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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN num: 9781598189261
ISBN number: 1598189263
Label: Aegypan
Manufacturer: Aegypan
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 108
Printing Date: August 01, 2006
Publishing house: Aegypan
Sale Popularity Level: 1823747
Studio: Aegypan
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Product Description:
There be islands in the Central Sea, whose waters are bounded by no shore and where no ships come -- this is the faith of their people.
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In the mists before the Beginning, Fate and Chance cast lots to decide whose the Game should be; and he that won strode through the mists to MANA-YOOD-SUSHAI and said: 'Now make gods for Me, for I have won the cast and the Game is to be Mine.' Who it was that won the cast, and whether it was Fate or whether Chance that went through the mists before the Beginning to MANA-YOOD-SUSHAI -- none knoweth.
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Rated by buyers 
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Herein the reader is introduced to MANA-YOOD-SUSHAI, who created all the lesser gods to play amongst the worlds. There is Kib, creator of all life, and Mung, who takes it away with but a signing of his hands. Meet Sish, the lord and master of Time, and Skarl the Drummer, whose beating can be heard throughout the heavens. Slid is also here, who frolics within the currents of countless rivers and rides the foam atop the waves of all the seas. There are also stories of the lesser home gods to be found, as well as the priests and prophets of Pegana.
Naturally, this isn't a book that presents a story with a beginning, middle, or end. It is really just snippets of history and gods of the land. You can't really read it one chapter at a time, it has to be read all the way through for the reader to get a complete sense of its grandeur. It stretches from the very beginning of time to its end and then back again. After you're done, you don't remember much of the details of the individual stories, but the sense of wonder remains.
This is the very first installment of a five book cycle (followed by Time and the Gods, The Sword of Welleran, A Dreamer's Tale, and The Book of Wonder) concerning the fictional world of Pegana. Even though these stories were written nearly a century ago, they have had a great influence upon such well known writers as H.P. Lovecraft, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Neil Gaiman, as well as countless others. Dunsany's tales also rank up there with William Morris' and George MacDonald's for creating one of the very first self-contained fantasy worlds and an accompanying imaginary mythology. (Although I've always hated the term "imaginary mythology." Aren't all mythologies imaginary to one degree or another? - not that that detracts from their power or legitimacy.)
Wildside Press has done a great service by reprinting most of the books in this series. I do wish, however, that a collected edition would be made available complete with annotations. (Not even Chaosium's "The Complete Pegana" reprints all the stories involved in the cycle.) As it stands now, readers will have to make do with these incredibly short individual volumes. This book, for instance, has 32 chapters, but is only 106 pages long. And that is using very large type and with a few pictures thrown in!
Nevertheless, it has often been said that some of the best things in life come in small packages. In this case, it is most definitely true.
Rated by buyers -
Pegana's interlinked stories are perhaps the most underrated work of fantasy of all time.The poetic beauty and philosophical depth of Dunsany's stories are unmatched by any other writer and his skill with the english language borders on the scary.
This slim volume, as well as subsequent collections such as The Time and the Gods and Sword of Welleran, has more beauty, poetry and sense of wonder than the vast majority of "big fat" fantasy novels written nowadays.Don't missed it.
Rated by buyers 
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"In the mists before the Beginning, Fate and Chance cast lots to decide whose the Game should be." With that enticing opener, Lord Dunsany kicked off "The Gods of Pegana," an intriguing collection of heroes-and-gods tales that the Irish nobleman created.
It starts off by describing the creator of the gods, MANA-YOOD-SUSHAI (always in capitals), and how the gods created the worlds "to amuse Ourselves." And then Dunsany describes the lord of death Mung and his encounters with a poor man, the "chaunt of the priests," the God of Mirth, the rebellion of the Home Gods, prophets and cities and temples and finally the end of Pegana ("For at the last shall the thunder, fleeing to escape from the doom of the gods, roar horribly among the Worlds").
When it comes to fantasy, nobody has equalled the "fictional Bible" of J.R.R. Tolkien, the Silmarillion. But "The Gods of Pegana" (first published in 1905) got to that turf first, with the littler gods under an overseeing deity (MANA-YOOD-SUSHAI -- isn't that a great name?) who made all of them, the lush language and complex histories. It's not hard to see why Tolkien was a fan of Dunsany's.
Dunsany seems to have been having a good time creating his own myths and legends. But even so, there's a feeling of melancholy to "The Gods of Pegana," and the sense that even at the beginning of the world, things are headed straight for the apocalyptic end. There's little of Dunsany's humour and irony in these stories, though his semi-mythic, descriptive language is very much present ("... then shine the blue eyes of the gods like sunlight on the sea, where each god sits upon his mountain.")
Before the Silmarillion, there was "The Gods of Pegana." This enticing early fantasy is a wonderful example of the invented myth, and a good read for fans of the classic fantasies.
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