?Comments%%


Donald Lee Granberry <noharness@mac.com> wrote:

<SNIP>

I can't remember if I have ever read any of Bond's work. Clancy was a big
Heinlein fan. I have enjoyed nearly everything Clancy has written so far,
but his last one, _The Bear and the Dragon_, dragged a little, but I don't
agree with Allyn's assessment of it. Characterization was not a major issue
for me. OTOH, I am neither Russian nor Chinese so the complaints about
inaccuracies in Clancy's portrayals of such characters may well be on
target.

%%I like �Red October� �Red Storm Rising� and �Debt of Honor� Can live w/o the
others. But I�m NOT reading it for the characters, most of which I can�t keep
straight. Tried �Bear & Dragon� and it was so awful that I couldn�t read an
entire chapter. OTOH I LOVE David Weber, but his last four novels have been
Real Stinkers, IMO.  The worst was his �Excalibur Alternative� which was a
poor rip-off or �High Crusade� by Paul Anderson. Not plagiarized, but same
theme, not nearly as well done. 

<SNIP>

I don't agree that Spillane was all that bad at characterization. I've heard
younger readers complain that Tolkein's work "uses every fantasy clich� I
ever heard about." Guess what, Tolkein was the guy that invented those
clich�'s. Much the same can be said of Spillane's work. He had a great many
copycats and emulators--especially on television.

%%I LIKE Spillane. Tolkein as well (his problem is that he didn�t understand
evil. He built a perfectly wonderful world, then didn�t do anything with it.
His Evil Villains never lived up to the promise. IMO!!! ONLY!!!)

<SNIP>

I'll agree with you here. I found a lot of Clarke's work entertaining, but
found little of it compelling. I disagreed with and hated his themes. Asimov
was much better at characterization, but he too often adopted the same
themes as Clarke. I liked his non-fiction much better.

%%I agree. Although I think he did a great job with �The Gods Themselves� with
his aliens. (Hal Clement does a better job characterizing Aliens than Humans
as well)And he did a good job humanizing some of his Robots, but overall
Asimov isn�t much on characters. I prefer his non-fiction as well. But he WAS
one of the Golden Age giants and influenced Sf greatly.  

<SNIP>

Actually, I was giving Allyn a hard time for using "diffuse" where he should
have used "defuse". In fairness, Word will put "diffuse" in for you if you
don't watch it.

%%HEY! I married an English Major to take care of those things. Unfortunately
she has a Life (and recent eye surgery) so has been slacking off on
proofreading. ^_~




<snip>

I don't know that Heinlein ever had a problem with characterization. Some of
his juveniles had very thin plots, but his characterization was the
salvation of those works.

%%I rather liked characterization, but I have friends who HATE Heinlien,
because they think he has NOT characterization. 

On the other hand, even in junior high, the characters in e.g. Time for
the Stars, Tunnel in the Sky, and, gack, Podkayne of Mars struck me
as quite bad.  And I have to wonder about the fusion of plot and
character, e.g. do I like the protagonist in Have Spacesuit, Will
Travel intrinsicly, or in part because of his actions, especially
at the climax?  Something to think a lot about....

I suggest you re-read those. The characters he portrayed were thoroughly
disagreeable people, but they were masterfully portrayed.

How much do we love Usagi because of her great heart, and how much
because of her actions due to it...?

%%And how much because of the sailor fuku? ^_*


<SNIP>

I had been writing off and on for quite a while before attempting,
_Spreading Wings_. Almost all of that stuff is now safely stowed in the
circular file where it belongs. Understand, I was a terrible writer in the
beginning. You don't know that because I never let you see my early stuff.
Looking back, I can see considerable improvement in my writing since
participating in the mayhem that is FFML. People will write things to you
that will make you howl with agony, butt your head against a wall and cause
you to threaten serial murder for a past time, but in the end, it all makes
a better writer of you. No pain, no gain, boys and girls!

%%Well, it worked. I like your stuff.


<SNIP>

I haven't read this and I should, given that Allyn has spent more than a
little time reading my stuff and critiquing it.

%%Nah. Only read stuff that you want to. I rather like CtCD, so it�s been a
treat to read. Plus, Bloodfist is rather old and BADLY formatted. I certainly
don�t mind if you read it, but don�t feel obligated. I�ve got plenty of newer
stuff in the pipeline for you to read if you feel the need. ^_*

Thanks for the input, Harold.

Don.

- Harold

%%My thanks to you both as well.

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