| Author | Message | ||
     Simon Bestwick (Simon_b) Username: Simon_b Registered: 10-2008 Posted From: 86.24.166.73 |
His new novel, Boneland, completes the trilogy that began with The Weirdstone Of Brisingamen and The Moon Of Gomrath: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/15/alan-garner-weirdstone-brisingamen-t rilogy-boneland | ||
| John Forth (John) Username: John Registered: 05-2008 Posted From: 82.132.139.170 |
This seems as good a reason to go back and read the first two novels, which I haven't looked at since I was a kid. Great news! | ||
| Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey) Username: Ramsey Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 92.8.30.200 |
Hurrah indeed! | ||
| Paul_finch (Paul_finch) Username: Paul_finch Registered: 11-2009 Posted From: 92.5.44.105 |
Great stuff. Garner was probably the first author I read who introduced genuine 'adult' concepts into fantasy fiction for youngsters. I'd read Lord of the Rings before I read Elidor, Weirdstone, etc, but that was pretty much like something from the Norse or Greek myths; an epic adventure that was clearly unreal. By contrast, Garner's books were actually set in my grimy northwest homeland, and concerned characters who were the same age that I was at the time - they felt totally authentic. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 82.18.174.156 |
Good Lord!! This is stunning news!!!! Alan Garner is one of my lifelong literary heroes and those first two novels are in the absolute first rank of fantasy/horror irrespective of the age group they were meant to be aimed at. 'The Weirdstone Of Brisingamen' was the first book to terrify me as a very young child. I have never forgotten the experience. I can't believe it's to become a trilogy and can't help feeling somewhat apprehensive as I haven't heard of him writing anything in donkey's years. All my best wishes and most fervent prayers for success go out to him. I love the man's work in a way very few authors have touched me. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 82.18.174.156 |
Jesus!!! It sounds fantastic!! I can't fucking wait!!!!  | ||
| Weber (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.66.23.11 |
"I love the man's work in a way very few authors have touched me." Can you show us on the doll where he touched you? | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 82.18.174.156 |
One finger is pointing to my heart and the other to my head. | ||
| Matthew Fryer (Matthew_fryer) Username: Matthew_fryer Registered: 08-2009 Posted From: 90.195.182.50 |
Fantastic news. It'll be great to see it completed, and a re-read of the first two is definitely in order. The Owl Service is one of my faves, and I also love his Fairytales of Gold. They have an unpleasant darkness lurking in them, like any proper fairytale should. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 82.18.174.156 |
That's it. I'm going to hunt out and read 'Red Shift' at last! I agree with Philip Pullman that Garner has been ignored for far too long. Hopefully this "crowning achievement" will garner him the recognition he has so long deserved. Sorry... | ||
| Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey) Username: Ramsey Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 92.8.23.237 |
But I hadn't realised he published an adult novel (Thursbitch) in 2003. On its way to me now. | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.177.115.183 |
Thursbitch is pretty good, but the news on this new book is stunning. Can't wait! | ||
| John Forth (John) Username: John Registered: 05-2008 Posted From: 82.24.1.217 |
I can see myself having to hunt down Thursbitch too. Stevie, I think you'll get a lot out of Red Shift. A magnificent piece of work. | ||
| Simon Bestwick (Simon_b) Username: Simon_b Registered: 10-2008 Posted From: 86.24.166.73 |
Red Shift is stunning. Reading it was an absolute revelation to me; Garner is able to strip so many words away to leave only the utterly essential, saying more with a few sentences than most of us could with the same number of pages. It's magnificent- pared down beyond belief, and yet lyrical, poetic. Like James Ellroy or David Peace, but with the heart and humanity that they lack. The Owl Service is a genuine classic, too. Incidentally, Ramsey, Garner wrote another adult novel, Strandloper, a few years before Thursbitch. Might be another one for the shopping list!} | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.177.115.183 |
I was chatting with Mark Lynch last night, Simon - he's a fan of Garner's work but wasn't taken with Strandloper at all. | ||
| Simon Bestwick (Simon_b) Username: Simon_b Registered: 10-2008 Posted From: 86.24.166.73 |
It does seem to have been largely overlooked, maybe for a reason. Even a talent like Garner is allowed the occasional misfire. At some point I'll have to make my own mind up about it, of course. But first, Boneland.  | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 82.18.174.156 |
Already halfway through 'Red Shift' and I'd add it to the list of Garner's adult novels. The main protagonists may be "young adults" but with subject matter including the wanton murder of innocent men, women and children, rape, torture and disfigurement as well as the ritual mutilation of the dead this is not what you'd call a book for children... It is also seriously unputdownable and quite magical. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.37.199.45 |
Red Shift kick-started the 'young adult' genre as something credible in literary terms. It was first printed in a youth-friendly format with quite large print and wide margins. And the main characters are teenagers who hit adult reality hard and fast. Its unique sense of time had a big impact on SF writers as well as on Ramsey and Graham Joyce. Red Shift is so far off the scale of brilliant its light takes years to reach you. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
I'll be finished it today or tomorrow, Joel. My overriding take on the book, so far, at now just over halfway through, is that Garner did for genre literature here what John Fowles did for the mainstream with 'The French Lieutenant's Woman' in 1969. It is the complete antithesis of the other great fantasy I started at the same time - David Lindsay's 'A Voyage To Arcturus' (1921) - in that it needs to be read quickly and absorbed emotionally without any deeper thought at the time. After the work is done and starts to ferment in the subconscious is the time for proper analysis. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
I reached that moment in 'Red Shift'. Anyone who has read the book knows exactly the part I'm talking about and how it made me feel. Christ, what a punch to the guts! | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
Finished 'Red Shift' at lunchtime with a quivering lip and that feeling of the hairs standing up on the back of my neck. Except I haven't quite finished it yet and will be rummaging for my complete Lewis Carroll tonight to find out whether... you know. Mag-fucking-bloody-nificent!!!! | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.177.115.183 |
Sort that code out! | ||
| Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch) Username: Mark_lynch Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 94.197.127.7 |
Mick speaks the truth. I read Strandloper when it first came out and couldn't have told you what it was about had it not been for the jacket notes. Mind, it didn't help I was half out of my head at the time. May have to give it another go. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
Never got a chance last night but I've photocopied the sheet and I'm sitting here with pen and paper trying to work it out. This is much more fun than work. I'm hoping the same rules apply as in 'The Dancing Men' as I don't have Carroll's key with me...  | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
Apparently not... | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
I found my Lewis Carroll but what the hell is the key word!! | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 82.18.174.156 |
I give up. I can't find any mention of it in the text and various guesses have proved fruitless. Can anyone tell me what the key word is? I need to know how this book ends... | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.177.115.183 |
http://alangarner.atspace.org/code.html | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 82.18.174.156 |
I guessed that the first three words are probably "I love you". Is this correct? Don't want to look at the solution until I've exhausted every avenue. I'm a puzzle nut btw. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 82.18.174.156 |
Hang on... it's been staring me in the face all the bloody time! Hasn't it? Same amount of letters... doh!! | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 82.18.174.156 |
Nope, not that either. It started to make sense for the first three letters then... | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.177.115.183 |
You're correct regarding the first three words, Stevie... | ||
| Weber (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 109.151.146.118 |
If the first 3 words are I love you, you should be able to reverse engineer the code from that to get several letters of the key-word. Use that as a starting point. | ||
| Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey) Username: Ramsey Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 92.9.253.152 |
Not to hijack the thread, but do you have The Seven Days of Cain, Stevie? | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 82.18.174.156 |
Got it. Worked it out. Nuff said. I wonder will he ever return to these characters... I hope so. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 82.18.174.156 |
Sorry, Ramsey. No, I'm working my way towards it. Why do you ask? Still taking in the enormity of that final letter and just had to re-read the final section of the book again. Talk about feeling emotional... | ||
| Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey) Username: Ramsey Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 92.9.253.152 |
It contains a puzzle... | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 82.18.174.156 |
Sounds intriguing, Ramsey! I'm determined to stick at my chrono read, though, which means 'The Overnight' will be next. That's another five of your novels to go before I reach 'The Seven Days Of Cain'! | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 82.18.174.156 |
Then I'll be starting the same with all your short stories. Should keep me happy for a few years to come. |