Rob Holdstock is dead. I can’t quite take it in. Mythago Wood was one of the classic English fantasies of the last 100 years, & Rob one of the most powerful engines of fantasy of his generation.
Entries from November 2009
November 29, 2009
tolkien’s toy
A call for “best fantasy” lists over at the inestimable Crooked Timber soon devolves into a Tolkien vs LeGuin wrangle. More intriguing than the usual Tolkien vs Peake; but not so interesting as, say, The Lord of the Rings vs The Journal of Albion Moonlight or The Street of Crocodiles. In fact, given that Tolkien [...]
November 26, 2009
bring it on
When I was running in the early 80s, a kind of cold focus would come over me. The centre of the thing was that you were on your own. Perhaps when you started out you didn’t feel particularly well; or–more often–your life was chaotic & unproductive; or–most often–you were angry with yourself & everyone else. [...]
November 24, 2009
writing about writers
Sometimes in late November the urge to pour Jack Daniels on your breakfast is difficult to resist. Today I biked to Richmond Park & ran up & down the same hill for 20 minutes instead. It’s not Sintra; but there’s a lot of mud & bracken to struggle about in; &, out on the perimeter [...]
November 20, 2009
pearlant notebook
Complexity, weirdness, characterisations like little stained glass sideshows. Motives don’t need so much defining as presenting in action. Characters do things because they want to. That’s all we know. Equally, the text shows you something because it wants to. I see a book controlled by its own mood swings and emotional surfaces. But then I [...]
November 18, 2009
perdidos e achados
Granite boulders, Sintra, Portugal.
Walking past a car, Sintra.
Specialist roofer, Quinta da Regaleira.
Detail of protection system using a fixed line & descenders.
Rooftop doll, Bica, Lisbon.
Lost & found, Lisbon Portela Airport.
November 9, 2009
more great fantasy
Watching: the first series of The Ren & Stimpy Show. C doesn’t get it. I’m not sure I get it myself anymore. What’s funny about watching the lungs of a badly-drawn psychotic chihuahua come out through his mouth ? I don’t know but I started laughing as I wrote that down. Ren & Stimpy’s enactment [...]
