Influences

[StevenSavile]

I think all of us come into the field with a certain amount of baggage - that's a fancy way for saying we are fans first...

I remember the first fantasy novel I read after Lord of the Rings - it was The Enchanter's Endgame by David Eddings, yep I read the last book first... but it opened a new world that had been closed off to me for a good 7 or 8 years. After that I devoured everything I could get my hands on - Hugh Cook's novels, Andre Norton, Robert Silverberg, Stephen Donaldson and David Gemmell, then the big fat epics of Tad Williams...

In terms of style I WANT to write the kind of book avid fans of David Gemmell would enjoy, character driven action, with genuine heroes and threats when I do my media tie in stuff. On my solo projects (like the fantasy novel I am slowly working up, sorry Mr Jarrold, I will be faster I promise) I think more akin to the complexity and darkness of Steve Erikson infused with the awe of Clive Barker's rather perverse delights...

So how about you guys?

[Mark Robson]

I think you must be a little younger than I am. Eddings came along a little while after I'd read LOTR. However, I did look for anything on the shelves at the time that said 'like Tolkien' on them. For me it was McCaffrey, Donaldson (who nearly put me off the genre altogether) Julian May, Gene Wolfe, Christopher Stasheff, Harry Harrison, E.E. Doc Smith followed closely by the new wave - Eddings, Gemmell, etc.

I'm now intrigued to read something of yours, especially as you are looking to write something for Gemmell fans. I'm a big heroic fantasy type myself. Where would you suggest I start?

[StevenSavile]

Hi Mark,

I'm 37, not sure how that mates with your age. I read LotR very young, but then my natural interest in all things sporting pretty much killed the urge to read or write for a good long time. I used to joke about it, but back when I was 11 my parents were called in to the school by the headmaster who wanted me to see a shrink because I wrote a really nasty story for homework when everyone else was copying Thundercats - mine was about a serial killer on the London underground pushing people in wheelchairs under the trains... they wouldn't believe it was just a story!

I don't think anywhere near enough people read Stasheff - and Harrison wrote one of my favourite stories of all time, when a missionary brings christianity to an alien planet...

I believe Anne is actually blurbing my next novel, which is an amazing feeling. As to starting, well, as odd as it sounds, probably the Warhammer trilogy, kicking off with Inheritance.

[Mark Robson]

I did say a little, and I wasn't far wrong. I'm currently wearing the big 40 badge! I also read LOTR at about 11 or 12, and Eddings came along just a couple of years later, by which stage I'd read just about everything else on the fantasy shelves that was around at the time.

I shall look to give the warhammer trilogy a go at some point in the not too distant future.

Out of interest, did you ever read a series that went something like: Horse Lord, Demon Lord, Dragon Lord etc? Great heroic fantasy. The name of the author escapes me at the moment. I remember loving them, (lent them to someone and never got them back) but haven't seen anything of the books, or the author since.

Edit: Morwood was the surname, I think ... Peter? Michael? Not sure.

[Lenny]

Peter Morwood

It's Peter Morwood, Mark.

[StevenSavile]

Peter Morwood was (is) great. I remember reading the first of those and wondering if he was actually David Gemmell, being as his wizard bore the same monicker...

Actually, I am in a book later in the year with Peter's wife, Diane Duane. It's a Dr Who project. I won't pretend it isn't a thrill - she's one hell of a writer.

I do believe that Ace released them this year in two volumes... I have to admit when I moved over to Sweden I ebayed my way into a nice set of the Horselords books heh.

[Mark Robson]

Originally Posted by Lenny

Peter Morwood

It's Peter Morwood, Mark.

Ah, so I'm not quite senile yet then! That's the chappie. I haven't seen anything of his work for nearly 30 years and whilst I've forgotten the stories now, I do remember that they were tales of very high quality.

[SJAB]

Peter Morwood is still writing

Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

He gave me some very good advice when I started trying to write, and I will always be grateful.

As for Influences, well E.E. (Doc) Smith, Lensman series, Michael Moorcock, James Herbert, to name but a few, and strangely Norah Lofts. I came across her books when I was about 16 (a long time ago, well 1969) A lady that actually wrote a book in the 1950's about Richard I and going against the standard vision of the character at that time, showing his homosexuality, was an eye opener. She was a talented writer that created real characters. Her "ghost story" The Haunting of Gad's Hall is well worth a read, though perhaps the pace is slowly than to days books the twists and turns and that affects of the haunting on the characters is superbly done.

[Culhwch]

I have to admit that I haven't come across any of your work before, Steven, but it does look interesting. I'll have to try and hunt some down.

Looking at some of the influences listed here makes me feel a little young and naive. I suppose I've only been reading fantasy for a decade or so now, so my influences tend towards the modern. After I read LotR for the first time, my next taste was Feist, so ineveitably I went through a Feist phase (you know, every new chapter beginning with a single sentence paragraph) but thankfully that passed quickly. At the moment I think I'd list Martin, Gaiman and probably most of all Bernard Cornwell as my primary influences, though I'd certainly not class myself as anything but a petender in their shadows...

[StevenSavile]

Culwich, I am actually a huge fan of everyone you listed. I was lucky enough a few years back to sit up in the early hours talking to Ray Fiest about his life, growing up around guys like George Lucas etc. He's a fascinating guy - and when it comes to storytelling, I do believe he tells a wonderful fantasy. Compared to say Steve Erikson, there is an innocence about his work that I like to escape into every now and then, and I freely admit I have them all, in hc, on my shelf at home - expect for the collabs he's done.

Gaiman, I think, is one of the few true geniuses working in our field - the man is so damned talented I just look at the page in envy.


And never feel ashamed to not know someone's work - or influences - I could have talked about John Myers Myers' Silverlock, or Zelazny or Poul Andersen or John Brunner or any of hundreds that I have admired, they get more and more obscure As to not having read mine, tis easy remedied heh...