tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7000915267979691397.post4153055999747192030..comments2023-08-21T18:12:17.758-07:00Comments on Cosmic Antipodes: April is the Cruelest MonthRaphael Ordoñezhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17991011024942623986noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7000915267979691397.post-66017539444883170602017-04-09T19:53:40.669-07:002017-04-09T19:53:40.669-07:00"Thinking back, I find Harrison's pomo sh..."Thinking back, I find Harrison's pomo shtick a little too deliberate at times." Yeah, I can definitely see that. I prefer The Pastel City for that reason. Plus, it's kind of a downer if you feel like the author you're reading is playing a game that you're not in on...Raphael Ordoñezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17991011024942623986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7000915267979691397.post-52192278483378999812017-04-08T08:44:27.886-07:002017-04-08T08:44:27.886-07:00Glad to read you like Harrison so far. I was a lit...Glad to read you like Harrison so far. I was a little surprised how willing I was to follow him along the twisting trails he built out of The Pastel City. The writing is beautiful and there are far more indelible images from the three Viriconium books than a lot of others I've reviewed.<br /><br />Thinking back, I find Harrison's pomo shtick a little too deliberate at times. The connections between characters and events and their fractured parallels in the three books became a little too gimmicky at times. <br /><br />Yeah, the whole fundamentalist and watchmaker bit almost too silly for words. The other essay, though, yep, a lot of sharp insights. I think my present boredom with S&S stems from many of the same things he points to.<br /><br />Finally, Wizardy and Wild Romance is worth a read, though Moorcock's hatred of anything that has too much of the "lamb or the flag" to it seems to warp his opinions a lot.The Wasphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08636805818054637966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7000915267979691397.post-28873911762855326232017-04-08T05:32:52.265-07:002017-04-08T05:32:52.265-07:00Wizardry And Wild Romance is very good overall, mo...Wizardry And Wild Romance is very good overall, most of the writers he talks about are classics but he makes some interesting obscure recommendations.<br /><br />Personally I'm wary of my creative ideals limiting the things I enjoy. Robert Adam Gilmourhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03030109275684859704noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7000915267979691397.post-51721126107362216232017-04-07T16:41:49.836-07:002017-04-07T16:41:49.836-07:00I don't think I've read Epic Pooh in its e...I don't think I've read Epic Pooh in its entirety; I seem to have a hazy memory of reading parts of it while standing in a bookstore. I'm familiar with the thoughts expressed therein. So, no, I haven't read Wizardry and Wild Romance, though I'm sure I've referred to it at some point. I guess I'll have to read it sometime, but I can only take so much irritation in my life.<br /><br />I would say that I'm pretty picky about fantasy. Most of my favorites live up to my ideal, at least in part; then again, I don't have many favorites. It's true that sometimes something just clicks. I could list a few things I'm very fond of, but can't really defend on the basis of what I've said here.<br /><br />Lately my likes and dislikes tend to reflect what I'm going for (though not necessarily achieving!) in my writing. Ultimately I think what I like best is when a writer's voice and vision are aptly mated, down to the level of word choice, sentence structure, etc. That's true of both Tolkien and Harrison, I think.Raphael Ordoñezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17991011024942623986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7000915267979691397.post-8652082587495796192017-04-07T07:33:00.774-07:002017-04-07T07:33:00.774-07:00Good post, I generally lean toward these views on ...Good post, I generally lean toward these views on fantasy but I don't really trust going all the way in this direction. I love a strong poetic vision more than anything but I don't think it's an essential for a good fantasy book.<br /> I haven't read a lot of fantasy novels but there must be some that don't have an original vision, are extensively built and mapped out yet still powerful.<br /><br />I've read the first two of Vance's Dying Earth books and despite liking a lot about them and wanting more Vance books, I still felt like a lot of it was generic fantasy.<br /><br />How much of your favourite fantasy really lives up to the ideal? How about films and comics, do you ask less of them than you ask from books? <br /><br />I don't think that visionary power is something someone either has lots of or doesn't have at all. Some people just have more of it and some people only have it occasionally and they can make up for that with other things.<br /><br />I recently read this piece and it reminded me of Harrison (and not just because it mentions him)<br /><br />https://iansales.com/2015/11/27/10-things-i-learnt-writing-space-opera/<br /><br />I think you said you only discovered Harrsion recently?<br />You've read Moorcock's "Epic Pooh" piece, I think. Did you read it in Wizardry And Wild Romance because he talks about Harrison in that.Robert Adam Gilmourhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03030109275684859704noreply@blogger.com