Sax Rohmer

It's not advertised on the Centipede Press website yet, but you can find a pre-order on Amazon for Brood of the Witch Queen: The Best Weird Tales of Sax Rohmer. I've not read a single Fu Manchu tale, but I am still a fan of vintage weird menace fiction. Any WT members care to weigh in on Rohmer?

http://www.amazon.com/Brood-Witch-Queen-Weird-Rohmer/dp/1613470398/ref=sr_1_2?s=...

I have a tonne or Rohmer. He was the first writer of the era I really got into. There are still a few I need to pick up when finances allow.

I can highly recommend the 'Orient Edition' reprints from the 20s/30s They were issued without jackets, on the spine there is an evil face on a spiders web with gold leaf inlay. The front cover has an inlaid spiderweb and face design with the words Intrigue, Love , and Mystery. They reprinted around 15/16 titles like this. They make a fun set.

http://www.njedge.net/~knapp/FuFrames.htm Check Pages of Fu Manchu out, alot of good archived information here.

The Bookfinger Editions published in the 1970s are also worth a look, again no jackets, same dark colored boards. They are all limited to around 1000 copies, they look good on the shelf side by side with the Orient Editions. In some cases they are the American Firsts.

Check out the Jessica Amanda Salmonson article about Bookfinger w/ attached bibliography

http://www.violetbooks.com/bookfinger.html

The Rohmer stuff is a mixed bag. What he really wanted to write were books like 'Orchard of Tears' which is an Iffy Pseudo Theosophical novel which bored me to tears. The Fu Manchu books are a bit up and down, my favorite edition of these are the Allison and Busby UK Trade Paper 5 Volume Omnibus Set, all in bright colors, which look great on the shelf (These are very collectible but you can track them down offline for a fraction of their 'Internet' price) I like many of the short stories, anything set related to Egypt is fun. Wildside Press have many Trade Paper/On Demand Quality reprints which although are not of great physical quality did allow me access to the books easily. The Sumuru books were recently reprinted by Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, but only withing Canada due to restricted rights.

I have a UK 1st of Brood of the Witch Queen in 'Acceptable' Condition. It was a decent book. 'She Who Sleeps' was also fun. I have around 40 different Rohmer Titles.

Rich

I've only read the 3 novels on the first Allison and Busby omnibus. The - I guess "perils" is the right word - that the protagonists get into are frequently absurd, but the stories are very readable. I often found myself going "oh, come on - that's ridiculous. OK, one more chapter...". I don't know why I haven't cracked on and read all the others, really.

I think the worst of the Fu Manchu books was definitely 'President Fu Manchu'. That one was a stinker. You can't read to many of them at once, it's good to take a break. I have read All of Fu. I have the two sequels written by Cay Van Ash who was Rohmers friend Ten Years Beyond Baker Street and Fires of Fu Manchu. Eventually I will get around to them\

Cay Van Ash also wrote a Biography of Rohmer along with Elizabeth Sax Rohmer called Master of Villainy . The U.S. Edition has a nicer cover which suits the book.

Rich

>2 cosmicdolphin:-4

Thanks for the very useful info!

Rich - Brood of the Witch Queen seems to be a novel, but the Centipede title refers to "The Best Weird Tales of...", so I imagine it's a mix of novel and short stories. Any idea as to what those weird tales might consist of?

I remember reading that Rohmer had created a "psychic detective" who appeared in a collection of stories. I've just looked him up - the character's name was "Morris Claw" and the collection was The Dream Detective.

5 KentonSem:

I think the remainder of stories are supposed to be culled from Tales of Secret Egypt and The Haunting of Low Fennel (Maybe some others) around 15 or so stories in addition to the main novel.