One question that I get asked on occasion by new friends that are writers, or others that have read my earlier work is: “When did you get into Fantasy?”
The answer to that question takes me back to the early 90s. I was just starting out with reading all over again. I had a friend that was into Paganism, and things like that.
He introduced me to Marion Zimmer Bradley’s book, The Mists of Avalon. At the time, it was the longest book I had ever read. It took me months! Thankfully, I was reading it during the Summer, so I didn’t have too many extra responsibilities.
This book was extremely well written. This was my first taste of first person narrative in older fiction. It was a little more detailed than books I had read prior to that point.
I would later go on to read other books by Bradley. At this present moment, I have read close to 20 books of Bradley’s alone. Some of those were co-written by other authors. One of them is going to be highlighted in tomorrow’s blog.
Bradley showed me how traditional mythology can be written in another perspective. One of my favorite books of hers has nothing to do with the Avalon series. The Firebrand is one of my favorite re-tellings of the Trojan war. It is told from Kassandra’s point of view. I remembered a lot of the details from reading the mythology in High School, and she weaves these details beautifully into her own fiction.
Mrs. Bradley opened a lot of doors to other authors for me. All of these subsequent authors were students of hers, and I am still a fan of theirs
March 20, 2010 at 9:51 pm |
I have never read any of her work, but she sounds fascinating! Isaac Asimov was my favorite who introduced me into fantasy, but his was very different from her mythology approach. I am now interested in mythology (via Percy Jackson!), so I may have to check her out and see if it will be appropriate for my daughter.