|
Post by Ghost Bear on May 5, 2004 23:34:04 GMT
Yup, I do mean the gamebooks. And I don't absolutely despise the LotR books. I just think they're overrated. I have a lot of respect for the intricacy of the world that Tolkien created. I just don't rate him as a storyteller, that's all.
-GB
|
|
|
Post by Relenoir on May 6, 2004 3:39:56 GMT
Perfect! Then you'll certainly get no arguement out of me. I've read LotR less than five times, but probably Lone Wolf between 10 and 20. Point made.
|
|
|
Post by KaiLord on May 6, 2004 6:26:08 GMT
You and me both. I've long thought that a lot of the people who others attribute as the masters of what they do were simply the first ones to do it well...or popularly.
Since the time of said masters, there have been a lot of others to come along and rival or even surpass the originals, but they aren't held in as high regards simply because "they're no Tolkien" or "they're no Monet".
KL, who couldn't help but think of Weis and Hickman whilst talking about rivaling and surpassing....
|
|
|
Post by outspaced on May 6, 2004 9:45:24 GMT
Hmm . . . I've never really considered Lovecraft as a fantasist. Aside from the Dunsanny-inspired The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath and possibly the one about the white ships I would say he was primarily a writer of gothic horror. I only have the three omnibus volumes of his work published by Penguin, though; apparently there's loads of other stories by him (all owned by the Lovecraft Estate / Arkham House) that you have to pay an arm and a leg to get hold of, so I'll reserve judgment. Lovecraft is definitely one of my favourite authors. The Silver Key and Beyond the Gates of the Silver Key were truly mind-blowing when I first read them, and as for The Shadow Over Innsmouth--I genuinely just shuddered thinking about it! I once wrote a Lovecraft-inspired (very) short story based on Magnamund. It was published in an issue of the Rising Sun Lone Wolf Fan e-zine. Horror and fantasy are two genres that rarely seem to meld well, and yet they are made for each other. Strange. Smith I confess I've never heard of. Leiber I found very dry, perhaps a bit too droll. I could never get past the first few stories, I'm afraid. Howard--while his Conan stories are fondly remembered and still read today, they are rather shallow. It comes to something when you can say that a film with Arnold Schwarzenegger as the star has greater character depth than the original source materal! And let us not forget that Howard unwittingly inspired the infamous The Eye of Argon. The horror! An author who rarely seems to get mentioned these days is Roger Zelazny. I never liked Moorc0ck's work, but I got into Zelazny's work as a teenager and it's very good. In the 60s, as a new author, he won a slew of awards for his writing, and deservedly so. His Amber Chronicles are probably his best known works, stories about Corwin of Amber and his mad family, how all realities are merely shadows of the one true reality that is Amber, and the machinations that are threatening to destroy its very existence. What I particularly like about his work is that I can't easily spot his influences. Many fantasists today, whether they admit it or not, are heavily influenced by Tolkien's works. I can't see that influence in Zelazny's writings. So more power to him (if he were still with us ). Yeah, I'm a walking repository of useless information. Now if only I could actually do something constructive with it . . .
|
|
|
Post by The Wytch-King on May 7, 2004 22:23:30 GMT
I once wrote a Lovecraft-inspired (very) short story based on Magnamund. It was published in an issue of the Rising Sun Lone Wolf Fan e-zine. Horror and fantasy are two genres that rarely seem to meld well, and yet they are made for each other. Strange. Ah, yes, found it. Rising Sun #2, August 1999, correct? You know what? That's one good story! (Not sure, though, whether I can sleep tonight. There are a lot of books in my room ... *shudder* ) Up to now, I have read only a very few stories by Lovecraft, and none of them in English, but when I read your short story, I couldn't help but feel somewhat as if I were reading a story by E. A. Poe. (Hope that's not an anathema to you ... Can't fully grasp it, but it's something about the language, the way of expressing things. Eloquent and a bit antiquated, maybe? That always held a certain appeal for me. So, when do we get another one? The Wytch-King, readying a spell of Enchantment magicks (just in case)
|
|
|
Post by AlbinoChocobo on May 7, 2004 22:45:44 GMT
Mine never went further than Super Monkey Balls on the Gamecube. As a matter of fact, how many of us are female ? I would think around 10% at best ..
|
|
|
Post by The Wytch-King on May 7, 2004 23:21:16 GMT
As a matter of fact, how many of us are female ? As you voiced my own thoughts, I just went and posted that question. We shall see ... The Wytch-King
|
|
|
Post by outspaced on May 8, 2004 10:16:50 GMT
Ah, yes, found it. Rising Sun #2, August 1999, correct? Yeah, that's the one-- The Grimoire. I'm glad it achieved its goal! A theme constantly running through Lovecraft's works is forbidden knowledge, that you can know too much, and that's a theme I really wanted to explore in that story. I have to confess Poe's works strike me as being very dry, I tried to read him, but gave up. However, if you consider that to be praise, that's how I'll take it. Thanks! Again, I'm glad it hit the mark. It's rather difficult when writing fantasy to avoid 20th- and 21st-century anachronisms. I went through quite a number of edits and minor re-writes to try to avoid them and get that antiquated feel to the language. Patience, Wytch-King, it's only been . . . uh . . . five years? My, doesn't time fly. LOOK! A THREE-HEADED MONKEY! Outspaced runs off whilst The Wytch-King is looking for the nonexistent primate.
|
|
|
Post by The Wytch-King on May 8, 2004 11:49:31 GMT
* Eerie voice modus on* Yess, run, little mortal, run ... Stumble through the woods of your youth ... You won't ever escape the shadow of the Wytch-King's power! Bwahahaha! *Wytch-King pauses confused, examines the controls* Curses, who crosswired the "Eerie Voice" and "Murray" modes again? Heads will roll ... err, well ... ... Hey, that's the second-largest three-headed monkey I've ever seen! The Wytch-King
|
|
deiseach
Kai Lord
Champion of the Sommerswerd
Posts: 170
|
Post by deiseach on May 8, 2004 11:50:43 GMT
How appropriate. You fight like a cow
|
|
|
Post by The Tagazin Poodle on May 10, 2004 13:31:51 GMT
Being a werecow myself, I can say that's quite a compliment.
|
|
|
Post by Archdruid on May 10, 2004 18:35:41 GMT
My word, how these thread topics tend to drift!
|
|
|
Post by The Wytch-King on May 10, 2004 19:25:33 GMT
Moo.
The Wytch-Cow
|
|
|
Post by Agarash on May 11, 2004 5:58:29 GMT
My word, how these thread topics tend to drift! Indeed they do, Archdruid. If this so-called "General Discussion" were one of my generals, I would have him eaten by hungry Szalls.
|
|
Nerethel
Kai Lord
I wear pants.
Posts: 75
|
Post by Nerethel on May 11, 2004 15:24:19 GMT
When I was a little boy, I had a goldfish named Phil. He was a happy fish. He swam and swam.
Nerethel
|
|