Fantasy: Five of the Best

Moribund. If I was given one word to describe the fantasy genre, that is the one I would choose. There’ very little of interest there. The giants, Tolkien and Howard, authors of Lord of the Rings and Conan respectively, sit atop the genre. Exactly two modern authors are doing interesting things with the genre and producing good writing. Those are George RR Martin (when’s that sequel coming, George?) and Terry Pratchett.

Everyone else is focused on trying to re-created Tolkien’s epic with their own name on the cover. Stop. Tolkien already wrote Lord of the Rings, stop trying to copy it, and do something original with the genre, please. For the most part, fantasy books are what you walk past on the way to science fiction or historical fiction, where good original and interesting stories are being written. There’s not a lot going on in fantasy, and what’s there is going round in circles.

I wanted to get that off my chest, and it explains why this top 5 list has but four entires. Nothing else is worth your eyeball time.

1. The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien. It was written as one book, something lost on modern authors who insist on cranking out trilogy after overblown trilogy. Make sure you buy and edition that contains the appendices, as the story continues on in there, for another 250 years or so. Really.

2. The Complete Chronicles of Conan by Robert E Howard. For some reason Howard’s work is less copies these days than Tolkien. Reading both of these works together gives you an interesting look at ‘British fantasy’ versus ‘American fantasy’. Both works have elements heavily reliant on the culture they were written in. Along with Tolkien, consider these original Conan tales as your best introduction to the genre.

3. A Song of Ice and Fire by George RR Martin. Finally, I move on to something written within the last fifty years. Ice and Fire is four book long so far, and will likely end up at seven. Don’t let this put you off, it’s not another one of those never ending stories that infest the genre. In these books, things actually happen. Gripping overarching story, with excellent characterisation, this series is notable for the other books in the genre it is not like – pretty much all of them. I recommend this series to every reader I meet.

4. Discworld by Terry Pratchett. Pratchett’s Discworld setting contain elements familiar to readers of Howard, and English folklore, and Victorian England in the later books about Commander Vimes. Pratchett’s books make interesting points without being preachy, and with his own brand of humour running strong throughout. People who like to talk about ‘the fantasy genre’ often ignore Discworld books. I suspect this is because they are good.

There is no five.

There are other fantasy books that aren’t awful, but those don’t make my ‘highly recommended’ list either. They are worth the time it takes to read. You may wish to try:
Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn (light on the ‘classic fantasy elements)
The Silver Door by Grace Dugan (here’s an author doing something interesting with the genre)

If you’re a younger reader, and here I mean someone between ten and sixteen years old, there are tales here for you. Eddings’ Belgariad, Feist’s Magician, and others are fine introductions to the genre, and there are worse books you could be reading at that age. Older readers wanting to explore the genre would be advised to start, frankly, with Martin. You’ll probably end there too, but that’s ok.

Collecting Stories

Giving those top 5 lists a break, here’s another TED video for you all.

Jonathan Harris collects stories. Stories that run across all media, and only non-fiction stories. Objects are an integral part of the story collection. It’s a fascinating process, check it out.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jonathan_harris_collects_stories.html

Historical Fiction: Five of the Best

Historical fiction is another area if ascendancy right now. Just as the ‘hard sf’ writers are making that genre interesting, so the ‘hard historical’ authors are writing believable well-researched fiction that remains true to its time. As with science fiction, there’s a lot to choose from here.

1. Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson
Along with its sequels, The Confusion and The System of the World, Stephenson’s Baroque Cycle is a stunning achievement, and more importantly and excellent story to boot. Set in the time of change and revolution, this saga spans the time of years just after the English Civil War (1645) to the ascension of the House of Hanover to the throne of England in 1714. This series is not entirely concerned with England, with much of the action taking place elsewhere, and as such shows much of the world as it was at that time.

2. Temeraire by Naomi Novik
Hornblower with dragons. I can’t be the first to say this, in fact I suspect Novik was when she first pitched the series. An eminently readable series set in Napoleonic times. The same players are at one another’s throats – England, Prussia, revolutionary France, however this time each country has dragons as well as an army and navy on its side. The role of a true air force has not been realised, with most countries using their dragons as fast messengers, or to intercept the dragons of others. However Napoleon was always known as a master tactician…

3. Jonathan Strange and Mister Norrell by Susannah Clarke
As with Temeraire this novel is set in England during Napoleonic times. However this novel covers the last two magicians in England, and their dealings with one another. I enjoyed the pace of this novel, but others who have read it found it too slow.

4. I Claudius / Claudius the God by Robert Graves
What Quicksilver does to the seventeenth century I, Claudius does for ancient Rome – brings the time period to life with stunning clarity.

5. Wolf of the Plains by Conn Iggulden
This series covers the rise of Ghengis Khan in the thirteenth century. So far it has two books, but a third is on the way – next year, maybe? Already this is a great saga.

Science Fiction: Five of the Best

I’ve mentioned before how I have little use for genre labels. This isn’t about that. The only use such labels have is to group books into sections convenient for discussion. Like Science Fiction.

Today science fiction is a thriving genre. The ‘adventure sf’ of the 1950s has given way to a ‘hard sf’ today. Instead of space cowboys fighting space monster before heading back to the space ranch for some space food, we now have intelligent books written by authors fully cognisant of the scientific realities of space travel. Words for me. Five of my favourite such books follow.

1. Pandora’s Star by Peter F. Hamilton
This book and its sequel Judas Unchained are my favourite Hamilton books and I’ve read a few. In this series, humanity has spread to other planets through the use of stabilised wormholes, when an alien race is encountered, a race so violent that it was sealed off eons ago. Naturally curious humanity trips the lock and unleashes something terrible. This book also features investigator Paula Myo, one of my favourite characters from any book.

2. Space by Stephen Baxter
I’ve mentioned Space before, talking about the Fermi Paradox. This is not the only hard science tackled in the book. In fact the whole book revolves around a scientific and philosophical investigation, spanning thousands of years. The book is also inhabited by characters to care about, which turns it from text into classic sf.

3. The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
Unwilling soldiers return from their war to a society they no longer recognise, and which doesn’t sympathise with their experiences. Sound familiar? The Forever War was written in the 1970s, and is still not dated. A great achievement.

4. Ilium/Olympos by Dan Simmons
It was a close call between this and Hyperion/The Fall of Hyperion by the same author. Dan Simmons writes fantastic two-part series. I tip my hat to robots who study Shakespeare, and revived Homeric scholars acting as war correspondents for Greek gods.

5. The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson
Nanotechnology, a retro-Victorian society, a dilemma concerning education, all these add up to a fascinating look at a near future that may never be.

I Am Legend by Richard Matheson

The straightforward way to discuss this book is to call it a vampire novel and move on from there. That’s one conversation.

Richard Neville is seemingly the last man. Everyone else has become a vampire. By day he walks the empty streets, by night he cowers as the vampires surround his house.

What struck me most about I Am Legend was how it comprised a study in hopelessness and despair. The internal thoughts and deteriorating mental condition of the protagonist comprise the majority of this book.

Neville’s study of vampires provides him with some relief through engaging his mind, the monotony rather than the danger being his greatest enemy. It is not bloodthirsty monsters but tedium that drag at him day after empty day. The incident with the dog is just incredible.

I Am Legend is highly recommended. If you see the word ‘vampire’ on the cover, don’t be mistaken. This is closer to Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle than to Bram Stoker, or Joss Whedon for that matter.

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams

Reading the second Hitchhikers book leads me to a conclusion – Douglas Adams is the master of the anti-climax. Climactic events are something he goes out of his way to avoid. If they have to happen, then everyone just ignores it anyway, or orders another round of drinks.

It took, the possible answer to the ultimate question, combined with a meeting with the man who secretly runs the universe, for me to come to this conclusion, but there it is. No climax. You may draw whatever conclusion you wish from this observation, I stand by it. In fact it makes the other Douglas Adams books I have read make more sense.

Restaurant… is a direct continuation of the story from the first book, and sets up the beginning of the thirds book, at least. We also get to encounter Disaster Area, the galaxy’s greatest rock band. Who could ask for more?

The System of the World by Neal Stephenson

The final book for the Baroque cycle. The three main characters of Jack, Eliza and Daniel again play their central roles, but this is Daniel’s book.

It begins by catching up with those 1714 chapters from Quicksilver that made such little sense at the time, which was ok since being chased by pirates is cool. Daniel returns to a very different London to the one he left, and this time arrives via a circuitous route through the English countryside. It gives him time to apprecoiate the lifestyle of the Tory landowners he has always opposed.

In London his old comrade Sir Isaac Newton is trying to run the Royal Mint, and forever chasing a criminal known only as Jack the Coiner. No prizes for guessing who that is.

I won’t spoil any of the details. Like the other two of this series the book may be long, but every page, every sentence has been crafted to keep you reading. I won’t deny anyone the experience of turning each page with trembling fingers, eyes struggling to stay open for just one more chapter.

The System of the World is a grand finale to a grand series.

A Short Break

Normal posting service will resume on Wednesday July 16.

Forced to Read?

I’ve been thinking a lot about Ken Robinson’s speech concerning education and how it kills creativity.

This led me back to the subject of books in schools. How is it that schools do such a terrible job of instilling a love of reading? Again it’s because they follow the same tired old mass industrial model. A room of 20 or 30 odd individuals, all being made to read the same book at the same time, at the same pace. Insanity? No, education. Apparently.

Given this, its surprising that anyone comes out of the school system wanting to read at all.

Schools should be instilling a love of reading, the same way they should be supporting other creative outlets, by encouraging students to discover what they want in their own way, at their own pace.

Don’t shake your head either, thinking something along the lines of ‘if they weren’t forced to read they wouldn’t read’. And why is that, exactly? Because they see no reading being done in their own homes? Quite possibly. But why is that? Because their own parents went through the same system, and came out with no wish to read. See? That is proof that the system isn’t working, not a reason to perpetuate the system.

Forcing kids to read a specific book, or forcing anyone to read a specific book, is bad, and a waste of time. Instead, students should be encouraged to discover books, and be challenged to take their reading further. That one might work. I think it’s worth a try.

Top Ten TED Talks

Over on the TED site, you’ll find a page featuring their top 10 talks given to far. It’s a varied group, but the general theme is that some people do awesome things. I’ve said already, if it weren’t true it wouldn’t be interesting. That applies here too. Enjoy.

My personal favourite is Hans Rosling’s statistics, the first TED tak I ever watched. Ken Robinson’s ‘How Schools Kill Creativity’ is one every writer and fan of stories should read. So should every parent with a child at scholl, and anyone still at school.