Joe's Turn

[page 4] {Title Art: Block letters spell out the words "JOE'S TURN." The letters are inked with many individual diagonal lines that color the letters. Each letter is collored as follows: Red, blue, green, purple, grey, grey, green, blue, red. The word "JOE'S" is underlined by what looks like a piece of string that gets wrapped into a ball after the "S."} Since HOOM 2, four new Conan books have been released by Lancer Books. Now only three more to be issued...that will be a total of twelve. I'm going to hate to see them end. It's a fantastic fantasy series. The books were written by R. E. Howard, or else rewritten from manuscripts and notes of Howard's by three other authors--L. Sprague Decamp, Lin Carter, and Byjorn Nyberg. None of these authors who are writing Conan stories seem to have the excellent style that Howard had. To me, Lin Carter leans toward fantasy, while Decamp is more of a science writer. A new trilogy well worth getting is Mervyn Peake's _Gormanghast_. In short, this is the history of a giant castle called Gormanghast, ln some unknown land, and of the adventures of Titus Groan, heir to the house of Groan. The names of the characters at times are quite ridiculous (Steerpike, Flannelcat, Crust, Cutflower...) but in many ways it's fantastic, 'tho not another LotR. The books are pubbed by Ballentine at 95¢ each. In order they're: _Titus Groan_, _Gormanghast_, and _Titus Alone_. I mentioned Moorecock's _Runestaff_ series in HOOM 2. Part three is out. It's _Sword of the Dawn_. I recently read a terrible book by Moorecock, _The Final Programme_; it's the only bad book I've read by Moorecock. RECORD NOTES: