tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331135384154117296.post7355448441706575163..comments2024-01-30T20:01:01.316+00:00Comments on Science Fiction & Fantasy: Pavane by Keith RobertsAnthony G Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798830903236765181noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331135384154117296.post-36932011779574847132015-10-06T02:36:54.553+01:002015-10-06T02:36:54.553+01:00I suspect that some authors' work declines bec...I suspect that some authors' work declines because they are under pressure from their publishers to continue a winning formula, resulting in an open-ended series of sequels when the authors would probably be much happier writing something different. But that doesn't pay the bills...<br /><br />One successful current author who has (so far) completely bucked this trend is China Mieville, all of whose books are not only different in plots and settings but also in their likely audiences. That means that, for me, he gets some misses, but he also scored a bullseye with The City and The City, my favourite 21st Century novel so far.<br /><br />Anthony G Williamshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00798830903236765181noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331135384154117296.post-74940949182185952052015-10-05T17:46:48.969+01:002015-10-05T17:46:48.969+01:00Heinlein: early stuff good, after Stranger mostly...Heinlein: early stuff good, after Stranger mostly bad (though some claim to like his later work)<br /><br />Norton: early stuff good, later stuff... I can't really tell how bad it became, because it mostly slid off into witches/fantasy/cats and I had no interest in it. It wasn't SF as I take it, anyway.<br /><br />Larry Niven: all good up to "A World Out of Time" in the mid-70s, then mostly schlock, collaborations, and multiple collections of his early short stories in different orders and titles.<br /><br />Poul Anderson: some losers among his early work, but no winners in his later stuff<br /><br />Marion Zimmer Bradley: I liked most of her early stuff, again into the mid-70s, when it all seemed to turn into feminist rants and romance.<br /><br />Tim Powers: wrote several excellent books early on, then faded to incomprehensible strange stuff<br /><br />Robert Silverberg: I liked his early "pulp" stuff. He has written extensively about the business and practice of writing in essays bundled with some of his re-releases and collections; he said he became successful enough to write the sort of "cool, cerebral" stories his liked instead of what his readers liked. So at least in his case it was a deliberate decision, but I don't like his later stuff.<br /><br />Brian M. Stableford: I grew up with and loved the Daedalus and Hooded Swan books. But his later books went... preachy and strange. To be honest his early stuff was preachy in spots, but it didn't overrun the stories like the later ones.<br /><br />Jack Vance: I like almost all of his early stuff. Then he got off into the Cadwal and Lurulu stuff, which never went anywhere. And were boring to boot. <br /><br /><br />There are a lot of authors who *didn't* go into a sharp decline somewhere in their careers, but it seems like all of my favorite ones did.dlwhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06912456339359889684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331135384154117296.post-85022347428164281192015-10-02T03:41:41.315+01:002015-10-02T03:41:41.315+01:00Just to clarify for other readers: the Corwin book...Just to clarify for other readers: the Corwin books are the first five of the Amber Chronicles, the Merlin books the last five.<br /><br />The question of the way authors' styles change over time is an interesting one. I would generally expect authors to get better with practice, until they maybe get bored and only keep doing it for the money. On the other hand, I've known those with a great first novel who seem to have exhausted most of their creativity in one go and get steadily worse thereafter. Then there are those who suddenly produce something very much better than anything they wrote before or afterwards (e.g. Frank Herbert with Dune, and arguably Bester with The Stars My Destination). And all of that is without taking any possible health reasons into account...<br />Anthony G Williamshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00798830903236765181noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331135384154117296.post-18973111246501427972015-10-02T01:17:51.878+01:002015-10-02T01:17:51.878+01:00I was excited when the first Merlin book came out,...I was excited when the first Merlin book came out, but it wasn't a complete story. (to be fair, the last two Corwin books didn't stand alone either...) But Zelazny kept ringing in more mysteries and unexplained happenings with each new Merlin volume. I was disgusted enough not to buy the last one new; 20-odd years later I picked up a used copy at a flea market. Nope, no answers to much of it, and a "butler did it" non-ending. I was really glad I didn't pay the price of a new book for that.<br /><br />The Corwin books are some of my favorites, particularly the first three. <br /><br />Keith Laumer had a serious stroke that left him with brain damage. He kept writing anyway, though the quality of his work went way down. I don't know if anything similar happened to Zelazny, but about 1980 his style changed radically. His prose became simplified declarative sentences and his plots became flat and two-dimensional. They were adequate B-list work, but not the Zelazny I knew and loved. Compare, say, "And Call Me Conrad" to "A Night in the Lonesome October" for examples.dlwhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06912456339359889684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331135384154117296.post-37055886652881149392015-10-01T09:01:34.545+01:002015-10-01T09:01:34.545+01:00Zelazny's Amber Chronicles are already in my a...Zelazny's Amber Chronicles are already in my all-time favourite list on the left. I should clarify that my recommendation only extends to the first five volumes, though: the second five have a different hero and are very ordinary by comparison.<br />Anthony G Williamshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00798830903236765181noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331135384154117296.post-24988060992010745752015-09-30T19:55:29.773+01:002015-09-30T19:55:29.773+01:00Alternate universe stories have been my favorite e...Alternate universe stories have been my favorite ever since I read Keith Laumer's "Worlds of the Imperium" in the late 1960s. I found Andre Norton's "Quest Crosstime" shortly after, but little else until the mid-'70s when I found Zelazny's Amber books and a collection of H. Beam Piper's Paratime stories.<br /><br />I know I've read Pavane, but it made so little impression I didn't even recognize your synopsis.dlwhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06912456339359889684noreply@blogger.com