Ballantine Adult Fantasy: Reading “Gormenghast” by Mervyn Peake (Gormenghast 2)

The sixth essay in my Ballantine Adult Fantasy reading series, which looks at Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast (1950), the powerful second novel in his Titus series.

Ballantine Adult Fantasy: Reading “Titus Groan” by Mervyn Peake (Gormenghast 1)

The fifth essay in my Ballantine Adult Fantasy reading series, which looks at Mervyn Peake’s Titus Groan (1946): an atmospheric, richly wrought novel about power and social hierarchy in a castle populated by absolute weirdos, and how it all starts to crack up.

Ballantine Adult Fantasy: Reading “A Fish Dinner in Memison” by E.R. Eddison (Zimiamvia 2)

The fourth essay in my Ballantine Adult Fantasy reading series, which looks at E.R. Eddison’s A Fish Dinner in Memison (1941): a novel that lays out plainly Eddison's concerning philosophical vision.

Ballantine Adult Fantasy: Reading “Mistress of Mistresses” by E.R. Eddison (Zimiamvia 1)

The third essay in my Ballantine Adult Fantasy reading series, which looks at E.R. Eddison’s Mistress of Mistresses (1935): an exquisitely written but ultimately dull novel about beauty, pleasure, and power.

Ballantine Adult Fantasy: Reading “The Worm Ouroboros” by E.R. Eddison

The second essay in Ballantine Adult Fantasy: A Reading Series, which looks at E.R. Eddison’s The Worm Ouroboros (1922): a complex, challenging, rewarding, hero-obsessed novel.

Ballantine Adult Fantasy: Reading “The Last Unicorn” by Peter S. Beagle

The first essay in Ballantine Adult Fantasy: A Reading Series, which looks at Peter S. Beagle’s The Last Unicorn (1968): a supremely beautiful, memorable, and critically energizing masterwork of fantasy.

Ballantine Adult Fantasy: A Reading Series

This is the landing page and index for my Ballantine Adult Fantasy (BAF) essay series, a lengthy quest to (re)read all of the novels published by Ballantine Books as part of their effort to court readers and create a market for fantasy in the wake of Tolkien’s mass market success in the mid-1960s.