For years I've read everything I could get my hands on. (That included my mom's copy of the Clan of the Cave Bear in third grade and Homer's Iliad in 5th grade!) I came across this story while systematically working my way through the middle school library and fell in love. I read it over and over again through middle school, and then forgot about it for a little while... but as a upperclassman in high school, I started to yearn for it again. I even thought about convincing my brother to check it out and "lose it"! ;-) I highly recommend that you read this book. Trust me, I've read just about every kind of book... and this one is really special. There's something about a beautiful, simple story about a special horse overcoming the odds that just rings true. "Sky Rocket" definately ranks among my all-time favorites.

I read Sky Rocket when I was young. I had no idea it was based on a true story! It was one of the best books ever written!

This is one of my favorite horse books. I ride and all of the circumstances about Madison Square Garden are similar to real life. I find this book facinating and love it a lot. I wish it was still in print, it's a loss to the equestrian world and everyone else that it isn't.

In the beginning there was The Author. The History of Dom Manuel of Poitesme is an aesthetic journey defined in this evening spent with One Such and his Editor. Astonishing, the irony, the clarity, the polish of the language and the subtlety of reasoning. Any questions why Heinlein emulated Cabell for the last half of his career?

The story takes place at Willoughby Hall in Fairhaven, the home of John Charteris, a successful USA writer of the early 20th century. A young writer, 22 years JC's junior, pays JC a visit. The time is shortly before the USA entered World War I on April 5, 1917. JC gave his visitor a tour of his library, then seated himself in a swivel chair and delivered an extemporaneous lecture on literary creativity. The visitor took notes of what JC had said and turned them into a book entitled BEYOND LIFE.

"Many a man lives a burden to the earth: but a good book is the precious life-blood of a master-spirit, enbalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life." That quotation provided the justification for his theory of literary creativity. The young writer summarized JC lecture: "And sometimes he talked concerning men who have made great literature, and spoke sensibly enough although with a pervasive air of knowing more than anyone else ever did. And sometimes he discoursed enigmas, concerning the power of romance, which he pretentiously called "the demiurge," as being a world-shaping and world-controlling principle . . ." "His notion, as I followed him, was that romance controlled the minds of men; and by creating force-producing illusions, furthered the world's betterment with the forces thus brought into being: so that each generation of naturally inert mortals was propelled to a higher sphere and manner of living, by the might of each generation's ignorance and prejudices and follies and stupidities, beneficently directed." JC continually harped on the unfairness inherent in existence and finally admitted that for him the great unsolved question of the universe was: "What is it all up to?"

The work provides a critical commentary on many of the popular USA writers of the early 20th century, many of whom have faded from view or survive as relict faunas nurtured by scholars and antiquarians. Harold Bell Wright (1872-1944) was one of those early writers discussed. Wright was the first USA novelist to earn a mllion dollars from his writings and his "The Winning of Barbara Worth" (1911) was the first USA novel to sell one million copies.

This is where it starts (maybe); the epic History of Dom Manuel of Poictesme (pronounced pwa-tem), progenitor of a clan that stretches from pre-revolutionary France to the American South and includes Kings of England and Shakespeare. Cabell was witty, erudite and scandalous,,,by far the finest, widely unknown fantasist ever produced in America. Only for those who relish dense language and wisdom that is inevitable.

Manuel, a swineherd for his brother-in-law the miller, was a resident in the area ruled by Count Demetrios d'Arnaye. His girlfriend was the lovely Suskind. On her deathbed, Dorothy, his mother, told him that she wanted him to make himself a figure in the world that was a splendid and admirable young man in all respects. After her death, he spent much time at the Pool of Haranton using its marsh clay to make a figure of earth of himself. After he had an adventure with Miramon Lluagor, the wizard, which netted him a lover named Niafer who was then taken by death to the pagan paradise, he decided to seek his fortune elsewhere. He did the following: provided wisdom for King Helmas, turned the wicked King Ferdinand into a saint and ended up engaged to Alianora the Unattainable Princess, the daughter of King Berenger of Arles. The princess taught him her magic and he saved the life of a stork that became indebted to him. He relinquished Alianora to the King of England and found a way to turn Queen Freydis of Audela into a woman permanently. That queen gave life to one of his figures that ran away fom them and became Sesphra, the god of the Philistines. After Queen Freydis taught him how to invoke Misery to free Niafer from the pagan paradise, he invoked Misery and served him for 30 of Misery's days which turned out to be 30 years for Manuel. Misery returned Niafer to him and they were married. For a time, they lived with Queen Freydis on her enchanted island where the stork delivered Melicent, their first child. With the aid of Queen Freydis and Miramon Lluagor, Manuel became the Count of Poictesme which had been granted to him by King Ferdinand, but had been occupied by the Northmen. As count, he founded The Fellowship of the Silver Stallion and turned Poictesme into a prosperous place. He gave one of his stork invoices to Queen Alianora so that she could have a son. The stork added Emmerick and Dorothy to his family. After succeeding at everything, Manuel vanished and legends about him began to form.

This work is a treasure-trove of subtle parodies, satires and social criticism that are unique for their fluency and urbanity.

Robert Etheridge Townsend, a young writer, recounts his twelve amatory encounters on his path to a conventional life style. Within his tales, he left an account of the behaviors of members of a relict leisure class in which ancestry, snobbery and pride of place were kept alive by infusions of wealth acquired through marriages of convenience.

The pragmatic Richard Fentnor Harrowby, wealthy manufacturer of Harrowby's Creme Cleopatre and No. 7 Dental Delight, discussed the life and work of the author Felix Kennason who rose to fame with the publication of "Men Who Loved Alison." Harrowby's evaluation of Kennason: "At all events, I never quite liked Felix Kennason--not even after I came to understand that the man I knew in the flesh was a very ill-drawn likeness of Felix Kennason. After all, that is the whole sardonic point of his story--and, indeed, of every human story--that the person you or I find in the mirror is condemned eternally to misrepresent us in the eyes of our fellows. but even with comprehension, I never cordially liked the man; and so, it may well be that his story is set down not all in sympathy." The book begins in Storisende. Count Emmerick had planned a wedding feast for La Beale Ettarre, his youngest sister, engaged to marry Guiron des Rocques. Horvendile, a servant of Ettarre, also loved her, and attempted to sabotage the wedding. He failed, and had to leave Storisende. Before he departed, Ettarre took the Sigil of Scoteia which hung around her neck, broke it in half and gave him one of its halves to him and said, "You will not always abide in your own country, Horvendile. Some day you will return to us at Storisende. The sign of the dark Goddess will prove your safe-conduct then if Guiron and I be yet alive." After he had completed writing his book, Kennason took a twilight walk in the garden of Alcluid, his estate. He spied a shining bit of metal along the pathway and picked it up and put it in his pocket. The metal was a half of a disk which was three inches in diameter with tiny characters inscribed upon its surface. That disk enabled Kennason, in his dreams, to be transformed into Horvendile and transported to many different times and places in which he met Ettarre, but every time he tried to touch her "the universe seemed to fold about him, just as a hand closes." Kennason sought Harrowby's expertise in explaining the occult aspects of his dreams with ironic results.

Want to know what really makes men tick? Cabell had it all figured out. It's about fantasy and the various postures men assume in the pursuit thereof. Start with any of his books and go on to whatever you can find. There IS a chronology to the History but, unlike so many other series, it doesn't matter where you start with Cabell. It gets richer and more dazzeling with each volume.

The "eagle's shadow" is a metaphor for great wealth: "The Eagle suffers little birds to sing, And is not careful what they mean thereby, Knowing that with the shadow of his wing, He can at pleasure still their melody." The Romans were keenly aware of the effect of the "eagle's shadow" as evidenced by the translation of the Latin quotation on the title page of the book: "Futhermore, in that place under the shadow of the eagle: The mob trembles, the Senate dawdles, the nobility gaze on impotently, the judges are compliant, the theologians remain silent, and the lawyers are obsequious while law and custom are ignored." The story is a narrative by Richard Fenton Harrowby who called his tale "the comedy of Margaret Hugonin and the eagle. A story which he completed on 14 April 1923. Margaret Hugonin was the daughter of Col. Thomas Hugonin, an English cavalry officer, and Margaret Musgrave. The colonel's wife had a twin sister named Martha Musgrave who had married Frederick R. Woods, a stock trader on Wall Street who had amassed a fortune. Harrowby wrote: "For the scene of this comedy is laid in the ineffably remote strange days of Colonel Roosevelt's first presidential term. Looking backward, I can remember, but not quite believe in, the queer world we then inhabited: and most droll of all do I find our faith in its stability. For it seemed a fixed and eternally ordered place, a place which was, with minor improvements here and there, to last forever: yet neither Sidon nor Sumeria appears--now--to be more remote than is the America of that day." In the early 1880's, when Frederick R. Woods turned 65, he retired from Wall Street and moved to a site near the Lichfield town of Fairhaven that had once belonged to a 17th century ancestor named Lt. Gervase Woods. On that site he built a handsome Tudor style home which he named Selwoode Mansion. He hired a genealogist who traced his ancestry back to Woden, and determined that the family arms of the Woods sported an eagle. The eagle so fascinated him that he had it carved into the woodwork, set in mosaics, chased in the tableware, woven into the napery, and glazed into the China of Selwoode. Frederick and his wife were childless, but his brother William had one son named Billy Williams, and Frederick named him as his heir. However, when Billy turned 18, he informed his uncle that he intended to study to become a painter, much to his uncle's disapproval. Billy went off to college, earned his degree in fine arts and returned to Selwoode to find that his uncle had invited Col. Hugonin and Margaret to be long-term guests at Selwoode. Frederick ordered Billy to wed Margaret Hugonin. Billy refused to marry her and left Selwoode. In turn, Frederick named Margaret as his heir and when he died Margaret came into a fortune, after which, she struggled to come to terms with her vast wealth while supporting an entourage of hangers-on, and warding off marriage proposals. Later Billy returns to Selwoode, conflicting wills are found and Margaret and Billy struggle to come to terms with one another. The story line is fluent, entertaining and contains gems of subdued wit.

The story is set in southern England and northern France and takes place between March 25, 1750 and May 3, 1755. It begins at Stornoway Crag on the Island of Usk, moves to Tunbridge Wells, continues at Havergate House, then crosses the channel at Dover and goes to Bellegarde in Poictesme, then to Paris, to Manneville, to Breschau and ends at Ingilby in Westmoreland. In the historical background, King George II was on the English throne, the Jacobite faction in England still had hope for a Stuart Restoration, the Marquise de Pompadour was calling the shots in France and the King of Prussia and Maria Theresa were rising continental powers. The story begins with wealthy Lady Anastasia Allonby a guest of Lord Rokesle at his island home. Lord Rokesle tries to force her to marry him with disasterous results to himself, and his vicar, Simon Orts. On her return to her home at Tunbridge Wells, Lady and Dorothy Allonby, her step-daughter, are beset with suitors and at one point become involved in a farcical elopement scenario. Captain Audaine, one of Miss Allonby's suitors becomes involved in a plot to restore the Stuarts to the English throne, is discovered and jailed , but is saved by Miss Allonby who meets and outwits the Duke of Ormskirk, one of His Majesty's advisors. The Duke of Ormskirk began life as the penurious John Bulmer, but through luck and ability rose to great power and authority in English politics. One of his duties was to spy upon and thwart the efforts of Gaston, Duc de Puysange to injure England. However, those two long time adversaries developed a grudging admiration for one another,and Jack eventually married Gaston's sister Claire and retired to his English estate. The story abounds with intrigues, vicious acts and self-serving betrayals, while the theme of nostalgia for youthful love provides new exemplars. Jack Bulmer summed up his generation as being, "In neither good nor ill pre-eminent; Grant none of us a Nero,--none a martyr,--All merely so-so.

The "line" extends over ten courtships from April 14, 1355 to May 27, 1559 and traverses northern France and southern England during the Hundred Years War,the rise of the French Monarchy and the accession of the Tudor Family to the English Throne. In the first courtship, Sir Adhelmar de Nointel and Hugues d'Arques vie for the hand of Melite de Puysange. Hugues and Melite marry but have to flee to England to save their lives. From this couple a line develops that goes back and forth from England and France. Sylvia, Melite's daughter, and Falstaff are youthful lovers, but marry others. Noel, Sylvia's son, vies with Francois Villon for the hand of Catherine de Vaucelles and wins. And so it goes. The stories around Falstaff, Villon and Will Sommers--court fool to King Henry VIII provide pathos, wild adventure and wit in that order. Cabell makes a magnficent summation of the line: "For they loved very greatly, these men and women of the past. Nature tricked them to noble ends, lured them to skyey heights of adoration and sacrifice. At bottom they were, perhaps, no more heroical than you or I: Indeed, Melite was a light woman, and Falstaff is scarcely describable as immaculate; Villon thieved, and will Sommers was but a fool . . . and yet to each in turn was granted to love greatly, to know at least one hour of pure magnanimity. This work was a favorite of President Theodore Roosevelt and his letter of praise of the work to the author was one of Cabell's prized possessions.

A first rule of thumb when approaching Cabell's 18-volume opus, the Biography of Manuel; every book will be about Cabell's relationship with his wife. Cabell is obsessed with marriage, and objectifies all of his female characters to fit one of his imagined female roles; nag, whore, or unapproachable beauty. Cabell's characters always return to their nagging wives, for familiarity's sake if nothing else, with never a suggestion that it might be possible to have a long-term relationship between a man and a woman in which both are creators and in which both learn from each other.

The book Jurgen is from the same mold. Jurgen the pawnbroker moves from one of Cabell's stereotypical women to another. The book became well-known because of the godawful sex sequences, in which Cabell archly refers to Jurgen's sword, staff, or stick -- the resulting call for censorship made the book famous, but that doesn't mean it was Cabell's best. I thought The Silver Stallion and, in some respects, even The Cream of the Jest or The High Place to be better examples of Cabell's writing.

I would recommend that anyone who likes fantasy read at least one of Cabell's books, because he writes like no one else. This book had the usual Cabell wittiness and sardonic feel, so if it's the only one you can find, certainly try it.

Early in his journey, Cabell's Jurgen comes to a place known as 'The Garden Between Dawn and Sunrise.' In the garden live all the imaginary creatures that humankind has ever created: centaurs and sphinxes, fairies, valkyries, and baba-yagas. Jurgen is surprised when he sees his first-love wandering around the garden, but his guide replies "Why, all the women that man has ever loved live here...for very obvious reasons."

Moments like this, simultaneously jaded and genuine, sentimental and cynical, are the most delightful parts of 'Jurgen: A Comedy of Justice.' Nominally the story of a medieval pawnbroker's quest to find his lost wife, 'Jurgen' becomes a bildungsroman in reverse as, on the way, its hero regains his youth and visits the lands of European myth, from Camelot to Cocaigne (the land of pleasure) -- each land shows Jurgen a way of life, and he rejects each in favor of his own sardonic stoicism, for he is, after all, a "monstrously clever fellow."

That phrase describes Cabell as much as it does Jurgen: the author is remarkably erudite, and, like a doting parent hiding easter eggs, drops in-jokes through the book on subjects as far-ranging as troubadour poetry and tantric sex. Cabell corresponded with Aleister Crowley in his day, and, in ours, is an influence on Neil Gaiman ('The Sandman,' 'Neverwhere,' etc.). The book itself caused quite a splash when it became the centerpiece of one of the biggest censorship trials of the early 20th century: something to do with Jurgen's very large *ahem* sword.

Social satire and an idiosyncratic cynicism in the guise of a scholarly romance-fantasy, 'Jurgen' is what would have happened if J.R.R. Tolkien and Dorothy Parker had gotten together to write a book.

In the 1920s, James Branch Cabell (rhymes with "rabble") was considered by many to be one of the greatest American writers, based on this novel. Tastes changed with the coming of the Great Depression; worse, Cabell never again came close to writing a book of this quality, despite his many attempts. Whether or not Cabell is a great writer (and I incline to the view that writers should be judged by their best rather than their mediocre works), Jurgen is a great book, full of insight and a joy to read. The eponymous protagonist is a middle-aged pawnbroker who is given an opportunity to relive his youth. In his travels he encounters, among others, Guenevere, the Master Philologist, the Philistines, his father's Hell, and his grandmother's Heaven. In the end he has an opportunity to question Koshchei who made all things as they are. I heartily recommend this novel. Although it is in an older fantasy tradition, it is at least as readable and enjoyable as the best contemporary fantasy, and its literary quality is far greater. I have re-read it many times.