Badmike wrote:I've actually read nearly everything by William Faulkner. Talk about the antithesis of "easy reading". He's one of the few great writers I never recommend to anyone.....unless they are willing to tough it out. Saw an interesting study many years ago when I was researching Faulkner.....a throw away line comparing him to Lovecraft in terms of the monstrosities of his novels. His novels were pretty hard core southern gothic....it would have been interesting if it could ever be proven he picked up a Lovecraft story, but no one will ever know. Faulkner was a huge fraud in terms of literary influences, saying in interviews he only read the "classics" and foreign writers, but secretly enjoying pulp and hardboiled fiction (of his friend Hammett, for example). It's entirely possible he may have picked up a pulp containing "The Shunned House" or "Mountains of Madness" and never told anyone. Mike B.
FormCritic wrote:Never thought of the connection between Faulkner and Lovecraft.One can almost feel the darkness in the Yahknapotapha (sp?) valley encroaching on Faulkner's characters. Of course, this darkness makes Faulkner almost impossible to read, but....anyway.It might be cool to write a story about the Lovecraftian haunting of...William Faulkner.Or, the Cthulhu Mythos would make a nice addition to the novella, The Bear. What if the legendary bear being hunted were not really a natural animal at all?By the way, one of my favorite mythos stories is not by Lovecraft. It is called Black Man With Horn. I can't remember the name of the author, but the story is written as a letter to "Howard," (who is long dead when the story begins) from one of his old Wierd Tales protoges.I believe it was in a DAW collection...I'll have to go find it in a storage bin! Anyone else familiar with it?
Badmike wrote:The comparisons IMO are so profound and clear at one point I thought about writng my master's thesis about it. Mike B.
Badmike wrote:"Black Man With a Horn" is by T.E.D. Klein. Mike B.
FormCritic wrote:I don't really object to a critic who points out a writer's flaws or the flaws in a piece of writing. What I object to is the critic who puts down a genre or a given writer without having read his work.Of course, I am guilty of that myself...women's romance novels come to mind. Mark
FormCritic wrote:Did you pull that up from memory, Mike, or did you look it up somehow?
lucyjoyce wrote:Now don't go dissin' women's romance novels! Try "Outlander" by Diana Gabaldon. It qualifies for this thread as it has time travel at its core. And lots of romance. My father looked at it because of his interest in Scottish history (it starts right before the Jacobite rebellion) but decided it was just an excuse for the author to write porn. My mother and I both loved it, however. It is terrific.
Badmike wrote:The porn reminds me of Norman's Gor novels...it's not even exciting to read about.
HexMapper wrote:Top of the list: Brooks and shannara (this should be the given rather than Lord of the Rings)
jasonw1239 wrote:I am curious if anybody else read the Neal Stephenson System of the World series.Quicksilver, Confusion and System of the World.Very nice late Baroque period piece with a host of characters from that era including Isaac Newton, Gottfried Leibniz and cameos appearances by by Ben Franklin.In some ways it could be considered a historical romance, but it is also a good old rip roaring adventure with elements of science and philosophy.I like his slightly angled look at human nature and intrigue.
jasonw1239 wrote:You are correct the plot is quite thin, but the action and characterization is quite good and fun.I had to keep reading to see what was going to happen to some of the major characters. Parts of the series are a thinly disguised travelogue from the middle east to India and then south-east Asia.This parallels his journey several years ago when he wrote a massive article for Wired magazine about how FLAG (Fiber-Optic Link Around the Globe) was planned and implemented.It started with the genesis of undersea cable laying in the 1800's with Professor William Thomson (Lord Kelvin).His article continued on into modern day fiber optic hardware installations in places as varied as northern Egypt to the jungles of Asia and the unique people who see these projects through from start to finish.I am sure that the size of his baroque cycle series ballooned in size in an attempt to make use of all of his research from that trip.
zander wrote:I'm with you on the Thomas Covenant novels. I just finished the brand new one (Runes of the Earth) and the final series looks to be as good as the first two series were.One of my personal favourites is Elizabeth Moon's Paksennarion trilogy (Deed of Paksenarrion is the trade paperback containing all three) and the two follow-ups. The second book in the trilogy has a lot in common with module T1. She also does the best characterization of a paladin that I've ever read.Sadly, you're right about many of the novels inspired by RPG's. With a few exceptions (TSR's Azure Bonds series comes to mind), most of them aren't worth the effort. I will say that some of WOTC's recent efforts (esp. "The Forsaken House") seem to be raising the bar.