Oh, to be in a British bookstore again

17 December 2006 9 Comments

It’s not fair. The British have authors like Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams and J.K Rowling, all very popular and big over here, as well, of course. But still: British.

They also have authors like Suzanna Clark, whose Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell reminds me of A.S. Byatt’s Possession in a weird way. Mostly, I love that it has academic-type footnotes in it. And they make the book better. J. K. Rowling for adults. Whoop!

Then there’s Steph Swainston, who has two of the best titles I’ve heard of in a long time (The Year of Our War, No Present Like Time)—although… The Modern World? What’s up with that? Go back to the good titles. Anyway, the books are even better than the titles, so there’s hope that The Modern World will be good despite its title.

And Stan Nicholls—Orcs as the good guys.

Plus Jonathan Stroud’s Bartimaeus trilogy and Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy. Both far more enjoyable and original than, say, Christopher Paolini’s Eragon books. (Yes, yes. Paolini’s books are quite an accomplishment for a teen, and far better than some adult writers out there. But they remind me of Guy Gavriel Kay’s The Darkest Road trilogy: too much stock fantasy elements, not enough innovation. We can only hope Paolini will grow into the sort of sophistication Kay found in his later work. And, you know, good for him for getting a movie deal. Seriously. When did that happen, and why doesn’t Kay have a movie deal?)

Kay, of course, is Canadian. Not American. And as long as I’m looking outside the US and England: Trudi Canavan’s The Black Magician trilogy. An excellent collection from an Australian writer, although I worry about her publication schedule for the next group of books. Canavan, listen: take a leaf from Rowling and Kay’s book(s). You don’t have to write six billion books in the next two years. One is fine. We’ll wait. Quality, not quantity.

There’s George Alec Effinger for the Americans, true. And Gene Wolf, although Wolf is cancelled out by British writer Robin Hobb for reasons I don’t want to go into, but they’re both collecting an equal amount of dust on my shelves.

Ursula K. LeGuin, of course, is cancelled out by no one. Ditto Neil Gaimon. So two points for the Americans.

But why are so many of the fantasy novelists I enjoy reading from outside the U.S.? And why is it so freaking hard to find good fantasy in the US? Arg.

Please: someone give me some new authors to look up. Someone along the lines of anyone listed here, except Gene Wolf, perhaps. I can never finish his books.

But who’s the next Gaimon? Or Canavan? or Swainston or Clark?

If I were in a British bookstore, I’d be able to find them easily. Argh! Anyone want to go to London for a weekend? Tickets are cheap in winter, you know.

Language and Literature

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