Glen Cook

Литературни критики и възхвали. Всичко, което винаги сте искали да знаете за Даниел Стийл и Нора Робъртс, а ви е било срам да попитате :р
Post Reply
User avatar
Roland
Site Admin
Posts: 30165
Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2003 10:36 pm
Location: Chicago, IL
Contact:

Glen Cook

Post by Roland » Tue Oct 13, 2009 6:41 am

Абе не знам доколко има смисъл от отделна тема, но доколкото тук има фенове по принцип, рекох си да пусна.

Конкретната причина е, че гледам разните огромни омнибуси с негови поредици и се чудех дали някой може да ми даде по-подробно инфо коя е завършена, коя какво представлява и т.н. А ако е някой, дето ме познава и може да ги съотнесе към моите вкусове, ще е още по-супер. Не, че скоро ше си купувам нещо, ама да съм информиран :)
And you can't dance with a devil on your back...

User avatar
Yan
Site Admin
Posts: 6912
Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2003 12:01 am
Location: Who cares...
Contact:

Post by Yan » Tue Oct 13, 2009 5:00 pm

Well, За The Black Company в общи линии ми знаеш мнението. Кук е доста пестелив откъм описания в първите книги за сметка на gritty диалози и предимно черен хумор. Поне първите 7-8 (които съм чел) за мен са много добри. Ериксън се е инспирирал сериозно за Малазана.

The Dread Empire е по-особен случай. Омнибусите съдържат оригиналната трилогия, двата прикуъла и всите разкази. Има една втора трилогия, от която са се състояли само първите две книги, а ръкописа на третата е бил откраднат(поне според легендата). Хвалена е доста и се счита в някои отношения за прародителя на The Black Company (тук ми идва сравнението с Блекколар и Кобра на Тимъти Зан, но Кук е бая по-кадърен писател).

Лично на мен и двете поредици са ми в wishlist-a в bookdepository.

Тествай на място в книжарница да попрехвърлиш 20-тина странички и си прецени.
Правилата на бордгейминга:
1. Всички други неща, включително храна, дрехи, застраховка за колата и пари за обяд, представляват непредвидени разходи по отношение на това, което ви е необходимо за игрите.
2. Никога не пресмятайте общата стойност на това, което сте купили.
3. Ако искате нещо, значи ви е нужно.
4. Ако ви е нужно, значи трябва да го купите.

thorn
Sorcerer
Posts: 488
Joined: Wed Aug 24, 2005 10:45 am

Post by thorn » Tue Oct 13, 2009 5:13 pm

Мдам, първата книга от The Black Company и на мен ми беше доста постна и я зарязах наполовината.

Scourge
Mistborn
Posts: 1280
Joined: Mon Dec 20, 2004 7:02 pm

Post by Scourge » Tue Oct 13, 2009 5:17 pm

гарет > all.
мани ги другите поредици.

тая може да се чете и на парче, всяка книга си е отделна.
Last edited by Scourge on Tue Oct 13, 2009 5:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
Grumpi
Sorcerer
Posts: 394
Joined: Thu Jul 29, 2004 1:11 am
Location: Sigil

Post by Grumpi » Tue Oct 13, 2009 5:18 pm

Серията за Garett е доста сносно хумористично фентъзи с привкус на филипмарлоувщина.
Image

User avatar
Yan
Site Admin
Posts: 6912
Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2003 12:01 am
Location: Who cares...
Contact:

Post by Yan » Tue Oct 13, 2009 5:40 pm

Но пък Гарет не излиза на омнибуси :)
Правилата на бордгейминга:
1. Всички други неща, включително храна, дрехи, застраховка за колата и пари за обяд, представляват непредвидени разходи по отношение на това, което ви е необходимо за игрите.
2. Никога не пресмятайте общата стойност на това, което сте купили.
3. Ако искате нещо, значи ви е нужно.
4. Ако ви е нужно, значи трябва да го купите.

User avatar
Roland
Site Admin
Posts: 30165
Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2003 10:36 pm
Location: Chicago, IL
Contact:

Post by Roland » Thu Oct 15, 2009 4:36 am

Image

След като шестият Пътеводител не успя да ме зариби рязко и внезапно, и тъй като имам твърде малко време за четене, рекох да тествам първата част от Dread Empire цикъла на Глен Кук - A Shadow of All Night Falling. И моментално ме грабна. Сетингът изглежда обещаващ и мащабен, стилът е ужасно стегнат и "точен", ако мога да го определя така, героите изглеждат яки на тоя етап И ТУК Е ПЪРВООБРАЗЪТ НА КРУПЕ, НЕ СЕ ЕБАВАМ, ЧЕСТНО, ЗОМГ, ВЕЛИК Е!!!!

За история и свят ще пиша по-натам, като/ако понапредна, но засега мисля, че книгата доста ще ми допадне. Веднага се вижда защо и как се е инспирирал Ериксън от Кук за Малазана.

(картинката е на омнибуса, съдържащ оригиналната Dread Empire трилогия)
And you can't dance with a devil on your back...

User avatar
passer-by
Elder God
Posts: 8280
Joined: Thu Sep 20, 2007 5:42 pm

Post by passer-by » Sat May 02, 2015 6:29 am

Едно от, за мен, най-приятните за четене интервюта или "Как писател се гаври с клишираните въпроси, същевременно съумявайки да казва смислени до очевидност неща".
:bow:

http://fantasyhotlist.blogspot.ch/2009/ ... rview.html
(старичко е, но чак сега попаднах на него докато търсех инфо за следващи части от Черния отряд, може пък и за други тук да е първи прочит)


- Without giving anything away, what can you tell you readers about your Black Company sequence?


It could be a generational thing or some different way of looking at what writers do, but I don’t understand this questions at all. The books are there. They are the answer. What could be given away? What else needs to be said?


Maybe you could clarify what you are asking.


- How satisfying is it to see both the Black Company and The Books of the South being reissued as omnibus editions by Tor Books two decades after their initial release? What about the Dread Empire omnibus editions from Night Shade Books?


I really loathed the Black Company omnibus idea. The books were all in print, all the time, in a format that fit peoples’ bookshelves. But they have been successful commercially. The first one has been through five printings already. The Night Shade Dread Empire omnibuses I favored because they were bringing into print books that had been gone for years.


- Will the Glittering Stone sequence get the same treatment in the near future?


I don’t know. A lot of my stuff I find out about when someone asks me to sign a copy.


- What can you tell potential readers about the Instrumentalities of the Night series? Are there any sequels in the works?


The setting of the series is a sort of alternate 13th century Europe shaped by counterfactual geography and the presence of ambient magical energy that makes possible the existence of all gods and devils. It’s also an experiment with a picaresque plot. In addition to the 2 published titles there will be SURRENDER TO THE WILL OF THE NIGHT (done and turned in) and WORKING THE GODS’ MISCHIEF, which is about halfway done.


- Tell us more about your Garrett P. I. novels.


Pretty vague query. The books are American P. I. but set in the fantasy city of TunFaire, where all Garrett’s cases involve the fantastic.


- What do you feel is your strength as a writer/storyteller.


I don’t know if I have an answer. I don’t think about that kind of stuff. Some people tell me it’s plot, others character.


- If you could go back in time, what advice would you give the younger Glen Cook concerning his writing career?


Use all the money he makes to buy Microsoft stock. And maybe to be nicer to his wife. Being married to a writer isn‘t easy.


- The Black Company saga has gained what can best be described as a cult following. Since it never became “mainstream”, how rewarding is it to realize how successful the series has been and continues to be to this day?


This was one of those queries I don’t quite get. I do like the fact that the Black Company series has never been out of print. I am particularly pleased that it has done remarkably well overseas, whence most of my writing income springs.


- What was the spark that generated the idea that drove you to write the Black Company books in the first place?


There was no special spark. I get ideas. I write some of them. The only thing unusual here was that the viewpoint started out as that of “the bad guys.”


- Characters often take on a life of their own. Which of your characters do you find the most unpredictable to write about?


The inhabitants of the Garrett Files series are the most willful and rambunctious. When they get moving I just sit back and let them run. They never go where I think they should when I start. Not one of those books is the one I set out to write.


- Were there any perceived conventions of the fantasy genre which you wanted to twist or break when you set out each Black Company series?


(There is only one Black Company series. The subtitle crap was made up by the publisher) No. Other than to tell the story from the viewpoint of the grunts, which was not some conscious Wow! Wouldn’t this be a kickass twist? kind of decision. I’ve never seen the Black Company series as especially different. Some people seem to disagree.


- In retrospect, is it safe to say that the genre wasn’t quite ready for the Black Company sequence in the mid 80s? Fantasy was dominated by powerhouses such as David Eddings, Terry Brooks, and Raymond E. Feist at the time. Looking back, was your series too avante-garde in style and tone?


Another question I don’t understand. The world must have been ready for whatever people see as different because they never went out of print and my editors constantly carped at me to write faster. The books are still selling well. How about those other guys?


- You have been writing novels and short stories for over three decades. What has changed the most in the fantasy genre since you began your career?


I don’t know, except maybe the guys who made their names rewriting LORD OF THE RINGS aren’t doing so well these days. I’m no J. D. Salinger but neither do I pay attention to what others are doing. I write books. I send them to my agent. He finds somebody to publish them. Oh. I have noticed that books got a lot fatter for a while, but now they’re slimming down.


- Have the plotlines diverged much since you began writing the Black Company books, or did you have the entire plot more or less figured out from the very beginning? Were any characters added or further fleshed out beyond your original intentions? Have you made any changes to your initial plans during the course of the three series?


After thinking about it for several days I think I have figured out what you’re asking here. Firstly, the Black Company started out to be a single book, that would be a novel made up of a series of novelettes. Only one of those got published independently before my agent sold the book to Tor. The editor there did not like the characters at all. But she said she couldn’t get the book out of her head. So we got drunk and rowdy and worked out an agreement that I would make it a trilogy. But the time I finished THE WHITE ROSE I knew where the story would go from there, vaguely, all the way to the end of GLITTERING STONE. Which I expected to be one book the size of the others, but which needed six, some very fat.


I do not outline. I usually start out with a vague notion of where I want to get and let the interactions of my characters get me there.


- Many fantasy writers don’t read within the genre. Is it the case with you? If not, what authors make you shake your head in admiration?


Other than Steven Erikson I read nothing that resembles what I write. Fantasy folk whose books I attack the day they come out include Tom Holt, Terry Pratchett, Diana Wynne Jones, and Tamora Pierce.


- More and more, authors/editors/publicists/agents are discovering the potential of the all SFF blogs/websites/message boards on the internet. Do you keep an eye on what is being discussed out there, especially if it concerns you? Or is this too much of a distraction?


No. I don’t think I could figure out how to go find something like that, anyway. It sounds like a huge waste of time all round. When I have time to fritter I watch a ball game, CSI, or maybe indulge one of my secret vices, like Power Rangers or InuYasha. Or I read a book.


- Cover art has become a very hot topic of late. What are your thoughts pertaining to that facet of a novel, and what do you think of the covers that grace your books?


I generally hold my nose and try not to cry too much. You have no control. If you’re really lucky you get an art director who will let you use Vaseline when he bends you over. That said, I have had some fine covers. The Hildebrandts on the first 6 Garrett books. The covers for the French first editions of the Black Company books by Didier Graffet are genius. The covers for the first 6 Black Company books here, because they were painted by a very good friend. Though they’re a little primitive they do have some actual connection with what is inside. A few others.
Generally speaking, cover art is worse overseas.


- L. E. Modesitt, Jr., once claimed that Tom Doherty is one of the most under appreciated men in fantasy. Do you agree with his assessment?


I wouldn’t know if Tom is under appreciated by others. I love the man myself. He and his crew have been very good to me. He seems to have brought forward a goodly number of both excellent writers and writers who have been big commercial successes.


- Honestly, do you believe that the fantasy genre will ever come to be recognized as veritable literature? Truth be told, in my opinion there has never been this many good books/series as we have right now, and yet there is still very little respect (not to say none) associated with the genre.


For me this is a great steaming shovel full of I don’t care. Good stuff will stick around. Not so good won’t. Some professor pulling his intellectual pud over it isn’t relevant. Jack London and Charles Dickens, Robert E. Howard and H. P. Lovecraft, were all hacks. And they’re all in print today. And, for the most part, still scorned by the mutual masturbators of the literati.
From my seat high on the mountainside I think too many people associated with fantasy take the whole thing far too seriously. A failing of Americans in general. We all seem to be able to find a thing or two that we will insist on taking too seriously.


- How would you like to be remembered as an author? What is the legacy you’ll leave behind?


Continuing the “too seriously” theme, the answer here is, I really don’t care. I hope there’ll be enough residual royalties to provide some extra income for my wife. Otherwise, I expect to go the way of Bulwer-Lyton … although, come to think, he did bequeath us “It was a dark and stormy night.” Maybe there is something like that somewhere in my stuff.


- What project will you be tackling next?


Projects in hand include the final Instrumentalities book, WORKING THE GODS’ MISCHIEF, the next Garrett novel, working title GILDEN LATTEN LOVE(RS), a new Dread Empire novel, working title A PATH TO COLDNESS OF HEART, and a Black Company novel entitled PORT OF SHADOWS.


- Anything you wish to share with your fans?


Thank you. Stop taking it so damned seriously. And get out there and buy backup copies of my stuff. I have kids in college.
The Best of Mozart
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rb0UmrCXxVA
Moridin wrote:Нещо хайпът във форума силно намаля :)

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Semrush [Bot] and 20 guests