Book Hauls!

[Connavar]

Originally Posted by GOLLUM

OOOPPPsssssssssss..sorry about that Typo LOL!

Erikson is pretty much better than anyone else I've read as far as EPIC storylines go. Not the greatest prose but still comfortably above average.

I was actually surprised by his prose.

After reading GRRM whose prose i found so generic and boring i found Erikson's good specially when its about Epic fantasy of today.

Sure he is crap compared to my favorit Gemmell but so are 99% of fantasy writers i have read

Glen Cook has a decent one too. His writing style is alittle annoying though cause there are so many Company guys talking sometimes and several of the times you dont know who it is except the one that is telling the story Croaker.

Someties you have to geuss cause he doesnt always say One-eye said or Elmo said that. I found that very annoying when there 8-10 guys talking and you have to geuss.

[GOLLUM]

True but it certainly keeps you on your toes.

Erikson's prose is definitely pretty good, you should try Italo Calvino, M John Harrison or Gene Wolfe for superior prose.

[Connavar]

I was planning on checking out Gene Wolfe.

[GOLLUM]

Check out the subforum we have here on Wolfe for ideas on reading material...

Just a word of warning, he's not to everyone's liking, his work is fairly cerebral and can be quite deep in its meaning and not always easy to follow. Certainly a challenging author.

[Connavar]

I like a challenge specially when its authors with good/great prose, i have a fetish for those


I read Jack Vance for the first time with Dying Earth first story which was so wierd but interesting cause of his prose.

I have to confess, i had to reread some of the words several times to understand them.

[GOLLUM]

Vance is a great writer IMO but Wolfe is on another level again. You may finds yourself reading passages from his work half a dozen times and still come out scratching your head or with six different intepretations. Really is a case of the agony and the ecstacy.

Bye for now....

[Culhwch]

Originally Posted by Connavar of Rigante

Sure he is crap compared to my favorit Gemmell but so are 99% of fantasy writers i have read

Am I missing something? I read Legend and a bit of Gemmell's second one (chronologically) and gave him away as pretty simplistic and not really that good. Did he get better? I may have to look up some later titles if so.

[stinking_dylan]

Dammit, I have to read Wolfe. Preferably via a library loan, just in case...

I'm currently in a Tanith Lee phase. Just getting to the end of Heartbeast, and planning on reading The Blood of Roses next. After that, either more Lee or definately Wolfe (or maybe Clive Barker).

[Connavar]

Originally Posted by Culhwch

Am I missing something? I read Legend and a bit of Gemmell's second one (chronologically) and gave him away as pretty simplistic and not really that good. Did he get better? I may have to look up some later titles if so.

Read more!


Im not saying he tries to write very poetic prose or whatnot.

Im saying he has very good prose that you dont see often in heroic or epic fantasy. Pretty straight forward fitting his genre but still his words are magic sometimes.



Stuff like "sentient hurricane"; "whirling maelstrom"; "hissing song of crossbow strings"; "spearing into the lake" etc..

Rayvan’s band stood on the anvil of history, staring up defiantly at Ceska’s hammer. – The King Beyond the Gate

The stone glowed, red-gold gleaming like an eldritch lantern, the black veins shrinking to fine hairlines. - Wolf in shadow


Those are only a few i could find right now. It might look simple but put together enough lines like that and it makes a very interesting story.

[stinking_dylan]

I used to love Gemmell when I was a teenager. I've tried reading him lately and I too find his prose too plain, almost like reading a comic book. He does write ripping, dark, bloody yarns though.

[HoopyFrood]

Picked up the third of the Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb today, Assassin's Quest, at a second hand book stall.

[Connavar]

Originally Posted by stinking_dylan

I used to love Gemmell when I was a teenager. I've tried reading him lately and I too find his prose too plain, almost like reading a comic book. He does write ripping, dark, bloody yarns though.

Too plain? What do you expect? Shakespeare in Heroic fantasy?


I can see you dont like stories like that but if you find him too plain dont go near other heroic fantasy

[stinking_dylan]

I was referring to Culhwch's claim that Gemmels prose was too simple.

I used to read heroic fantasy, and still read Moorcocks early works, which perhaps are not very similar in that their attraction is their highly imaginative and almost psycadelic settings. Out of all the authors who write in the heroic fantasy sub-genre exclusively, Gemmell is the only one who I still read (and collect for my personal library).

[Connavar]

Ah my bad i thought you replayed to me cause of what i was saying.


Interesting about the too plain thing. Sure his story are quest orientied but thats the kind of heroic fantasy it is. I found others in the genre too plain compared to him. He writes using in very oldish words that makes you believe the setting. Which is why his prose is perfect for his stories.


No wonder you think about comics, i read somewhere he said Stan Lee was a hero of his cause of how he did his heroes and villains

Louis Lamour the western guy was also another hero no wonder if you have read his Shannow series.

[GOLLUM]

Back on topic......

1 Novella & 6 short stories - Peter F Hamilton
The Road - Cormac McCarthy * A post Global Warming tale