by J D Dunsany » Thu Mar 03, 2011 10:23 pm
How weird. Wintersmith is on the desk next to me as I type and Mrs Dunsany (who is a longsuffering soul but likes her Pratchett) is reading Jingo at the moment.
It's been a while since I've given a proper run-down of books in progress, so...
Deathwing - ed. David Pringle. Just finished Storm Constantine's story 'Lacrymata' which, along with Ian Watson's 'Warped Stars', was baroquely textured gothic goodness, peppered with the kind of feverish sexuality that is now pretty much absent from BL's output. Watson's probably too clever for his own good, really - and the plot of Constantine's story is incredibly basic - but the sheer imagination with which both authors explore the setting makes me yearn for a bit more of this kind of story as opposed to the more sanitised and action-orientated focus of the current crop of BL fiction. There'll be a proper review of this at some point, time permitting.
On the e-reader:
Horus Rising - Dan Abnett. A re-read and a very impressive one. This novel is worthy of some proper intelligent discussion. The world-building is spot on; the characterisation of Astartes as semi-mythical demi-gods with the kind of character flaws that the Greek pantheon possessed is also very arresting. And you've got to love the remembrancers like Keeler, Oliton and Karkasy. The pace is sedate but it pulls you in very powerfully into the 31st millennium. Utterly fab.
Gardens of the Moon - Steven Erikson. Another re-read, but I'm liking it better this time around. Some of it appears less subtle than I remember it, but it's still very readable and very involving. (Btw, I read Chun and Mossy's comments on the previous thread and probably will invest in The Name of the Wind at some point - it sounds like my kind of thing.)
Tess of the d'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy. Yes, it's a set text, but it's also a profoundly well-written novel. I've learnt a lot about the mechanics of sentence and paragraph construction, as well as how to write setting, just by reading it.
There's other stuff on the go, too - but this is the stuff I've read/dipped into in the last few days.
Regards,
JDD
JDD story of the moment:
Glory