Blaylock, James P
Entry updated 22 January 2024. Tagged: Author.
(1950- ) US author, born and based in California, whose first published sf was "Red Planet" for Unearth #3 in Summer 1977, and whose "The Ape-Box Affair" (April 1978 Unearth) (see Apes as Human) may be the first consciously Steampunk tale; his first books were two fantasies in his Elfin series, The Elfin Ship (1982; original version as The Man in the Moon coll 2002) and The Disappearing Dwarf (1983). The series, which includes the later and more assured The Stone Giant (1989), is remarkable for its geniality and quirkiness, and the general likability of most of the characters, even the unreliable ones. Though dwarfs and elves are featured, it is difficult to imagine a fantasy series less like J R R Tolkien's in tone, if for no other reason than its constant subversion of quest motifs.
A similar tone – variously shared by several other authors of the Pacific Rim – continued in Blaylock's next two books, which more closely resemble sf: The Digging Leviathan (1984; rev 1988) and Homunculus (1986; rev 1988), the latter being the winner of the Philip K Dick Award for best paperback original (coincidentally appropriate, since Blaylock was a friend of Philip K Dick during Dick's last years). It was by now clear that Blaylock's talent was strong, but sufficiently weird and literary as to be unlikely to attract a mass-market readership. Among his obvious and acknowledged influences are Laurence Sterne's The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1759-1767 9vols), Robert Louis Stevenson and Charles Dickens. His earlier books in particular feature grotesques and eccentrics, whose fantastical relationship to the world is viewed with whimsical affection. The protagonists of later books continue to have crotchets and obsessions, but live in increasingly mutable worlds whose deep strangeness, as it were, transcends their own eccentricities, and their attempts – sometimes earnestly scientific – to make sense of things. The events of Blaylock's books fall into odd patterns rather than linear plots, though the later works have a stronger narrative drive. The Digging Leviathan, the first volume of what may be called the Digging Leviathan world, is set in a modern Los Angeles (see California), beneath which is a giant Underground sea (it may be the first Los Angeles novel to feature one, though it is certainly not the last), and some of whose inhabitants hope to penetrate the centre of the Hollow Earth, which serves as the primary venue for Zeuglodon (2012), where the entire inner reality may be the Invention of a man asleep, who may be a Secret Master, or who may not.
Homunculus, a kind of thematic prequel to The Digging Leviathan, and which also serves as the first volume of the Langdon St Ives sequence, is set in a Dickensian nineteenth-century London, and is likewise imbued with the spirit of scientific or alchemical inquiry, along with space vehicles, Zombies and the possibility of Immortality through essence of carp. Lord Kelvin's Machine (mid-December 1985 Asimov's; exp 1992), a direct sequel, carries on in the same vein; both have been assembled as The Adventures of Langdon St Ives (omni 2008). The sequence, which variously and lovingly explores Steampunk's initial and characteristic nostalgia for scientific method, continues with a group of novellas, The Ebb Tide (2009), The Affair of The Chalk Cliffs (2011), and The Adventure of the Ring of Stones (2014) – collected with two additional long stories as The Further Adventures of Langdon St. Ives (2016) – and River's Edge (2017), with at least one more to come; two full-length novels, The Aylesford Skull (2013) and Beneath London (2015), confirm somewhat St. Ives's resemblance to Sherlock Holmes.
These spirited concoctions are reminiscent of the less-benign work of Blaylock's good friend Tim Powers; indeed, Blaylock's Homunculus and Powers's slightly earlier The Anubis Gates (1983) – both set in an Alternate History quasi-animate London in which Urban Fantasy [see The Encyclopedia of Fantasy under links below] motifs are driven by magically efficacious steam-driven technologies in language also evocative of various pulp sf conventions – are generally credited with fathering Steampunk. Blaylock and Powers, in fact, share not only a steampunk vision and venue, but also certain characters, and their work as a whole could almost be regarded as comprising a kind of metaseries. The best-known character shared by the two is the fictional nineteenth-century poet William Ashbless, originally a joint pseudonym for poetry published while at college, later a character in various fictions, and the "author" of more than one pamphlet [see Checklist below]. Like many of his Postmodernist generation of writers, including Powers and another of his friends, K W Jeter, Blaylock has no interest at all in generic purity, mixing tropes from Fantasy, Horror, sf, magic realism, adventure fiction and Mainstream literature with great aplomb, as if it were the most natural thing in the world (see Equipoise; Fabulation).
Blaylock's later novels, beginning with Land of Dreams (1987), increasingly settle into a supernatural fiction default, with sophisticated glosses from other patterns of the fantastic in literature, and increasingly with a sense of some deep sadness magically averted, for the nonce. The Last Coin (1988), the most exuberant of the later works, features an ex-travelling salesman who turns out to be the Wandering Jew, and is anxious that the 30 pieces of silver used to betray Christ should be kept from the hands of a Mr Pennyman, who will use them for apocalyptic purposes. Land of Dreams is set in the same fantastic northern-Californian coastal setting as Blaylock's excellent short story Paper Dragons (in Imaginary Lands, anth 1985, ed Robin McKinley; 1986 chap), which won a World Fantasy Award. The Paper Grail (1991) is a quest novel, also set in northern California, mingling Arthurian Legend, Hokusai paintings, pre-Raphaelites and Steampunk technology. From Night Relics (1994) on, his supernatural fictions, some of them clearly imbued with autobiographical intensity, increasingly address what could be called – not at all frivolously – the Matter of California. The mysteries unravelled under south California in Pennies from Heaven (2022) are Equipoisally adjunct to the violence of Climate Change. But in these novels, which may be his best, he has travelled very far from sf. [PN/JC]
see also: Del Rey Books; Gothic SF; Great and Small.
James Paul Blaylock
born Long Beach, California: 20 September 1950
works
series
Elfin
- The Elfin Ship (New York: Ballantine/Del Rey, 1982) [Elfin: pb/Darrell K Sweet]
- The Man in the Moon (Burton, Michigan: Subterranean Press, 2002) [rev vt of the above as coll: containing rediscovered original manuscript of the above plus "The Hole in Space", rediscovered manuscript of the first Langdon St Ives story: illus/hb/Phil Parks]
- The Disappearing Dwarf (New York: Ballantine/Del Rey, 1983) [Elfin: pb/Darrell K Sweet]
- The Stone Giant (New York: Ballantine/Del Rey, 1989) [Elfin: pb/Darrell Sweet]
Digging Leviathan
- The Digging Leviathan (New York: Ace Books, 1984) [Digging Leviathan: pb/James Gurney]
- The Digging Leviathan (Bath, Avon: Morrigan Press, 1988) [rev of the above: Digging Leviathan: hb/Ferret]
- Zeuglodon (Burton, Michigan: Subterranean Press, 2012) [Digging Leviathan: hb/Jon Foster]
Langdon St Ives
- Homunculus (New York: Ace Books, 1986) [Langdon St Ives: pb/James Warhola]
- Homunculus (Bath, Avon: Morrigan Press, 1988) [special edition with added material, 310 of 1010 copies: Langdon St Ives: illus/hb/Ferret]
- A Postcript to Homunculus (Eagle Rock, California: William Hastings, 1989) as by William Hastings [story/essay: chap: first appeared in the above: "Postcript" is as on title page, cover has "Postscript": pb/Ferret]
- Homunculus (Bath, Avon: Morrigan Press, 1988) [special edition with added material, 310 of 1010 copies: Langdon St Ives: illus/hb/Ferret]
- Lord Kelvin's Machine (Sauk City, Wisconsin: Arkham House, 1992) [Langdon St Ives: hb/J K Potter]
- The Adventures of Langdon St Ives (Burton, Michigan: Subterranean Press, 2008) [omni of the above two: Langdon St Ives: hb/J K Potter]
- The Ebb Tide (Burton, Michigan: Subterranean Press, 2009) [novella: Langdon St Ives: hb/J K Potter]
- The Affair of the Chalk Cliffs (Burton, Michigan: Subterranean Press, 2011) [Langdon St Ives: illus/hb/J K Potter]
- The Aylesford Skull (London: Titan Books, 2013) [Langdon St Ives: pb/Dreamtime and Shutterstock]
- The Adventure of the Ring of Stones (Burton, Michigan: Subterranean Press, 2014) [Langdon St Ives: illus/hb/J K Potter]
- The Further Adventures of Langdon St Ives (Burton, Michigan: Subterranean Press, 2016) [omni of the above three together with two added stories: Langdon St Ives: hb/J K Potter]
- Beneath London (London: Titan Books, 2015) [Langdon St Ives: pb/amazing15.com imagery]
- River's Edge (Burton, Michigan: Subterranean Press, 2017) [Langdon St Ives: hb/J K Potter]
- The Gobblin' Society (Burton, Michigan: Subterranean Press, 2020) [Langdon St Ives: hb/Jon Foster]
individual titles
- Land of Dreams (New York: Arbor House, 1987) [hb/Viido Polikarpus]
- The Last Coin (Willimantic, Connecticut: Mark V Ziesing, 1988) [hb/Dennis Loughner]
- The Paper Grail (New York: Ace Books, 1991) [hb/Kang Yi]
- The Magic Spectacles (Bath, Avon: Morrigan Press, 1991) [hb/Tim Ferret]
- Lord Kelvin's Machine (Sauk City, Wisconsin: Arkham House, 1992) [hb/J K Potter]
- Night Relics (New York: Ace Books, 1994) [hb/Danilo Ducak]
- All the Bells on Earth (New York: Ace Books, 1995) [hb/John Jude Palencar]
- The Last Coin/The Paper Grail/All the Bells of Earth (London: Gollancz, 2013) [omni of the above plus The Last Coin and The Paper Grail above: in the publisher's SF Gateway Omnibus series: pb/Chris Moore]
- Winter Tides (New York: Ace Books, 1997) [hb/Judith Morrello]
- The Rainy Season (New York: Ace Books, 1999) [hb/Tim Barrall]
- The Knights of the Cornerstone (New York: Ace Books, 2009) [hb/Sam Montesano]
- The Adventure of the Ring of Stones (Burton, Michigan: Subterranean Press, 2014) [illus/hb/J K Potter]
- Pennies from Heaven (Hornsea, East Yorkshire: PS Publishing, 2022) [hb/Pedro Marques]
collections and stories
- The Pink of Fading Neon (Eugene, Oregon: Axolotl Press, 1986) [story: chap: dos: first appeared Winter 1980 Triquarterly: hb/nonpictorial]
- The Shadow on the Doorstep (Eugene, Oregon: Axolotl Press, 1986) [story: chap: dos: first May 1986 Asimov's: pb/Donna Gordon: hb/nonpictorial]
- The Shadow on the Doorstep (Deerfield, Illinois: ISFic Press, 2009) [exp as coll: hb/Phil Foglio]
- Paper Dragons (Eugene, Oregon: Pulphouse Publishing, 1992) [story: chap: first appeared in Imaginary Lands (anth 1986) edited by Robin McKinley: hb/Doug Herring]
- Two Views of a Cave Painting; And, the Idol's Eye (Eugene, Oregon: Axolotl Press, 1988) [coll: chap: dos: hb/Donna Gordon]
- Doughnuts (Mission Viejo, California: A.S.A.P., 1993) [story: chap: hb/Phil Parks]
- Thirteen Phantasms (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Edgewood Press, 2000) [coll: hb/Greg Spalenka]
- 13 Phantasms and Other Stories (New York: Ace Books, 2003) [coll: vt of the above: pb/Greg Spalenka]
- Home Before Dark (Burton, Michigan: Subterranean Press, 2000) [story: chap: pb/Ferret]
- The Devils in the Details (Burton, Michigan: Subterranean Press, 2003) with Tim Powers [coll: hb/Phil Parks]
- Mexican Food: An Afterword (no publisher listed: 2003) [nonfiction: chap: article from the above: pb/]
- In for a Penny (Burton, Michigan: Subterranean Press, 2003) [coll: hb/Gnemo]
- Metamorphosis (Burton, Michigan: Subterranean Press, 2009) [coll: chap: hb/Tim Powers]
miscellanea as by William Ashbless
- Offering the Bicentennial Edition of the Complete Twelve Hours of the Night: Celebrating the 200th Anniversary of the Birth of William Ashbless, 1785-1985 (Norfolk, Virginia: Cheap Street, 1985) with Tim Powers, writing together as William Ashbless [poem: broadsheet: pb/nonpictorial]
- A Short Poem (Tacoma, Washington: The Folly Press, 1987) with Tim Powers, writing together as William Ashbless [poem: chap: pb/]
- On Pirates (Burton, Michigan: Subterranean Press, 2001) with Tim Powers, writing together as William Ashbless [poetry and prose: coll: chap: illus/pb/Gahan Wilson]
- The William Ashbless Memorial Cookbook (Burton, Michigan: Subterranean Press, 2002) with Tim Powers, writing together as William Ashbless [nonfiction: recipe book: pb/Phil Parks]
- Pilot Light (Burton, Michigan: Subterranean Press, 2007) with Tim Powers, writing together as William Ashbless [story: chap: illus/pb/Gahan Wilson]
- Metamorphosis (Burton, Michigan: Subterranean Press, 2007) with Tim Powers, writing as themselves and together as William Ashbless, with others [coll: chap: pb/Tim Powers]
about the author
- Tom Joyce and Christopher P Stephens. A Checklist of James P. Blaylock (Hastings-on-Hudson, New York: Ultramarine, 1991) [bibliography: chap: pb/nonpictorial]
links
- James P Blaylock
- James P Blaylock (fan site)
- Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- The Encyclopedia of Fantasy: Urban Fantasy
- Picture Gallery
previous versions of this entry