When we all lived in the forest
  • Home
  • Fantasy Reading
  • Science Fiction Reading
  • Publications
  • Amusements
  • Moth Books

#3: The Once & Future King by T.H. White

7/6/2012

0 Comments

 
I read this book now because I had a copy in hand – instead of waiting for the “Ws” a few years from now, but White did write some stories under the pen name “John Ashton,” so I do feel a wee bit vindicated.

This is a book that, in spite of its tragic subject matter, was so good it felt as if real events were being described and that the truths uncovered were the cornerstones of reality.  There is no way there could have been this level of detail without the author channeling the actual goings on of Wart, Jenny, and the Ill-Made Knight.  I regret I have not read this book earlier, so I may have read it a few times more by now.  The writing was so deft and fine.  I loved it.

This man was an amazing, amazing writer.  When I read his biography, I felt so badly for him, I wished I could take him home and make tea and cookies for him, and tell him what a wonderful, wonderful person he was.  He was truly a miserable human being – and he wrote a story of extraordinary light and grace.  I will read more by him, including the last story of Merlin, (which I did in fact order and read).  In that next book it Merlin sagely reminds Arthur, “After all, we are the Matter of Britain.” 


Lessons learned: Your characters are real people.  Show it by knowing their innermost and smallest details.


                                                                                     The Once and Future King by T.H. White




0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Page

    In 2011, I began reading a list of 100 Great Fantasy Novels. I am listing them on this page.

    Me
    ​
    Hi!  I am Nye Joell Hardy.  
    I write science fiction and fantasy.  The science fiction makes my head happy.  The fantasy makes my heart happy.  Although I sell all these things, none are making me rich.  But I'm happy, damn it.  

    Picture

    Archives

    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    April 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    April 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012

    Categories

    All
    Atlantis
    Buddhist
    Charles John Cutliffe Wright Hyne
    Christopher Priest
    Cthulhu
    Dean Koontz
    Diana Wynn Jones
    Dylan Thomas
    Emma Bull
    Fantasy
    Forgotten Books
    Gene Wolfe
    Hindu
    Howl's Moving Castle
    H.P. Lovecraft
    Jan Lars Jensen
    John Crowley
    Lovecraft
    N.K. Jemisin
    Odd Apocalypse
    Odd Thomas
    Oree
    Pterodactyl
    Roger Zelazny
    Rudyard Kipling
    Shere Khan
    Shiny
    Shiva 3000
    Stephen King
    The Broken Kingsoms
    The Dark Tower
    The Drawing Of The Three
    The Gunslinger
    The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
    The Jungle Book
    The Lost Continent
    The Waste Lands
    T.S. Eliot
    Viriconium
    Wales
    Welsh
    Writing
    Writing Lessons

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly