I love that cover.
I love that cover.
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
Yeah. He gets great covers:Quoting megladon8 (view post)
That's how you do a fantasy cover. None of that sexist, juvenile bull shit. McDermott is raising the bar on the genre on every level.
I cannot wait to read his newest one. I just hope it's even half as good as Last Dragon. I'm just glad he got to have another book published after LD tanked. Best single fantasy novel I've ever read.
You mean you don't like leather-bikini-clad women with disproportionately huge breasts battling eunuch lizard men?
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
"The Plucker" was not very good.
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
Just have a few more chapters to read in Never Knew Another; it's been a fantastic read thus far. McDermott weaves a tale of romance and melancholy around a weird and gruesome premise. The world feels ancient and lived in, and yet McDermott doesn't spend needless pages on world building; everything I know about the world I know because of context and the characters' lives.
Great to hear it wasn't disappointing, D.
Is it as impressive to you as "The Last Dragon"?
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
Never Knew Another, J.M McDermott
I don't think it is as good as Last Dragon, but that could be because I'm used to McDermott's voice now; that is, it's not as surprisingly fresh and unique. It is simply great.
However, let's not compare.
In Never Knew Another, McDermott creates a haunting world - Dogsland - full of melancholy and romance; I thought I might run across the Divinity Student sleuthing around. What is most remarkable is that he creates a lived-in, breathing world without resorting to pages-long stretches of world building, the bane of fantasy lit. We learn about the world, it's history, caste system, magic, and religion through the characters and their actions.
We don't need the history of the world because what is important is the present context.
This is not a plot-heavy narrative. It is not a grand and sweeping epic. Never Knew Another is a very small story about love and memory. This does leave me with some concern about its status as a trilogy; I feel as though everything could've been finished quite beautifully in a single volume. However, McDermott has proven himself worthy of my time, and so I will trust his decision.
With that said, I hope I don't have to wait too long for the second installment. I'm looking forward to spending more time in Dogsland.
Great write-up, D.
I really want to check it out after I read my copy of "The Last Dragon".
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
Thanks.
I'm really interested in your thoughts on The Last Dragon. I've convinced five other people to read it: one of them didn't finish, two thought it was OK, and the other two loved it as much as I did.
Well, you convinced me to visit Dogsland.
Nice.
That looks freaking amazing.
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
That's so cool, D.
How did he know you'd read it? Have you had some ongoing communication?
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
Yeah - I contacted him after I read Last Dragon, and we occasionally exchange messages. Nothing extensive or anything. I asked him if he was ever going to come to Seattle, and he said not in the near future, so he offered to send me some one sheets.
That's really cool.
So awesome to have dialogue with someone like that. I still keep in touch with Von Allan (a comic book artist based in Ottawa).
Makes your appreciation of their work feel all the more personal.
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
Now reading Moorcock's Elric. It's actually a collection of short stories, correct?
Just finished The Dreaming City, and it's pretty good. I was taken back by the prose and the very standard storyline, but this is the first time I've ever seen a fantasy hero this severely beaten. Speaking of the biggest loser! A nice contrast since you sense also how much power he wields.
"Over analysis is like the oil of the Match-Cut machine." KK2.0
Indeed the stories are all enjoyable in a Howardian kinda way, which is strange considered Elric is devised as a sort of anti-Conan. A sickly prince, a magic user who simply hates but is helpless without his sword. I also find it darkly humorous how after every adventure Elric, unlike Howard's heroes, seems to get the short end of the stick.
I still don't think Moorcock's prose match Howard's though in its epicness. Moorcock's style has a tongue-in-cheek quality, while Howard wrote like a sick man who truly yearns for the time and age that have never existed.
"Over analysis is like the oil of the Match-Cut machine." KK2.0
I was there, had absinth in a bar where Duerer's Melancholia danced with Abercrombie's Ninefingers.
Ditto.
Yes.
This weekend I'll spend with book 12 of the Wheel-of-Time-Series, not finished by Jordan.
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