Historical (and Arthurian) fiction: Rosemary Sutcliff etc.
Re: Historical (and Arthurian) fiction: Rosemary Sutcliff et
Ah well. Am Paying for my sins.
'You just said "your getting shorter": you've obviously been drinking too much ent-draught and not enough Prim's.' - Jude
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Re: Historical (and Arthurian) fiction: Rosemary Sutcliff et
My beloved brother is a New Yorker, too—born and bred in the Northwest like me, but moved there in his early twenties and will never leave. He still loves being out here for visits with family a couple of times a year, but I don't think he could stand to move here. Even when buildings explode half a block from his apartment.
And I get it. He's found his place, as I found mine (Oregon, where we never lived until we moved here in 1986, but which Tom and I will never leave).
And I get it. He's found his place, as I found mine (Oregon, where we never lived until we moved here in 1986, but which Tom and I will never leave).
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
Re: Historical (and Arthurian) fiction: Rosemary Sutcliff et
I made this Arthurian books thread on TORC years ago 
Lots of observations there but restating some here!
I'd rank Sutcliff, Parke Godwin (Firelord) and Bernard Cornwell (Warlord Chronicles) among the best of the modern historical-Arthurian writers. Cornwell has the best trilogy while Sutcliff and Godwin have the best single-volume takes. Points for brevity. (Though Sutcliff's is part of a larger family saga and Godwin wrote a sequel and a prequel.)
Mary Stewart's Merlin trilogy and Mordred spin-off novel The Wicked Day are also good but I like them slightly less. Haven't managed to get Treece's real single-volume Arthur saga, The Great Captains, but The Green Man is his take on Amleth, the original Norse Hamlet, and he throws Beowulf and Arthur into the mix. Intriguing.
A guilty pleasure is Joan Wolf's The Road to Avalon which makes Morgan le Fey and Mordred into innocent good people through and through, and Morgan is Arthur's true love.
Lots of observations there but restating some here!I'd rank Sutcliff, Parke Godwin (Firelord) and Bernard Cornwell (Warlord Chronicles) among the best of the modern historical-Arthurian writers. Cornwell has the best trilogy while Sutcliff and Godwin have the best single-volume takes. Points for brevity. (Though Sutcliff's is part of a larger family saga and Godwin wrote a sequel and a prequel.)
Mary Stewart's Merlin trilogy and Mordred spin-off novel The Wicked Day are also good but I like them slightly less. Haven't managed to get Treece's real single-volume Arthur saga, The Great Captains, but The Green Man is his take on Amleth, the original Norse Hamlet, and he throws Beowulf and Arthur into the mix. Intriguing.
A guilty pleasure is Joan Wolf's The Road to Avalon which makes Morgan le Fey and Mordred into innocent good people through and through, and Morgan is Arthur's true love.