Iain (M)
Banks - this author thoughtfully writes
under two names depending upon the subject matter. Iain M Banks
writes pithy science fiction, the guy without the middle initial
writes rather extraordinary "mainstream" novels, often with weirdly
grotesque themes. The man is a mad genius who does not publish
frequently enough for me. Iain Banks has an open invitation to visit
me to discuss his work.
Highlights include: The Wasp Factory, The Bridge, The Crow Road, Complicity and in the sf genre, Use of Weapons and Against a Dark Background. The less-than-triumphal tale of when I met Iain Banks at a book signing is available here.
You may wish to follow the link to The Culture Fanzine, for more information. Slipstream is another excellent Iain Banks site. A brief, but amusing, Iain Banks autobiography may be viewed at the James Thin site. The Usenet group alt.books.iain-banks also exists, for those eager to discuss such matters.
H P Lovecraft - alas this writer
died in 1937. An American author in the style of Edgar Allan Poe, his
extraordinary imagination captured me at the tender age of ten, even
if his archaic vocabulary confused me initially. Principally a horror
writer, whose stories chilling effect is often described as
"cumulative horror". I spent years in a fruitless search for a copy
of the "Necronomicon", and it was only having read the introduction
to James Blish's "Black Easter" that I finally twigged that the
fabled book of the Mad Arab Alhazred was purely a figment of
Lovecraft's imagination.
Stories of his that I particularly love are: At the Mountains of Madness, The Dreams in the Witch House, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward and The Randolph Carter cycle. A wider audience may recall a Vincent Price film based upon the short story The Color Out of Space.
Try following up The H.P. Lovecraft link.
Stephen R Donaldson - author of the Thomas Covenant fantasy trilogies and
other excellent stories. I first read Donaldson's "Lord Foul's Bane",
the first of the Covenant books, when I was thirteen. At the time, I
was struggling to enjoy anything that hadn't been written by J R R
Tolkien. In fact, I struggled with Lord Foul's Bane as well, but it
grew on me. Recommended as being a sort of "Tolkien with warts on
it".
More interesting to me these days are the "Mordant's Need" books, tightly plotted and deliciously convoluted. Sheer magic. The science fiction "Gap" series is an interesting read, but I am waiting patiently for some more work from this author. You may also wish to look out for his "Daughter of Regals" collection of short stories where Donaldson shows true versatility.
I am unable to track down a link to a suitable website. Could be I need to do a more complete one myself ...
Stephen King - he must be mentioned here for the masterpieces of his
youth. Salem's Lot, Night Shift (short stories), The Shining and The
Stand are truly modern classics of the horror genre. A downward
progression may be seen commencing with "It" (itself an excellent
book, but the signs of decline are there). Richard Bachman is King's
alter-ego - I have generally found stories written as Bachman to be
more engrossing and interesting, for some reason.
I still follow King's long "Gunslinger" serial with interest. Follow the link to a list of sites concerning Stephen King.
Larry Niven - hard-core science fiction. Well, pretty hard-core. The
protagonists tend to be talented and clever, but are prone to making
errors of judgement. The science has fairly detailed and logically
explained. His stories of "Known Space" are excellent,
thought-provoking adventures, straightforward in style but often
breathtaking in scope. The original Ringworld book is sheer magic. My
favourites are his short stories, collected together under several
titles, including "Inconstant Moon", "Neutron Star" and "Tales of
Known Space".
I haven't yet located a suitable website to link here. But all manner of written science fiction is thoroughly discussed at rec.arts.sf.written.