FacebookTwitter
Hatrack River Forum   
my profile login | search | faq | forum home

  next oldest topic   next newest topic
» Hatrack River Forum » Active Forums » Books, Films, Food and Culture » Thomas Covenant's impending return.

   
Author Topic: Thomas Covenant's impending return.
David Bowles
Member
Member # 1021

 - posted      Profile for David Bowles   Email David Bowles         Edit/Delete Post 
A couple of weeks ago I was struck dumb by a casual surf over to kevinswatch.com:

Stephen R. Donaldson is writing a third Unbeliever series, a tetralogy, no less. Called The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the series will consist of these tentative titles:

The Runes of the Earth
Fatal Revenant
Shall Pass Utterly
The Last Dark

quote:
SRD says he has no publisher at the moment but expects publication of the 1st book by very late 2004 or Spring 2005 at the very latest.

The books will be published one after the other...

He said that the 1st Chronicles were the "muscle" books where Lord Foul is akin to Hitler forging armies and A-bombs to ruin his enemies and break his prison. In the 2nd Chronicles Foul's method is an attack on the natural order of things. But in the 3rd Chronicles Foul's final means of escape will consist of a massive attack on and corruption OF TIME ITSELF!!!!!!!!

The audience was rendered speechless for 2 minutes straight after he said this--this answered any and all questions about the present, future and the past. "We will go back before the Lords, back before the Old Lords, the whole history of the Land will become relevant .

Then he read them Chapter Five of the first book!

quote:
Chapter 5: (Summary)

Key elements and characters:
Set ten years after the end of The White Gold Wielder Dr. Linden Avery is now Director of the Berenford Memorial Hospital where Joan has been a patient in the psychiatric ward. Linden has adopted an autistic boy named Jeremiah. Sara Clint is one of Linden's top nurses and Sandy Eastwall is Jeremiah's babysitter. Roger Covenant has completely lost his mind and kidnaps Joan and Jeremiah, taking Sandy and Sara as hostages.

Linden, following the abduction at the hospital, arrives at her house to discover that Roger has taken Sandy and Jeremiah. She notifies Sheriff Litton, grabs her medical bag and a heavy flashight and runs to her car with a preeminent idea of where he is gone. It is night, friction lightening crackles constantly above her causing a strobe effect of alternate realities as the wind pounds her down. She finally gains her car and drives through a totally deserted downtown past the telephone company, the town's only department store and the courthouse where Thomas Covenant's marriage was dissolved. The lightening renders the heads atop the courthouse into grotesque monsters as the howling wind slows her speed. How far ahead is Roger? The streetlights flicker and then go out altogether...Perhaps the lightening has caused a tree to fall across the powerlines or has knocked out the main transformer?
Disoriented, she slams on the brakes, then hits the accelerator as hard as she can heading for Haven Farm, two miles away. She envisions Roger, with a gun, dragging Jeremiah away, ready to stop him at all costs. Her teeth bared in a rictous smile. Roger's madness is so lucid he has no need for life. She drives even faster now fearing that Litton may have already reached them, or simply may not care. Speeding towards Roger's home, as an infant, along Righter's Creek. She remembers Covenant taking care of Joan there and as she starts up the driveway sees a spot twenty yards away where she once worked to save an old man's life. "Be true.." he had said "...however he may assail you, there is also love in the world."

She still feels very lost without Covenant despite all the years of love she has given Jeremiah. She reaches, what is now, Roger's house and inheritance, the clapboard has turned from white to gray by years of neglect. There are no lights on, contrary to Roger leaving all of them on at Linden's house as a symbol of his work. She gets out of her car and sees Roger's black sedan with it's trunk open, as if he was carrying something important, something he needed. Or perhaps he had stuffed Sara and Sandy in there instead.? The Sheriff doesn't appear to be there and she is overwrought thinking about how these events could futher traumatize Jeremiah, who as a very small child was forced, along with his family, to stick his right hand into the Despiser's bondfire.

Fighting the wind she manages to open her trunk and retrieve the bag and flashlight. As she turns to go a huge swirling gust slams Roger's trunk shut. With a start she cluthes Covenant's wedding ring that hangs at her strenum. She tests the door and as the handle turns the wind blows it wide open. It is too dark inside and as the tears the dust has caused lessen she begins to make out the living room. It is as if an earthquake has struck; broads are cracked and broken, plaster from the cieling lies all over the floor, the couch has been slammed against a wall, gutted by rats and roaches. Many sections of the wall appear blasted away by a shotgun. Small dark patterns begin to emerge on the floor, the patches are slimy, thickening blood.

Linden had sworn that Roger would never claim Joan even over her dead body. She makes her way through the hallway to the kitchen seeing even more splotches of blood. Pieces of florescent lightbulbs lie scattered on the floor, the cabinets and widows all broken. She can waste no more time before Roger offers Jeremiah to Lord Foul. She makes her way down the long hallway past bedrooms and the bathroom to the room where Covenant tended Joan in her madness. Lightening flashes so close and with such a fierce white light that the walls seem transparent and the house shakes. As she tries to breathe throught the ozone she sees Mrs. Jason and her children by the altar. The bedroom feels toxic and doomed as if Covenant's leprosy has seeped into the walls.

Sara Clint lies desolate on the bed, a huge kitchen knife impaled in the pillow. Roger has strapped her ankles and wrists to the bed with duct tape, but no gag, and has made a series of cuts through her clean white uniform, but finally cut through her corotted arteries from ear to ear as if he wanted more blood than he could gather. Roger has taken Sandy, Jeremiah and Joan to open the way for the Land's destruction. As the ozone begins to clear she realizes she can't smell Sara's blood, but instead is assailed by smoke that smells like Foul's bondfire. She realizes that that last bolt of lightening has set the house on fire and stands transfixed in terror as if ready to merge into the Land. Then suddenly she snaps to the fact that Roger cannot open the portal because he lacks the ring!

She runs to the kitchen throughtthe heat, fire and wind--as a tumault of flame brusts towards her from Covenant's room. She goes to the window and uses her medical bag to break out the rest of the glass and tosses her bag and the flashlight to the ground. As she climbs out the window she catches her left palm against a shard of glass and sees that it is bleeding. Finally, she picks up the bag and flashlight light and runs towards the woods behind Haven Farm then stops and turns to watch Thomas Covenant's house die.

:wipes drool from chin:

[ December 17, 2003, 05:02 PM: Message edited by: David Bowles ]

Posts: 5663 | Registered: Jun 2000  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Krankykat
Member
Member # 2410

 - posted      Profile for Krankykat           Edit/Delete Post 
Wow, I'm pumped now!
Posts: 1221 | Registered: Aug 2001  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Dagonee
Member
Member # 5818

 - posted      Profile for Dagonee           Edit/Delete Post 
And that's in Chapter 5 - usually they're out of our world by the end of Chapter 2.

I can't wait. I'm sure he'll have no trouble finding a publisher...

Dagonee

Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Eaquae Legit
Member
Member # 3063

 - posted      Profile for Eaquae Legit   Email Eaquae Legit         Edit/Delete Post 
My first reaction was WTF? He's dead!

But this looks pretty cool.

Thanks, I will definitely be watching for this come publication time...

Posts: 2849 | Registered: Feb 2002  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Dagonee
Member
Member # 5818

 - posted      Profile for Dagonee           Edit/Delete Post 
Yeah, but aren't both the Law of Life and Law of Death broken? Or did that get fixed at the end of book 6?

Dagonee

Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Bob_Scopatz
Member
Member # 1227

 - posted      Profile for Bob_Scopatz   Email Bob_Scopatz         Edit/Delete Post 
Crud! Now I have to read all the original books again and I don't have copies. More MONEY!!!
Posts: 22497 | Registered: Sep 2000  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Icarus
Member
Member # 3162

 - posted      Profile for Icarus   Email Icarus         Edit/Delete Post 
Yuck.
Posts: 13680 | Registered: Mar 2002  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
efrum
Member
Member # 6030

 - posted      Profile for efrum   Email efrum         Edit/Delete Post 
What do you mean by "yuck"?
Posts: 43 | Registered: Dec 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Icarus
Member
Member # 3162

 - posted      Profile for Icarus   Email Icarus         Edit/Delete Post 
I mean I thought those books sucked, the sequels don't sound especially good, and few things interest me less than the thought of these sequels, or of the buzz (and countless threads, no doubt) that will accompany them.

But who am I to be grouchy over y'all's Donaldson love fest? Carry on.

[Sleep]

Posts: 13680 | Registered: Mar 2002  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
CalvinMaker
Member
Member # 2032

 - posted      Profile for CalvinMaker   Email CalvinMaker         Edit/Delete Post 
I tried to read the first Thomas Covenant book twice. Couldn't get into it either time.
Posts: 1934 | Registered: Jun 2001  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
ak
Member
Member # 90

 - posted      Profile for ak   Email ak         Edit/Delete Post 
They were arduous, but I read all six. There is something great about them. I will definitely read the rest of them.

Roger is Thomas' son, right? He was about 10 or something when Joan divorced Thomas because she was afraid Roger would catch the leprosy?

Posts: 2843 | Registered: A Long Time Ago!  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Ela
Member
Member # 1365

 - posted      Profile for Ela           Edit/Delete Post 
Well, gee, David, I knew about this, being a regular at Kevin's Watch - would have told you if I thought you were interested. [Smile] [Wink]

The Thomas Covenant books were torture to read the first time, but I couldn't stop till I got through all 6 books.

Now, I am slowly re-reading them (I originally started re-reading to keep up with a group read at Kevin's Watch forum, but at this point, I am hopelessly behind the group). I find I am enjoying the books more the second time around.

**Ela**

Posts: 5771 | Registered: Nov 2000  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Ela
Member
Member # 1365

 - posted      Profile for Ela           Edit/Delete Post 
Oh, yes, and that's correct, ak, Roger is the son of Joan and Thomas Covenant.
Posts: 5771 | Registered: Nov 2000  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
saxon75
Member
Member # 4589

 - posted      Profile for saxon75           Edit/Delete Post 
quote:
Yeah, but aren't both the Law of Life and Law of Death broken? Or did that get fixed at the end of book 6?
***SPOILER (in case anyone cares)***

My interpretation was that the Laws had been restored by the new Staff of Law that was created by the combination of Vain and that Elohim, whose name I can't remember.

You know, I think the books were outstanding, but I kind of feel like he should leave well enough alone. I've never liked the 2nd Chronicles as much as the 1st (I think that I was just too sad about what happened to the Land), and I just don't see how a third series could live up.

Posts: 4534 | Registered: Jan 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
David Bowles
Member
Member # 1021

 - posted      Profile for David Bowles   Email David Bowles         Edit/Delete Post 
Well, in this third series, Foul tampers with TIME, so we'll be seeing things like Berek Half-hand, Lord Kevin, etc. It'll be fascinating.

And, Ic, how can you say these books SUCK? I can see you not liking them, or finding Covenant morally repulsive, or whatever, but I can't see how they SUCK.

Posts: 5663 | Registered: Jun 2000  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
efrum
Member
Member # 6030

 - posted      Profile for efrum   Email efrum         Edit/Delete Post 
I hated, and loved, the first book. But it was arduous to get through. A friend who had read them all encouraged me to keep reading. By the time I finished the sixth book, I was a convert! What a fascinating look into the human psyche.

This series is not just for entertainment, and if that's all your looking for this is the wrong place to look. But if you're looking for a series that will challenge you to take a realistic look at yourself, and the way you think, and the reasons behind your thoughts and actions, and a million other things, well then, step right into this series. I loved it, and I'm looking forward to reading the new books.

efrum

Posts: 43 | Registered: Dec 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
littlemissattitude
Member
Member # 4514

 - posted      Profile for littlemissattitude   Email littlemissattitude         Edit/Delete Post 
Oh, poor Icarus. [Wink]

As for me...I knew there must be a reason why I've been thinking that I need to re-read the two trilogies. They are the books that introduced me to fantasy, as opposed to science fiction.

I'll be looking forward to the new books.

Posts: 2454 | Registered: Jan 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
eslaine
Member
Member # 5433

 - posted      Profile for eslaine           Edit/Delete Post 
I've always found Donaldson to be a competant writer. I've read both trilogies. I found them entertaining.

But think. That was, what, 25 years ago? This guy has to have matured as a writer. Certainly producing the Covenant stuff helped.

I think I'd like to see what Stephen R. Donaldson can do today.

Posts: 2506 | Registered: Jul 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Bob_Scopatz
Member
Member # 1227

 - posted      Profile for Bob_Scopatz   Email Bob_Scopatz         Edit/Delete Post 
Have you read his "Gap" series?

More of a sci-fi setting (actual space travel, etc.)

Good stuff, IMHO. Lots of morally reprehensible characters, plus some redemption and some moral relativism to boot.

Posts: 22497 | Registered: Sep 2000  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
eslaine
Member
Member # 5433

 - posted      Profile for eslaine           Edit/Delete Post 
Thanks.

Between the Battle of the Science Fiction Authors and this thread, I think I've got something to look forward to reading in the next year!

Posts: 2506 | Registered: Jul 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
ak
Member
Member # 90

 - posted      Profile for ak   Email ak         Edit/Delete Post 
I found the books had very important things to say about despair. There was so much darkness there, but also there was light. Thomas was so flawed and tainted, and beset by horrors both inside and outside himself, but he finds some sort of way forward. He always seems to find the path forward, the open door. And I read them at a time when I was glad I had them.
Posts: 2843 | Registered: A Long Time Ago!  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Ela
Member
Member # 1365

 - posted      Profile for Ela           Edit/Delete Post 
quote:
Have you read his "Gap" series?

More of a sci-fi setting (actual space travel, etc.)

Good stuff, IMHO. Lots of morally reprehensible characters, plus some redemption and some moral relativism to boot.

The Gap series was great - very good story, though very hard to read. The sexual violence, and just plain violence, are hard to take.

The aliens in the Gap are the creepiest I have encountered in a long time. [Eek!] [Eek!] [Eek!]

Posts: 5771 | Registered: Nov 2000  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
eslaine
Member
Member # 5433

 - posted      Profile for eslaine           Edit/Delete Post 
So that's why I kept those Thomas Covenant books all these years! And I thought that the huge spines just looked cool on my bookshelves....

But they are in, as usual, storage. It will be a while before I dig them out again.

Posts: 2506 | Registered: Jul 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Troubadour
Member
Member # 83

 - posted      Profile for Troubadour   Email Troubadour         Edit/Delete Post 
I'd consider re-reading them but my copies are too busy propping up my entertainment unit.

Oh. Wait.

I'll never read the Covenant books again as my desire to be arm-gnawingly bored is somewhat lower than usual.

I *always* finish a book that I start. I just couldn't bring myself to get more than halfway through the third book of either series.... both times it was just too laborious. Not to mention depressing.

His Gap series however is excellent.

Posts: 2245 | Registered: Nov 1998  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
UofUlawguy
Member
Member # 5492

 - posted      Profile for UofUlawguy   Email UofUlawguy         Edit/Delete Post 
I also really disliked the first Covenant trilogy. I never read the second. I'm not that big of a glutton for punishment -- I'm just barely enough of one to have made it through the first three books.

I didn't think they were particularly well-written (although I guess the writing itself didn't suck). But I really cannot imagine a less interesting fantasy world, a less intriguing villain, a less compelling quest, or (most particularly) a less appealing hero. What, really, is the point of reading something so painful, when there is really nothing redeeming to counterbalance the pain? Agony. Torture. Despair. Why?

Posts: 1652 | Registered: Aug 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
TomDavidson
Member
Member # 124

 - posted      Profile for TomDavidson   Email TomDavidson         Edit/Delete Post 
UofU, perhaps you missed the point of the Covenant series: that while Covenant's story itself is not particularly uplifting, the sagas of the people around him are majestic.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
UofUlawguy
Member
Member # 5492

 - posted      Profile for UofUlawguy   Email UofUlawguy         Edit/Delete Post 
You're right, I must have missed that. I don't remember seeing anything "majestic" at all.

Maybe the horses were supposed to be the majestic part?

[ February 18, 2004, 11:24 AM: Message edited by: UofUlawguy ]

Posts: 1652 | Registered: Aug 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Yozhik
Member
Member # 89

 - posted      Profile for Yozhik   Email Yozhik         Edit/Delete Post 
I agree with UofU -- I didn't think the fantasy world was particularly majestic, or even interesting. None of the civilizations seemed believable--they all seemed to be products of the era when the book was written.
Posts: 1512 | Registered: A Long Time Ago!  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Ela
Member
Member # 1365

 - posted      Profile for Ela           Edit/Delete Post 
Stephen R. Donaldson now has an official website, announcing The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant.

There's a neat little video in the upper lefthand corner (complete with music), announcing the first book, The Runes of the Earth, due out in fall 2004.

Check it out: http://www.stephenrdonaldson.com/

Posts: 5771 | Registered: Nov 2000  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Shan
Member
Member # 4550

 - posted      Profile for Shan           Edit/Delete Post 
At age 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 and 22, I enjoyed the series. Probable because they exactly mirrored how I felt about life, the universe and everything else under the sun.

I re-read the first book a few months back (entirely [Eek!] - a glutton for punishment, I suppose) - at least I can tell I've finally grown out of fascinated obsession with all things depressed in the last decade plus . . . [Big Grin]

Posts: 5609 | Registered: Jan 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Ela
Member
Member # 1365

 - posted      Profile for Ela           Edit/Delete Post 
Well, I still enjoy the series, even at my ripe old age. [Wink]
Posts: 5771 | Registered: Nov 2000  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Ela
Member
Member # 1365

 - posted      Profile for Ela           Edit/Delete Post 
Just found this on the SRD website:

quote:
REVIEW: "Mythological Beast"

by Orson Scott Card in Science Fiction Review, Number 30, March-April 1979

Stephen R. Donaldson, by a terrible miscarriage of justice, did not win the John W. Campbell Award in 1978 (no, dammit, I won't give it back), but his Thomas Covenant trilogy has earned him a permanent and prominent place in the landscape of modern fantasy. To the frustration of those of us who would like to take it easy and not have to worry about being good every time, he keeps on proving he deserves that place. "Mythological Beast" (F&SF, Jan) is the story of a man who makes a metamorphosis as exalted as Kafka's was demeaning. Disney to the contrary notwithstanding, disobedient boys don't turn into jackasses -- they turn into unicorns. Except for Peter S. Beagle, no one has ever made me care so much about unicorns; and only Donaldson has made me wish I could be one.


Posts: 5771 | Registered: Nov 2000  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
David Bowles
Member
Member # 1021

 - posted      Profile for David Bowles   Email David Bowles         Edit/Delete Post 
ARGH! Why, Ela, am I unable to access this website?!?

:feels unbeliever-type agony:

Posts: 5663 | Registered: Jun 2000  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Ela
Member
Member # 1365

 - posted      Profile for Ela           Edit/Delete Post 
I have no idea, David. I am able to get to it just fine, even with my lousy computer connection. [Razz]

Are you still having problems?

Posts: 5771 | Registered: Nov 2000  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
   

   Close Topic   Feature Topic   Move Topic   Delete Topic next oldest topic   next newest topic
 - Printer-friendly view of this topic
Hop To:


Contact Us | Hatrack River Home Page

Copyright © 2008 Hatrack River Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.


Powered by Infopop Corporation
UBB.classic™ 6.7.2