After a Long Hiatus ...
It's been far, far too long since I wrote here and I've read a lot in that time and written a fair bit too. I'll try to do some catch-up entries about some of the things I read, particularly Algernon Blackwood's short stories and a couple of trilogies I got through.
The last book I finished was Across the Wall, which is a short story anthology by Garth Nix, an Australian fantasy author. I hadn't read any of his work before but I heard him in a seminar at Supanova one year and bought this volume afterward and got it signed, of course. I'm happy to say it the whole collection was delightful. The stories were a good mix but he has a distinctive style which I enjoy. They tend to action with a dark side with flashes of humour. It's also very readable and entertaining so I'll look into the Abhorsen cycle when I get a chance.
Keeping on a signed at Supanova theme, I also read Kate Forsyth's Bitter Greens. This was a combination fantasy and historical fiction, and was simply sumptuous. Reading a story about an author hearing a story she will write down and make famous is a bit meta-fiction but the way Kate Forsyth wrote it isn't very meta, for which I'm glad (not that there's anything wrong with meta-fiction per se). The court of Louis IV comes to life through a side character who's probably more interesting than Louis ever was himself, and we hear a retelling of Rapunzel in the bargain. Kate's writing is rich without being overladen, and really brings the scenes to vivid life. And, for the record, whoever wrote the review quoted on the front cover about the high number of sex scenes in the book was overstating things. Yes, there are a few sex scenes and a lot of 'adult themes' but not as many as the quote suggests.
That's your lot for now. I'll do my best to keep posting more often. In the meantime,
Keep dreaming!
The last book I finished was Across the Wall, which is a short story anthology by Garth Nix, an Australian fantasy author. I hadn't read any of his work before but I heard him in a seminar at Supanova one year and bought this volume afterward and got it signed, of course. I'm happy to say it the whole collection was delightful. The stories were a good mix but he has a distinctive style which I enjoy. They tend to action with a dark side with flashes of humour. It's also very readable and entertaining so I'll look into the Abhorsen cycle when I get a chance.
Keeping on a signed at Supanova theme, I also read Kate Forsyth's Bitter Greens. This was a combination fantasy and historical fiction, and was simply sumptuous. Reading a story about an author hearing a story she will write down and make famous is a bit meta-fiction but the way Kate Forsyth wrote it isn't very meta, for which I'm glad (not that there's anything wrong with meta-fiction per se). The court of Louis IV comes to life through a side character who's probably more interesting than Louis ever was himself, and we hear a retelling of Rapunzel in the bargain. Kate's writing is rich without being overladen, and really brings the scenes to vivid life. And, for the record, whoever wrote the review quoted on the front cover about the high number of sex scenes in the book was overstating things. Yes, there are a few sex scenes and a lot of 'adult themes' but not as many as the quote suggests.
That's your lot for now. I'll do my best to keep posting more often. In the meantime,
Keep dreaming!
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