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Hopefully this is not too out of place here.
Today marks ten years since Roger Zelazny succumbed to cancer.
I found a link that I found interesting in regards to writing, an interview that Zelazny gave in the final months of his life. He has interesting tidbits on writing, some that I’ve heard before, but he gives it an interesting slant.
quote:Partly they are buying the name, I might as well be honest about it. They aren't just saying "Oh gee this is a wonderful story", they're saying "Gee, this is a story by Bob Silverberg or Roger Zelazny. Welllll, it's not his best story necessarily but it would be nice to have his name on the magazine". There's a certain amount of that; I'd be lying if I said there weren't
I think I'd like to try that feeling on for size and see how it fits.
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I presume you mean the "just sold a story on name recognition alone" feeling and not the "sitting here slowly dying of cancer and wondering if I'm really a good writer" feeling.
Neither feeling is exactly good but one is worth trying out just for kicks and the other should not be looked on as potentially fun.
All right, he did have a share of clunkers; the second Amber series was, all things considered, probably a mistake, and I couldn't get into "eye fo cat" atall. But the sheer poetry in much of his work was wonderful, and he still had it right up to the end - I absolutely adore "A Night In The Lonesome October".
Zelazny is probably the author (in SF) whose work is most strongly represented in my attic (hardly any of my fiction stays on the downstairs shelves these days), and one I will revisit time and time again. "To Die In Italbar", "The Furies", "A Rose For Ecclesiastes"... the man was a wondrous wordsmith, and one of the reasons I can still read and enjoy his books (and those of Alfred Bester) is that I know I could live and write for another century and not be able to convey so much with so little as he could.
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It's all subjective but I'll have to disagree about the second Amber series. I thought it was equal to the first, just a different feel. I was enthralled with the mystery and the millieu, the twists, the intriguing concepts. I could also relate to Merlin better than to Corwin. The only thing that disapointed me about the second series was the last book, Prince of Chaos.
Posts: 1275 | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
My first exposure to Zelazny was with Unicorn Variations. I loved what he did with imagery and words. I wasn't surprised when I found out later that he wrote poetry.
That said, I had a hard time getting into the first Amber series. Corwin was a difficult character to enjoy by the end of Nine Princes in Amber and the story itself felt like it was just one short story after the other with no real point. It didn't flow well at all.
The Guns of Avalon was better but by then I was getting tired of Corwin. He was just too shallow to keep me interested.
I haven't tried anything to do with Amber since (though I absolutely love the world he created). I may pick it up again after I finish the rough draft of my novel.
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I had the privilege of being in the audience when Zelazny read from A NIGHT IN THE LONESOME OCTOBER. What a treat! As much fun as that book is to read, it was even more delightful to hear Zelazny read it and watch him give expression to the characters.
Posts: 8826 | Registered: A Long Time Ago!
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