Kevin's Watch

Anybody remember Farley on SNL interviewing stars like he was a fan-boy? Just asking stupid question, then smacking himself in the head, yelling, "Idiot! What a stupid question!" The interview might go: "Remember in that movie when you cut that guy's head off? That was so cool!"

LOL

WOW .. <is jumping out of skin!!>

far freaking out!! excellent summation of the juicy good stuff ringthane!!

ringthane wrote:he was passionate and engaging. You can see he has a very strong sense of conviction and doesn't ride the fence.

i know it to my very core!! SRD to me is an author above authors .. an aritsan of integrity .. I liked what you said in one of your earlier posts .. that Donaldson writes for himself .. his own sense of personal commitment to his art .. not for his publishers or even .. us poor hungry for TCTC readers .. and thats one of the things I love about Donaldson!!

He is a true craftsman .. and artist of the highest accord!! Truly a genius in the purest sense ..

Thankyou so much for this excellent summation and tasy tid-bits .. its not as good as being there .. I am sure .. but it softens the blow somewhat of not being there!! many many thanks for your interesting and well written infomation delivery!!!

Now if you would just read my posts Sky you might just learn something....

indeed!! infact i have just read the elohimfest invitation thread .. and you guys have done an awesome job!!!

the invitation to SRD sounds hopeful!!!

I am now on to your other thread danlo!!!

ooh .. SRD the buffy fan!! could he be any more perfect???

Only if he were a woman.

LOL .. its all relative isnt it??

You should know

LOL

And yet during the reading, he was passionate and engaging. You can see he has a very strong sense of conviction and doesn't ride the fence.

That doesn't surprise me in the least, nor does the fact that he's quiet and reserved. I think it all comes through in his writing.

<--insanely jealous of Danlo and ringthane for getting to meet SRD!

~Foamy~

Ringthane:

I've read Gardens of the Moon, I've read its three sequels (Deadhouse Gates, Memories of Ice, House of Chains) and I'm eagerly anticipating its fourth (Midnight Tides). I've said it before, I'll say it again: Erikson's Tales of the Malazan Book of the Fallen is far and away the best thing happening in fantasy today.

Here's Donaldson himself saying more about Erikson in his introduction to Blood Follows, a novella set in the same world as the Malazan Empire: "Some of Erikson's compulsive hold arises from the sensation, so acutely conveyed to the reader, that his invention is spinning out of control; that his imagination is so rife, so fecund, that it can't be contained within the normal structures of story-telling. Reading him is like watching two massive locomotives powering toward each other on a single track; you find that you simply can not look away from what will inevitably be a spectacular and hideous catastrophe. And yet, somehow, astonishingly, the inevitable does not occur: at the last instant, a hand rises to the instrument panel, a lever is pushed, a switch closes; and the locomotives howl past each other with frightening velocity, full of force and intention, and - you can see at last - perfectly under control."

WOW...sounds like yet ANOTHER set of books that I have to read

I tried getting Gardens of the Moon through Amazon, but they couldn't find it.

Brinn had more success, but I forgot who he got it from.

I think I saw something over at ASOIAF, the Martin board that I belong to, that this author's books might be finally released in the United States next year...

OH, so they are not available here in the States yet? No wonder I can't find them

I got both Gardens of the Moon and Deadhouse Gates through Alibris. I tried through Amazon but was unsuccessful. Alibris got them to me within 2 weeks.

Having read both I would call them solid but unspectacular. They are full of imagination and the world is amazingly detailed however I found the books to be confusing at times probably due to the large amount of characters and place names. I have read Martin's ASOIAF which had a tremendous volume of characters and places however I found that I could follow Martin more easily. I guess I wasn't able to distinguish between each characters "voice" as easily as I would have liked. Characters seemed too similar or not distinct enough for me quickly recall their situation and motivations.

Having read the glowing reviews (especially Donaldson's) I was eager to read and enjoy these tomes but ultimately I don't think they reached the level I was expecting. Read them and decide for yourself...I'll be interested to hear others opinions!

Cheers!

Thanks Brinn I think I'll look for them at the library before buying them.

I want to read Martin and Le Guin first anyway...after The Dark Tower. I'm at the end of book III now.

Cool Furl...What do you think of the series thus far? Have you found that it improves after The Gunslinger"?

I didn't get past The Gunslinger. It just didn't do it for me. OTOH, I think that Firestarter and Dead Zone are incredible!!!

Furls Fire, you may just as well read the Earthsea books first. Much shorter, after all. lol

Fist and Faith wrote:I didn't get past The Gunslinger. It just didn't do it for me. OTOH, I think that Firestarter and Dead Zone are incredible!!!

I thought for a second I wrote this post. Exactly!