(no subject)
I have not been so taken with a fictional universe in quite a long time, but I'm totally gorging on Stargate at the moment. It really hasn't been this bad since I first got hooked on Harry Potter. I just want to keep watching episodes and stuff. I'd dip my toe into fanfiction, except I don't know any good sites or have heard much in the way of fic recs. It's just that there are so many cool storylines, and so many lovely characters to watch (especially Daniel) and so many fun adventures and so on. And today I was in the back room and I saw the next edition of the fan magazine and it just made my day. It's insane.
So work was a bit nuts. I had this massive pile of books to call customers about, left over from Friday. 'Cause FedEx decided to be stupid on Friday and didn't make their delivery until an hour before my shift was over. On top of that, I had the usual massive amount of individual ("open") orders to place, and on top of that, we had to call everybody who'd preordered a copy of Eldest by Christopher Paolini because the book comes out tomorrow and we thought they might like a reminder. Fortunately, Sarah got Bobby to do that bit. I still didn't get through the open orders, though.
Don't tell my bosses, but I have the store credit card number memorized. ::evil grin::
My job's quite a position of trust, more so than the booksellers. I've got access to the store credit card, which has to have an incredible credit limit; I'm allowed to have unsold books with me in nearly every part of the store; I have access to the mail machine and the Fed-Ex book; I could order stuff under other folks' names without anybody knowing; and most of the time, if I'm not at my desk, no one really knows where I am because I don't really have to tell anybody. Funny they don't pay me better. ::looks innocent::
I took a glance at the latest in the Molly Moon children's series and it looks interesting. On the other hand, I read the first few chapters of George R.R. Martin's book A Game of Thrones and while the guy certainly knows what he's writing about, I do wish folks would quit comparing him to Tolkien.
Frankly I wish everybody would quit comparing authors to Tolkien. If there should come along an author who actually does pick up where Tolkien left off and writes a new generation of epic marvellousness, we would know about it. Perhaps the splash wouldn't be as big as Rowling's, but word would get around and lots of people would read it. Lots of people who aren't die-hard fantasy/sci fi nuts would read it. And like it. And recommend it. So far no one I've read really comes close enough. Some of LeGuin's early work could have done it. Martin's, so far, doesn't. His is particularly smart fantasy, but I don't think it quite reaches what Tolkien accomplished.
Now, imitating Tolkien and equalling Tolkien are two totally different things. There's massive boatloads of imitators out there, with good reason. Some of them I've enjoyed. But equalling Tolkien will not mean writing Middle Earth Two, neither will it necessarily mean writing in the same style, with any similar characters, or making the same points, or really having any of the same story elements. It will mean writing the same sort of story, a story that deals with questions of equal bigness, that by it's very writing inspires people to nobility, to selflessness, to joy and sorrow and conviction and sheer story-related pleasure. If someone were to do that, it wouldn't matter if the story were set in Middle Earth or Minnesota, it will be a story equal to Tolkien.
At least, that's the sort of story I'm waiting for.
I have new curtains. They make me happy.
So work was a bit nuts. I had this massive pile of books to call customers about, left over from Friday. 'Cause FedEx decided to be stupid on Friday and didn't make their delivery until an hour before my shift was over. On top of that, I had the usual massive amount of individual ("open") orders to place, and on top of that, we had to call everybody who'd preordered a copy of Eldest by Christopher Paolini because the book comes out tomorrow and we thought they might like a reminder. Fortunately, Sarah got Bobby to do that bit. I still didn't get through the open orders, though.
Don't tell my bosses, but I have the store credit card number memorized. ::evil grin::
My job's quite a position of trust, more so than the booksellers. I've got access to the store credit card, which has to have an incredible credit limit; I'm allowed to have unsold books with me in nearly every part of the store; I have access to the mail machine and the Fed-Ex book; I could order stuff under other folks' names without anybody knowing; and most of the time, if I'm not at my desk, no one really knows where I am because I don't really have to tell anybody. Funny they don't pay me better. ::looks innocent::
I took a glance at the latest in the Molly Moon children's series and it looks interesting. On the other hand, I read the first few chapters of George R.R. Martin's book A Game of Thrones and while the guy certainly knows what he's writing about, I do wish folks would quit comparing him to Tolkien.
Frankly I wish everybody would quit comparing authors to Tolkien. If there should come along an author who actually does pick up where Tolkien left off and writes a new generation of epic marvellousness, we would know about it. Perhaps the splash wouldn't be as big as Rowling's, but word would get around and lots of people would read it. Lots of people who aren't die-hard fantasy/sci fi nuts would read it. And like it. And recommend it. So far no one I've read really comes close enough. Some of LeGuin's early work could have done it. Martin's, so far, doesn't. His is particularly smart fantasy, but I don't think it quite reaches what Tolkien accomplished.
Now, imitating Tolkien and equalling Tolkien are two totally different things. There's massive boatloads of imitators out there, with good reason. Some of them I've enjoyed. But equalling Tolkien will not mean writing Middle Earth Two, neither will it necessarily mean writing in the same style, with any similar characters, or making the same points, or really having any of the same story elements. It will mean writing the same sort of story, a story that deals with questions of equal bigness, that by it's very writing inspires people to nobility, to selflessness, to joy and sorrow and conviction and sheer story-related pleasure. If someone were to do that, it wouldn't matter if the story were set in Middle Earth or Minnesota, it will be a story equal to Tolkien.
At least, that's the sort of story I'm waiting for.
I have new curtains. They make me happy.