Kinsmen of the Dragon

Kinsmen of the Dragon is a fantasy novel by author Stanley Mullen. It was published in 1951 by Shasta Publishers in an edition of 3,500 copies. The book had originally been announced by Mullen's own Gorgon Press. The superb jacket art was by Hannes Bok.

Kinsmen of the Dragon
Dust-jacket from the first edition
AuthorStanley Mullen
Cover artistHannes Bok
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
GenreFantasy novel
PublisherShasta Publishers
Publication date
1951
Media typePrint (Hardback)
Pages336 pp
OCLC6293444

Plot introduction

The novel concerns an empire of invisible wizards and adventure in the realm of Annwyn.

Reception

Writing in The New York Times, J. Francis McComas declared that "Practically every theme of fantasy and science fiction has been mistreated in this silly melodrama."[1] Damon Knight described it as the paradigm of the idiot-plotted story, "a plot that is kept in motion solely by the fact that everyone involved is an idiot."[2] James Blish characterized it as "an incredibly bad novel from any point of view," suggesting that other genre reviewers had been "gentle" with Mullen because he was a popular member of the fan community.[3]

However, Astounding reviewer Forrest J Ackerman pseudonymously found Kinsmen to be "a first-class first novel, blending astounding science with unknown wizardry."[4]

gollark: There's an addon, Computronics.
gollark: I don't have a very good internet connection.
gollark: I wrote a player for them which supports seeking to specific tracks via ontape metadata.
gollark: They can play DFPWM audio but also work as big sequential disks.
gollark: Oh, or tapes, actually.

References
  1. "Spaceman's Bookshelf", The New York Times, February 10, 1952
  2. Damon Knight, In Search of Wonder, Advent:Publishers, p.17
  3. James Blish, The Issue at Hand, Advent:Publishers, p.22.
  4. "Book Reviews", Astounding Science Fiction, August 1951, pp.141-42
  • Chalker, Jack L.; Mark Owings (1998). The Science-Fantasy Publishers: A Bibliographic History, 1923-1998. Westminster, MD and Baltimore: Mirage Press, Ltd. p. 593.
  • Clute, John; Peter Nicholls (1995). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. New York: St. Martin's Griffin. p. 837. ISBN 0-312-13486-X.
  • Tuck, Donald H. (1978). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Chicago: Advent. p. 322. ISBN 0-911682-22-8.
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