Story time......part the first

That's right, children! It's story time!

A day or so ago, I was on an anime radio site, and decided to read random forum threads. The thread I ended up reading part of was a "what was your gateway anime?" type question, and it really made me want to answer. But, since I haven't (yet?) registered on that site, I thought my blog, the home of my ravings and rantings, was as good a place as any to answer it. But, I thought I should start younger for my first foray into storytelling, so instead you get to be treated to how I got into reading the genre of books I currently read.

Now, any of the few of you who read this and are also a Treehugginmonkey, this is gonna sound really familiar, since I'm pretty much just gonna cut and paste my 2 long posts about authors and books here. So, I guess you can probably stop reading now, unless you've forgotten what I wrote previously, or are really enamored of my ramblin' writin' style.


A couple of days ago I was talking to Laurie about the books I read, and as I thought about it, I realized that except for the few that were written by two people, almost all of the books I personally own can be divided into 3 authors. Terry Pratchett (of course), Mercedes Lackey, and Andre Norton. I think I have one single book that is not written or co-written by any of those three. Of course, quite a few books I thoroughly enjoy I feel no need to purchase since my dad owns them, but some day in the far-off future I will move out of my parents house and will have to buy some of these for myself. But quite a few of them will be by those core 3. Now, I understand that not everyone has the exact same taste in literature that I have, but I suppose I should attempt to encourage those who might like them to read them (especially since while at Hanover, I decided it was my calling to get as many people as possible hooked on Lackey...I think I got 4). So here goes.

Mercedes Lackey:
The core of my love of Lackey is her Valdemar novels (of which there are over 24). They are fantasy, so they take place in a world with magic and very little in the way of technology, the normal based off Medieval Europe-type thing. She seems to be pro-sexual choice, so I do not recommend them if you find yourself with any homophobic tendencies (one of the "heroes" of a trilogy is gay). Although I don't really think any of you will have a problem with it, I thought I'd warn you. If you decide to try these books, there are about 3 ways to start yourself in the world. You can start with the books she wrote first (Arrows of the Queen, Arrows Flight, Arrows Fall); you can start more chronologically (if you're borrowing from me, that means Magic's Pawn, Magic's Promise, Magic's Price); or you can start where I did, sort of in the middle and out of the country (The Oathbound, Oathbreakers, By the Sword (my favorite!)).
Another, different, Lackey book that is good is one called A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows, also released as the first half of Bedlam's Bard. It takes place in the early 90s in California and is about elves, ren faires, and bards. But really, the first one is the only one I've read that I really liked. The second half of Bedlam's Bard, Summoned to Tourney, I didn't like as much, despite the fact it delt a little with earthquakes (or maybe because of that). There is at least one newer sequel that I read maybe the first chapter of, but didn't like some of the "off-camera" goings-on (like a character that was supposed to be with someone drifting away, I didn't like the way the character dynamic changed).
Somewhere between those two is her Free Bards series (The Robin and the Kestrel, The Lark and the Wren, just to name a couple). It has bards, and music magic, but takes place in some medieval-based world, and I don't remember any elves. But they're still good. I just haven't read them in a while.
One stand alone book that I dearly love is The Black Swan, her version of the Swan Princess. It's sorta a what-if type book, what if magic was real and happening in not-quite-Renaissance Germany. Similar, but not quite as good, is The Firebird, her version of the story behind the Firebird Suite by Tchiacovsky (or however that's spelled).
She has others, but these are some of the best. Oh, and the ones I'll mention at the very last.

Andre Norton:
Called "The Lady" because she's been writing science fiction/fantasy since before it was split into the two, she has a hellavah lot of work under her belt. If you find yourself with a lot of time and a craving for fantasy, try her Witch World books, if you can find them. I know the library has quite a few, but I've only really read a fraction of them, and I started at the end (silly me). However, the books of hers owned by me do not consist of any of the Witch World books.
The Hands of Lyr. I'm not quite sure why I like this one so much, I just do. Norton's writing style is not as easy to get into as Lackey, she's much more formal and sorta old-fashioned. Anyways, the Hands of Lyr is pretty standard; quest, unlikely heroes that don't want the job, but I still really like it.
The Shadow of Albion. This is very different from the others on this page. Alternate history meets Regency romance. But I find the similarites between Wessex and James Bond very amusing. Imagine James Bond fighting Napoleon instead of the Russians, with his regular identity being a Duke. Now add a reluctant wife who can't remember her childhood well because she is in reality transplanted from an alternate reality, our reality. Dump that all in an England not ruled by George III, where in 1805 America is still a British colony run by Thomas Jefferson, the Earl of Monticello. This one's just fun. And there is a sequel, in which our heroes follow the Marquis de Sade to America to find the Holy Grail. Doesn't that just make you curious?

Lastly, there is a series of three (The Elvenbane, Elvenblood, Elvenborn) written by both Norton and Lackey. It has elves, their human slaves, the "wizards" (usually half-elven children with both elven magic and human magic), and dragons (who can shapechange!). These three are really good.

If you couldn't tell, writing this much has made me stupid ("these three are really good") so I'll quit for now. Next installment: books I really like by John DeChancie and Christopher Stasheff.



Ok! It's time for the next installment!!

First, I must digress into how I got started reading SciFi/Fantasy books (Laurie, I know I've told you, so you can skip this if you want).
It all started in the 6th grade. Before then, the most adult books I had read were R.L. Stine (pre-Goosebumps era) and Christopher Pike style teen horror. I was a big fan of an authour by the name of Joan Lowry Nixon, and had taken one of her books with me up to my grandmother's one holiday. It was either Thanksgiving or Easter, but I think more likely Thanksgiving. Within the first day or 2 I had finished the book I had brought along, and stupid me hadn't brought any others. Well, not too long after I was finished, my dad finished the book he was reading and offered it to me "in case I was bored". At first I was like "Um, no...I don't wanna be weird like you." But after a couple of days of boredom with nothing to watch on TV but the football or whatever sport my grandmother was watching, I finally gave in, and the night before we left for home I started the book, "Majyk by Accident" by Esther Freisner. I read one chapter before faling asleep, but it was the greatest thing I head read. It was a weird book about "majyk" which was transferred as a cloud when a wizard died, absorbed by whoever got into the cloud first. Well, the main character was a ratcatcher in the home of a dying wizard, and one day he chased the largest rat he'd ever seen into the master's chambers right when he died, so the "rat" and the ratcatcher absorbed all the majyk. Only then do you find out that the "rat" is really a cat from New York City that came through a mousehole to this other world, and now he can speak and do simple majyk. It was very interesting to me, at least. Anyways, that next day we drove home, and there I was in the back of the car, straining to get the last bits of light when the sun began to set.

What does all this have to do with John DeChancie and Christopher Stasheff, the promised authors of this installment? The melding of the familiar with the fantastic.

John DeChancie has, as far as my knowledge goes, written only a trilogy and a series. I've never read his trilogy, and I probably never will, seeing as they are about truckers in space. But his series is wonderful. It's the Castle Perilous series. I've only read 6 of the books (and there are supposedly more), but really the first 5 are the best. The first book is Castle Perilous, followed by Castle for Rent, Castle Kidnapped, Castle War, and Castle Murders. Basically, it's about a magical castle that exists between universes and is the bridge between them. Your main characters are almost all from Earth. Take for example a character you meet in the first book, Gene Ferraro. Gene lives in Pittsburgh and has been through a lot of college (like starting one degree, dropping out to go to medical school, then dropping out of that to go to law school, and dropping that cuz he's not cold-hearted enough) but is currently unemployed and desperate to get a job to pay off debts (sound like anyone we know??) On his way to a job interview, trying to find a parking spot in an underground garage, deciding to drive down to see how far it goes, and then trying to find an elevator back up, he begins thinking about how his life sucks, and half comtemplates suicide. Then he notices the walls are different, and realizes that unless the parking garage had a medieval era, he's no longer in the garage. He is, in fact, in the castle. Basically, each of the other characters have a similar beginning, of almost suicide followed by "rescue" by the castle. They are highly amusing books, though.

Christopher Stasheff has written a few series, but really I've only read the beginning of one and quite a few of another. He has quite a few books in the "Warlock in Spite of HImself" series, but I've only read the first one. But, basically, they're about the future and a guy who goes to a planet to spread democracy and finds a planet that believes in magic and was founded by a bunch of SCA members (renn re-enactors). It's rather amusing. The real love of mine, though, is his "Wizard in Rhyme" series, about a guy who, while working on his doctorate, comes across a bit of parchment in no language he can decipher. He keeps trying to figure it out insteand of working on his thesis, and suddenly he's transported to an alternate earth, where among other things, magic works by rhyme and Heaven and Hell are definately real. He becomes the wizard of the rightful queen and they must defeat the evil sorcerer and put her back on her throne. Some of the best parts of these books (Her Majesty's Wizard, The Oathbound Wizard, etc.) is the intelligence they're written with. You can learn alot about science and literature and history from them.

Anyways, that's about it for this really, really long post.
Who knows what I'll write about next.

Now,I would like to point out that since I wrote that first part, Andre Norton has since passed away, but I would guess many of you already knew that. Or didn't and don't care, and are reading this only because you are extremely bored.

But, yeah, I really will rant about anime coming soon, and maybe more about authors, like Terry Pratchett.

Aren't you excited?!?