From the comments, for folks who don't read them, a little bit of Zelazny news.
The first is that Chris Kovacs has published an essay "Fallen Books and Other Subtle Clues in Zelazny's A NIGHT IN
THE LONESOME OCTOBER." in the December issue of the New York Review of Science Fiction. In it he discusses who each character is and provides support for his analysis and concludes with a discovery about
who Snuff is really based on.
And Chris DeVito has posted a link to Howard Jones talking about his love for the Amber Books. The comments to the piece are generally worth reading too.
On reflection, though, the Corwin books never struck me as being bound to a particular time period. The Merlin books did, mostly because of the computer stuff.
ReplyDeleteNote that this is one of the "Guilty Pleasures" series -- as it says, "Writers talk about the books they love but are embarrassed to be seen reading." So you know right away where this "well-intentioned" bullshit is coming from.
ReplyDelete--Chris DeVito
That's true, and that's an angle I hadn't considered, though I can't see anyone getting much pleasure about reading about Merlin (though I can certainly see why he feels guilty about it).
DeleteJosh (and anyone else who may read this):
ReplyDeleteI wasn't sure where to mention this, but I figured the post about news from the Comments Section was as good a place as any. I've spent the past year or so writing and submitting short stories to various publications (all the while looking to Mr. Zelazny's work for guidance, of course), and I just had my first story posted online a few minutes ago. So, if you're incredibly bored (and maybe even a little masochistic), you can check out "Lovestruck" at www.flashfictiononline.com. It's only about 4 pages long, so the nice thing is, even if you hate it, you won't have wasted much time on it!
Anyway, I'm telling all my fiction-readin' friends the news, and I decided that includes anyone who frequents this blog, because I probably talk to you guys about literature more than I do a lot of the people I know in real life. =P
I really enjoyed that! Would you like me to put a direct link on the front page?
ReplyDeleteGlad you liked it! It's kinda interesting--I had much more faith in the story before I saw it posted online. Once I started reading it on FFO's website, I thought, "Wow, I don't remember this being so awful." But hey, I guess someone was willing to buy it (and at an SFWA-approved market, no less!), so that's something. =P
ReplyDeleteAs far as posting it on the front page goes, that's up to you--I certainly won't be offended if the link never makes it out of this comment section. (And, if anything, I'd hate to cheapen your excellent tribute to Zelazny's works by having my lousy story taking up room on your page!)
In any case, thanks for reading!