Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Puzzle-headed

The quote and question posed in the previous post just shows how puzzle-headed I can be! What is the point of me asking you thoughts about Book 2 when many as yet have not had the chance to read it? Apologies about that...

*rolls eyes at self*

Anyway, Elizabeth (Betsy) Bird's review of Lamplighter was also featured over at School Library Journal with Fuse #8 Production. Check it, but mind the spoilerage.

ONLY 2 DAYS TO GO!!

11 comments:

Blake said...

Greetings! I am a fellow Aussie, and I was thrilled to find your work recently, while trawling through the children's section at the bookstore. I am at uni doing a double degree - Bach. Education/Bach. Arts - and as such I look through current children's fiction on a frequent basis. I also like to write on the side, random, weird stuff, which all seems to be somehow linked...

I digress, however, your stuff! It is rare to see such a richly detailed and imaginative world. Being a fan of literature myself, (as well as a Ancient History minor) I love your use of archaic language, and the Latin derivatives you employ.

Also interesting was the mention of God in your acknowledgements. I am a Christian also, and think that it is great that we can write stuff that is free from a moral allegory - something I always found hard to reconcile in Lewis, for example, with Susan at the end of the series...

Anyway, thank you very much for a breath of fresh air into the Australian (not to mention broader) fantasy literature realm.

Sincerely, Blake.

Anonymous said...

I too am a christian. I think your work is some of he best I have ever read.

Anonymous said...

Looking forward to the release of your book DM.

First on my to-get list!

'Lankysam'

Greg Mitchell said...

I just bought the book today! Looking forward to re-visiting the H-C!

Anonymous said...

this may be a little of topic for this but all i can sa was the scene with the herdebog trought was amazing like i said in an earlier post your book is amzing by far better than the first one awsome job D.M. cornish love the book

D.M. Cornish said...

Blake, Mr Tolkein's distrust of allegory is something I have inherited, being that LOTR moved much more deeply than the Narnia series - though still excellent works.

I definitely do not want to write "... sanitized fairy tales for a sellect churched few..." as fellow author R.J.Anderson puts it. I am not intending to preach to anyone, just pen great adventure stories in the best setting, and with as good characters as I can make. They will possess my world view, this sure, but no hidden meanings: the Herdebog Trought (thank you brian, glad you liked him - that scene went through multiple revisions to get it the best I could) is just a marauding monster nothing more, there is no hidden meaning behind Rossamund's adventures, etc...

Thank you so much, a nonny mouse, high praise indeed. I'll be frank with though, I am tempted to be very anxious that I might not be able to keep up to expecation, to maintain the standard - if I may put it like that. There you are, some real self-doubt right out in public. I guess I'll just have to trust it to God and keep doing my best to do my best.

Your encouragements certainly help.

Is it just me or is writing a rather weird thing to do with one's self?

D.M. Cornish said...

Having said all that, I must still own that I deeply respect C.S.Lewis, just as much as Tolkein, that The Screwtape Letters and Out of the Silent Planet and its fellows are astounding and effecting works, that Lewis' recommendation of E.R.Eddison was enough for me to start reading him (and how glad I was that I did!), that his more theological works are classics and I look forward to meeting him one day.

I reckon that covers it...

smudgeon said...

Wow - so you're the other person who read Out Of the Silent Planet! Well, the first person I've ever encountered (excepting myself) who has read it.

Anonymous said...

Even if others have not read the book, I have, and I'll be happy tp give my thoughts on your two questions:

1) "What to do with Numps?"

Numps is a fantastic character and I would like to see him return in Book 3 -- but only if it works with the overall plan. Don't fall in love with a character at the expense of the story.

2) "Should Europe be meaner? more of an invidist or less?"

Seems a bit late to be asking this question ;-) Europe's character really gets developed in Book 2 -- seems she has a pragmatic approach to all things in life, monsters included. She generally doesn't go wasting her efforts unless she is to be paid at the end. Rossamund has a complicating effect on Europe, causing her to care a bit more and have motivations beyond the merely practical. The bottom line is that her character is established, and unless there is something that would cause her to change outlook, her attitude should stay as it is. Rossamund could certainly be such a catalyst, but any change in Europe's attitude about monsters should develop organically (and in response to events that we as mere readers don't know are coming).

I think I said it in a different post, but even if I have, I'll say it again -- I loved Lamplighter. Threnody is a wonderful character and here relationship with Rossamund is very complicated and realistic. I also love the arc of the plot line. I thought it was interesting that you posted on the review site that Empire Strikes Back is your favorite of the Star Wars films--Lamplighter definitely has a "Luke, I am your father" type of ending. A great pay-off at the end of the book that wraps up the volume and stes up Book 3 at the same time. The closing line of the book really is perfect.

Now the wait for Book 3 begins!

Anonymous said...

Just went back and realized that the line that stuck out in my mind -- Europe's final piece of dialogue--is not the last line of the book at all! It was just so good it stuck in my mind.

D.M. Cornish said...

I know what you mean, it is in its essence the last line though - and I think of it as such - so I was very chuffed to have you first mention it as being so.