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SF Signal: SF Tidbits for 2/19/09
When You Stop Believing in It, It Doesn't Go Away: Morgan on Tolkien
Asking the Wrong Questions: Three Links Make a Post
Pat's Fantasy Hotlist: Richard Morgan vs J. R. R. Tolkien
OF Blog of the Fallen: Reflecting on Tolkien: The Fellowship of the Ring
SF Tidbits for 2/19/09
SF Signal —
... @Suvudu: Richard K. Morgan on Tolkien: "The great shame is, of course, that Tolkien was not able (or inclined) to mine this vein of experience for what it was really worth - in fact he seemed to be in full, panic-stricken flight from it." ...
Morgan on Tolkien
When You Stop Believing in It, It Doesn't Go Away —
... called "The Real Fantastic Stuff." I believe my favorite paragraph is the first. If you find it interesting, the rest will be well worth your while. ...
Three Links Make a Post
Asking the Wrong Questions —
... I've met people who knew Holmes as a character and cultural icon but had never read a single one of Conan Doyle's works, and eventually I realized that they were the vast majority. Dan's series is a great opportunity to disentangle the iconic image of Holmes we all (including those of us who read the stories and novels) suck down from the aether from the actual fiction in which he appeared, and reevaluate them as works of fiction (thus far, to no great acclaim). Richard Morgan writes about The Lord of the Rings , and argues that the only emotionally honest moment in the ...
Richard Morgan vs J. R. R. Tolkien
Pat's Fantasy Hotlist —
... Earlier this week, Richard Morgan wrote an essay which was posted on Suvudu and which caused a bit of a stir. I'm posting the essay here, but do check out the original post as Suvudu to see the discussion Morgan's piece engendered. ...
Reflecting on Tolkien: The Fellowship of the Ring
OF Blog of the Fallen —
... I have debated every now and then whether or not I needed to re-read LotR again, lest I risk it fading into memory as a hate/love work. I did read The Children of Húrin when it was released in 2007, and while I thought the tragic elements were done well, it did nothing to rekindle a desire to read LotR or Tolkien's other works. It wasn't until I read the little teapot tempests that revolved around Richard Morgan's recent broadside blasting Tolkien's works for its apparent conservative attitudes that I decided to re-read the series. ...
Links and Things
Enter the Octopus —
... Philip Jose Farmer dead at 91
Richard Nash to leave Soft Skull Press
The Big Idea: Paul Melko
Green Hell, Golden Civilization?
Richard K. Morgan on Tolkien
Q&A on comic adaptation of Stephen King/Peter Straub’s The Talisman
Diablo Cody to produce zombie movie
SyFy Portal rebranding as Airlock Alpha
...
Reflecting on Tolkien: The Two Towers
OF Blog of the Fallen —
... However, there were times when it seemed Tolkien could have gone further. While I do not agree with much of what he said in his essay on Tolkien's LotR last month, Richard Morgan does raise an interesting point about how Tolkien's orcs come so close in places (or at least in each scene where at least one hobbit is near them) to being rounded, dynamic characters who are more than cannon fodder foot-soldiers of pure, malignant evil. I can agree with Morgan that Tolkien does back away from a precipice there, but I don't believe it was "panic"-stricken flight. Instead, if I had ...
Poul Anderson, The Broken Sword, or the "other 1954 fantasy novel"
OF Blog of the Fallen —
... Although I had heard of Poul Anderson and had seen his second novel, The Broken Sword (1954), praised by authors such as Michael Moorcock, I never got around to buying a copy of this book until a few weeks ago, after I read Richard Morgan's Suvudu article on his problems with J.R.R. Tolkien. In the furor that emerged there and on various blogs and forums, Morgan mentioned Anderson as an author who wrote a more "authentic" [my word for what Morgan was describing, although he might have used it in one of the numerous exchanges last month] fantasy that did not provide ...
Sci Fi Dimensions: Interview with Richard K. Morgan
SFFaudio —
... There is an excellent interview with Richard K. Morgan over on the Sci-Fi Dimensions podcast. Morgan and his new novel The Steel Remains are rubbing a lot of people the wrong way. His provocative essay on Tolkien’s The Lord Of The Rings drew charges of rabble-rousing and worse. As a shit-disturber myself I thought it was very cool, and though I could definitely see why the rabble might be roused. Morgan is calling things as he sees them - his vision has a dark tinge (but only in comparison to the vision of most) - he definitely sees our world with a jaded ...
China Mieville interviewed about his novel The City & The City
SFFaudio —
... found in the city of Beszel, somewhere at the edge of Europe, it looks to be a routine case for Inspector Tyador Borlú of the Extreme Crime Squad. But as he investigates, the evidence points to conspiracies far stranger and more deadly than anything he could have imagined. Borlú must travel from the decaying Beszel to the only metropolis on Earth as strange as his own.
Also be sure to check out Mieville’s 5 part defense of J.R.R. Tolkien (as opposed to Richard K. Morgan’s attack).
[via Omnivoracious]
Posted by Jesse ...
The SFFaudio Podcast #034
SFFaudio —
... Gregg Margarite (LibriVox.org narrator and book coordinator),
and Luke Burrage (professional juggler and host of the Science Fiction Book Review Podcast) discuss…
The Steel Remains by Richard K. Morgan [AN UNABRIDGED AUDIOBOOK from TANTOR MEDIA]!
Talked about on today’s show:
The Cimmerian blog, Deathworld by Harry Harrison @ LibriVox.org, The Real Fantastic Stuff an essay by Richard K. Morgan, J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord Of ...
Review of The Steel Remains by Richard K. Morgan
SFFaudio —
... With his new book The Steel Remains, Richard Morgan sets out to (as main character Ringil Eskiath might say) “prick the bloated arse” of J.R.R. Tolkien and post-Tolkien fantasy. Elsewhere on the web Morgan has expressed his deep dissatisfaction with traditional high fantasy, which often pits stainless forces of good against hordes of irredeemable evil in bloodless, antiseptic sword play. He’s accused Tolkien of the same shortcomings ( ...
