Beowulf, George R R Martin, Seamus Heaney
In The Fiction Front on May 29, 2009 at 2:06 am
I saw Seamus Heaney interviewed about his translation of Beowulf tonight on the BBC documentary about the ancient epic. He said the most beautiful thing, that Beowulf was born into life as an intelligence and shaped by pain into a soul. An idea I must remember.
Elsewhere..
Jetse de Vries gives some statistical feedback on the first hundred or so SHINE anthology stories. With this in mind it might be time to take a shot at writing a story for him…hmm…
Jean Hannah Edelstein over at the Guardian asks if there is any longer an appetitie for 1000 page books. If the next George R R Martin is a thousand pages then yes.
Clarkesworld, Damien' Book Pile, George R R Martin, Serendipty, Strange Horizons, The Fix, Ursula K LeGuin, William Gibson
In Infinite Book Pile on November 25, 2007 at 10:42 pm
Its a tough life being a writer. Take poor old William Gibson. I read all of Gibson’s books obsessively in my mid-teens. I’ve traveled great distances to see him speak. I’ve even twice been compared to him in pseudo psychometric testing. But when I was less than gripped by his new novel ‘Spook Country’ I put it down and haven’t been back since. Thats the nature of fans. One minute you are the total centre of attention, the next you are just another unread tome of a bookshelf somewhere.
I will come back to ‘Spook Country’ when time allows. I am so busy with work, new freelance projects and my own writing at the moment that my reading has fallen behind, at least of books.
I have however found a new taste for short fiction in recent months. This began with a spate of excellent stories read in online magazines including Serendipity, Strange Horizons and Clarkesworld among others. I really believe e-publishing has come into its own in the last few years. E-books may still be emerging but for short fiction online outlets are now as strong if not stronger than their cousins in print. I’ve also been thrown into new realms of reading through The Fix. Their reviews are so good they have lead me to take out subscriptions for at least one more publication in addition to the four I already get.
Another revelation in the last few weeks have been audiobook’s. Realising I had less and less ‘quality time’ for full novels I decided to try out audiobooks as a way of squeezing reading into times and places it might not otherwise fit. I’ve become instantly converted, and currently have stories by Garth Nix, George R R Martin and Ursula K LeGuin loaded on to my Ipod. I think audio will become an increasingly vibrant area iver the next few years as its so well adapted for the internet and peoples bust, commuting lifestyles.
I am determined to get bakc to reading entire books though. I have a wonderful holiday to Egypt booked December, so between excursions to The Valley of the Kings I intend to get in some good quality reading time. The only problem is what to take with me. How about you well read lot help me out with some suggestions?
