Last week’s review of The Wind Through The Keyhole had me thinking about another of Stephen King’s more fairy tale-like books, The Eyes of the Dragon (you can read my review of it here). This is one of those rare novels that pulls off the use of an omniscient, storytelling narrator, and here’s how it…
For this week’s “beginning” I chose the opening passage from Richard Matheson’s 1954 masterpiece I Am Legend. When I first read this novel, I couldn’t put it down. The book is far better than the film adaptation from a few years ago (though the movie’s change in setting from California to New York City made…
After seven weeks of vintage fantasy beginnings, I’m looking to a more recent novel for today’s “Beginning” of the Week: Jo Graham’s 2008 novel Black Ships. This novel is a re-imagination of The Aeneid, and you can read my review of it here. You must know that, despite all else I am, I am…
I’m concluding my series on the “beginnings” of vintage fantasy fiction with Tolkien—after all, where would the genre be without him? I’ve already written on the beginning of The Fellowship of the Ring, which I thought was quite good. But does the opening of The Two Towers hold up as well? Aragorn sped on up…
Any series on the “beginnings” of vintage fantasy fiction has to acknowledge the work of Robert E. Howard and his stories involving Conan the Barbarian. Howard published most of his stories in the 1930s as novelettes in magazines such as Weird Tales. Later, in the 1960s, many of these stories were compiled into novel-length books,…
This week’s “beginning” comes from Anne McCaffrey’s 1968 novel Dragonflight, the first book in her Dragonriders of Pern series. The late Ms. McCaffrey was one of the all-time great fantasy novelists, and her books are among the top fantasy classics in my view. Lessa woke, cold. Cold with more than the chill of the everlasting…
Continuing my posts on the “beginnings” of vintage works of fantasy fiction, I’m featuring the opening passage from Stephen R. Donaldson’s 1977 novel Lord Foul’s Bane, the first in his Chronicles of Thomas Covenant series. Because the story begins in the modern day, this beginning may read differently than that of the other vintage fantasy…
This week’s post on the opening passages of vintage works of fantasy fiction features the beginning of Ursula K. Le Guin’s A Wizard of Earthsea: The island of Gont, a single mountain that lifts its peak a mile above the storm-wracked Northeast Sea, is a land famous for wizards. From the towns in its high…
For my second post on the opening passages of vintage works of fantasy fiction, I’ve chosen the beginning of Katherine Kurtz’s Deryni Rising. Published in 1970, this novel was one of my favorites growing up. It has a puzzle-like plot filled with murder, intrigue, and magic. I’ve read this book more than once and enjoyed it…
Last week I wrote about What Makes a Great Beginning to a novel. Today I am focusing on two beginnings that in my opinion best reflect the elements of a great opening passage. To recap, these elements include conflict (or the hint of conflict) and writing that sets the tone or mood for the story….
Last week I wrote about what makes a great beginning to a novel. This includes the hint of conflict, an interesting character, and, perhaps most importantly, writing that sets the tone or mood for the story to come. My first 10 “beginnings” focused on a number great works of historical and fantasy fiction, some of which…