ (_Argosy_, 1924) in longhand. It surely does not require a great stretch of the imagination to see that _The Sorcerer's Ship_ was influenced by Merritt's novel. Both novels feature a hero who passes from our world to a parallel world and finds himself aboard a magical ship fraught with dangers. Both novels feature a beautiful princess of high degree. But Bok's princess is not as strong as Merritt's warrior, and--let us face it-- she is not the brightest wand in the magical carpetbag. She continually believes that the villain, whom an eight-year-old child could spot as a scoundrel at fifty paces, can do no wrong until it is too late to do any good. And she is constantly reprimanding her good counselor for his "improper behavior"-- again, until it is too late. Most of A. Merritt's novels were characterized by a kind of purple prose style that many modern readers dislike. Bok's later novel, _Beyond the Golden Stair_, had a similar (though not identical) prose style.* But the style of _The Sorcerer's Ship_ is a bit more plain, straightforward, and action-oriented. This may have been in part because of the editorship of John W. Campbell, Jr. I do not mean to say that Bok does not do an effective job in getting us to visualize a scene, from the crackle of dry seaweed under the hero's head (2), to the blue sky that "seemed to flicker here and there" (3) and the quivering sun, to the lightning that was a "brilliant ball of fire" blossoming "like a moon" (69), to the fury of a storm at sea. But _Ship_ is essentially an action story, a tale presented to us with quick cuts of the camera rather than long, slow shots. * I confess to a fondness for this style. So sue me.