Tired of the usual stuff? Here’s five fantasy classics that you may have missed.
Jirel of Joiry, by C. L. Moore. If you love Red Sonja, Jirel is the heroine for you, worthy of company with Conan or Imaro. Indiana-born Moore was one of the first women to write in the sword and sorcery genre.
Tomoe Gozen, by Jessica Amanda Salmonson. Another strong woman is embodied in Tomoe Gozen, a samurai in the first of a trilogy set in a richly-realized and fabulous 12th century Japan.
Unquenchable Fire by Rachel Pollack. Beautiful and ornate, set in an alternate America that seems sadly unlikely, this is a fabulous take on spirituality today.
Monday Begins on Saturday, by Arkadi and Boris Strugatski. A young computer programmer is recruited for a Russian Institute devoted to the paranormal in a book that’s more Office Space than X-Files. One of my top ten favorite books of all time.
Green Phoenix, by Thomas Burnett Swann. Swann is sadly neglected and all of his books are worth picking up, but this is one of the lovelier ones. He does more interesting things with classic mythology than most authors.
I’ve actually read the Jirel book, and, in fact re-read not long ago. I *think* I’ve read Tomoe Gozen but am not really sure. Haven’t read the others though I have read some other Swann. I’ll be on the look out for Green Phoenix now. I don’t suppose it’s out as an ebook…
Jirel of Joiry was one of my first female fantasy introductions. Nostalgia makes me wish they were available for my kindle, because I’d buy them in a second.
The author of Imaro also wrote stories about a female warrior named Dossouye (some were published in early Sword & Sorceress books, which is how I discovered them) and those are fantastic as well (and re-released recently I think by a small press, but again, not for my kindle, sigh).
Oh yes, I followed the Tomoe Gozen books nose-down like a basset hound back in the day. Like all books I love, I remember exactly the how, why and where I first came across them. They are superb books.
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You Should Read This: Walt Kelly's Pogo
Reading idiosyncratic dialogue like that of Pogo and his peers is key to learning how to craft that kind of dialogue yourself. If you're interested in a workshop aimed at helping with dialogue, check out my online classes.Pogo the Possum was created by Walt Kelly in 1943, continuing on for 32 years (two year past Kelly’s own death). It’s a lovely cartoon, involving the denizens of a swamp: possums, skunks, turtles, squirrels, mice, alligators, and more. They live their lives, which sometimes oddly echo our own, or rather the politics of their time in which they were written, commenting on J. Edgar Hoover, McCarthyism, and muckracking.
What: Pogo is a comic strip. You can find plenty of compendiums for sale or you can seek out samples on some of the online sites devoted to Walt Kelly’s work.
Who: Writers interested in twisting language to their own ends should seek out Pogo, in whose pages it is beautifully wonderfully made coherent gibberish that delights the ear and cries out to be read aloud. Here, for example, is a Christmas carol that’s been Pogo-fied:
Deck us all with Boston Charlie,
Walla Walla, Wash., an’ Kalamazoo!
Nora’s freezin’ on the trolley,
Swaller dollar cauliflower alley-garoo!
Don’t we know archaic barrel
Lullaby Lilla Boy, Louisville Lou?
Trolley Molly don’t love Harold,
Boola boola Pensacoola hullabaloo!
Bark us all bow-wows of folly,
Polly wolly cracker ‘n’ too-da-loo!
Donkey Bonny brays a carol,
Antelope Cantaloupe, ‘lope with you!
Hunky Dory’s pop is lolly,
Gaggin’ on the wagon, Willy, folly go through!
Chollie’s collie barks at Barrow,
Harum scarum five alarum bung-a-loo!
Dunk us all in bowls of barley,
Hinky dinky dink an’ polly voo!
Chilly Filly’s name is Chollie,
Chollie Filly’s jolly chilly view halloo!
Bark us all bow-wows of folly,
Double-bubble, toyland trouble! Woof, woof, woof!
Tizzy seas on melon collie!
Dibble-dabble, scribble-scrabble! Goof, goof, goof!
Why: Read it because of the way gentle humor, sharp political insight, and sometimes grave disappointment in the state of America have all been combined in the lives of a cast of characters that manages to combine charm and cynicism.
When: Read it when you want some new characters to people the chambers of your head: earnest Pogo, the scowling Porkypine, too ingenious for his own good Albert the Alligator, and wanna-be trickster Churchy Lafemme.
Where and how: Read it somewhere that you can laugh freely and smile to yourself or even read a scrap (maybe more) aloud just to hear the cadences.
What: A group of rabbits whose warren is destroyed by the bulldozers of a housing development try to find a new place to live, despite various pitfalls and traps along the way.
Who: Anyone who loves animals will love this book, and any writer interested in writing epic journeys as well as non human protagonists will find an analysis of the rabbits’ trek an instructive one.
When: Read this for immersion or when you want to share a saga with your children.
Why: Read it to see how well Adams has worked out rabbit soceity, including a vocabulary full of rabbity concepts like tharn and fabulous phoneticisms like hrududu. Read it to see the rabbit mythology and listen to the folktales told among the rabbits, very much in the same tradition as Kij Johnson’s The evolution of trickster stories among the dogs of North park after the change.
Where/how: Read it on a summer afternoon, preferably one when you can see a young rabbit or two frisking on the lawn, flicking their long ears back as they eye you whenever you flip a page.
7 Responses
Mercedes Lackey’s song “Jirel of Joiry” (performed by Leslie Fish) appears on MURDER, MYSTERY, AND MAYHEM. Fun song.
I’ve actually read the Jirel book, and, in fact re-read not long ago. I *think* I’ve read Tomoe Gozen but am not really sure. Haven’t read the others though I have read some other Swann. I’ll be on the look out for Green Phoenix now. I don’t suppose it’s out as an ebook…
Thanks for the suggestions!
MKK
I couldn’t find -any- of the Swann as an ebook, alas.
Jirel of Joiry was one of my first female fantasy introductions. Nostalgia makes me wish they were available for my kindle, because I’d buy them in a second.
The author of Imaro also wrote stories about a female warrior named Dossouye (some were published in early Sword & Sorceress books, which is how I discovered them) and those are fantastic as well (and re-released recently I think by a small press, but again, not for my kindle, sigh).
Wow. I haven’t read any of those, and I thought I was pretty up on my fantasy. Thanks for the list. Maybe I’ll put the Steampunk down for a while.
Oh yes, I followed the Tomoe Gozen books nose-down like a basset hound back in the day. Like all books I love, I remember exactly the how, why and where I first came across them. They are superb books.
I, too, knew and loved Jirel… none of the others, though!
Tara Maya
The Unfinished Song: Initiate