Stephen R Donaldson On the Web
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- wayfriend
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Okay okay ... here's my SRD interview database.
09/16/2005, Internet Writing Journal
Stephen R. Donaldson Talks
www.internetwritingjournal.com/stephen- ... lks-916051
03/30/2012, SFSignal
SFFWRTCHT: A Revealing Interview With Author Stephen R. Donaldson
www.sfsignal.com/archives/2012/03/sffwr ... donaldson/
10/08/2013, SFRevu
Interview: Stephen R. Donaldson and the Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant: Ending the Tale of the Land
sfrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=14970
11/15/2013, Barnes and Noble
Stephen R. Donaldson: The Believer
bnreview.barnesandnoble.com/t5/Intervie ... ba-p/11743
10/18/2013, The Reading Frenzy
**GIVEAWAY** Author Interview Stephen Donaldson- The Last Dark
thereadingfrenzy.blogspot.com/2013/10/g ... ephen.html
10/??/1991, Andrew A Adams
An Interview with Stephen R Donaldson
www.a-cubed.info/SD.html
09/??/2004, Locus
Stephen R. Donaldson: Coming Back to Covenant
www.locusmag.com/2004/Issues/09Donaldson.html
11/30/2013, Reading and Writing Podcast
Stephen R Donaldson Interview - Episode 145 (audio)
readingandwritingpodcast.com/stephen-r- ... interview/
08/16/2006, Vaguely Borgesian
An interview with Stephen R. Donaldson
juandahlmann.wordpress.com/2006/08/16/a ... donaldson/
10/01/2007, Pats Fantasy Hotlist
New Stephen R. Donaldson Interview
fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com/2007/10/new ... rview.html
12/10/2010, The Fringe Magazine
Author Interview: Stephen Donaldson
thefringemagazine.blogspot.com/2010/12/ ... ldson.html
10/15/2004, Bookreporter
Interview: October 15, 2004
www.bookreporter.com/authors/stephen-r- ... iew-101404
07/12/2007, SFFaudio
StarShipSofa interviews Stephen R. Donaldson & reads a short story (audio)
www.sffaudio.com/?p=1325
11/05/2007, SFX
Author interview: Stephen Donaldson
www.sfx.co.uk/2007/11/05/interview_auth ... donaldson/
01/??/1979, Fantasy Crossroads
INTERVIEW: January 1979
www.stephenrdonaldson.com/fromtheauthor ... hp?Page=12
(Links tend to go stale over time. I have not checked these recently.)
09/16/2005, Internet Writing Journal
Stephen R. Donaldson Talks
www.internetwritingjournal.com/stephen- ... lks-916051
03/30/2012, SFSignal
SFFWRTCHT: A Revealing Interview With Author Stephen R. Donaldson
www.sfsignal.com/archives/2012/03/sffwr ... donaldson/
10/08/2013, SFRevu
Interview: Stephen R. Donaldson and the Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant: Ending the Tale of the Land
sfrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=14970
11/15/2013, Barnes and Noble
Stephen R. Donaldson: The Believer
bnreview.barnesandnoble.com/t5/Intervie ... ba-p/11743
10/18/2013, The Reading Frenzy
**GIVEAWAY** Author Interview Stephen Donaldson- The Last Dark
thereadingfrenzy.blogspot.com/2013/10/g ... ephen.html
10/??/1991, Andrew A Adams
An Interview with Stephen R Donaldson
www.a-cubed.info/SD.html
09/??/2004, Locus
Stephen R. Donaldson: Coming Back to Covenant
www.locusmag.com/2004/Issues/09Donaldson.html
11/30/2013, Reading and Writing Podcast
Stephen R Donaldson Interview - Episode 145 (audio)
readingandwritingpodcast.com/stephen-r- ... interview/
08/16/2006, Vaguely Borgesian
An interview with Stephen R. Donaldson
juandahlmann.wordpress.com/2006/08/16/a ... donaldson/
10/01/2007, Pats Fantasy Hotlist
New Stephen R. Donaldson Interview
fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com/2007/10/new ... rview.html
12/10/2010, The Fringe Magazine
Author Interview: Stephen Donaldson
thefringemagazine.blogspot.com/2010/12/ ... ldson.html
10/15/2004, Bookreporter
Interview: October 15, 2004
www.bookreporter.com/authors/stephen-r- ... iew-101404
07/12/2007, SFFaudio
StarShipSofa interviews Stephen R. Donaldson & reads a short story (audio)
www.sffaudio.com/?p=1325
11/05/2007, SFX
Author interview: Stephen Donaldson
www.sfx.co.uk/2007/11/05/interview_auth ... donaldson/
01/??/1979, Fantasy Crossroads
INTERVIEW: January 1979
www.stephenrdonaldson.com/fromtheauthor ... hp?Page=12
(Links tend to go stale over time. I have not checked these recently.)
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- ussusimiel
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Thanks, way!
I wasn't trying to bug anyone into anything, it's just that I've been monitoring our Google search ranking and looking for sites to link to and maybe get more links to the Watch on such sites. So I've been coming across a lot of stuff I haven't seen before.
u.
I wasn't trying to bug anyone into anything, it's just that I've been monitoring our Google search ranking and looking for sites to link to and maybe get more links to the Watch on such sites. So I've been coming across a lot of stuff I haven't seen before.
u.
Tho' all the maps of blood and flesh
Are posted on the door,
There's no one who has told us yet
What Boogie Street is for.
Are posted on the door,
There's no one who has told us yet
What Boogie Street is for.
- Cord Hurn
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Reading the list of fantasy heroes in wayfriend's most recent link on this thread made me realize I'm culturally illiterate when it comes to classic fantasy.
But I am in agreement with dlbpharmd in that Covenant should be higher in that list, at least in the top five.
[Edited for typos.]
But I am in agreement with dlbpharmd in that Covenant should be higher in that list, at least in the top five.
[Edited for typos.]
Last edited by Cord Hurn on Tue Jan 06, 2015 8:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- wayfriend
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I thought that there might be a thread about fantasy/sci-fi world-building around, but if there is, I could not find it. So I am throwing this in here. It only mentions Donaldson in passing, but I think it is an interesting article anyway.
The Pros And Cons Of Worldbuilding
A while back, in a reply to CJA's 2013 essay on The 7 Deadly Sins of Worldbuilding, I posted a quote from the British writer M. John Harrison (no, not him) on the subject of worldbuilding, or as he put it, "the great clomping foot of nerdism." As Harrison put it on his (now non-extant) blog in 2007:[Continue here.]
- Every moment of a science fiction story must represent the triumph of writing over worldbuilding.
Worldbuilding is dull. Worldbuilding literalises the urge to invent. Worldbuilding gives an unnecessary permission for acts of writing (indeed, for acts of reading). Worldbuilding numbs the reader's ability to fulfil their part of the bargain, because it believes that it has to do everything around here if anything is going to get done.
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- Avatar
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Pretty sure we did have one somewhere. Might be the Writers Circle though...not sure.
Interesting article. I agree with the comments about the Hobbit. Turning it into a LotR prequel really messed with the whole spirit (and tone) of the story.
On the other hand, I love world-building. I can forgive mediocre stories in great worlds quite easily.
(Oh, and hahaha, King turned out to be the biggest world builder of them all. )
--A
Interesting article. I agree with the comments about the Hobbit. Turning it into a LotR prequel really messed with the whole spirit (and tone) of the story.
On the other hand, I love world-building. I can forgive mediocre stories in great worlds quite easily.
(Oh, and hahaha, King turned out to be the biggest world builder of them all. )
--A
- ussusimiel
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I'm not much of a fan of world-building in fantasy (I enjoy it in sci-fi), once the world starts to become more important than what it symbolises I lose interest. In Tolkien and SRD's work the places represent ideas and there is no need for the blank spaces around the edges to be filled in (or even the blank spaces in between). All I need is what's necessary for the story.Avatar wrote:On the other hand, I love world-building. I can forgive mediocre stories in great worlds quite easily.
I disagree with one of the writers who said that LOTR was nerdish world-building at the expense of the atmosphere created in The Hobbit. The Hobbit was more of a fairytale/adventure, whereas LOTR was more mythic/epic.
The obvious mistake that Jackson made in the films was to try and impose one upon the other. Obviously, the whole atmosphere and spirit of The Hobbit was lost when it became subsumed within the atmosphere of LOTR (and suffers badly because of that ).
u.
Tho' all the maps of blood and flesh
Are posted on the door,
There's no one who has told us yet
What Boogie Street is for.
Are posted on the door,
There's no one who has told us yet
What Boogie Street is for.
- wayfriend
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Well, the Silmarillion certainly fits the complaint, if LOTR does not. (Not that I think nerdish world-building is necessarilly bad. It's entertaining to other nerds, such as I.) LOTR has a good story, but it also certainly has more world-building than it strictly needed. It suffers a bit for carrying some of the burden of the Silmarillion, in that the author wanted to introduce a world very much like the world of the Silmarillion in it.ussusimiel wrote:I disagree with one of the writers who said that LOTR was nerdish world-building at the expense of the atmosphere created in The Hobbit. The Hobbit was more of a fairytale/adventure, whereas LOTR was more mythic/epic.
Just FYI, but Tolkien attempted to do the same, himself. He tried to re-write the Hobbit to be more LOTR-ey. But he gave it up, I forget why, but I don't think it was because of the tone. (And I don't think Jackson's work suffered badly either, but that's for another day.)ussusimiel wrote:The obvious mistake that Jackson made in the films was to try and impose one upon the other. Obviously, the whole atmosphere and spirit of The Hobbit was lost when it became subsumed within the atmosphere of LOTR (and suffers badly because of that ).
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- Vraith
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The point on the gameability development a good one, and too true, and I hate that.
You need consistency, integrity, something to hang the story on, yes.
You can have a grand old time bouncing around the maze/matrix of the micro-managed worlds.
[[maybe that's the perspective problem---we might need, as readers, to have some knowledge of the economic structure of the world/society. But do we really need to know all the micro-transactions??]]
When it all becomes physics-like, when Miffed Cloroxes are the source of the Force, you've got a problem.
You need some level of plausibility---and that level varies with the kind of work one is making, is relational within the piece and between work/reader.
[[interesting thing, though---what really is world-building? Cuz some of the peeps mentioned as world-builders I think aren't, and some said aren't I think are.
And we all have different tolerance levels for divergence/consistency/plausibility.
And there seems to be a tendency to pick and tear at things on that level even when the original/real reason we dislike a piece is something else.]]
You need consistency, integrity, something to hang the story on, yes.
You can have a grand old time bouncing around the maze/matrix of the micro-managed worlds.
[[maybe that's the perspective problem---we might need, as readers, to have some knowledge of the economic structure of the world/society. But do we really need to know all the micro-transactions??]]
When it all becomes physics-like, when Miffed Cloroxes are the source of the Force, you've got a problem.
You need some level of plausibility---and that level varies with the kind of work one is making, is relational within the piece and between work/reader.
[[interesting thing, though---what really is world-building? Cuz some of the peeps mentioned as world-builders I think aren't, and some said aren't I think are.
And we all have different tolerance levels for divergence/consistency/plausibility.
And there seems to be a tendency to pick and tear at things on that level even when the original/real reason we dislike a piece is something else.]]
[spoiler]Sig-man, Libtard, Stupid piece of shit. change your text color to brown. Mr. Reliable, bullshit-slinging liarFucker-user.[/spoiler]
the difference between evidence and sources: whether they come from the horse's mouth or a horse's ass.
"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."
the hyperbole is a beauty...for we are then allowed to say a little more than the truth...and language is more efficient when it goes beyond reality than when it stops short of it.
the difference between evidence and sources: whether they come from the horse's mouth or a horse's ass.
"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."
the hyperbole is a beauty...for we are then allowed to say a little more than the truth...and language is more efficient when it goes beyond reality than when it stops short of it.
- SleeplessOne
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Stephen R Donaldson On the Web
It was an interesting article, and it's a shame that SRD is mentioned in passing and nothing more because he's been staunchly anti world building for some time now and I'm sure would have had just as much to say as Moorcock (who made some strong points) ...wayfriend wrote:I thought that there might be a thread about fantasy/sci-fi world-building around, but if there is, I could not find it. So I am throwing this in here. It only mentions Donaldson in passing, but I think it is an interesting article anyway.
The Pros And Cons Of Worldbuilding
A while back, in a reply to CJA's 2013 essay on The 7 Deadly Sins of Worldbuilding, I posted a quote from the British writer M. John Harrison (no, not him) on the subject of worldbuilding, or as he put it, "the great clomping foot of nerdism." As Harrison put it on his (now non-extant) blog in 2007:[Continue here.]
- Every moment of a science fiction story must represent the triumph of writing over worldbuilding.
Worldbuilding is dull. Worldbuilding literalises the urge to invent. Worldbuilding gives an unnecessary permission for acts of writing (indeed, for acts of reading). Worldbuilding numbs the reader's ability to fulfil their part of the bargain, because it believes that it has to do everything around here if anything is going to get done.
Personally I notice a difference to that end in SRD's writing between the 1st and 2nd chronicles, and I'm not sure that it was entirely successful; there seems to be a 'skimming' feeling to his work in the chronicles at the time post 1C.
It's not present in the Gap series though, imo ..
I've just started Thomas Pynchon's 'Gravity's Rainbow', which is mentioned in the article, and already I get a sense of a kind of uncanny eye for invented detail which I'm already certain David Foster Wallace stole from liberally (with largely excellent results).
- aliantha
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Well, the author of the article says he avoided reading the Chrons because he thought the series was an exercise in the sort of worldbuilding he doesn't appear to like. Which explains why he didn't know that SRD doesn't engage in the sort of worldbuilding that Tolkien did.
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- aliantha
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Agreed. Just invent 'em as you go. It worked for SRD.rdhopeca wrote:I've been battling this very thing on a personal authorial level and I am glad to have been shown this article. I think I will agree with Moorcock and stop worrying so much about political systems and religious uprisings years and years in the past.
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- Wildling
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I think the guy who wrote that article is complaining more about the focus of a book being on the society and/or geography over the story.Avatar wrote:I still consider the Land to be a built world. The sense of history and scope doesn't have to be explicit to be present.
--A
Which is a matter of taste. I'm sure there are some people who treat the story as merely a way to explore the world, while others treat the setting as background to the important stuff. All depends what you want to get out of it.
- wayfriend
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I came across a blurb today that Stephen Donaldson will be at the Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge, Massachusetts for an author event. Which is in the county where I grew up, in Westernmost Massachusetts.
Turns out, it's Stephen G. Donaldson. Who authored a book of photographs entitled "The Berkshires" (which is the aforementioned county), and several others.
Turns out, it's Stephen G. Donaldson. Who authored a book of photographs entitled "The Berkshires" (which is the aforementioned county), and several others.
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- Avatar
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Haha, that could have led to some misunderstandings WF.
--A
Agreed, and I'm a world explorer type.Wildling wrote:Which is a matter of taste. I'm sure there are some people who treat the story as merely a way to explore the world, while others treat the setting as background to the important stuff. All depends what you want to get out of it.
--A
- wayfriend
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One sees it in Google News and get all excited for a second.Avatar wrote:Haha, that could have led to some misunderstandings WF.
Then one realizes the probability of that happening is near zero, at just about the same time one realizes that it's not actually the same author.
. . . . . .
So far Google News routinely turns up news about Stephen Donaldson the LGBT activist, Capt. Stephen Donaldson the MP, and Stephen Donaldson the Irish football ref. Now I can add Stephen Donaldson the New England photographer.
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