Jul 07
Click for larger imageGSS ex-noob Comments: Armor of Light, Paper of Crap.
Published 1988
(Average: 5.50 out of 10)
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GSS ex-noob Comments: Armor of Light, Paper of Crap.
Published 1988
(Average: 5.50 out of 10)Loading...
(9.25 out of 10) (9.18 out of 10) (9.01 out of 10) (8.97 out of 10) (8.93 out of 10) (8.93 out of 10) (8.93 out of 10) (8.92 out of 10) (8.88 out of 10) (8.88 out of 10)
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July 7th, 2022 at 10:09 am
I see Lord Flashheart’s up to his usual tricks again. I always suspected he was in league with the Devil!
July 7th, 2022 at 10:51 am
The blurb reads “God save the King of Scotland from Satan’s Wizard Earl”. So is that Mary, King of Scots?
July 7th, 2022 at 12:17 pm
It’s wrong of me, but I have an image of the cover working loose because the book was bounced off a wall so hard the spine split:
“How dare you call that a decent cover?” BANG!
July 7th, 2022 at 2:19 pm
This cover deserves a J. J. Abrams shuriken of approval. Probably the scene before Kirk boffs the King.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALHiJaSPrns
July 7th, 2022 at 2:50 pm
Black Adder season 2, the directors cut
July 7th, 2022 at 3:59 pm
James VI only really came out once he was also King of England. Most people know about his relationship with the Duke of Buckingham, but a wizard called ‘Earl’ has escaped the history books.(I read it as ‘Carl’ at first).
Earl’s light-show seems less of a theat than Guy Fawkes.
July 8th, 2022 at 1:21 am
I picked the book up, and literally as I opened it, the cover did that.
This came from a friend’s collection, and now I’m wondering how much of a friend he really is…
In deference to the authors — a longtime partnered lesbian couple — I guess they toned it down a little? And there were no automatic weapons then.
The lens flare is not, in fact, said Armor, but that’s supposed to be John Dee (at 75, with a long gray beard at this time) conjuring a Vision in silver sparks. Queenie there wasn’t wearing that color dress, was so old in this that the makeup couldn’t hide everything, and on a regular chair sans scepter and there’s 2 guys in the background; one’s supposed to be Lord Burleigh (66, ditto beard), and one is Sir-Not-Appearing-In-This-Book.
But you can’t expect an artist to have read pp. 5 – 10, or even the excerpt inside the front cover.
The Wizard Earl is Bothwell, Mary’s husband
As far as overall Elizabethan accuracy goes, there are some people alive who died much earlier in our history (like Our Hero Sir Philip Sidney, and Our Useful Rogue Kit Marlowe), and, uh, there’s magic. Other than that, it was very true to the period.
It was a pretty good book, although not my favorite of the team’s works.
I don’t regret reading it, but now that you’ve all seen it, I shall put it where it belongs… in the recycling bin.
@Tat: Some eyebrows were raised even in Scotland at the time.
@Tag: May I ask for “booties”? And do we have anything for those fancy pants?
July 8th, 2022 at 4:11 am
This cover artist at least read the synopsis:
https://www.amazon.ca/Armor-Light-Melissa-Scott-ebook/dp/B00G0K3MZE
This cover artist had a li’l fun with it without getting outta hand:
https://www.amazon.ca/Armor-Light-Melissa-Scott/dp/0915368293
And then there’s GSS xn’s cover… the most awkward of the three which blatantly screams “fun fantasy romp thru Elizabethan England – don’t mistakenly use this as one of your three sources for your history report, kid”
@Tag: how about “awkward throne room scenes”? Monarch on throne, strange subjects/advisors, cheesy magical/sparkly somethin’
July 8th, 2022 at 5:25 am
Given all the focus on fashion, I thought at first the title was The Armoir of Light.
Also, be he Duke or Earl or Duke of Earl, there’s no way Sir Baggypant’s legs are even close to being equal in length.
July 8th, 2022 at 12:02 pm
@JuanPaul
Except that the directors cut somehow manage to reduce the set budget. Still as least Lord Flashheart got improved VFX.
July 8th, 2022 at 12:14 pm
I enjoyed the analysis of different cover versions (respect to GSS ex-noob and Emster).
I’ve noticed recently that people are increasingly complaining about “new style” SF/F book covers being much duller and less figurative than the “old skool” ones.
Of course, this blog would also be a LOT duller if SF/F books had only these drab, abstract generic “sophisticated” covers (gag!)…
July 8th, 2022 at 12:42 pm
@AR Yngve
To be honest, I miss the old flat yellow Gollancz covers, myself: you used to be able to find the SF books in a library just by looking for the yellow spines…
July 8th, 2022 at 8:41 pm
@Emster: Your #1 has the people and the silvery Magick right. But again, nobody’s in the room except Queenie, Dee, and Burleigh. This is Top Secret Magick, not for the eyes of ladies-in-waiting or rando courtiers.
#2 is kinda chunky, but the artist read the description of Liz’ dress! GSS.
It is a fun book if you like Elizabethan times. The villains are.EEEEVIL and dastardly, Sidney is very heroic, and Marlowe is super-conflicted about everything, particularly Mephistopheles. Brief appearances by Wm. S. Jousting, sword fights, wild gallops on horseback, MWA HA HA, demons, etc.
@Max: In all the libraries I’ve gone to, the SF content is in the section clearly marked “Science Fiction” or “Science Fiction and Fantasy”.. Books from the 50s-60s also got stickers on the spine with either a stylized atom or a rocket.
As I tossed this in the recycling bin, the front cover finished falling off.
July 8th, 2022 at 10:18 pm
WE ARE NOT AMUSED by your PowerPoint presentation.
July 9th, 2022 at 5:21 pm
@GSS x-n: Thanks for reusing this book to our great amusement, then recycling responsibly…
@AR Yngve: Agreed – the wilder the better. Publisher cared enough not to cheap out on the cover art and the author does not take themselves too seriously. Especially cool when a cover artist shows up to comment on GSS.
July 9th, 2022 at 11:45 pm
@Emster: I couldn’t sell or give it away with the cover like that, so now it can go on to magickally become something else.
Probably the cheapest possible recycled paper; the interior pages were light yellow-brown and the paper had gotten to that “this is breaking down to formaldehyde and acid and making my eyes itch” stage. Rough texture, too. Obviously they consider their books disposable!
In any case, it’s not my problem after this week’s garbage collection. Buh-bye!
(I recycle every damn thing the company will take. This is not only ecological, but saves me money — the recycling and compost bins come in one size [basic wheelie bin], but the garbage comes in several, and thus we can only pay for the smallest size. Also, then people who need cash can dig through less-icky bins to turn in cans and bottles to get the deposit back.)
July 29th, 2022 at 1:35 pm
Hey, I am a little slow on the uptake here but: if this is set in Scotland, or somewhere UK-ish, shouldn’t it be The Armour of Light?
Can I ask for a “+1 protection from spelling” tag? Lord how I love that tag….❤️
July 29th, 2022 at 3:12 pm
All those in favour …
July 29th, 2022 at 11:11 pm
@JJYoyo: Please note the publisher. They don’t cotton onto those un-‘Mericn spellings. No “u” even if it would be correct to the time/place of the book. The only thing spelled with the “u” is meat products.
USA! USA! (much firing of
penis replacementsguns and support of Mango Mussolini)July 30th, 2022 at 1:21 am
@JJYoyo: agreed! I realized/realised that it was the American spelling after I accidentally typed “Armour” looking for other covers, but got something in a completely different genre… hm. Noooooo, thanks.
@Tor Mented: snicker…
July 30th, 2022 at 12:10 pm
OK, so maybe we changed the spelling in “The Armor of Light,” but we made up for it with “The Colour Out of Space.”
December 10th, 2022 at 11:55 pm
This came up on the Random Terrible Cover link for me today.
I think it deserves “booties”, “fancy pants”, and “wizaaard”.
@ARY (11): When I sold off most of the collection here at Chez XN, the 30-at-most clerk agreed. Said he really enjoyed seeing all the classic covers from the 50’s-70’s. Which had largely held up better than the 80s-00s ones by this publisher.