Only 77 days left until
Fatal Revenant
the second of four books in ...
The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant
Is there life after Harry Potter is finished? You're darn right there is! Stephen R. Donaldson has written a series of fantasy books that have been keeping me going for more than 20 years. And as you can see above, only 77 more days until the 2nd book in The Last Chronicles is released. Donaldson was born in good ol' Cleveland, OH and attended Kent State. He did a bit of his writing in New Jersey. :) (Check out some of the wonderful poetry he has on his site).
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever
Lord Foul's Bane, Holt, 1977
The Illearth War, Holt, 1977
The Power that Preserves, Holt, 1977
The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant
The Wounded Land, Del Rey/Ballantine, 1980
The One Tree, Del Rey/Ballantine, 1982
White Gold Wielder, Del Rey/Ballantine, 1983
and now...
The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant
The Runes of the Earth, Putnam (US), Orion (UK), October 2004
Fatal Revenant, Putnam (US) October 9, 2007; Orion (UK) October 18, 2007
The hero of these books per Wikipedia, "The main character is Thomas Covenant, a cynical writer afflicted with leprosy, shunned and despised by society, who is destined to become the heroic saviour of an alternate world - or, perhaps, only of his own sanity. Throughout six novels published between 1977 and 1983, Covenant struggles against the evil Lord Foul - "The Despiser" - who intends to break the physical universe to escape its bondage and wreak revenge upon his arch-enemy "The Creator". Many elements of the story correspond to those of Richard Wagner's epic "Ring Cycle", but with inverted values."
I must warn you - sometimes you need a dictionary with you. Donaldson is a logophile and it shows. This list from "The Land" fansite will give you a sampling of the type of vocabularly used in his works:
condign: fitting or appropriate and deserved; used especially of punishment
inanition: Exhaustion, as from lack of nourishment or vitality
febrile: Of, relating to, or characterized by fever
carious: affected with cavities or decay
guerdon: to reward; to be a recompense for
preterite: Belonging wholly to the past; passed by
mordant: Bitingly sarcastic
assoil: To loosen, divide, cut apart
telic: Denoting the final end or purpose; directed or tending toward a goal or purpose
sendaline: silk cloth
caducity: The frailty of old age; senility
cymar: A woman's long dress or robe; also light covering; a scarf
crepitation: A grating or crackling sensation or sound, as that produced by rubbing two fragments of a broken bone together
gelid" Very cold; icy
cynosure: Anything to which attention is strongly turned; a center of attraction
devoir: An act or expression of respect or courtesy; duty
coquelicot: The color of the wild poppy; a color nearly red, like orange mixed with scarlet
eglantine: Eurasian rose with prickly stems and fragrant leaves and bright pink flowers followed by scarlet hips
tabid: Affected by progressive bodily wasting or emaciation
malison: Malediction; curse; execration
Donaldson is a genius. He weaves an incredible story - Thomas Covenant, shunned, lonely, bitter, thrown into an alternate reality and sure he is hallucinating. Feeling that he is in a dream like state, he commits a crime - thinking that nothing he does matters. As the books evolve, Covenant decides that regardless of whether he is imaging this or not, he must act with character and dignity. I should also say the story is incredible just due to the sheer magnitude of pages. Each book is approximately 500 pages in length.
He has another series, The Gap Sequence, where he takes Wagner's "Der Ring des Nibelungen" and amazingly turned it into a space odyssey. This is a pretty rough set of books. lots of foul language and violence - yet completely gripping the way he turns this epic opera into a sci-fi series!
My favorite works of Dondaldson, however, are a pair of books called Mordant's Need. "In the Mirror of Her Dreams" and "A Man Rides Through." He took it few lines from a poem and came up with two beautifully written books. These books are on a much lighter note, but very intricate. You can see a bit of King Lear in the relationship between King Joyse and his daughters.
As far as fiction goes, it had better be darn good if I'm going to read it. I'd much rather read biographies of Robert the Bruce and John Adams (repeatedly), the history of various plagues, old captivity narratives and about life in the Americas before Columbus. For fiction, I turn to JRR Tolkein, CS Lewis, Donaldson, Lawhead, Jane Austen - and I'll read their books over and over.
Silly as it sounds, I reread the Little House books over every few years and probably own every biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder ever written, as well as every other book attached with her story EXCEPT "Ghost in the Little House" because it pisses me off. :)
I definitely am more drawn to sci-fi and fantasy, but I hate cheesy dragon novels. Melanie Rawn books make me SICK. She did manage to collaborate with Jennifer Roberson and Kate Elliot to complete a masterwork entitled, "The Golden Key."
I had started to read a series of books by Diana Gabaldon beginning with Outlander and Dragonfly in Amber. (I love time travel type stories). First two were great, the rest seemed to turn into tawdry bodice-ripping glorified romance novels. Books one and two are still excellent, but the rest are garbage.
When I read a new book (fiction), I usually read the first chapter, the end and a piece or two in the middle. I can usually tell if it is going to be worth my time or not. If it is, reading the end doesn't effect my enjoyment of it at all.
Stephen R. Lawhead is the author of another series of favorite books of mine, The Song of Albion Trilogy. I'm not 100% sold on his other works - some I love, some I really dislike. He has a new book out in September, Scarlet, part of his new Robin Hood series called "The King Raven Trilogy." I'm thinking of giving the first book, Hood, a try.
~o~
Rhianna & Erin both felt sick last night and had me up at midnight. I ended up skipping the gym this morning. As the day wore on, I realized that I just really, desperately need a down day. Not getting enough sleep and fighting off a virus are both good reasons to lay low.I was getting sick last week - had a horrific sore throat for two or three days, but kept plugging away. I've had no appetite either... Yeah, now's a good time to take a day off. Rats! I wish that Fatal Revenant was already out!
