VanderViews

Jeff VanderMeer is currently blogging about the books he’s reading, and he’s been posting some very interesting stuff about Al Sarrantonio’s anthology Flights. While he and I differ in opinion on Tim Powers’ novelette from the book, we are very much of a mind about Elizabeth A Lynn’s quite amazing novelette, “The Silver Dragon”. What is most striking about the story is that Lynn manages to cover a remarkable amount of storytelling ground – introducing characters, building a world etc – while never making the story feel compressed, or shortened. Instead, she’s managed to create a wonderful example of ‘traditional’ or ‘mainstream’ fantasy. I’m also intrigued by Jeff’s Evil Monkey question, where he asks “Do writers of experimental fiction need to prove they can tell a good story before they start experimenting?” I think the answer is an unequivocal ‘yes!’. Too many writers of ‘experimental fiction’ seem to simply be displaying their inability to write a story at all, rather than playing fascinating riffs on traditional themes. It seems to me you have to learn the rules before you break them.