A long-eared geezer, eight stories and an embarrassing admission in today’s Scroll.
(1) Today’s birthday boy is… Bugs Bunny. He’s 75 years old.
(2) David Steffen answers “Why Do I Value The Hugos?” on Diabolical Plots.
[Excerpt is the second of seven points.]
I’ve been following the Hugos closely for several years, trying to read and review as many of the nominated works as I can digest between the announcement of the ballot and the final deadline. I also follow the Nebulas, and I glance at the results from other SF genre awards, but for me the Hugos take up most of my attention come award season. With this eventful Hugo year, it crossed my mind to wonder why the Hugos specifically, and whether I might perhaps be better off devoting more of my attention to awards that don’t collect controversy the way the Hugo Awards always seem to do, and in escalating fashion these last few years….
- The Hugos Have a Long Reading Period
The Nebulas and the Locus awards have very short reading periods (the period of time between the announcement of the ballot and the voting deadline) of only about a month. If I want to read as much of the fiction as possible, that’s not nearly enough time–I can’t finish all the short fiction, let alone start the novels. The Hugo ballot is announced around Easter weekend (usually early April or so) and the voting deadline is at the end of July, so there are nearly four months to try to do all the reading. The Hugo Packet isn’t released right at the beginning of the reading period, but usually enough of the short fiction was published in online venues so that I can fill my reading time with Hugo material.
https://twitter.com/LisaR_M/status/625448045316943872
(3) Then maybe Lisa would rather hear about – Worldcon site selection?
Spacefaring Kitten thinks it’s only fair that Helsinki win the right to host 2017 because all the other contenders have already had a turn…or seven.
A few facts to consider:
Five last countries that have hosted a Worldcon: United States (2015), United Kingdom (2014), United States (2013), United States (2012), United States (2011). Next year, the Worldcon will be in United States. In case the bid for Washington DC in 2017 (that is sort of a favorite at the moment, I guess) is successful, that’s third United States year in a row, and given the fact that there are only US bids for 2018 at the moment, it’s quite probably going to be four years of back-to-back United States Worldcons and seven United States Worldcons in eight years. That’s a lot of United States in one paragraph.
Competing for the 2017 Worldcon location, there are also bids for Montreal (in Canada) and Shizuoka City (in Japan). After 2000, the Worldcon has been in Canada twice (2009, 2003) and in Japan once (2007). Now, I’m sure that all proposed locations would hold a wonderful convention, but Helsinki would certainly be something new.
(4) Toymakers have got to protect the brand. Or, “Why Thomas the Tank Engine Doesn’t Kill Anybody in Ant-Man“.
“I believe in Edgar [Wright] and Joe Cornish’s original drafts it was a train set,” Reed recalls. “At some point in the process that predated my involvement it became Thomas. As I came on, they had not secured the rights to Thomas. We had to do this whole thing where we did this presentation for the people who own the rights to Thomas. Thank God they agreed and found it funny, but there were definite stipulations. For example, nobody could be tied to the tracks and run over by Thomas. Thomas couldn’t be doing anything that could be perceived by children as evil Thomas. Thomas had to stay neutral in the battle, which was always our intention. Like anybody, they’re protective of their brand. I didn’t know what we were going to do if we didn’t get the rights to that. There are certain things I was going to be devastated about if we couldn’t have them. Thomas was one, because… you could do any kind of toy train, but the personality of that thing and the eyes moving back and forth give it a whole vibe and took it to another level.”
(5) Another Castalia House child prodigy! Jeffro Johnson reports in “First Session Report for my Daughter’s Dungeon Design!”
At the age of nine, my daughter has designed a 15 level dungeon, gotten paid for her work, and received back playtest report. It doesn’t get any better than that…!
It’s true – and entertaining, too.
(6) The Official Tolkien Calendar 2016 featuring artwork by Tove Jansson will be released on July 30. The cost is £9.99.
Jansson, who passed away in 2001, is well-known worldwide as the author and artists behind the popular Moomin series. As an accomplished artist, she provided the artwork for the Swedish editions of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and The Hobbit (also later used in Finnish editions). In Boel Westin’s autobiography of Jansson, she is quoted as saying “The figures are banal: dwarves, gnomes, fairies, dark-elves. But the scenery is luring in its macabre cruelty … Haunted woods, pitch-dark rivers, a moon-lit moor with burning wolves.”
(7) Ursula K. Le Guin is offering writing advice through an “Online Fiction Workshop” at Book View Cafe. Use the form at the post to submit your question.
I have enough vigor and stamina these days to write poems, for which I am very thankful. It takes quite a lot of vigor and stamina to write a story, and a huge amount to write a novel. I don’t have those any more, and I miss writing fiction.
Reliable vigor and stamina is also required to teach a class or run a workshop, and so I had to give up teaching several years ago. But I miss being in touch with serious prentice writers.
So in in hope of regaining some of the pleasures of teaching and talking about writing fiction with people who do, I’m going to try an experiment: a kind of open consultation or informal ongoing workshop in Fictional Navigation, here on Book View Café.
I hope it will work its own process out as we go along, but here’s how I plan to start:
I invite questions about writing fiction from people who are working seriously at writing fiction.
(8) Explore the author’s earliest novels in Part I of SF Signal’s Interview with Samuel R. Delany.
Q: Your new book, A, B, C: THREE SHORT NOVELS, takes the reader back to the beginning of your career by offering up your first three novels. What is it about these works that impelled you to offer them up again?
Samuel R. Delany: With all these books’ clumsinesses and immaturities, I think—I hope—I was trying for something that is probably harder and harder to see with time’s passing. Indeed, it may never have been there. The only thing that might have thrown some highlighting onto it at the time they were published were slight differences between them and what was then coming out in the genre. Because so many changes have taken place in the background against which individual works now register, however, it’s harder and harder to read the signals.
(9) The Guardian included Neal Stephenson’s Seveneves on its 70 title longlist for the “Not The Booker prize”.
If you want to become part of this noble process, all you have to do is vote for two books from the longlist, from two different publishers, and accompany those votes with a review of at least one of your chosen books in the comments section below. This review should be something over 100 words long, although, as the rules state, we probably won’t be counting all that carefully.
Readers have until August 2 to vote titles onto the shortlist.
(10) After using geometric logic to deduce the wrong writer behind “Ray Blank’s” real-life identity, I was informed by a friend that it’s not even a secret. Eric Priezkalns says it’s him:
Ray Blank is the pen name I use when submitting speculative fiction to publishers.
And just in case I needed more convincing, my friend also ran comparative text samples through IBM Watson Personality Insights. Because science!
Really, though, it’s just not any kind of a secret.
https://twitter.com/ericpriezkalns/status/625024340489314304
[Thanks to JJ, Mark, Will R., Jonathan Olfert, and John King Tarpinain for some of these stories. Title credit to Soon Lee]
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1. FROM KU-FU TO TAI-TASTIGON
Bridge of Birds, Barry Hughart
I have a slight flaw in my character.
2. WEST COAST MAGIC
Wizard of the Pigeons, Robin Hobb/Megan Lindholm
Great early urban fantasy.
3. THE SWORD OR THE CHORD
War for the Oaks, Emma Bull
4. TOTALLY STRAIGHTFORWARD NARRATIVE
The Anubis Gates, Tim Powers
This could be the matchup of the round. I rate Powers so very highly, but seeing Wolfe go out would be painful too. Nevertheless, Powers.
5. WE DON’T DIE, WE JUST MOVE TO OTHER BODIES
Daggerspell, Katharine Kerr
The Silent Tower, Barbara Hambly
I like Hambly more, but haven’t read this one. Abstain.
6. MYTH MADE FLESH
Mythago Wood, Robert Holdstock
Fire and Hemlock, Diana Wynne Jones
Too long since I read them to separate in my mind. Abstain.
7. TITANIA VS. MORGAN LE FAY
Little, Big
8. HELL IS OTHER ANGELS
To Reign in Hell, Stephen Brust
The Dragaera novels are his main work, and will be excellent provided he sticks the landing with the Vlad series, but he writes some great singletons and interesting collaborations. Over on the SF side, Cowboy Feng’s Space Bar and Grill is favourite of mine, although I’ll admit it’s rather uneven.
Oh, do! I wouldn’t read the others in the same sequence – it is a rich idea but it works best as a one off. I think, as whole, I’m not sure Holdstock ever really carries off a series. He seems to suffer from diminishing returns (e.g. the Merlin Codex starts strong but sort of dwindles).
Bracket: Wow, almost nothing to vote on here.
4. Tim Powers.
7. MZB.
8. Brust, with one of my favorites.
I think my general aversion to “classical” fantasy is going to hurt my ballot for the next few days. I much prefer low (including urban) or comic fantasy over the epic or heroic stuff.
That is a good point. When I first read it I thought Assassins Apprentice was OK but I revisited it recently and the non-suck fairy had blessed it. It is a solid foundation to a central character and some key supporting characters that she has managed to build a very effective world around. A book that gets better by virtue of its sequels is a good things – particularly in this genre.
Sorry, just one more thing on the Ray Blank thing because I didn’t back up the comparison I made earlier and given how he reacted to previous comments here it is important to do so. The Barnaby Joyce comparison was based on his comments in an earlier piece on the 2014 Hugo nominees:
http://superversivesf.com/2015/06/13/on-worldcons-and-world-cups/
It is interesting to ask in what way the stories he mentions ‘pander to American tastes’
Sorry to keep adding comments, but please write in “Reindeer Moon” for bracket 5.
@Camestros on Mythago Wood
Admittedly it is a case of diminishing returns over the entire sequence of seven? books but I like Lavondyss very nearly as much as a whole, and some sections of it a great deal better.
I find myself unable to prevent myself from voting on a couple of these.
1. FROM KU-FU TO TAI-TASTIGON
God Stalk, P. C. Hodgell
Because the Chronicles of the Kencyrath are the single most enjoyable fantasy series of all time. What? No, YOU’RE wrong!
5. WE DON’T DIE, WE JUST MOVE TO OTHER BODIES
The Silent Tower, Barbara Hambly
Because Joanna. Because Antryg.
There are a number of other pairings in this bracket I have fairly strong opinions about, and I may or may not cast my vote on those. But I seem to have REALLY, REALLY strong opinions about, um, books I read at a certain age.
I think I’ve liked many of them and I think if any one of them had been a stand alone book I’d have been impressed but I remember far more of Mythago wood than the others – and some of them I know I’ve read but I really can’t recall the plot. I suppose partly it is that Holdstock is doing atmosphere very well but the premise of his world-in-a-world means nothing can really fundamentally change. Which is that aspect of Alan Garner’s Owl Service that I always associate with Mythago Wood – myths being constantly played out in a magical landscape that is just there even if you try to ignore it. Jeff Vandermeer’s Southern reach books he talks about it in terms of terroir and I find that idea compelling in the way Ackroyd and Moore have played with it with London and… I’m rambling and I’m not sure where this paragraph is going. 🙂
Bracket:
1. FROM KU-FU TO TAI-TASTIGON
Ouch. Why do you hate me, Kyra? God Stalk, before I change my mind.
2. WEST COAST MAGIC
Tea with the Black Dragon, which is probably very dated, I read it in the eighties first, and have no idea what it would be like to come to it now, but it seems really relevant, still. And also lovely.
3. THE SWORD OR THE CHORD
You do hate me! The Hero and the Crown, Robin McKinley, quick, before I change my mind.
4. TOTALLY STRAIGHTFORWARD NARRATIVE
Soldier of the Mist, Gene Wolfe. And its one sequel. (There’s only one Highlander movie, too.)
6. MYTH MADE FLESH
Mythago Wood, Robert Holdstock. What Camestros said.
7. TITANIA VS. MORGAN LE FAY
Little, Big, John Crowley
I read this one in the nineties, several times in a row, and then in the aughts, and the whatever-we’re-calling-the-current-decade, and it may be due for another read, because of what Camestros said again, exactly (except for the part about the Pogues, and the drinking, which sounds like A Plan).
8. HELL IS OTHER ANGELS
I haven’t read The Darkangel, and love To Reign in Hell, but I love my write-in more: Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie.
1. FROM KU-FU TO TAI-TASTIGON
Bridge of Birds, Barry Hughart
4. TOTALLY STRAIGHTFORWARD NARRATIVE
Soldier of the Mist, Gene Wolfe
5. WE DON’T DIE, WE JUST MOVE TO OTHER BODIES
Daggerspell, Katharine Kerr
6. MYTH MADE FLESH
Mythago Wood, Robert Holdstock
I highly recommend Meredith Ann Pierce (Darkangel). Her writing is beautiful.
EARLY RESULTS, AND WHY I WILL BE EXTREMELY RELUCTANT TO EVER AGAIN RUN A BRACKET CONSISTING ALMOST ENTIRELY OF STUFF I READ WHEN I WAS A TEENAGER:
Although things are still far too early to tell anything for certain yet, Bridge of Birds is currently ahead of God Stalk because EVERYTHING IS TERRIBLE.
Wizard of the Pigeons and Tea with the Black Dragon are exactly tied. Seriously? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?
The War for the Oaks is exactly one vote ahead of The Hero and the Crown BECAUSE YOU HATE ME.
Soldier of the Mist and The Anubis Gates are exactly tied even though one of them is OBVIOUSLY BETTER.
Daggerspell is somewhat ahead of The Silent Tower, and HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?
Mythago Wood is a bit ahead of Fire and Hemlock. I have an opinion here, but I read both those books later in my life. So, sure, that’s cool.
Little, Big appears to be pulling out ahead of The Mists of Avalon, and I … I … I AM SO CONFUSED, I DON’T EVEN … I MEAN, I MEAN LITTLE, BIG AGAINST THE MISTS OF AVALON, HOW CAN YOU … ? WHAT LUNATIC PUT THIS BRACKET TOGETHER?
With only a few votes in, To Reign in Hell is slightly ahead of The Darkangel because YOU ALL WANT TO RUIN MY LIFE, RUIN IT FOREVER.
*goes to room*
*slams door*
*puts on The Cure*
Especially given that only a minority of the voters last year were American. Maybe it’s simply that we are wrongfans liking the wrong things? That’s the general gist of many Puppy arguments.
Votesing!
1. God Stalk. Even the first paragraph deserves an award! Plus the rest of the book is great. I love it so much.
5. Soldier of the Mist. Maybe not Wolfe’s best book, but surely my favorite.
The Rest: Abstain.
@Camestros: Wait! Did Blank really confuse Chinese-Americans with “Chinese people?”
@Susana S.P.: Right on. I have heard that a third book, Soldier of Sidon, is promised, but I fear we will never see that book. That we were promised.
Oh wow! I read enough of these to vote:
1. FROM KU-FU TO TAI-TASTIGON
Bridge of Birds, Barry Hughart
2. WEST COAST MAGIC
Abstain
3. THE SWORD OR THE CHORD
War for the Oaks, Emma Bull
4. TOTALLY STRAIGHTFORWARD NARRATIVE
The Anubis Gates, Tim Powers
5. WE DON’T DIE, WE JUST MOVE TO OTHER BODIES
Abstain
6. MYTH MADE FLESH
Mythago Wood, Robert Holdstock
7. TITANIA VS. MORGAN LE FAY
Little, Big, John Crowley
8. HELL IS OTHER ANGELS
Abstain
Bracket:
1. FROM KU-FU TO TAI-TASTIGON
Bridge of Birds, Barry Hughart
Because I’ve only read this one.
2. WEST COAST MAGIC
Wizard of the Pigeons, Robin Hobb/Megan Lindholm
I don’t think her Megan Lindholm stuff is as good as her Robin Hobb work, but I still think she’s fabulous in any guise.
3. THE SWORD OR THE CHORD
Abstain.
4. TOTALLY STRAIGHTFORWARD NARRATIVE
Soldier of the Mist, Gene Wolfe
Hey hey hey, what is this? Soldier of the Mist, because it’s Gene Wolfe, but Tim Powers’ On Stranger Tides would have pushed it close as for me it’s a timeless classic.
5. WE DON’T DIE, WE JUST MOVE TO OTHER BODIES
Daggerspell, Katharine Kerr
6. MYTH MADE FLESH
Mythago Wood, Robert Holdstock
I read this a lot when I was a kid.
7. TITANIA VS. MORGAN LE FAY
Little, Big, John Crowley
For literary, dreamlike, qualities.
8. HELL IS OTHER ANGELS
Abstain.
That is a perfectly reasonable response to these vote totals. ;P
In the spirit of Ray Blank, I hereby announce my bid for the 2022 Worldcon – Istanbul: CONstantinople.
Sure, I haven’t spoken to any other fans here to find out if anybody is interested in holding it here and I have absolutely no idea how to run a con, but I know some people who know some people who know some hotels and it would probably be very professional if we paid the right people the right amount of money. If any of you do happen to have any doubts or questions about the location due to the host country’s questionable attitudes towards freedom of speech and human rights, ever-increasing involvement in a spiralling Middle Eastern conflict and repressive social policies, well, it’s because YOU’RE THE REAL RACISTS HERE. Yeah, I said it.
(I should point out in all seriousness, however, that Istanbul would be an awesome place for a Worldcon. It’s generally an amazing place to visit, with great food, and plenty of hotels and convention spaces, and there is a local Turkish-speaking fandom here which holds regular cons).
To be a stick-in-the-mud, that isn’t so much a personality analyzer as a document-level sentiment analyzer. Feed it three documents written by the same person in different contexts/moods and it’ll give you three different personality profiles. And with phrases like (paraphrasing) “Experiences that are pleasant hold some appeal to you”, I shouldn’t wonder if there’s some deliberate Barnum effect being invoked here.
Yup – that group that even within the country of China is more diverse than Europeans and which beyond China is a multi-faceted spread of ethnicities and identities and national histories.
1. FROM KU-FU TO TAI-TASTIGON
Bridge of Birds, Barry Hughart
5. WE DON’T DIE, WE JUST MOVE TO OTHER BODIES
The Silent Tower, Barbara Hambly
6. MYTH MADE FLESH
Fire and Hemlock, Diana Wynne Jones
8. HELL IS OTHER ANGELS
To Reign in Hell, Stephen Brust
1. FROM KU-FU TO TAI-TASTIGON
Bridge of Birds, Barry Hughart
God Stalk, P. C. Hodgell
If other people are voting God Stalk down even though they haven’t read it, I can vote Bridge of Birds down even though I haven’t read it.
And if you haven’t read God Stalk you really should. I’m no Baeniac (Baen doesn’t count for or against a book for me) but one thing I will always value Baen for is that they picked this series out of small-press obscurity and made it more generally available. Seriously, I love this one; check it out.
God Stalk
2. WEST COAST MAGIC
Wizard of the Pigeons, Robin Hobb/Megan Lindholm
Tea with the Black Dragon, R. A. MacAvoy
Tea with the Black Dragon
3. THE SWORD OR THE CHORD
The Hero and the Crown, Robin McKinley
War for the Oaks, Emma Bull
Eerg. This one is tough. The Hero and the Crown but I could change my mind any time.
4. TOTALLY STRAIGHTFORWARD NARRATIVE
Soldier of the Mist, Gene Wolfe
The Anubis Gates, Tim Powers
No vote.
5. WE DON’T DIE, WE JUST MOVE TO OTHER BODIES
Daggerspell, Katharine Kerr
The Silent Tower, Barbara Hambly
The Silent Tower Of course, Hambly is one of my favorite authors ever.
6. MYTH MADE FLESH
Mythago Wood, Robert Holdstock
Fire and Hemlock, Diana Wynne Jones
Fire and Hemlock
7. TITANIA VS. MORGAN LE FAY
Little, Big, John Crowley
The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
Little, Big
8. HELL IS OTHER ANGELS
The Darkangel, Meredith Ann Pierce
To Reign in Hell, Stephen Brust
No vote.
Well it would be irresponsible of me to encourage drinking to excess but…
1. FROM KU-FU TO TAI-TASTIGON
Bridge of Birds, Barry Hughart
2. WEST COAST MAGIC
Tea with the Black Dragon, R.A. MacAvoy
3. THE SWORD OR THE CHORD
War for the Oaks, Emma Bull
4. TOTALLY STRAIGHTFORWARD NARRATIVE
Soldier of the Mist, Gene Wolfe
5. WE DON’T DIE, WE JUST MOVE TO OTHER BODIES
The Silent Tower, Barbara Hambly
6. MYTH MADE FLESH
Fire and Hemlock, Diana Wynne Jones
7. TITANIA VS. MORGAN LE FAY
Little, Big, John Crowley
8. HELL IS OTHER ANGELS
The Darkangel, Meredith Ann Pierce
Wait! Did Blank really confuse Chinese-Americans with “Chinese people?”
It seems that Blank shares at least one personal characteristic with Torgersen: He doesn’t read very carefully, and as a result, doesn’t seem to comprehend what he reads.
Undoubtedly – but not wholly unsound I think. After all the psychometric tests that have been repeatedly re-validated for the Big 5 are actually based on written responses rather than some direct access to a person’s personality. Now I got a tad more skeptical when I gave into temptation and put one of VD’s blog posts into the analyser and it spat back an analysis EXACTLY THE SAME as the one it had given me for one of my posts (more or less).
So –
1. I think you’d need to put in multiple texts written in a variety of contexts. One long text won’t be as meaningful as multiple short texts stuck together.
2. You’d have to be sober (alcohol definitely impacts on the Big 5)
3. You couldn’t be writing ‘in character’ (i.e. pretending to be somebody else)
However I can see a use for fiction writers. Write a 100+ words of dialogue as yourself. Write a 100+ words of dialogue as a character you are writing for a story. If you are doing the character right (and it isn’t Mary Sue) then the two profiles should be different.
1. Bridge of Birds, Barry Hughart
2. This is not my official 80s protest vote, it is merely insisting Moorcock’s Mother London is actually early urban fantasy not sf since Brian Z is never consistent from one post to the next! He changes his mind all the time! based on new information! to recognize a valid point made by others! or for no good reason other than to be pigheaded or repeatedly make what he thinks is somehow an important point! Mother London.
If I were trolling, I’d argue that Gloriana, 2nd ed. (1993) belongs in the 80s bracket because Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Morgaine made him decide to rewrite it.
If anyone wants to stand up for War Hound or whatever it is you liked better, I once more stand ready to change with the wind.
3. This is my official 80s protest vote for Paolo Coehlo, the Alchemist; we are giving away free copies at the São Paulo 2019 bid party.
4. Soldier of the Mist, Gene Wolfe
5. This is my second official 80s protest vote, for The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant.
6. This is my third official 80s protest vote, for Return to Nevèrÿon, which kind of leaves Moorcock et al. in the dust.
7. MZB.
8. This is not so much a real protest vote as testing the boundaries of the category with Somtow Sucharitkul, The Fallen Country. Bonus round! Best operatic adaptation!
1. FROM KU-FU TO TAI-TASTIGON
Bridge of Birds, Barry Hughart
God Stalk is good, but Bridge of Birds is a jewel.
2. WEST COAST MAGIC
Tea with the Black Dragon, R. A. MacAvoy
3. THE SWORD OR THE CHORD
War for the Oaks, Emma Bull
4. TOTALLY STRAIGHTFORWARD NARRATIVE
Soldier of the Mist, Gene Wolfe
5. WE DON’T DIE, WE JUST MOVE TO OTHER BODIES
Abstain
6. MYTH MADE FLESH
Fire and Hemlock, Diana Wynne Jones
This was tough.
7. TITANIA VS. MORGAN LE FAY
Little, Big, John Crowley
8. HELL IS OTHER ANGELS
To Reign in Hell, Stephen Brust
1. FROM KU-FU TO TAI-TASTIGON
God Stalk, P. C. Hodgell
2. WEST COAST MAGIC
Tea with the Black Dragon, R. A. MacAvoy
3. THE SWORD OR THE CHORD
War for the Oaks, Emma Bull
4. TOTALLY STRAIGHTFORWARD NARRATIVE
Soldier of the Mist, Gene Wolfe
5. WE DON’T DIE, WE JUST MOVE TO OTHER BODIES
[haven’t read either. yet]
6. MYTH MADE FLESH
Mythago Wood, Robert Holdstock
7. TITANIA VS. MORGAN LE FAY
Little, Big, John Crowley
8. HELL IS OTHER ANGELS
To Reign in Hell, Stephen Brust
Well, what a nice thing. That wasn’t what I was expecting the AD&D story to be, but hey… awesome!
I’m taking this as a sign that there really is hope for reconciliation post-Puppygate.
Cheers, y’all.
Everybody please write in The Dragon Waiting. I suggest bracket 5, but it’s up to you. Just so long as you do it.
Oh, my. I’ve read almost all of these, and they’re pretty much all brilliant books. This is going to be HARD….
1. God Stalk, P. C. Hodgell
I loved Bridge of Birds, but thought the sequel was disappointing. Whereas I run-not-walk to the bookstore when I hear the next Kencyrith book is out. So I’m breaking the tie by voting for the one with better sequels….
2. Wizard of the Pigeons, Robin Hobb/Megan Lindholm
Gah. Pigeons. No, tea. No, pigeons. Damnit. Um……Wizard of the Pigeons. (Who has that damp cloth for the forehead? I need it now, please….)
3. The Hero and the Crown, Robin McKinley
Kyra, these are REALLY HARD. I’ve re-read The Hero and the Crown a little more often than War for the Oaks, so I’m going with McKinley. But still….
4. Soldier of the Mist, Gene Wolfe
Both great books, but I prefer Wolfe’s prose style.
5. The Silent Tower, Barbara Hambly
Yeesh. Um. The Silent Tower.
6. Abstain
This pairing has the book I’ve not read; Fire and Hemlock. So I abstain. (Can anyone tell me about Fire and Hemlock…?)
7. Little, Big, John Crowley
This one’s an easy one. The Mists of Avalon just didn’t work for me. I put it down and forgot to finish it. (Ran across it years later with the bookmark halfway through it…)
8. To Reign in Hell, Stephen Brust
Brust, no question. (Well, ok, a bit of a question. But still Brust.)
Taking the two categories where I’ve read both books:
4. TOTALLY STRAIGHTFORWARD NARRATIVE
Soldier of the Mist, Gene Wolfe
I’m voting for the obviously superior book. This would have been tougher had it been Last Call or post-cutoff Declare.
7. TITANIA VS. MORGAN LE FAY
Little, Big, John Crowley
Thank you, Kyra, for putting this against MZB, and removing any moral qualms I might have had about voting for her–because I’m voting for John Crowley.
THE EIGHTIES!
1. FROM KU-FU TO TAI-TASTIGON
Bridge of Birds, Barry Hughart
God Stalk, P. C. Hodgell
This has my award for the HALFISES – the bracket that split me in half. I love both books and they have survived the test of time for me. I have to go PC Hodgell, I loved God Stalk enough to follow her books through the most baroque set of publishers.
2. WEST COAST MAGIC
Wizard of the Pigeons, Robin Hobb/Megan Lindholm
Tea with the Black Dragon, R. A. MacAvoy
It has to be MacAvoy
3. THE SWORD OR THE CHORD
The Hero and the Crown, Robin McKinley
War for the Oaks, Emma Bull
I can not vote against McKinley here though Emma Bull’s novel was also so good. A near contender for the HALFISES bracket award.
4. TOTALLY STRAIGHTFORWARD NARRATIVE
Soldier of the Mist, Gene Wolfe
The Anubis Gates, Tim Powers
Hahahahaha. Great title. Tim Powers here by a hair. I also loved Drawing of the Dark but it’s the wrong decade I think. Anubis Gates gives us more of what we see in later novels like Declare.
5. WE DON’T DIE, WE JUST MOVE TO OTHER BODIES
Daggerspell, Katharine Kerr
The Silent Tower, Barbara Hambly
Again Kyra stop the pain I like both authors but not the books selected here as much. I am going with … Hambly … no Kerr …
Hambly in the end.
6. MYTH MADE FLESH
Mythago Wood, Robert Holdstock
Fire and Hemlock, Diana Wynne Jones
Holdstock. This bracket is not fair to Diana Wynne Jones as I can not exclude Mythago Wood.
7. TITANIA VS. MORGAN LE FAY
Little, Big, John Crowley
The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
Little Big. Another tough bracket but it helps that the MZB is not my favorite by her.
8. HELL IS OTHER ANGELS
The Darkangel, Meredith Ann Pierce
To Reign in Hell, Stephen Brust
Oooh. Gosh this is interesting. I vaguely remember Darkangel but I recall Brust better. Brust for the win. Waves hands vaguely. But wait I CHANGE my mind – The Dragon Waiting instead by Ford.
1. FROM KU-FU TO TAI-TASTIGON
Bridge of Birds, Barry Hughart
2. WEST COAST MAGIC
Tea with the Black Dragon, R. A. MacAvoy
3. THE SWORD OR THE CHORD
War for the Oaks, Emma Bull
4. TOTALLY STRAIGHTFORWARD NARRATIVE
Soldier of the Mist, Gene Wolfe
The Anubis Gates, Tim Powers
Tie. Love them both.
5. WE DON’T DIE, WE JUST MOVE TO OTHER BODIES
The Silent Tower, Barbara Hambly
6. MYTH MADE FLESH
Abstain.
7. TITANIA VS. MORGAN LE FAY
Little, Big, John Crowley
8. HELL IS OTHER ANGELS
To Reign in Hell, Stephen Brust
@Jeffro
I wouldn’t take it as a given that Mike reporting on nepotism at Castalia House is approval. Just sayin’. No reflection on your daughter, of course, who I’m sure is just as nice a person and just as competent a designer as any other nine year old.
@Jeffro – all due credit to Mike’s evenhandedness – it’s been clear for some time that’s just how he rolls – but in terms of reconciliation, I wonder what a reciprocal gesture from the Puppies would look like?
1. From Ku Fu to Tai-Tastigon
Bridge of Birds, Barry Hughart
2. West Coast Magic
Tea With the Black Dragon, R.A. MacAvoy
3. The Sword or the Chord
The Hero and the Crown
This one meant a lot to me.
4. Totally Straightforward Narrative
Soldier of the Most, Gene Wolfe
By a hair. This was a tough choice.
5. We Don’t Die, We Just Move to Other Bodies
Daggerspell, Katharine Kerr
Even if I do have to ignore the rest of the series to do it.
6. Myth Made Flesh
No vote. Only read Fire and Hemlock, and it Did Not Work for me.
7. Titania vs. Morgan Le Fay
Little, Big, John Crowley
Hands down, no contest. Fantastic book. I prefer to pretend I never read Mists of Avalon.
8. Hell is Other Angels
To Reign in Hell, Stephen Brust
Nigel, past experience suggests that the closest the puppies would get is a renewed demand for total surrender.
Forgot to click the box.
> “That is a perfectly reasonable response to these vote totals. ;P”
i have so many feelings
Whenever I see The Square Pegs theme, in any form, I’m forced to repeat:
“But they told me it was Senior Wig Day!”
Some of us have very specific OCD.
Kyra, if it isn’t too late to suggest for the 50s and before bracket, may I suggest Silverlock by John Myers Myers? Published 1949.
James, at least that would be a step down from demanding total surrender, immolation of all SJWs and forced conversion to MILSIFianity.
Cat, Nigel,
Be careful, you might be attacked by the Blink Cats and have to hide at the bottom of the Awesome Pool of Awesome.
@Cat “reporting on nepotism at Castalia House”
Could you break this down for me? Because you kind of lost me.
Aw, c’mon guys — Mike’s joke aside, I think he clearly thought “First Session Report for my Daughter’s Dungeon Design!” was a cool thing, and I do too. It reminds me of my first dungeon design way, way, way back in the day.
Huh, I hope my comment didn’t come across as critical of the story itself, which I thought was, indeed, kinda cool. Proud parent high fives all round.