- Posts: 895
- Thank you received: 734
Bugs: Recent Topics Paging, Uploading Images & Preview (11 Dec 2020)
Recent Topics paging, uploading images and preview bugs require a patch which has not yet been released.
Engineer Al's Sci-Fi Library: Lin Carter
- engineer Al
- Topic Author
- Offline
- D6
- Mama mia!
Engineer Al shares his love of sci-fi literature.
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
- SuperflyPete
- Offline
- Salty AF
- SMH
- Posts: 10733
- Thank you received: 5119
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
- engineer Al
- Topic Author
- Offline
- D6
- Mama mia!
- Posts: 895
- Thank you received: 734
SuperflyTNT wrote: You say "tainted with LSD", and I'm thinking "out there, like Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said". Is this right, or is it just 70's counterculture type shit?
No, no, nothing like that. PKD had a way of bending your mind with his words. He could do that because he was a fantastic writer and had a remarkable facility with language. Carter depends more on bringing absurd images into what is really just an adventure story. I don't think "counterculture" was his intention, more like he was giving the people what he thought they wanted.
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
- engineer Al
- Topic Author
- Offline
- D6
- Mama mia!
- Posts: 895
- Thank you received: 734
trif wrote: I had a couple of the DAW SF Gondwane books = The ___ of World's End series, and may be one of the Thongor novels. He was enjoyable for what he did and is probably due for a rediscovery, especially by Hollywood. Ah, if only "John Carter" hadn't been a massive flop, Lin Carter's back catalogue would be strip-mined.
Damn, I forgot about the "Worlds End" stuff. Not on my bookshelf anymore because they were all destroyed in the fire we had a couple of years ago. In those books Carter seems to be chanelling some Jack Vance "Dying Earth" stuff, and I remember enjoying them immensly. I have never read any of the "Thongor" books.
You are absolutely right that many of Carter's books could easily be made into interesting movies. Boy, THAT would be a trip!
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
- SuperflyPete
- Offline
- Salty AF
- SMH
- Posts: 10733
- Thank you received: 5119
I've been reading about him this morning and it appears that he didn't just do a biography, he made a great many stories that use his mythos. There's a collection:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Xothic_Legend_...iction_of_Lin_Carter
Goodreads rates it a 3.6/5 with the one review stating...
Oct 22, 2014Christopher Sutch rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition
While there are some entertaining Mythos tales in this collection, a little Lin Carter goes a long way (which is to say that I appreciate Carter's skills as an editor a bit more than I do his skills as a writer). Part of my problem with Carter's ideas is the sheer overkill he inflicts on Lovecraft's (and Derleth's) original ideas, the overwhelming need Carter felt to systematize everything so that all the contradictions would be reconciled (even when it was those very contradictions that have made the Mythos such a fertile ground for writers' creativity for generations). Robert Price's editorial comments, like other books in this series, are insightful, and the final tale (by Price), a pastiche of Carter's take on Lovecraft, is both a funny and fitting tribute to Carter's work. (less)
I'm not sure I'd like to read this, but I have this thing about Lovecraft...anyone who wrote after him is just really making FanFic. Not necessarily bad, but still not from the horse's mouth, so to speak. I make exceptions to this, such as REHoward's Black Stone, and Cairn, but not many. It's just too hard to replicate the writing style and anything else is just kind of not worth reading, in my opinion.
I'm really interested in the Thongor stuff, though. Might pick one up when my Amazon points re-up. Right now the only thing I've got earmarked for that is the Wool series. There's an Omnibus (1-5) that's like 20$ and I'm thinking that's going to be my next journey into a paper world.
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
- engineer Al
- Topic Author
- Offline
- D6
- Mama mia!
- Posts: 895
- Thank you received: 734
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
- SuperflyPete
- Offline
- Salty AF
- SMH
- Posts: 10733
- Thank you received: 5119
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.