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Post by Knygathin on Sept 3, 2023 19:04:29 GMT
For some reason, much as I like the short stories, I did not take to The Swords of Lankhmar. In the light of what you thought of it, I will give it another go. There may be individual short-stories in the earlier books that I prefer, but as a whole I think The Swords of Lankhmar flows really well, with lots of imaginative stuff.
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Post by Knygathin on Sept 1, 2023 10:27:43 GMT
Speaking of Fritz Leiber, I think Robert E. Howard and he must be the very best writers of barbarian tales ever. Howard being the absolute best, but Leiber contributing to it a welcome humour and sophistication (and perhaps more of a medieval nuance). Clark Ashton Smith also wrote a few, possibly barbarian tales, located in Hyperborea and Thule, but not many, and I don't remember them having any real fights or clashing swords.
I have read the first five books of Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, and while all of them have great stories, I must say, by god the overall best is the fifth one, The Swords of Lankhmar!! A full novel but written with short story tempo (which is very unusual), it has non-stop action and excitement.
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Post by Knygathin on Sept 1, 2023 9:51:06 GMT
Anything is acceptable in prose if it achieves the effect the writer wants. Whether or not its acceptable to the reader is down to them. Having said that, it wouldn't be my thing but I can see that it could have a good effect if used with some intelligence, as a surprise element and perhaps a comic (as in humorous) one. Yes, as a sudden surprise or humorous effect, I agree. It might also be a good idea to present the sound-effect indirectly, either by a short presentation of the sound that prepares the reader for it so the sound is more or less already in the head, or perhaps by a character recollecting the sound second-hand. But to simply put the sound-effect within quotation marks, and tab it in as if part of a conversation, will likely be incomprehensible. ... Why of course it will, what was I thinking!
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Post by Knygathin on Aug 30, 2023 21:56:38 GMT
Fritz and I were guests at the World Fantasy Convention in New York that year. Jenny and I were staying with Jack, and Jenny suggested inviting Fritz for dinner (her beef stroganoff), to Jack's delight. He always invited folk round to hear me read, and this time he got a double-header. I can't recall exactly who attended, but frequent listeners included T. E. K. Klein, Kirby McCauley, Gahan Wilson, Jay Gregory, Peter Straub and others. Sometimes Tom Disch showed up. The Kalem Club! I understand they also read, and that Lovecraft acted out his performances with complete abandon and empathy. That is quite an assembly! Only missing Clive Barker, Thomas Ligotti, and Stephen King, and it would have been complete. Gahan Wilson must have been a great guy with his Innsmouth eyes and wild humour.
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Post by Knygathin on Aug 30, 2023 12:49:13 GMT
Are sound-effects (like in comics), used to a moderate and tasteful (or perhaps it is never tasteful) degree, acceptable in prose? Letters put together to imitate a sound, instead of using a roundabout description of the specific sound. Or does that deviate from the principles of the short-story and novel literary format?
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Post by Knygathin on Aug 27, 2023 4:23:26 GMT
It was a long time since I heard Aickman being discussed on the forum. Has he fallen into oblivion?
Strange stories. Is he a product of the 1960s and 70s psychedelia? Does he have a lasting impression? Will he continue to be relevant? Like Charles Birkin, whose brutalities are timeless, and will be read hundreds of years from now.
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Post by Knygathin on Aug 26, 2023 7:14:46 GMT
Thank you very much for supplying me with KUNGSLEDEN and Molly Zero. Well actually, I have searched high and low on the Internet for KUNGSLEDEN, but haven't been able to locate it yet. But I did read the beginning paragraph of Molly Zero, and it is peculiar how awkward it feels to read 'second person singular'. Perhaps it comes from being unaccustomed, but I feel a resistance to being told how I feel, and look, and what I do. Reading 'first person singular' never feels that way, it comes natural and is accepted, because of some to me incomprehensible mental circumstance. Well, I guess it is like finding a document written by somebody else, one does not fully identify with the 'I'.
The reason I asked, is because all Fighting Fantasy solo adventure books are written in 'second person singular'. I don't know if it might also work to write such books in 'first person singular', and even 'third person'.
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Post by Knygathin on Aug 25, 2023 18:10:17 GMT
Do you know of any good short stories or novels written in second person singular?
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Post by Knygathin on Aug 25, 2023 18:04:55 GMT
A Fighting Fantasy Gamebook is still structured, having an overall definite direction, with limited choices for the reader after each section.
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Post by Knygathin on Aug 25, 2023 11:51:40 GMT
A further option is writing in the format of a Fighting Fantasy Gamebook, in which the reader flips back and forth through the book and chooses their own adventure path. It makes bad prose less shameful. They are fun and seem to sell well. Besides, I don't think anyone has tried writing one of those books yet as more ambitious fine literature.
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Post by Knygathin on Aug 23, 2023 10:33:52 GMT
"... He can’t identify the pattern they make either — not a circle or an ellipse or any septilateral figure language has a term for, more like a veiled reference to all of these. He could imagine they’re performing a stately dance of welcome as he drives around the green to park opposite the Staveley house."
Very nice. White or black magic?
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Post by Knygathin on Aug 23, 2023 9:30:41 GMT
I just dozed off, and had a very unpleasant dream. I had discovered a rare volume by Robert E. Howard. It had a tawny dust jacket, with a big fat yellow creature filling up the front, having a small blunt orange beak. It was a collection of stories about greed. ... A last collector's item - when not looking after one's health, and to get sick by.
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Post by Knygathin on Aug 23, 2023 5:32:30 GMT
"Marchers of Valhalla" was never published in the pulps. I don't think the Berkley edition of Marchers of Valhalla can be trusted: In "The Valley of the Lost" spaces between certain paragraphs are not respected from the Startling Mystery Stories version. "Marchers of Valhalla" is reproduced from the Donald M. Grant edition, correctly or not. In 2014 "Marchers ..." was printed in Swords of the North by The Robert E. Howard Foundation Press, which I presume must be done correctly. By the way, I see now, ... that publication has all of the James Allison and Turlogh O'Brian stories. A collection reserved for the most devoted Howard aficionados and patrons only. The Famous Fantastic Mysteries edition of "Skull-Face" drops sentences here and there from the Weird Tales version. Which is too bad, since it has much nicer Virgil Finlay illustrations.
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Post by Knygathin on Aug 22, 2023 5:12:08 GMT
I have no idea who he is. Could he be Welsh? I hope this helps. Oh yes, it is interesting. Unless I am mistaken his voice has the force of a Scottish Highlander. And I think there have been indications that Richard L. Tierney visited Surrey around the time shortly before Neanderthalman left this forum.
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Post by Knygathin on Aug 21, 2023 19:39:58 GMT
That painting is really exquisite, though it's kind of strange that Augie Derleth is in front since they never met. You've got a point there. He remembered Lovecraft through their correspondence. Same with Clark Ashton Smith and Robert E. Howard. But the most fascinating memoirs in the book are naturally by those who actually met him, and observed his appearance, behaviour and quirks, at close hand.
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