Comments on: We knew him when…

By: Princess Bernie

Princess Bernie — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 18:25:56 +0000

I ordered your book from Amazon. My biggest dilemma was deciding if I should buy it NEW for $22 plus change or USED for $55.00.

Can’t wait to read it…

By: Can't hark my cry

Can't hark my cry — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 23:38:52 +0000

Well, my first copy was a coverless paperback (oh! the shame!). I didn’t know what that meant back then, and I don’t think they had the little warning on the copyright page. Of course, back then I didn’t routinely glance at the copyright page to see if it had anything interesting. . .But when I discovered buying used books on the internet, a copy of LITM was one of my early purchases. Used. So, I’m not actually sure I can claim any moral advance based on that.

Yes–the Providence library rare book room does sound like a good place for it. Couple of others, I can think of, too, but I won’t egoize.

Anyway–really lovely to meet another, um, Ludite?

By: S. Weasel

S. Weasel — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 22:40:28 +0000

It was a beautiful thing, Can’t hark. I was awfully young for it, but it impressed me all the more. Particularly since when I was even younger there was a chord I accidentally played on the guitar that gave me goose bumps. The more I played it, the weaker it got…and now I don’t even know what it was.

In my twenties (before online) I tried to find a copy to buy and failed. So I tracked one — and only one — down in the Providence library. Turns out, it was a first edition stored in the rare book collection. But they let me borrow it!

That’s when I discovered where they kept the rare books — there was a hidden floor in the downtown library between the second and third floors. Librarian took me up there to retrieve it. Very cool, and somehow appropriate for that particular book.

By: Can't hark my cry

Can't hark my cry — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 22:21:05 +0000

Busty Bridget! Another admirer of Lud-in-the-Mist! I read it about the same time period (only I was a sophomore in college) and it remains in my top 25 favorite novels list to this day. Beautifully crafted prose, well plotted, engaging fantasy. . .and sly, hilarious social commentary. What more could one ask?

By: Schlippy, Yurt Dweller

Schlippy, Yurt Dweller — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 21:19:22 +0000

Far as fantasy goes, I’m still waiting for them to make a half-decent film ’round the Dragonlance Chronicles. All they made of the Hickman / Weiss masterpiece re: the Brothers was a super-krappy He-man ish cartoon.

By: Christopher Taylor

Christopher Taylor — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 03:47:37 +0000

Wow I can confidently say that I’m better than the Eye of Argon. Although I can say he did expand my vocabulary with all the excessive adjectives. That boy wore out his thesaurus, talk about the E. Gary Gygax school of writing.

By: S. Weasel

S. Weasel — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 03:22:24 +0000

...continued... I was 10 in 1970, and I discovered the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series on the drugstore bookshelves that year. I was delighted to be reading a line with "adult" in the title. Holy *shit* there were some fine books there. McDonald. Dunsany. Morris. Beagle. Lovecraft. Hope Mirrlees' Lud in the Mist blew my mind. And all with those spooky, kinda crappy kinda cool Gervasio Gallardo jacket illustrations.

By: S. Weasel

S. Weasel — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 03:13:23 +0000

I made it several chapters into the Eye of Argon, but I’m heartbroken that I can’t find an example with the original illustrations.

Incidentally — he wrote that in 1970. It wasn’t THAT derivative. It was ten years after that before fantasy disappeared up its own asshole.

By: Blast Hardcheese

Blast Hardcheese — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 03:09:49 +0000

Dang, Enas beat me to the Eye of Argon example. Anytime you think you’ve written, well, rubbish…just have a gander at that. And laugh.

More seriously, we all have a little editor in our heads. They don’t like what we write, and never will. The beauty of the NaNoWriMo concept is that it duct-tapes the little editor to a chair with a ball gag in his stupid mouth. Just get the words down, and get it done

Am I a good writer? Dunno. But I’m a better writer now than I was at the start of November, and that’s something.

By: S. Weasel

S. Weasel — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:20:14 +0000

I once wrote a computer program that came up with fantasy character names. It’s harder than it sounds. Some syllables don’t make good beginnings of words; some don’t make good ends; some don’t make good middles. Number of syllables, gender. Oh, it was a sweet piece of work.