posted
I had a very strange conversation this morning with a guy who was helping me put a new password into my work ID card. The guy noticed that I had a book in hand, and asked if it were any good (it's the 4th in the George R. R. Martin edited WildCards series, and the answer is "no, not really, but it's kind of fun".) He proceeded to sing Terry Brook's praises to me. I was polite, not mentioning that Brooks is a hack that ripped off Tolkein, but I did say that I preferred Tolkein. The guy proceeded to catalog the many similarities between LOTR and the Shinarra books, informing me that the parallels existed because originally Tolkein and Brooks had been collaborating, but that differences of opinion as to how the story should end had caused the two of them to go their seperate ways, writing their own versions of the story. I said that I found that interesting, pointing out that Tolkein published The Lord of the Rings in 1954 and 1955, while the first Shinarra book wasn't published until the late 1970s. He was unphased by this, explaining it away with a wave of his hand, and changing his story a bit, saying that Tolkein had started out writing LOTR on his own, but had gotten stuck, come across some of Brooks' earlier work, and appealed to Brooks to help him out. This, he apparently thought, was an effective rebuttle of what I'd said. He seemed to really believe that it was the case. He was very earnest, and seemed just a little crazy. I just started agreeing with him that there were certainly a lot of similarities between the two authors' works, and got the hell out of there as quickly as I could.
This probably doesn't actually merit a thread of its own, but I felt the need to share this with people who would shake their heads along with me.
Though I will admit to really enjoying Terry Brooks' stuff. Mostly the original 3 Shannara books, but I also really enjoy his "Word and the Void" stories.
But I also wouldn't have the audacity to compare it to Tolkein.
Posts: 240 | Registered: Jun 2003
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posted
Shanarra! I knew my spelling of it looked strange.
Brooks, I've since discovered, was born in 1944, so he was 10 with The Fellowship of the Rings was first published, and 11 when The Return of the King came out. I wonder which of his "earlier works" Tolkein came across when he was needing a hand with LOTR?
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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posted
You mean you didn't know that Terry Brooks was a child prodigy, with a couple fantastic, but unpublished (of course) novels under his belt by the age of 8?
posted
why would this guy think that?? thats insane. I really hate it when people assume others dont know much, and so they just spout off stuff like that. Ive got a friend like that, and my favorite thing to do is call him out whenever it happens to be a topic i know more about then him. But if you dont know something, why act like you do? It is much more profitable to learn then the spout out stuff. Thats why im always lurkin and hardly ever posting Posts: 879 | Registered: Aug 2000
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posted
There really was something unsettling about the guy, even before he started speaking. He seemed more than a little bit unstable. I got the impression that he acutally believed what he was saying.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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posted
Well if you live in TX it could be one of my bf's ex-roommates. That sounds like something he would do. He can make up an absoultely rediculous story on the spot and believe it himself. A pathological liar.
posted
That was fairly snarky and mean--if any of you are Terry Brooks fans, sorry; I just saw the opportunity to say something kind of funny.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Seriously though, I find his stuff entertaining and a nice, easy, light fantasy read. I also think there is a strong sense of nostalgia associated with my like of his stuff. The Sword of Shannara was the first "big" fantasy book I read back in grade school. I felt pretty cool when it was reading time and I whipped out this 700+ page book and other kids were complaining if their book was 200+ pages. I think I decided then and there I like his work, and though my tastes have matured (hopefully) and changed some I find going back to his books undeniably enjoyable.
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*sigh* I'm sending some more books to my nephew, who is, I think, eleven or twelve. I've sent him all the obvious ones, and I don't want to overload him with books that are a bit more inaccesible. In other words, I want him to like enough of them well enough he's willing to go through the others.
Should I send him the Sword of Shanara series? I've never read it.
My opinion of Terry Brooks is based on a horrifying afternoon I spent in Barnes and Noble, reading the novelization of Phantom Menace. That was really, really not good, but I can't decide.
posted
Honestly, I haven't looked at Brooks' work in about 20 years. I came across him at 11 and thought "this guy is ripping Tolkein off!". Other people in late grade school seemed to like him though.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Personally, I find it hard to read just about any fantasy without thinking that to a degree. But to be fair there have been a lot of fantasy works I have read that I felt that a lot more strongly than with Terry Brooks' books.
And, of course, there have been other works where the similarity was much more evident. I recall really being disgusted with Terry Goodkind when I started reading his second "Sword of Truth" book ("Stone of Tears" IIRC). Far too many likenesses to Jordan's "Wheel of Time" stuff.
But, I was then disgusted by the extremely blatant (IMO) ripping off done by Jordan once he got into the whole Aiel (sp?) thing. It just seemed like he lifted that whole part of his world right out of Arrakis. Replace Rand with Paul, Aiel with Fremen and that was pretty much it.
For an 11 year old I think Terry Brooks would be a really good choice. As I mentioned, his stuff is pretty light and fluffy, fast paced and entertaining. Very easy to read as well, and no graphic violence or sexual content (unlike Terry Goodkind).
Posts: 240 | Registered: Jun 2003
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posted
Yeah, Brooks certainly isn't alone in borrowing heavily from Tolkein. I saw a book in a used bookstore once called The Companionship of the Band, which cracked me up.
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Actually Goodkind's books have very little sex in them. How long did it take Richard to have sex with whatshername? Four books? I would actually say they were pretty conservative in the vision of sexuality presented.
Posts: 13680 | Registered: Mar 2002
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posted
You don't consider pedophilia, castration, sado-masochism, and evil magic-bestowing ceremonies involving sex with monsters to be "sexual content"?
Posts: 14 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
That's really not too strange a conversation, Noemon. I mean, it centered around a single topic of interest, and the conversation built upon itself.
Not strange.
This is strange:
quote: DOC: Hello, Mary.
MARY: You are a duck!
DOC: Sid Hoffman!
Mary: I don't know why people insist on eating. Do you know why? What a lovely sludge.
DOC: My pants are Elvis.
Mary: Hahaha. I'm going to go out tomorrow night, find George W. Bush, and kiss him 'til the moon cracks apart and silver bunnies fall out.
quote: Wow. Not everybody gets to meet Terry Brooks.
Tomd. Good one.
I liked Brooks' Sword of Shannarra, in fact I'd like to reread it. But I thought the sequel didn't add anything to it and I gave up on the series. And anybody who thinks Brooks can hold a candle to Tolkien has serious problems.
That conversation reminded me of several I had with a girl named Blossom. She was a very cool girl. She was also a compulsive liar.
True conversation. Me: "Ooooh, look, a mint 1967 Shelby Mustang for sale. What a killer muscle car." Blossom: "Yeah, it's phat. I took a test drive in it." (She had no money and worked at a restaurant. Mint Shelbys start at $20,000.) Me: "Uhhh, yeah. What kind of engine did it have? I know Shelby used a lot of 390 c.i.d. blocks in his Mustangs." Blossom: "It . . uhhm. . it was. . uh. . custom." This was typical of Blossom. She lied all the time, often for NO reason that I could tell. Why couldn't she just say "Yeah, that is a sweet ride?" I don't think she realized how often I caught her lying because I never called her on it, I guess because I enjoyed hanging out with her. Anybody with 1/2 a brain could see through her lies.
For another weird coversation: What do you say to someone who sees ghosts? I have had other conversations as weird or weirder with Michael. Michael is a beautiful, sincere person with a huge heart. He can play a dozen instruments and composed "Spooky" which gets lots of airplay and cover versions 40 years after it came out. He knows the Bible backwards and forwards. He also hallucinates constantly and believes he is a Prophet of God. I tried often to get him to seek help, but he refused to accept that he had a problem. Like Icarus' mother, he found solace in a charismatic church. But this encouraged his belief that God alone could heal all the afflictions of the faithful.
So in the end, all I could do was pray for my friend. Posts: 6316 | Registered: Jun 2003
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posted
*derail alert* Kat, has your nephew tried Stephen Lawhead? His retelling of the Arthurian legends is something of a favourite of mine and he's probably accessible to a bright 12-year-old, though I was 14 or so when I discovered them. Some of the earlier Heinlein might also work - I read Farmer in the Sky at about age 12. /end derail
Never read Brooks, so no comment on that at all!
Posts: 1550 | Registered: Jun 1999
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