Pen-Elayne on the Web

Too Much Fantasy

I'm like a gushy little fangirl all over again, Neil Gaiman actually posted and answered my response to his blog entry from earlier today in his latest missive (link at left bar). He didn't mention me by name, which of course has me pouty and utterly unable to prove it was me who wrote him, much less that I've actually corresponded with and spoken to him on a few occasions, but he's Big Ol' Famous Neil now (albeit still Incredibly Nice Neil) and I'm just a gushy little fangirl, so let it lie. In any case, he recommends I (and others) read Diana Wynne Jones' Tough Guide to Fantasyland, which either makes fun of or embraces fantasy clichés, I'm not sure which now but I'll have to put it on my to-read list because Neil Said So and whither he goeth, y'know. But before that, it occurs to me I need to catch up majorly on my fantasy reading. I'm reading through this thread on the Pulse message board and wonderful storytellers like Charles Vess and Colleen Doran and Carla Speed McNeill and Bob Morales are listing and discussing their favorite fantasy novels and it occurs to me that I haven't read or even heard of most of them. I stopped buying fantasy paperbacks when I started buying comics, I think, so I missed out on a lot of stuff after the mid-80s. But someone in the thread assures me I also missed out on a lot of stuff before that; a lot of the books they're discussing are apparently classics and I had no idea. I'm sort of depressed and elated at the same time. What I want to do is print out this thread and find a really good library near wherever Robin and I move, and just start going through the recommendations one by one. It's hopelessly daunting, but I love a challenge. Meanwhile Robin's sending me off to work daily with novels from his collection; I'm currently working my way through David Eddings' first 5-book series. Which, apparently, is filled with the fantasy clichés mentioned in Diana Wynne Jones' book. Which, um, I'll get to sooner or later. Did I mention I'm down to just one box of so-far-unread comics?