Part XXV: Moore/Fowles/C. G. Finney/Meyrink/Gaarder/Lanagan/Kazantzakis/Koontz

[Coír Draoi Ceítien]

Masters of Fantasy: Part XXV

Here we are at my twenty-fifth entry – a quarter of the way to 100! Of course, I'm not promising that I'll actually get there, but I'm glad I've got this far already. Today's a mix of magic realism and metafiction with splashes of horror and suspense. Hopefully, you find these worthwhile.



BRIAN MOORE (1921-1999)

A Northern Irish emigrant first in Canada and then in the United States, Brian Moore was one of the most respected contemporary novelists in his time, especially noted for writing realistic portraits of postwar Irish life as well as both anti-clerical and faith-affirming themes. Some of his novels contain fantastic instances, such as ghosts of the past (Fergus), doppelgangers (The Mangan Inheritance), and miraculous resurrections (Cold Heaven). Two novels that come closest to outright speculative fiction are Catholics, where a monastery in the future must contend with inevitable ecumenical change, and The Great Victorian Collection, in which a man mysteriously discovers a collection of priceless Victorian artifacts that appear in a California parking lot and subsequently losses his grip on reality.

Offsite resources:

Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Moore_(novelist))
Encyclopedia of Fantasy (http://sf-encyclopedia.uk/fe.php?nm=moore_brian)
Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/moore_brian)
Encyclopedia Britannica (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Brian-Moore)
The Guardian – Obituary of Brian Moore (https://www.theguardian.com/books/1999/jan/13/fiction)
The Independent – Obituary of Brian Moore (https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-brian-moore-1046881.html)
BBC News – Brian Moore: Forever Influenced by Loss of Faith (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/253500.stm)



JOHN FOWLES (1926-2005)

Influenced by existentialist thinkers Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus, John Fowles is an important figure in the gap between modernism and postmodernism, best known for his first and third novels, The Collector and The French Lieutenant's Woman. His second novel, The Magus, in which a young British graduate becomes a pawn in the schemes of a mysterious Greek recluse, has overtones of magic realism, while later works such as Mantissa and A Maggot are more heavily speculative. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers of the 20th century and a master of psychological insight by many.

Offsite resources:

Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Fowles)
Encyclopedia of Fantasy (http://sf-encyclopedia.uk/fe.php?nm=fowles_john)
Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/fowles_john)
Official website (https://www.fowlesbooks.com/)
Fractious Fiction – The Novels of John Fowles: A Reassessment (http://fractiousfiction.com/John_Fowles.html)
The Independent – Obituary of John Fowles (https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/john-fowles-325435.html)
The Guardian – Obituary of John Fowles (https://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/nov/08/guardianobituaries.booksobituaries)



CHARLES G. FINNEY (1905-1984)

The great-grandson of the famous minister of the same name, Charles G. Finney is a man about whom little biographical information can be found, owing to the illustrious fame of his forebearer; what is known is that he was born in Sedalia, Missouri, served with the U.S. Army's E Company in China, and later became an editor for Tuscon's Arizona Daily Star. To genre fans, he is remembered highly by such figures as Ray Bradbury for his short cult classic, The Circus of Dr. Lao, in which a strange old Chinese man arrives in a small Arizona town, bringing with him a bizarre circus of mysterious and fantastic creatures. Other fantasies, less well known, are The Unholy City and The Magician Out of Manchuria.

Offsite resources:

Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_G._Finney)
Encyclopedia of Fantasy (http://sf-encyclopedia.uk/fe.php?nm=finney_charles_g)
Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/finney_charles_g)
Great Science-Fiction and Fantasy Works: Charles G. Finney (http://greatsfandf.com/AUTHORS/CharlesGFinney.php)
The SF Site – Review of The Circus of Dr. Lao (https://www.sfsite.com/10a/cd137.htm)
Strange Horizons – Charles G. Finney's The Magician Out of Manchuria: Where Have All the Mages Gone? (http://strangehorizons.com/non-fiction/reviews/charles-g-finneys-the-magician-out-of-manchuria-where-have-all-the-mages-gone/)
Black Gate – Building a World in a Vacant Lot: The Circus of Dr. Lao (https://www.blackgate.com/2015/07/07/building-a-world-in-a-vacant-lot-the-circus-of-dr-lao/)



GUSTAV MEYRINK (1868-1932)

Gustav Meyer, who published under the pen name of Meyrink, first became interested in occult studies after a brush with suicide, and they would later figure heavily into his stories. Originally a banker and later a translator, his first stories, satirical pieces, appeared in the early 1900s, but he would not attain fame until 1915, with the publication of The Golem, a metaphysical and hallucinatory story of a city haunted by a ghostly presence and a narrator who may not be what he seems; it was an early urban fantasy that would make Meyrink one of the most famous writers of supernatural fiction in Germany. Further esoteric fiction such as The Green Face and Walpurgis Night would follow during World War I, which he opposed, and afterwards, he would become financially secure enough to purchase a villa, where he would write two more dark fantasies, The White Dominican and The Angel of the West Window.

Offsite resources:

Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Meyrink)
Encyclopedia of Fantasy (http://sf-encyclopedia.uk/fe.php?nm=meyrink_gustav)
Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/meyrink_gustav)
The Guardian – Meyrink's The Golem: Where Fact and Fiction Collide (https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/jan/30/the-golem-gustav-meyrink-books)
The Independent – Gustav Meyrink: The Mysterious Life of Kafka's Contemporary (https://www.independent.co.uk/news/long_reads/gustav-meyrink-150th-anniversary-banker-writer-life-germany-austria-prague-the-golem-a8263391.html)



JOSTEIN GAARDER (1952- )

Born and raised in Oslo, Norway, Jostein Gaarder is a Norwegian intellectual and author of numerous works, writing often from children's perspectives about a natural sense of wonder about the world. Much of his fiction is metafictional and contains stories within stories, the best known being Sophie's World, in which a young girl and an old philosopher discover that they are characters created for a man's daughter as a birthday present and they try to escape into the real world while learning about the history of philosophy; it was one of the most commercially successful books outside of Norway, translated into 59 languages and selling over 40 million copies by 2011. Also of interest is The Solitaire Mystery, in which a young son searches for his missing mother with his father and finds a book whose story seems to overlap with his own.

Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jostein_Gaarder)
Encyclopedia of Fantasy (http://sf-encyclopedia.uk/fe.php?nm=gaarder_jostein)
Encyclopedia Britannica (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jostein-Gaarder)
Famous Authors – Jostein Gaarder (https://www.famousauthors.org/jostein-gaarder)
Prolific Living – Jostein Gaarder: Sophie's World (https://www.prolificliving.com/jostein-gaarder-sophies-world/)
What a Path We Made – Review of Sophie's World (https://whatapathwemade.wordpress.com/2012/02/18/jostein-gaarder-sophies-world/)
The New York Times: Archives – Review of Sophie's World (https://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/25/books/hooked-on-philosophy.html)



MARGO LANAGAN (1960- )

For the longest time, Margo Lanagan's work was only available in her native Australia, but she is starting to get noticed at large in recent years. Most of her work is young adult fiction, with works of speculative interest including the science fantasy WildGame and the ghost story Walking Through Albert. Perhaps her greatest success came with Tender Morsels, an adult retelling of the Brothers Grimm story "Snow-White and Rose-Red" in which a young woman and her two daughters are whisked away to a magical world but are soon threatened by dangerous outside forces; it was awarded one of two World Fantasy Awards for Best Novel in 2009, as well as the Ditmar Award. The novella Sea Hearts (published in the US and UK as The Brides of Rollrock Island), a riff on the myth of the selkie, was also critically acclaimed.

Offsite resources:

Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margo_Lanagan)
Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/lanagan_margo)
Nightmare Magazine – Interview with Margo Lanagan (http://www.nightmare-magazine.com/nonfiction/interview-margo-lanagan/)
Bunbury in the Stacks – Review of The Brides of Rollrock Island (http://bunburyinthestacks.com/review-2/review-the-brides-of-rollrock-island-by-margo-lanagan/)
Fantasy Matters – An Uncanny Heaven: Margo Lanagan's Tender Morsels (http://www.fantasy-matters.com/2012/06/uncanny-heaven-margo-lanagans-tender.html)
The SF Site – A Conversation with Margo Lanagan (https://www.sfsite.com/09a/ml159.htm)



NIKOS KAZANTZAKIS (1883-1957)

Greek author Nikos Kazantzakis's path led him down the road of many philosophies, including that of Henri Bergson, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Karl Marx. His work was a study of the mix of rationalism with irrationality in civilization, often coming into conflict with the Greek Orthodox Church for perceived blasphemies due to the many views he experienced on his travels. His best-known work was published between 1940 and 1961, such as Zorba the Greek, Christ Recrucified, Captain Michaelis, and Report to Greco. Perhaps his most controversial work, at least in the English-speaking world, is the magical realist novel The Last Temptation of Christ, a reinterpretation of the Gospels that fuses Nietzschean symbolism with Christian virtues in a manner that many found vulgar and blasphemous initially, but it was never Kazantzakis's intention to degrade the character of Jesus. He maintained that his greatest work was The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel, an epic poem of metaphysical struggle in which Odysseus resumes his adventures.

Offsite resources:

Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikos_Kazantzakis)
Encyclopedia of Fantasy (http://sf-encyclopedia.uk/fe.php?nm=kazantzakis_nikos)
New World Encyclopedia (http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Nikos_Kazantzakis)
Spike Magazine – Nikos Kazantzakis: The Last Temptation of Christ: Always Thirsty (https://www.spikemagazine.com/0399kaz/)



DEAN KOONTZ (1945- )

In contemporary fiction publishing, Dean Koontz is one of the most popular writers on the market, perhaps second only to Stephen King; his works constantly top the bestseller lists, and he is amazingly prolific. He started out writing straight science fiction under several pseudonyms, but he came to feel that it was not up to his standards and let most of the early stuff remain out of print. The majority of his best works are primarily suspense thrillers with overtones of fantasy, horror, and science fiction mixed with the background of his Catholic faith. His first bestseller was Demon Seed, while his breakthrough came with the thriller Whispers, followed by increasingly popular works such as Phantoms, Darkfall, Twilight Eyes, Strangers, Watchers, Lightning, and Midnight. The new millennium would bring even more successes with two highly regarded series of speculative interest – Odd Thomas and Frankenstein. Koontz has been derided by some as just a mass-market hack, but his continued successes must not be due to lack of quality, and at least one of his works should find its way onto every genre fan's bookshelf.

Offsite resources:

Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Koontz)
Encyclopedia of Fantasy (http://sf-encyclopedia.uk/fe.php?nm=koontz_dean_r)
Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/koontz_dean_r)
Official website (https://deankoontz.com/)
Tor.com – The Dog Who Played with Scrabble: Watchers by Dean Koontz (https://www.tor.com/2011/10/11/the-dog-who-played-with-scrabble/)
Nightmare Magazine – Interview with Dean Koontz (http://www.nightmare-magazine.com/nonfiction/interview-dean-koontz/)
Famous Authors – Dean Koontz (https://www.famousauthors.org/dean-koontz)
Homiletic & Pastoral Review – Dean Koontz's Odd Catholicism (https://www.hprweb.com/2015/05/dean-koontzs-odd-catholicism/)



Well, after sitting on them for months, I've finally reached the end of my pre-planned sets. I have my next five planned out already, but while I'm not promising anything, I think I'm going to wait until either next month or afterwards and give what I've made already some time to sink in. There's plenty of time, in the meantime, for discussions, recommendations, and comments, and I would hope that the forum topic will get more use. As usual, you can find it here: http://www.lostpathway.com/index.php/topic,16.0.html#forum