I've been reading a bit of Fantasy of late and ran across a short story by Terry Pratchett called "Turntables of the Night". Yeah, it's not your usual run of dragons and goblins, in fact it's more along the lines of a Horror story. You're lead down one path and suddenly you're somewhere else and darn near shaking in your shoes right along with the narrator. For me, it's also a great example of what an unreliable narrator should be. This was my first sample of Pratchett, I'll be looking for more. :)
I read this in an anthology called "Hidden Turnings" edited by Diana Wynne Jones. One thing I'll say about this collection is that it turned my perception of Fantasy on its ear especially Roger Zelazny's story "Kalifriki of the Thread".
5 comments:
Patti had a discussion on her blog a couple of weeks ago about fantasy. I said something there that I do believe, that genre fiction tends to get reduced in perception to one of its sub-genres (crime fiction = hardboiled detective; fantasy = epic, science fiction = space opera, horror = monsters & gore, etc.). There are many facets to the genres and getting exposed to them is a part of reading widely.
I agree, Brian, and the more I read, the more I find that there are no real genres, just good or bad storytelling. :)
And I do love how people online lead us to these strange new worlds. Thanks! Twenty years ago, I had far fewer people to recommend books, genres, everything.
I agree, Patti! I've have lists of authors and books that I'd never heard of before and will probably never get a chance to read.
One of the great joys of short stories is that you can actually sample writers without investing yourself in an entire novel. :)
Post a Comment