Tad Williams’ Memory, Sorrow and Thorn has been called ‘the fantasy equivalent of War and Peace‘ and it is easy to see why. Epic in every sense of the word, this series clocks in at around 4,000 pages in paperback (the final volume To Green Angel Tower had to be cut in two because it was too big to be published as a single paperback). Despite its length, the series never feels padded or plodding – instead it is one of those rare stories that totally engages you to the extent that you feel that you are ever bit as much a part of Williams’ world of Osten Ard as the characters. I recently re-read the whole of Memory, Sorrow and Thorn and what struck me for the first time was how much of a debt the fantasy authors that came after Williams owe to his work. George R R Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series has won plaudits from every corner but I have to say that in my view the foundations and first floor of his series were laid by Williams (Martin himself has indicated that he was heavily inspired by Memory, Sorrow and Thorn). Although much of Williams’ writing itself owes a debt, inevitably, to J R R Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, it is in Memory, Sorrow and Thorn, perhaps for the first time, that we truly see an adult take on the genre of epic fantasy. Expectations are turned over, beloved characters suffer (and die, over and over again) and the fantasy world that is presented is every bit as gritty, believable and sometimes unpleasant as our own. Echoes of Williams’ work can also be seen in the books of those other giants of the fantasy genre, Robin Hobb, Terry Goodkind and Robert Jordan, as well as those of Martin.
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Welcome to my blog!
I'm a fantasy writer and on this site you'll not only find samples of my work but also articles concerning folklore, myth and legend, reviews of movies, books and graphic novels and much else besides (including the occasional short story - you lucky people!).
Click on the image below if you would like to buy a copy of my novel, 'White Planet', a science-fiction/fantasy set on the ice world of Rygarth, whose snows hide ancient secrets and restless evil. Go to the ‘Novels’ section of this website for more information and to read free samples of this and my other longer fiction. Excerpts from my short fiction appear in the 'Short Stories' section of this website.
The 'Blogroll' below contains links to lots of other fantasy and sci-fi websites and the 'Writer Links' section of this site will take you to the websites of other authors whose work I admire.
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White Planet
The first volume of 'The Ice World Chronicles'
Blogroll
- Abattoir
- Abomination
- Albedo One
- Allegory
- Aphelion
- Black Static
- Clarkesworld Magazine
- Cygnus
- Dark Discoveries
- Dark Moon Books
- Dark Tales
- Encounters Magazine
- Fantasy Magazine
- Interzone
- Locus
- Prime Books
- Realms of Fantasy
- Strange Horizons
- The Black Library
- The Edge
- The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
- The Realm Beyond
- Weird Tales
- #TheWhiteQueen - is written by Emma Frost! Just like the Marvel character! 2 days ago
- #Oneiromancy - wp.me/p21O69-iq 1 week ago
- #RichardtheLionheart - wp.me/p21O69-il 2 weeks ago
- #Manga - wp.me/p21O69-hS 1 month ago
- #MayDay - wp.me/p21O69-ia 1 month ago
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Blogs I Follow
- bunnylover
- Winson Chiu (The Manga Creator)
- Ultimate Spoiler Attack
- Flying over a forest
- Judith Shaw - Life on the Edge
- Amber Lotus Publishing
- Faerie♥Kat's Faerie♥Korner
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- The Always Hungry Bookworm
- SCC Library Reads
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- Nada Faris | Blog
- Zendagi Migzara !
- Trees-Per-Second
- melanie bourgeois, illustrator and conceptartist
- Books On Trial
- MAHEEKATS
- Laura Bruno's Blog
- efrona's blog
- Ozark Pagan Mamma
- The Dancing Hare
- The Raven and The Oak
- stormyviews
- The Rowdy Goddess
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- Ravemore's Notes
- Life hands us the lemons, now where's the vodka?
- Summer Thunder
- A Witchy Life
- Temet Nosce
- PNC-Minnesota Bureau
- Fanny Fae
- Marlene Dotterer
- ChibiSketches
- Robwired
- Daniel Delgado's Blog
- litbeetle
- Bloggity, Bloggity, Blog
- Zcreed
- skylatron
- Reviews and Ramblings
- Life, the Universe, and Everything
- The Write Edge
- shelflifepodcast.wordpress.com
- The Place to Be ...
- Johann Thorsson
