Three More Down
21. The Crow: Clash by Night, Chet Williamson
22. The Crow: Quoth the Crow, David Bischoff
You know, when you read franchise series, it's as Forrest Gump said about chocolates: you never know what you're going to get. Franchise series can be outstanding and in rare cases, even better than the source material themselves. Other times, it's so unspeakably bad that it makes you wish the source material had never been created in the first place, if only so that it would spare you from the insensate crap that is the new stuff.
Clash by Night is an example of the former. Now, I loved The Crow (the original story, not the rest of the films). But truth be told, Clash doesn't need the backing of the franchise to stand on. The author has created such a masterful story that it could have - and probably should have - easily stood on its own as a revenant hunting down the White Power militants that killed her and the children at her day care center. That speaks of love, hatred and revenge - everything that The Crow series is about, but with such a flare and feel for writing that every reference to James' Barr's original stuff could have been removed and I still would have bought the book.
I can't say the same for Quoth. In the latter case, the book is trying to outdo Barr by being gothier than thou, and instead ending up as nothing but a poseur goff that even non-goths such as I find laughable and pathetic. Trying to reference everything in the Encyclopedia Gothica from Bauhaus to Poe is not going to earn you points, especially if you are hellbent on both insulting your audience and trying to cozy up to them at the same time. There is at least one thing ironically delicious about Quoth, and that is that the main character of the book, an author cut down in his prime, has a disdain for "half-baked book franchises where the authors dial in stories to coast of the greatness of the person who created the original work." I can't help but wonder if Bischoff had a moment of sudden clarity.
23. Dragon's Eye, various authors, anthology edited by Christopher Stasheff
A mixed bag, from the brutal to the romantic to the whimsical. My least favorite was the first story, S.M. Stirling's "Constant Never", which felt as though the author was trying to put his/her own spin on historical fiction and draconic fantasy. Compare that to the absolutely delightful "The Art of Revolution" by S.N. Lewitt, whose tale of a modern day (well, circa late 80s) dragon who had once collected a hoard of priceless artworks before having it stolen away by the Soviet Union decides to get back at his oppressors by engaging in a little revolution in only the way he can - and telling the story of how Czechoslovakia became free in the process. Again, another example of how an author can make or break the source material.
22. The Crow: Quoth the Crow, David Bischoff
You know, when you read franchise series, it's as Forrest Gump said about chocolates: you never know what you're going to get. Franchise series can be outstanding and in rare cases, even better than the source material themselves. Other times, it's so unspeakably bad that it makes you wish the source material had never been created in the first place, if only so that it would spare you from the insensate crap that is the new stuff.
Clash by Night is an example of the former. Now, I loved The Crow (the original story, not the rest of the films). But truth be told, Clash doesn't need the backing of the franchise to stand on. The author has created such a masterful story that it could have - and probably should have - easily stood on its own as a revenant hunting down the White Power militants that killed her and the children at her day care center. That speaks of love, hatred and revenge - everything that The Crow series is about, but with such a flare and feel for writing that every reference to James' Barr's original stuff could have been removed and I still would have bought the book.
I can't say the same for Quoth. In the latter case, the book is trying to outdo Barr by being gothier than thou, and instead ending up as nothing but a poseur goff that even non-goths such as I find laughable and pathetic. Trying to reference everything in the Encyclopedia Gothica from Bauhaus to Poe is not going to earn you points, especially if you are hellbent on both insulting your audience and trying to cozy up to them at the same time. There is at least one thing ironically delicious about Quoth, and that is that the main character of the book, an author cut down in his prime, has a disdain for "half-baked book franchises where the authors dial in stories to coast of the greatness of the person who created the original work." I can't help but wonder if Bischoff had a moment of sudden clarity.
23. Dragon's Eye, various authors, anthology edited by Christopher Stasheff
A mixed bag, from the brutal to the romantic to the whimsical. My least favorite was the first story, S.M. Stirling's "Constant Never", which felt as though the author was trying to put his/her own spin on historical fiction and draconic fantasy. Compare that to the absolutely delightful "The Art of Revolution" by S.N. Lewitt, whose tale of a modern day (well, circa late 80s) dragon who had once collected a hoard of priceless artworks before having it stolen away by the Soviet Union decides to get back at his oppressors by engaging in a little revolution in only the way he can - and telling the story of how Czechoslovakia became free in the process. Again, another example of how an author can make or break the source material.