I’ve always been interested in reading, and this has resulted in the… pleasant? unpleasant? situation that my library has usually been too large to have out on shelves, so it has mostly been in boxes in storage. Maybe one day they will again be freed from their imprisonment.
While I’m particularly interested in Science Fiction, Fantasy, Mythology and Legends, Detective/Mystery Fiction, and Historical Fiction I read a lot outside those bounds, including a lot of non-fiction, particularly history. I’m also interested in the old pulp fiction, such as Doc Savage and The Shadow, and similar fiction such as Sax Rohmer’s Fu Manchu books. I ran across H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Rice Burroughs (especially the Tarzan books), and Robert E. Howard early on, and all were a significant influence on my reading habits.[1]
I also enjoy reading good computer books.
Some books that I’m interested in getting some time in the future are at my Amazon.com wishlist.
Some of my favorite fantasy and science fiction authors are Fritz Leiber, C.J. Cherryh, Michael Moorcock, Patricia A. McKillip, and the team of Steve Miller and Sharon Lee, who write wonderful space opera about the Liaden Universe, among other things. Doris Piserchia is a science fiction author who was raised in Fairmont, West Virginia. Another writing duo I particularly enjoy are Debra Doyle and James D. MacDonald, who have written a wonderful space opera series Mageworlds.
I’m especially fond of some of the lighter, frothier works of science fiction. Alexei Panshin’s Anthony Villers books are some of my favorites in this area. I’ve read Masque World and The Thurb Revolution, and finally found Star Well. Also along these lines are Walter Jon Williams’ Divertimenti, which reveal the adventures of the most daring Allowed Burglar in the Galaxy, Drake Maijstral, among the High Society of both the alien Khosali Empire, former conquerors of Humanity, and the recently self-emancipated Human Constellation. This series consists of three books, The Crown Jewels, House of Shards, and Rock of Ages. In a fantasy vien, Lin Carter’s Wizard of Zao is an entertaining romp, though I’ve never seen the earlier book to which it is linked, The Quest of Kadji.
Speculative Fiction (Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Horror) are often sneered at by critics from the mainstream literary tradition. Edmund Wilson’s harsh criticism of both J.R.R. Tolkien and H.P. Lovecraft is a prime example.) The problem is that they approach these works solely with the tools, values, and goals of their literary tradiation without realizing that the authors and readers of speculative fiction are looking for something else from their fiction, using different tools, values, and goals. A prime example of this is Tolkien, for whom the world of Middle Earth is just as important to the story of the Lord of the Rings as the characters are. Another prime example of this is H.P. Lovecraft, for whom the invoking of a particular mood using a particular aesthetic is more important that the characters.
My favorite author of Historical Fiction is undoubtedly Patrick O’Brian, whose novels of Jack Aubrey’s and Stephen Maturin’s lives in the British Navy of the Napoleonic Era are not only tremendously entertaining, but also good literature. I enjoy Nautical Historical novels in general, especially C.S. Forester’s Hornblower novels, which were my introduction to the genre.
Another Napoleonic era series, this time featuring a British Army officer, is Bernard Cornwall’s Richard Sharpe novels. The Richard Sharpe movies are very good, too.
Moving forward through history a bit, there is George MacDonald Fraser’s wonderfully un-politically-correct and not-for-the-timid series about Harry Flashman, a rogue, a coward, a cad, and a bounder. His career reaches from the early part of the Victorian era to the Edwardian era, ranges through the world, and was revealed in a set of unblushingly honest memoirs.
Also very rewarding, although much slower going, are Dorothy Dunnett’s books. Her Lymond Chronicles books were republished in large-format paperback in the U.S.A. in the middle and late 1990s, and her Niccolo books were also currently being republished in that same period, along with Dunnett writing the last couple of them.
There is a lot of good historical fiction set in ancient Greece, Rome, and Egypt that has been published recently, often in the form of mysteries. Steven Saylor‘s Roman historical fiction is currently my favorite, but I also enjoy Lindsey Davis, whose Roman hard-boiled detective Falco was one of my earlier acquaintances in this field, as was John Maddox Roberts’ SPQR series. Some authors of good Egyption historical mysteries are Lynda S. Robinson, P.C. Doherty, and Lauren Haney.
| [1] | Racisim in Fiction: Many times authors such as Sax Rohmer, H.P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, and Edgar Rice Burroughs are criticised for failings such as racism or homophobia, and this often leads to heated discussion about whether such authors should be read. I think there is a great deal of difference between authors who incidentally reveal in their writings racist attitudes common to their era and culture and those authors who write with the implicit or explicit goal of converting others to the author’s own racist (or otherwise odious) beliefs. I doubt that any of the aforementioned authors (or most others in their fields) could be said to fall into the later category. The questions that one must ask is whether the author’s books have any worthwhile elements, and if they do, are these worthwhile elements present in sufficient quantity and quality to outweigh the objectionable elements. Those who think you should never read anything with any objectionable elements are simply deluding themselves: everything one reads or hears or sees contains some objectionable elements. The trick is to be able to analyze and decide what is good and what is objectionable, and that can only be done by practice and thought. |