(urth) How list works and questions to mailers

[Matthew Keeley]

On Mon, May 12, 2008 at 4:24 PM, Adam Thornton <adam at io.com> wrote:

>
>
> The thing I think is useful to remember about Moorcock is that he
> represents an alternative theme in British fantasy; effectively, he's
> championing the cause of Peake over Tolkien.  This has, of course, been a
> fairly doomed battle, both in terms of sales popularity of the respective
> authors and in terms of their influence on future generations of writers.
>  And if you haven't read the Gormenghast books...they're worth the time, at
> least _Titus Groan_ and _Gormenghast_.  _Titus Alone_ is less clearly
> terrific, although it's certainly got its moments.  The PBS miniseries
> thereof, also, totally kicks ass and takes names.



Moorcock's constant praise of Peake made me want to read him - I have the
one volume edition of the Gormenghast books at home, and I hope to get to
them this summer.


>
> Then it's complicated by the fact that Moorcock has spawned his own set of
> protégés.  Among them I count M. John Harrison and China Miéville.
>  Harrison...well, the *first* time you encounter the psychopathic dwarf and
> the lacquered horse's skull with pomegranates for eyes, it's really cool.
>  The seventh time, not so much.  That said, I had a *great* time reading
> both _Light_ and _Nova Swing_.  Miéville I adore, although I have a
> possibly-uncomfortable feeling that Bas-Lag is the Discworld done as
> steampunk (not that the Discworld itself hasn't gotten there recently), and
> that the whole thing *may* just be an extremely artful retelling of his
> group's D&D adventures (_Iron Council_, in particular, gave me that
> feeling).
>
> Adam
>


I've been meaning to read Harrison, especially the Viriconium books. Nova
Swing looks good too - the UK edition has this great sci-fi / noir cover
that makes me really want to read it. And I have one of CM's books at home.
Actually, I read an interview with him where he talks about Wolfe as a major
influence on his writing. "Gene Wolfe is God," I believe he put it.

-Matt
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