Writing the anti-genre

[threemonkeys]

Sometimes when you are struggling with a book, you have an "ah ha" moment that turns it around for you. I thought I had such a moment when reading Richard Morgan's fantasy The Steel Remains. I'd been struggling with what looked like an attempt to bust the genre - doing stuff that was "original" in an attempt to create a point of difference. When you try too hard to do something like that, it seldom works - you just have to tell your story in your voice and if difference arises then its all good. Except that what Morgan was doing didn't seem all that original either. Then I had the "ah ha" moment and realised that he was trying to write a Michael Moorcock story. It all fit together and I was able to see what was Moorcock and what was I assumed Morgan's own voice. It made the book so much easier to take. Not that much more enjoyable though - see I have to confess to not being all that big a Moorcock fan. I have been a Morgan fan though - overall it averages out to being readable but not startlingly good.

But getting the influence did make me happy. Well until I read the afterword in the acknowledgements basically said that the influences should have been very obvious. That plus the fact that three influences were cited and I'd only got one of them - perhaps the fact that I hadn't read the others at all is consolation. Lets hope that Morgan goes back to writing with just his own voice.

Comments

[dedbutdrmng.livejournal.com]

I've been a bit disappointed with Morgan. Altered Carbon was stunning and it seemed all down hill from there, the second in the series wasn't quite as good and the third even less so. I thought 'Market Forces' was a terrible book and stank of a short story fleshed out to novel length so I didn't bother with his fantasy one. Now I know it's Moorcock influenced I'll probably pass over it second hand as well.

If you liked Altered Carbon then you may like David Gunn's 'Death's Head' books. I've recently had the first two to review and they were fantastic, violent and unrelentingly fast paced. Books for people who though Takeshi Kovacs was a bit too easy going.

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

I'd have to agree with that general trend up until Black Man came along - for me, it was a return to top form and kept me reading.

[lobelet.livejournal.com]

I thought Black Man was mediocre and I had to struggle to finish it.

[dedbutdrmng.livejournal.com]

Oh, damn. Forgot about that one. Yes, you are entirely right there. Black man was a cracker. For some reason I thought that was a Neal Asher.

[littenz.livejournal.com]

I don't recall spotting the citation of influences, but I will have a look when my copy comes back. I was underwhelmed by Moorcock as an early reader, but that would explain the unrelated story threads coming together late in the book. In all I found it a rushed job, as though he was writing to a deadline - and there were hints that The Steel Remains could be read as a SF novel instead of fantasy per Moorcock.

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

If you have the pre-release copy, its possible the acknowledgement section at the back isn't there - there are often a few little differences between such editions.

Its an old trick putting SF hints into fantasy books to tickle the interest of sf readers - these days I only get interested if the author actually carries through with them.

[littenz.livejournal.com]

Yes, to both comments. I would like to see where Morgan is going with the SF-al hints before passing judgment. Although I am not sure I would want to read a whole book to find out. I was a tad luke-warm in my appreciation of this book.

[lobelet.livejournal.com]

Despite what Morgan himself said, I found very little of Moorcock in the book (and unlike you I'm a huge Moorcock fan; I love his stuff - even the fantasy crap that Morgan cited. I freely admit that Moorcock's fantasy is largely rubbish and I much prefer his other novels, but nevertheless I remain a big Moorcock fan).

Gosh what a long parentheses. Where was I? Oh yes -- the biggest influence I spotted in Morgan's book was Roger Zelazny. The situation reminded me very much of "Lord Of Light", particularly the dialogue with the so-called Gods. I won't be at all surprised to find, in a later sequel, that these gods are stranded astronauts, or perhaps lunar colonists. And it's quite obvious that they are the survivors of some kind of war that destroyed the moon.

Morgan presents his novel as a fantasy but I don't believe it for a moment. There are so many hints that this is taking place in the far future, following several alien invasions. Human science has degenerated, humanity is struggling and much history has been lost. It's a very Zelazny situation told, often, in very Zelazny language.

I think it's Morgan's best book and I'm looking forward to the sequels.

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

The eternal champion with the big magical sword imagery kept hitting me. I did wonder about Zelazny when they started flitting between realms, but Moorcock did that too.

As I noted to Simon, its an old trick making SF hints in a fantasy in order to string sf oriented readers along to see what the technology might be, but I'm not prepared to read a sequel (or sequels) just to find out.