Part XV: McKillip/de Lint/T. Williams/Pullman/Moorcock/J. Carroll/Rothfuss

[Coír Draoi Ceítien]

Masters of Fantasy: Part XV

This has come very slowly, due to a lack of focus and working manually on a Word document to save my work, but it's finally done.

My next batch isn't really held together by any particular theme, being a mixture of high and low fantasy. They just so happen to be the ones I most want to talk about right now. With that being said, here they are.

 
 
PATRICIA A. McKILLIP (1948-2022)

A native of Oregon, Patricia A. McKillip started fantasy out of a combination of Tolkienian fascination and an alternative to boredom. Her first couple novels were marketed as juveniles before her third novel, The Forgotten Beasts of Eld, won the World Fantasy Award in 1975. Her next significant work was the Riddle-Master trilogy - The Riddle-Master of Hed, Heir of Sea and Fire, and Harpist in the Wind - a rather original story in which a special-born boy is drawn into a battle against shape-changing enemies in a land where riddles hold the key to ultimate knowledge. This was followed by a string of award winning/nominated titles such as The Changeling Sea, Winter Rose, Song for the Basilisk, The Tower at Stony Wood, Ombria in Shadow, In the Forests of Serre, Alphabet of Thorn, Od Magic, Solstice Wood, The Bell at Sealy Head, and The Bards of Bone Plain. In 2008, she won the World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement.
 
Offsite resources:

Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricia_A._McKillip)
Encyclopedia of Fantasy (http://sf-encyclopedia.uk/fe.php?nm=mckillip_patricia_a)
The Unofficial Patricia A. McKillip Website (http://patriciamckillip.com/)
FantasyLiterature.com (http://www.fantasyliterature.com/fantasy-author/mckillippatricia/)
Vengeance as a theme in the writings of Patricia A. McKillip (https://sites.google.com/site/martinlabarspages/home/mckillip-vengeance)
SF Site - Review of the Riddle-Master Trilogy (https://www.sfsite.com/05a/rid56.htm)
 
 

CHARLES DE LINT (1951- )

Born in the Netherlands, Charles de Lint's parents moved to Canada when he was just four months old; he has been a native Ottawa since age 11. He began writing in 1983, eventually becoming one of the foremost practitioners of contemporary urban fantasy, which relies on a "crosshatch" method of combining both the real world and the "otherworld" into a blended whole. He has also written poetry and criticism, dabbled in art, played folk/Irish/Celtic music with his wife, and taught creative writing courses both is Canada and the US. Some of his best known work includes Moonheart, The Harp of the Grey Rose, Mulengro, Yarrow, Jack of Kinrowan, Greenmantle, The Little Country, Memory and Dream, Someplace to Be Flying, The Ivory and the Horn, Moonlight and Vines, Trader, Forests of the Heart, and The Onion Girl.

Offsite resources:

Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_de_Lint)
Encyclopedia of Fantasy (http://sf-encyclopedia.uk/fe.php?nm=de_lint_charles)
Official website (https://www.sfsite.com/charlesdelint/index.html)
Interview with Charles de Lint – Challenging Destiny #9, 2000 (http://www.challengingdestiny.com/interviews/delint.htm)
TV Tropes (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Creator/CharlesDeLint)
The Green Man – Edition on Charles de Lint: Reviews, Opinion Pieces, etc. (https://web.archive.org/web/20061216122220/http://www.greenmanreview.com/oneoffs/charlesdelint.html)



TAD WILLIAMS (1957- )

A native of Northern California, born in San Jose and raised in Palo Alto, Robert Paul "Tad" Williams Always showed a knack for long stories. After holding numerous odd jobs, he burst onto the scene in 1985 with Tailchaser's Song, a tale of feral cats complete with their own mythology in which one of their kind goes to seek the reason behind numerous disappearances and stumbles upon a conspiracy involving an evil god. This was followed three years later by what would become the epic three-volume Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn (The Dragonbone Chair, Stone of Farewell, and To Green Angel Tower) which follows an escalating war between human conquerors of the land of Osten Ard and their undead elven forbearers; written as an intentional commentary/deconstruction of tropes associated with Tolkien, this highly praised series would become of the chief inspirations for the fantasy work of George R. R. Martin. After releasing single novels such as Child of an Ancient City [with Nina Kiriki Hoffman] and Caliban's Hour, Williams would briefly delve into science fiction with the cyberpunk Otherland series (City of Golden Shadow, River of Blue Fire, Mountain of Black Glass, and Sea of Silver Light) before turning out more best-sellers with The War of the Flowers, the four-volume Shadowmarch (Shadowmarch, Shadowplay, Shadowrise, and Shadowheart), and the fantasy noir Bobby Dollar series (The Dirty Streets of Heaven, Happy Hour in Hell, and Sleeping Late on Judgment Day). Recently, he has returned to his first series with The Last King of Osten Ard, consisting of an interquel (The Heart of What Was Lost) and the main trilogy (The Witchwood Crown, Empire of Grass, and The Navigator's Children); another title – a possible prequel tentatively titled The Shadow of Things to Come – is also forthcoming.

Offsite resources:

Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tad_Williams)
Encyclopedia of Fantasy (http://sf-encyclopedia.uk/fe.php?nm=williams_tad)
Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/williams_tad)
Official website (https://www.tadwilliams.com/)
Wired.com – Why Dirty Streets of Heaven Author Tad Williams Isn't Going to Hell...Probably (https://www.wired.com/2012/09/geeks-guide-tad-williams/)
Barnes & Noble – The Lasting Legacy of Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn (https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/sci-fi-fantasy/lasting-legacy-tad-williams-memory-sorrow-thorn/)
The SF Site – Review of Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn (https://the-avocado.org/2017/11/19/writer-spotlight-tad-williams/)
The Guardian - Tropes, Trolls, and Trump: The Fantasy Writer Who Inspired George R. R. Martin (https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/jan/17/tropes-trolls-and-trump-meet-one-of-george-rr-martins-favourite-fantasy-writers-tad-williams)



PHILIP PULLMAN (1946- )

Son of an RAF pilot, Philip Pullman developed an enthusiastic interest in his early years for Milton's Paradise Lost and the illustrations of William Blake. After two novels for adults, he turned to children's fiction with Count Karlstein, which would be followed by the Sally Lockhart mystery series, Spring-Heeled Jack, and Clockwork, in addition to a few non-genre young adult novels. In 1995, he turned to writing full time when publishing what would become his major contribution to fantasy, His Dark Materials (The Golden Compass [UK: Northern Lights], The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass), in which two young children are thrust across the multiverse to safeguard a mystical material known as Dust from the machinations of the church-like Magisterium. The trilogy has garnered quite some criticism from religious organizations for its perceived anti-Christian bias, but some others have supported it, and the series is widely praised as a modern classic of fantasy. As of this writing, a new trilogy serving and a follow-up – The Book of Dust – has begun, with the first book, La Belle Sauvage, being published in 2017, and the second volume, The Secret Commonwealth, following in 2019.

Offsite resources:

Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Pullman)
Encyclopedia of Fantasy (http://sf-encyclopedia.uk/fe.php?nm=pullman_philip)
Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/pullman_philip)
Official website (http://philip-pullman.com/)
British Council: Literature – Philip Pullman (https://literature.britishcouncil.org/writer/philip-pullman)
The Guardian – Philip Pullman: A Life in Writing (https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2011/mar/03/philip-pullman-life-in-writing)
The Telegraph – The Dark Materials Debate: Life, God, the Universe... (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3613962/The-Dark-Materials-debate-life-God-the-universe....html)
Literary Hub – We Still Need the Morality Lessons of Philip Pullman (http://lithub.com/we-still-need-the-morality-lessons-of-philip-pullman/)
The New Republic – Philip Pullman's War Against the Fanatics (https://newrepublic.com/article/145552/philip-pullmans-war-fanatics)
The New Yorker – Far from Narnia (https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2005/12/26/far-from-narnia)
The Guardian – His Dark Materials: The Enduring, Terrifying Appeal of Philip Pullman's World (https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2017/oct/18/his-dark-materials-the-enduring-terrifying-appeal-of-philip-pullmans-world)



MICHAEL MOORCOCK (1939- )

Michael Moorcock is one of the most respected, as well as divisive, names in science fiction and fantasy, being one of the chief architects of the "New Wave" of sci-fi during his tenure on the magazine New Worlds. He is outspoken in his opinions, championing the work of Mervyn Peake and remaining dismissive of Tolkien's corpus. His oeuvre is exceedingly prolific, dominated by the concept of "the Eternal Champion", a hero who exists across the multiverse, chosen to represent the Cosmic Balance between Law and Chaos. This figure manifests himself across series and characters such as Elric of Melniboné (originally collected as Elric of Melniboné, The Sailor on the Seas of Fate, The Weird of the White Wolf, The Sleeping Sorceress, The Bane of the Black Sword, Stormbringer, The Fortress of the Pearl, The Revenge of the Rose, The Dreamthief's Daughter, The Skrayling Tree, and The White Wolf's Son [now collected under different titles]), Corum Jhaelen Irsei (The Knight of the Swords, The Queen of the Swords, The King of the Swords, The Bull and the Spear, The Oak and the Ram, and The Sword and the Stallion), Dorian Hawkmoon, (The Jewel in the Skull, The Mad God's Amulet, The Sword of the Dawn, and The Runestaff), Jerry Cornelius (The Final Programme, A Cure for Cancer, The English Assassin, and The Condition of Muzak), Graf Ulrich von Bek (The War Hound and the World's Pain, The Brothel in Rosenstrasse, and The City in the Autumn Stars), Erekosë (The Eternal Champion, Phoenix in Obsidian, and The Dragon in the Sword), The Dancers at the End of Time (An Alien Heat, The Hollow Lands, and The End of All Songs), A Nomad of the Time Streams (The Warlord of the Air, The Land Leviathan, and The Steel Tsar), and others. Single novels of considerable note include the irreverent Behold the Man, the alternate universe Gloriana, and literary novels such as Mother London, The Chinese Agent, and Colonel Pyat (Byzantium Endures, The Laughter of Carthage, Jerusalem Commands, and The Vengeance of Rome).

Offsite resources:

Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Moorcock)
Encyclopedia of Fantasy (http://sf-encyclopedia.uk/fe.php?nm=moorcock_michael)
Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/moorcock_michael)
Moorcock's Miscellany – The Official Website (http://www.multiverse.org/index.php?title=Main_Page)
The New Statesman – "I Think Tolkien Was a Crypto-Fascist" (https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2015/07/michael-moorcock-i-think-tolkien-was-crypto-fascist)
The New Yorker – The Anti-Tolkien (https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/anti-tolkien)
AVClub – Where to Start with Fantasy Overlord Michael Moorcock (https://www.avclub.com/where-to-start-with-fantasy-overlord-michael-moorcock-1798231865)
TV Tropes (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Creator/MichaelMoorcock)
The Guardian – When Hari Kunzru Met Michael Moorcock (https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/feb/04/michael-moorcock-hari-kunzru)



JONATHAN CARROLL (1949- )

An American expatriate in Austria, Jonathan Carroll straddles the dividing lines that separate fantasy, science fiction, and horror in a unique style that is sometimes labelled "slipstream." In a sense, his work resembles Latin magical realism, in which the fantastic intrudes into mundane reality. His first and perhaps best-known novel, The Land of Laughs, deal with two biographers' quest to document the life of a beloved children's author in a town that may have been created by the late author's own imagination. His other novels include Voice of Our Shadow, the Answered Prayers Sextet (Bones of the Moon, Sleeping in Flame, A Child Across the Sky, Outside the Dog Museum, After Silence, and From the Teeth of Angels), the Crane's View Trilogy (Kissing the Beehive, The Marriage of Sticks, and The Wooden Sea), White Apples, Glass Soup, The Ghost in Love, and Bathing the Lion.

Offsite resources:

Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Carroll)
Encyclopedia of Fantasy (http://sf-encyclopedia.uk/fe.php?nm=carroll_jonathan)
Official website and daily blog (https://jonathancarroll.com/)



PATRICK ROTHFUSS (1973- )

A native of Madison, Wisconsin, with a fondness for tabletop roleplaying and a considerable social media presence, Patrick Rothfuss is one of the newest figures in fantasy, having broken onto the scene in 2007 with The Name of the Wind, the first installment of what is known as The Kingkiller Chronicle. The second installment, The Wise Man's Fear, followed in 2011, a companion volume, The Slow Regard of Silent Things, was released in 2014, and as of this writing, a third installment under the working title of The Doors of Stone is in progress.

Offsite resources:

Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Rothfuss)
Official website (https://www.patrickrothfuss.com/content/index.asp)
The Kingkiller Chronicle Wiki – Patrick Rothfuss (http://kingkiller.wikia.com/wiki/Patrick_Rothfuss)
Wired.com – How Patrick Rothfuss Saved a "Hot Mess" of a Book (https://www.wired.com/2016/08/wired-book-club-patrick-rothfuss-interview/)
Vulture.com – Patrick Rothfuss Is About to Be Fantasy's Next Superstar (http://www.vulture.com/2017/10/patrick-rothfuss-fantasy-next-superstar.html)




That was quite a bit to cover, and the next one is probably going to have just as much. Until next time, then. The forum topic, as usual, can be found here: http://lostpathway.com/index.php/topic,16.0.html#forum