Part XXVI: Mitchell/Sapkowski/Wright/Cook/Rabelais/Valente/Swift/Wagner

[Coír Draoi Ceítien]

Masters of Fantasy: Part XXVI

Well, it's certainly been a while, hasn't it? I feel that "Science Fiction Visionaries" has really done me well so far, getting me more stoked to talk about fantasy. For one thing, it's led me to be more economical with my choices: each entry now is only going to cover eight authors at a time, because that's how much I feel I can work with without overtaxing myself. In some cases, there'll be overlap between fantasy and sci-fi where I feel that the author may have made a more significant contribution to one over the other, whether intentionally or not. I hope you all feel that I'm not undercutting it.

So here is today's batch.



DAVID MITCHELL (1969- )

David Mitchell overcame the limitations of his stammer to become one of the most imaginative literary writers of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, whose genre-mixing works are splashed with touches of the fantastic. His first two novels, Ghostwritten and number9dream, earned significant critical praise, finally reaching his breakthrough with Cloud Atlas, a study of the universality of human nature which consisted of interlocking stories that progress from the 19th century to a post-apocalyptic future. After dabbling in a bildungsroman (Black Swan Green) and historical fiction (The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet), he returned to speculation with the World Fantasy Award winning The Bone Clocks, a multi-narrative tale of psychics and immortals, and Slade House, a ghost story.

Offsite resources:

Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Mitchell_(author))
Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/mitchell_david)
Encyclopedia Britannica (https://www.britannica.com/biography/David-Mitchell)
Tor.com – Out of Time: The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell (https://www.tor.com/2014/09/03/book-review-the-bone-clocks-david-mitchell/)
Tor.com – Time Was: Slade House by David Mitchell (https://www.tor.com/2015/10/27/book-reviews-slade-house-by-david-mitchell/)
Tor.com – Upping the Stakes of the Haunted House: David Mitchell's Slade House (https://www.tor.com/2017/09/06/tbr-stack-david-mitchells-slade-house/)
The Paris Review – The Art of Fiction, No. 204: David Mitchell (https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/6034/david-mitchell-the-art-of-fiction-no-204-david-mitchell)
Literary Hub – The Ever-Expanding World of David Mitchell (https://lithub.com/the-ever-expanding-world-of-david-mitchell/)
The Atlantic – David Mitchell on How to Write: "Neglect Everything Else" (https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/09/the-simple-profound-act-of-perceiving-the-world/380659/)
The Guardian – David Mitchell: "Ghost Stories Tap into Something Ancient and Primal" (https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/jul/12/david-mitchell-ancient-and-primal-slade-house-twitter)



ANDRZEJ SAPKOWSKI (1948- )

Born and raised in multicultural Łódź, Poland, Andrzej Sapkowski worked as a businessman in foreign trade, which allowed him access to many English speculative fiction writers. Knowing how to sell, he eventually began publishing his own stories in a series that would be called The Witcher Saga, which follows a stoic monster hunter chasing after dangerous beasts in a land of dubious morals; the series would garner a strong cult following in his homeland that would later take hold in several European countries, even inspiring a number of loosely adapted video games and screen adaptations. His work has made him one of the best-known Polish fantasy writers in the 1990s and beyond.

Offsite resources:

Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrzej_Sapkowski)
Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/sapkowski_andrzej)
TV Tropes (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Creator/AndrzejSapkowski)



AUSTIN TAPPAN WRIGHT (1883-1931)

Austin Tappan Wright worked dutifully as a lawyer and a teacher at various universities before his death in a car accident. What no one knew until afterwards is that he had secretly been working on an extensive piece of Utopian fiction about an imaginary country that extended about 2,300 pages, including appendices of languages, population, and other material; another book-length manuscript was purported to contain a history of the country. His widow and later his daughter edited the manuscripts for publication, after which Islandia was first released in 1942, becoming a cult classic and spawning three sequels under author Mark Saxton.

Offsite resources:

Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austin_Tappan_Wright)
Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/wright_austin_tappan)
San Jose University – Austin Tappan Wright: The Man Who Envisioned Islandia ( http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/wooda/wright.html)
The New Yorker – The Forgotten Novel That Inspired Homesickness for an Imaginary Land (https://www.newyorker.com/books/second-read/the-forgotten-novel-that-inspired-homesickness-for-an-imaginary-land)
The Modern Novel – Austin Tappan Wright: Islandia (https://www.themodernnovel.org/americas/other-americas/usa/austin-tappan-wright/islandia/)



GLEN COOK (1944- )

After a time in both the U.S. Navy and college, Glen Cook began writing while employed at a General Motors assembly plant, eventually becoming quite prolific, turning out about three books a year. His most noteworthy series is probably The Black Company, one of the first really successful "grimdark" fantasy works, following a band of mercenaries over the course of several decades of his century-spanning history; other popular series include Garrett, P.I., which follows a detective living in a world that coexists with magic, and The Dread Empire.

Offsite resources:

Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glen_Cook)
Encyclopedia of Fantasy (http://sf-encyclopedia.uk/fe.php?nm=cook_glen)
Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/cook_glen)
Glen Cook Fan Site (http://glen-cook-fan-site.blogspot.com/)
The SF Site – The Instrumentalities of the Night: An Interview with Glen Cook (https://www.sfsite.com/10a/gc209.htm)
Black Gate – VIVE LE COMPAGNIE!: In Conclusion, The Black Company Series by Glen Cook (https://www.blackgate.com/2018/09/18/vive-la-compagnie-in-conclusion-the-black-company-series-by-glen-cook/)
Tor.com – Glen Cook's The Black Company Is Grimdark, but Never Hopeless (https://www.tor.com/2018/12/17/glen-cooks-the-black-company-is-grimdark-but-never-hopeless/)
Tor.com – The Black Company Reread (https://www.tor.com/tag/the-black-company-reread/)



FRANÇOIS RABELAIS (c. 1483/1494-1553)

François Rabelais was one of the most eminent figures of the French Renaissance, an avid reader and Christian humanist who served as both a monk in the Franciscan and later Benedictine orders and a doctor by trade. He is known in the world of literature for his towering achievement in satire, Gargantua and Pantagruel, a five-volume tale of bawdiness and excessiveness following the life of two giants – a father and son; filled with scatological and vulgar crudities as well as puns and double entendres, it was frowned upon by the censors and the church of the day, but its posterity, having added much to the French language, was noted by many subsequent authors, and Rabelais is now considered one the greatest writers in world literature, his name having become descriptive of extravagant and irreverent themes.

Offsite resources:

Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/François_Rabelais)
Encyclopedia of Fantasy (http://sf-encyclopedia.uk/fe.php?nm=rabelais_francois)
Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/rabelais_francois)
Encyclopedia Britannica (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Francois-Rabelais)
Notable Names Database (http://www.nndb.com/people/511/000045376/)
New World Encyclopedia (http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/François_Rabelais)



CATHERYNNE M. VALENTE (1979- )

A fairly recent author, Bethany Thomas, known under the pen name Catherynne M. "Cat" Valente, has been nominated for (and won several of) almost every major award in fantasy and science fiction for her unique blend of folklore and postmodernism which she jolkingly refers to as "mythpunk." Her novel The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, the first in the Fairyland sequence, was the first online, crowdfunded novel to win a major literary award; other works of note include The Labyrinth, Yume no Hon: The Book of Dreams, The Grass-Cutting Sword, Palimpsest, Deathless, Radiance, The Glass Town Game, and Space Opera, as well as series like The Orphan's Tales and A Dirge for Prester John.

Offsite resources:

Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherynne_M._Valente)
Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/valente_catherynne_m)
Official website (http://www.catherynnemvalente.com/)
Terrible Minds – Catherynne M. Valente: Five Things I Learned Writing Space Opera (http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2018/04/12/catherynne-m-valente-five-things-i-learned-writing-space-opera/)
Vox.com – Catherynne M. Valente on Comic Book Feminism and Taking the Brontës to Narnia (https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/6/5/15693842/catherynne-valente-interview-refrigerator-monologues-glass-town-game)
Tor.com – Hugo Review: Catherynne M. Valente's Palimpsest (https://www.tor.com/2010/06/30/hugo-review-catherynne-m-valentes-palimpsest/)
Tor.com – The Melancholy of Mechagirl by Catherynne M. Valente (https://www.tor.com/2013/07/08/book-review-the-melancholy-of-mechagirl-by-catherynne-m-valente/)
Tor.com – The Light Fantastic: Radiance by Catherynne M. Valente (https://www.tor.com/2016/03/03/the-light-fantastic-radiance-by-catherynne-m-valente/)
Tor.com – Glam/Heart: Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente (https://www.tor.com/2018/04/10/book-reviews-space-opera-by-catherynne-m-valente/)
Tor.com – A Game of And: The Glass Town Game by Catherynne M. Valente (https://www.tor.com/2017/09/08/book-reviews-the-glass-town-game-by-catherynne-m-valente/)
Tor.com – One Day You Wake Up and You Are Grown: CAtherynne Valente's Fairyland and the Secrets of Growing Up (https://www.tor.com/2016/03/02/one-day-you-wake-up-and-you-are-grown-catherynne-valentes-fairyland-and-the-secrets-of-growing-up/)
Tor.com – Deathless Mixes Myth and History, and May Very Well Break Your Heart (https://www.tor.com/2017/04/14/deathless-mixes-myth-and-history-and-may-very-well-break-your-heart/)



JONATHAN SWIFT (1667-1745)

One of the chief intellectuals of his time, Jonathan Swift is regarded by many as the greatest satirist in the English language of both the Horatian and Juvenalian styles, whose sharp rebukes of society were cloaked in deadpan irony and often outrageous humor. His masterpiece, Gulliver's Travels, a parody of the popular travel narrative in the vein of Daniel Defoe, recounts the increasingly bitter adventures of an English surgeon among fantastic lands filled with tiny people, giants, a floating island, and intelligent horses; its scathing critiques are often lost on today's society due to its misappropriation as a children's novel.

Offsite resources:

Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Swift)
Encyclopedia of Fantasy (http://sf-encyclopedia.uk/fe.php?nm=swift_jonathan)
Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/swift_jonathan)
Encyclopedia Britannica (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jonathan-Swift)
Poetry Foundation: Jonathan Swift (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/jonathan-swift)
University of Oxford: Great Writers Inspire – Jonathan Swift and "Gulliver's Travels" (https://writersinspire.org/content/jonathan-swift-gullivers-travels)
New World Encyclopedia (http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Jonathan_Swift)
Trinity College Dublin: Jonathan Swift (https://www.tcd.ie/trinitywriters/writers/jonathan-swift/)



KARL EDWARD WAGNER (1945-1994)

Although he originally trained as a psychiatrist, Karl Edward Wagner would ultimately become known for his work in the field of speculative fiction, both as a writer in his own right and as a respected editor. A fan of Robert E. Howard and sword-and-sorcery stories, he was one of the first to collect Howard's stories in their original unaltered form; he also collected some of the most important works from fellow writers Hugh B. Cave and Manly Wade Wellman and published them through his own co-founded independent press, Carcosa. In addition to several well-received horror stories which were collected in In a Lonely Place and Why Not You and I?, his most notable work is probably the series of dark fantasy novels and stories centered around an immortal wandering swordsman named Kane, famed for his intelligence as much as his brutality, consisting of Darkness Weaves, Death Angel's Shadow, Bloodstone, Dark Crusade, Night Winds, and The Book of Kane. His work was cut short by his early death attributed to long-term alcoholism.

Offsite resources:

Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Edward_Wagner)
Encyclopedia of Fantasy (http://sf-encyclopedia.uk/fe.php?nm=wagner_karl_edward)
East of Eden: The Official Karl Edward Wagner Website (http://www.karledwardwagner.org/)
TV Tropes (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Creator/KarlEdwardWagner)
The British Fantasy Society – Karl Edward Wagner: An Interview for Dark Troubadour (http://www.britishfantasysociety.org/reviews/karl-edward-wagner-an-interview-for-dark-troubadour/)
Black Gate – Death Angel's Shadow by Karl Edward Wagner (https://www.blackgate.com/2015/06/23/death-angels-shadow-by-karl-edward-wagner/)
Black Gate – Bloody Battles, Espionage, Dark and Beautiful Prose, & Lovecraftian Horror: A Review of Karl Edward Wagner's Dark Crusade (https://www.blackgate.com/2014/08/21/bloody-battles-espionage-dark-and-beautiful-prose-lovecraftian-horror-a-review-of-karl-edward-wagners-dark-crusade/)
Black Gate – Seductive Sorceress Queens, Decadent Civilizations, and Moon-lit Brawls: A Review of Bloodstone by Karl Edward Wagner (https://www.blackgate.com/2013/12/12/seductive-sorceress-queens-decadent-civilizations-and-moon-lit-brawls-a-review-of-bloodstone-by-karl-edward-wagner/)
Black Gate – Night Winds by Karl Edward Wagner (https://www.blackgate.com/2013/09/17/night-winds-by-karl-edward-wagner/)
Black Gate – In a Lonely Place: The Weird Horror of Karl Edward Wagner (https://www.blackgate.com/2012/01/09/in-a-lonely-place-the-weird-horror-of-karl-edward-wagner/)
Black Gate – The Weird Horror of Karl Edward Wagner, Part 2: Why Not You and I? (https://www.blackgate.com/2012/05/29/the-weird-horror-of-karl-edward-wagner-part-2-why-not-you-and-i/)
Black Gate – Enjoying the Unique Character of Karl Edward Wagner's Dark Crusade (https://www.blackgate.com/2011/12/08/enjoying-the-unique-character-of-karl-edward-wagner's-dark-crusade/)



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