lah%ucbmiro@Berkeley (06/05/85)
From: lah%ucbmiro@Berkeley (1st Lt. RYN Leigh Ann Hussey)
Just to satisfy my curiosity, how much fantasy have you read, discounting
The Sword of Sha Na Na, which you justifiably lambaste (by the way, you should
know that among fantasists, far from it's being held up as "shining light", it
is a watchword for bad fantasy. If there is any light/hope involved, it is,
"If Del Rey will by *THAT* then there must be some hope for me..." :-),
and the Darkover books which you also mention. (Yes, MZB's writing is spotty.
We all have bad days.)
Have you read The Charwoman's Shadow and Don Rodriguez by Lord Dunsany?
Mistress of Mistresses by ER Eddison (also The Worm Ourobouros, if you like
extended strategy, intricacies of politics, and swordplay. MoM is my favourite
of his, but I thought I should mention his first...)? Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd
and Grey Mouser books (great Sword & Sorcery, the exemplar of the branch,
RE Howard notwithstanding)? And for more contemporary stuff, The Last Unicorn
by Peter S. Beagle (beautiful language; astonishing and right juxtapositions of
words)? Diane Duane's Door books, and her juvenile "Wizardry" series? The
Murry and Austin family series by Madeleine L'Engle (juvenile, but worth it!)?
The Traveller in Black by John Brunner? And numerous works by Poul Anderson,
Avram Davidson (The Phoenix & the Mirror is great!), Mildred Downey Broxon,
John Gardner (The Wierdstone of Brisingamen and The Moon of Gomrath are my
favourites)? And one last old source, the incredible A. Merritt (The Ship
r, The Face in the Abyss, The Moon Pool; like poetry, but you never
find out until you read it out loud)? HP Lovecraft is good too, but I prefer
his older stuff -- the collection called The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath is
very nice, though some events are presented as scary and are more fascinating
than frightening. But then, Lovecraft was afraid of everything :-)
These are my favourites (ATTENTION, WHOEVER'S DOING THE POLL!). I have
discovered in the course of many book discussions in the Mythopoeic Society
(info supplied on request...) that it is much easier to tear a book to shreds
(figuratively!) than to say good things about it. Why cannot the same language
used to criticise be used to commend? Why must commendation be limited in its
descriptive terms -- you'll find much more subtlety and exactness of word
choice in a pan than you will in a rave (at least I do). What books DO you
like, David, and why?
And one final note: yes, authors tend to write things they are sure will sell
money; perhaps you have a comfortable and steady income. Very few working
writers today are independantly wealthy -- we have to eat too. Perhaps you
will eventually find yourself having to write a piece of code you're not proud
of. Think of the writers you denigrate then, eh? Maybe you should write the
kinds of stories you like, if you aren't satisfied with existing works. It
is not all that easy, as I hope you'll find. Ahem. End of flame.
Leigh Ann
("Fantasy Book", Dec. 84)kay@warwick.UUCP (Kay Dekker) (06/07/85)
In article <2201@topaz.ARPA> lah%ucbmiro@Berkeley writes: >Mistress of Mistresses by ER Eddison (also The Worm Ourobouros, if you like >extended strategy, intricacies of politics, and swordplay. >Leigh Ann At last! someone else who likes Eddison! Personally, I preferred _A_Fish_ _Dinner_in_Memison_, but all four are so enjoyable that it's a *very* close thing indeed (apart from the spotty beginning forur pages or so of TWO). Anyone else out there who appreciates ERE? BTW, for FRP people, I'm designing a campaign based around TWO, TMG, AFDIM and MOM.... should be fun. Any FRP ERE-readers are more than welcome to make suggestions about it to me. Kay. -- "In a world without rational structure, even the most bizarre events must eventually take place." -- Philip Avalon, "On the Resurrection of Reagan" ... mcvax!ukc!warwick!flame!kay