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The Christian Trilogy #1-3
The Last Coin / The Paper Grail / All the Bells on Earth
From the vaults of The SF Gateway, the most comprehensive digital library of classic SFF titles ever assembled, comes an ideal introduction to two-time World Fantasy Award-winner, James P. Blaylock, one of modern fantasy's most unique voices. Mentored by Philip K. Dick, James P. Blaylock is best known for his Langdon St Ives sequence - one of which, Homunculus, won the Philip K. Dick Award - and, along with contemporaries Tim Powers and K.W. Jeter, is regarded as one of the founding fathers of Steampunk. All three of the novels collected in this omnibus were shortlisted for the World Fantasy Award.
The Last Two thousand years after silver coins pass from the hands of Judas Iscariot, they continue to hold magical powers, changing the luck of those who posses them, and possibly even providing immortality. The Paper Curator Howard Barton goes to Mendocino, California, to get a 19th-century woodcut sketch for his museum back home. But other, rather strange, people want the sketch for their own dubious purposes. Now Howard's caught in the middle of a secret war that somehow involves a piece of paper that is much more than it seems. All the Bells on Walt runs a small catalog business out of his garage, and he has no notion of a demonic presence in his town until a package is mistakenly delivered to him. The contents are not the inexpensive Chinese toys and novelties he deals in. The nasty-looking pickled bluebird of happiness ("Best thing come to you. Speak any wish.") piques Walt's interest, and he keeps it when he rewraps the box and passes it on to the the one person in the world Walt loathes, his former friend Robert Argyle. But Walt's keeping back the bluebird of happiness is the best thing that could have happened to Argyle--and the worst thing that could happen to Walt. What price happiness? If you have to ask ...
The Last Two thousand years after silver coins pass from the hands of Judas Iscariot, they continue to hold magical powers, changing the luck of those who posses them, and possibly even providing immortality. The Paper Curator Howard Barton goes to Mendocino, California, to get a 19th-century woodcut sketch for his museum back home. But other, rather strange, people want the sketch for their own dubious purposes. Now Howard's caught in the middle of a secret war that somehow involves a piece of paper that is much more than it seems. All the Bells on Walt runs a small catalog business out of his garage, and he has no notion of a demonic presence in his town until a package is mistakenly delivered to him. The contents are not the inexpensive Chinese toys and novelties he deals in. The nasty-looking pickled bluebird of happiness ("Best thing come to you. Speak any wish.") piques Walt's interest, and he keeps it when he rewraps the box and passes it on to the the one person in the world Walt loathes, his former friend Robert Argyle. But Walt's keeping back the bluebird of happiness is the best thing that could have happened to Argyle--and the worst thing that could happen to Walt. What price happiness? If you have to ask ...
849 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 26, 2013
About the author
James P. Blaylock
114 books286 followersJames Paul Blaylock is an American fantasy author. He is noted for his distinctive style. He writes in a humorous way: His characters never walk, they clump along, or when someone complains (in a flying machine) that flight is impossible, the other characters agree and show him why he's right.
He was born in Long Beach, California; studied English at California State University, Fullerton, receiving an M.A. in 1974; and lives in Orange, California, teaching creative writing at Chapman University. Many of his books are set in Orange County, California, and can more specifically be termed "fabulism" — that is, fantastic things happen in our present-day world, rather than in traditional fantasy, where the setting is often some other world. His works have also been categorized as magic realism.
He and his friends Tim Powers and K.W. Jeter were mentored by Philip K. Dick. Along with Powers he invented the poet William Ashbless. Blaylock and Powers have often collaborated with each other on writing stories, including The Better Boy, On Pirates, and The William Ashbless Memorial Cookbook.
Blaylock is also currently director of the Creative Writing Conservatory at the Orange County High School of the Arts, where Powers is Writer in Residence.
He was born in Long Beach, California; studied English at California State University, Fullerton, receiving an M.A. in 1974; and lives in Orange, California, teaching creative writing at Chapman University. Many of his books are set in Orange County, California, and can more specifically be termed "fabulism" — that is, fantastic things happen in our present-day world, rather than in traditional fantasy, where the setting is often some other world. His works have also been categorized as magic realism.
He and his friends Tim Powers and K.W. Jeter were mentored by Philip K. Dick. Along with Powers he invented the poet William Ashbless. Blaylock and Powers have often collaborated with each other on writing stories, including The Better Boy, On Pirates, and The William Ashbless Memorial Cookbook.
Blaylock is also currently director of the Creative Writing Conservatory at the Orange County High School of the Arts, where Powers is Writer in Residence.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 20, 2016
Three books in one. Not quite my usual fare, but it was definitely interesting to read something a little different for me. I have not read anything else by Blaylock, so I cannot say how representative these books are of his writing, but the three tales - while each being distinct and standing alone entirely - have a number of common themes which make it clear why these three books form a set.
All are set in California - whether it be North, South or Central and Blaylock casually makes me feel that I have been introduced to a different, more real side of that state than I have ever got from television or cinema. His stories have an element of the paranormal to them, heavily rooted in Christian mythos. They contain similar villains and similar heroes - or perhaps I should say antiheroes as it quite difficult to like the protagonists in some ways.
My frustration with the three different protagonists who are all cut from the same, slightly useless, mould. They procrastinate, act the fool, get wrapped up in ridiculous schemes and generally act like useless bums a good deal of the time, and while at having enough self knowledge to feel guilty about the burden they are being to their poor wives they fail to actually do much to rectify the situation. Not unredeemable, they never the less tend to turn around mostly out of good luck than good management and a significant amount of patience from their wives or girlfriends. It is hard to really enjoy a story when you keep wanting to slap the main character. There are also a repeat caste of supporting idiots, enablers and eccentrics who go by different names but are cut from the same cloth, making the three books even more similar.
The Paper Grail is probably the most readable of the three with the least annoying characters and quite interesting descriptions of North California. The Last Coin probably has the most interesting premise of the three, while All the Bells of Earth is perhaps the creepiest with almost Lovecraftian horroresque elements.
Enjoyable and interesting, but not without their flaws.
All are set in California - whether it be North, South or Central and Blaylock casually makes me feel that I have been introduced to a different, more real side of that state than I have ever got from television or cinema. His stories have an element of the paranormal to them, heavily rooted in Christian mythos. They contain similar villains and similar heroes - or perhaps I should say antiheroes as it quite difficult to like the protagonists in some ways.
My frustration with the three different protagonists who are all cut from the same, slightly useless, mould. They procrastinate, act the fool, get wrapped up in ridiculous schemes and generally act like useless bums a good deal of the time, and while at having enough self knowledge to feel guilty about the burden they are being to their poor wives they fail to actually do much to rectify the situation. Not unredeemable, they never the less tend to turn around mostly out of good luck than good management and a significant amount of patience from their wives or girlfriends. It is hard to really enjoy a story when you keep wanting to slap the main character. There are also a repeat caste of supporting idiots, enablers and eccentrics who go by different names but are cut from the same cloth, making the three books even more similar.
The Paper Grail is probably the most readable of the three with the least annoying characters and quite interesting descriptions of North California. The Last Coin probably has the most interesting premise of the three, while All the Bells of Earth is perhaps the creepiest with almost Lovecraftian horroresque elements.
Enjoyable and interesting, but not without their flaws.
February 27, 2017
There is a lot to like about The Last Coin. It's well written, the story kind of holds together, and its setting of the Apocalypse in Fawlty Towers confidently makes the epic domestic. However, I just could not get past the protagonist, Andrew Vanbergen, who is by turns frustratingly annoying and just plain boring. Admittedly some of his misadventures are occasionally amusing, but the majority are not. It is a credit to Blaylock that I still wanted to read the thing, but it was with a heavy heart I'd pick the book up. It was an ordeal all because of Andrew. Why couldn't Blaylock make the much more interesting (if somewhat one dimensional) Pickett the lead? It also has to be admitted that the lynchpin of the story, the coins, are never properly explained and the cosiness of the whole thing drains a lot of the potential tension. I recently finished Tim Powers' Earthquake Weather and was hoping for better from his friend Blaylock, but I am just afraid Vanbergen is going to resurface in the sequels. At least it's finished now.
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