I've given up on the Malazan book series for now. I read the first two books and was about 200 pages into the third one and I still have no idea what the hell is going on in the story. I will give it another try someday.
I've given up on the Malazan book series for now. I read the first two books and was about 200 pages into the third one and I still have no idea what the hell is going on in the story. I will give it another try someday.
I'm currently in the middle of Niel Gaiman's American Gods, and it's taking me forever. NOT because I dislike the book or anything (quite the contrary, actually, I really enjoy it), but because I'm also trying to write my own stuff right now ...
My Writing Mode and Reading Mode tend to conflict with each other, it seems.
Hey Spun,
You're a big horror fan, ever read Thomas Ligotti?
If not, you should check him out. Sometimes referred to as the third pillar of American horror (the other two being Poe and Lovecraft), he is a living master of the weird. His newest collection, Teatro Grottesco, was recently released as a trade paperback.
As quickly as it began, so it ended. My foray into the realms of a fantasy trilogy has ended in tragedy.
I am giving up on Yearwood - book one of the Finnbranch saga.
I had heard of greatness, and its uniqueness.
I was lied to.
The tale Hazel weaves is no different than a thousand others: a boy is born of less than ethical circumstances. He is a bastard, raised only by women. He does not know who his father is. It is a deep secret among the women folk! He doesn't even know his true name! But then, one day, he starts to discover the truth. He finds his real name, is given a sword, and is told that he is some kind of chosen one who will reunite kingdoms. And I gather he will also find and kill his real father in the process.
Bleh.
Not for me - moving on to something else.
There's a really great one written by Gaiman called A Study in Emeralds in his collection Fragile Things. It's a half-Lovecraft-Old-Ones/half-Sherlock-Holmes story. Very entertaining.Quoting Daniel Davis (view post)
I've not read Fragile Things. I really don't like Gaiman's prose fiction at all, but I'll see if I can get this from the library to read that story at some point.
Right now I've still got a ton of Mythos and weird fiction to crawl through.
Thanks for the rec.
I never knew Stephen King did Cthulhu stuff.
This I must read.
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
I'm not sure how much his story relates to Cthulhu. I think it is just inspired by Lovecraft in a way. I bet it would be hard to find a modern horror author who hasn't been inspired by Lovecraft.
After finishing, again, The Call of Cthulhu, I am once again amazed by how amazing it is. Lovecraft really nailed it on this one. And by just briefly mentioning Clark Ashton Smith and Arthur Machen, he adds layers to the meta-narrative surrounding the Cthulhu mythos. The first time I read this story, many years ago, I had no idea that Smith and Machen were real people!
The story's pacing is utterly brilliant, and I love how the mystery unfolds. Even though we are only reading a third, or more, hand account of the actual events, HPL's prose and style do wonders to draw the reader into the macabre world of the Cthulhu Cult.
Clark Ashton Smith's first story in this collection, The Return of the Sorcerer, is awesome. Using the Necronomicon as a basis for the myth, Smith crafts a tale that is unsettling, gross, and quite cinematic. I can easily imagine this story being a film.
Clark Ashton Smith is an author I've been meaning to check out for a long time.
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
You totally should - he's pretty awesome.
How is that Laird Barron book coming along?
I really haven't done much reading lately. I've still only read the first three stories.
One of them qas quite long - "The Procession of the Black Sloth". It was odd, and sort of anticlimactic.
The first story in the book is still my favorite.
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
Frank Belknap Long's The Hounds of Tindalos is one of my favorite Mythos stories. I remember reading this back in high school, but I could not remember the name of it. I only remembered how awesome the story was. It was such a pleasant surprise to discover it in this Mythos collection I am reading now.
Long's prose borders on Lovecraft pastiche, but he adds his own unique voice to the narrative. His stuff is more humorous in tone, or at least not as dire and hopeless. That is not to say that he doesn't put his characters through hopeless and dire situations, because he does, but his tone is more comically absurd.
The image in this story of the two men frantically plastering all of the edges and corners of a room in order to make them round and smooth is one that I've never forgotten. You see, one of the men has discovered that the evil cosmic forces invade our world using angles as a kind of multidimensional super-highway. The dark forces cannot penetrate rounded corners.
But what to do when an earthquake crumbles away the plaster, thus revealing the dreaded angles?
That sounds cool, D, and reminds me of our Museum of Civilization here in Ottawa.
It was designed by a Native Canadian artist (Iroquois, I believe), and they have that exact belief - that evil spirits lurk in corners, and in order to keep them away everything has to be rounded.
So the entire building is designed without corners.
It's pretty cool.
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
Each progressive story in Laird Barron's book is more and more disappointing. It's just so obvious that this is his first book of stories, and not in a refreshing, up-and-coming writer kind of way.
His writing is really amateur, with similes and metaphors that feel like they're taken from a high school paper.
He has some interesting ideas for sure, but nothing has even come close to the eeriness of the first story.
Characters are not very clearly drawn, and he has very inconsistent style. Sometimes it's like he's trying to channel Raymond Chandler, other times he's trying to be Thomas Ligotti II, but none of it feels authentic or like it's his own voice.
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
That's too bad, meg. I guess I won't rush out and get it.
Nice dust jacket though!
So in my continuing quest to find a traditional fantasy to read, one that doesn't bore me, and one that is well written, I have turned to one of the three pillars of modern fantasy: Ursula K. Le Guin's The Earthsea Trilogy.
And surprise, surprise, it is really, really good. I read through about 50 pages last night, and I totally fell in love with the book.
Yes, it is a bit simple. However, Lu Guin writes with a real sense of urgency here. Because the books in this trilogy are short, totaling just over 600 pages combined, she gets to the pointy in a snappy, and yet unhurried, manner. As they should, each chapter sets up a scenario, delivers a punchline, and developers the characters and plot. It's simply a solid book.
It's also entertaining, and the world is interesting. I actually found myself checking the little map of the area because I wanted to know where the Ged, the main character, was at during his journey.
I am loving the heck out of it - perfect December reading.
For the first time since reading the Elric Saga in high school, I am not only enjoying a traditional fantasy, but I am wishing that it were longer and more slowly paced.
Don't get me wrong, I love how Le Guin sets the pace of A Wizard of Earthsea at a breakneck speed, but there are many things that she brushes over that I wish more time was spent on.
For instance, I would love to know more about the time Ged spent on Low Torning.
I guess this is a good thing. Le Guin is leaving me wanting more, and I am not yelling, "get on with it!"
also find myself surprised at some of Ged's learning and training. Sometimes his masters say wonderful little things. Sure, they are closer to platitudes than any real wisdom, but they are still great. It reminds me of the Tao in this regard, and I've read that some consider the Earthsea books to be a Taoist parable. I am looking forward to exploring this aspect more.
Is Earthsea to Taoism what Narnia is to Christianity? Probably not entirely, but I think the similarities are there. Sure C.S. Lewis was probably more concerned with Christian allegory, his intentions were not at all transparent, nor did they need to be, but Le Guin has also been known to preach at times.
But there was also the moment with the Master Doorkeeper. The way Ged faces this challenge, and the Doorkeeper's response, is, in many ways, similar to how Jesus says all we need to do is knock and enter. All we need to do is ask and we will be set free - this is a very imoprtant aspect in Christianity, and Le Guin uses this at a key point in her story. I believe this is also something similar to what the wise sage would say in the Tao, and only stengthens my belief that the world's righteous religions and spiritual paths really aren't all that different.
Be it a Taoist or Christian parable, the road probably leads in the same general direction, and the lessons are too similar to dismiss for quarrels regarding dogma.
Sounds great, D.
I've had that one on my shelf for a while. (I sure say that a lot, don't I?)
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
Just finished The Neverending Story, which to my surprise was as much of a Christian parable as Narnia was. Still a great book, though. Anyone else into it? I particularly loved the scene where Bastian first met Xayide — very atmospheric.
"Modern weapons can defend freedom, civilization, and life only by annihilating them. Security in military language means the ability to do away with the Earth."
-Ivan Illich, Deschooling Society
I read this when I was in high school, and was thinking of reading it again. I remember loving it.
The Neverending Story and The Princess Bride are two books I'm very interested to read, having grown up loving both films.
I can't remember the details, but how do you see this as a Christian parable?
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