#thor

Having to amuse myself during those earlier years, I read voraciously and widely. Mythic matter and folklore made up much of that reading—retellings of the old stories (Mallory, White, Briggs), anecdotal collections and historical investigations of the stories' backgrounds—and then I stumbled upon the Tolkien books which took me back to Lord Dunsany, William Morris, James Branch Cabell, E.R. Eddison, Mervyn Peake and the like. I was in heaven when Lin Carter began the Unicorn imprint for Ballantine and scoured the other publishers for similar good finds, delighting when I discovered someone like Thomas Burnett Swann, who still remains a favourite. This was before there was such a thing as a fantasy genre, when you'd be lucky to have one fantasy book published in a month, little say the hundreds per year we have now. I also found myself reading Robert E. Howard (the Cormac and Bran mac Morn books were my favourites), Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith and finally started reading science fiction after coming across Andre Norton's Huon of the Horn. That book wasn't sf, but when I went to read more by her, I discovered everything else was. So I tried a few and that led me to Clifford Simak, Roger Zelazny and any number of other fine sf writers. These days my reading tastes remain eclectic, as you might know if you've been following my monthly book review column in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. I'm as likely to read Basil Johnston as Stephen King, Jeanette Winterson as Harlan Ellison, Barbara Kingsolver as Patricia McKillip, Andrew Vachss as Parke Godwin—in short, my criteria is that the book must be good; what publisher's slot it fits into makes absolutely no difference to me. ↗

— Charles de Lint

#book-genres #books #fantasy #influences #reading

Your book is a springboard and integral strategic part of your overall game plan. Being an author positions you strongly upon your platform. It is the passport which will start you on your journey to becoming the recognized authority in the niche or space that you work in or aspire to work in. ↗

— Kytka Hilmar-Jezek

#book-power #book-strategy #platform #write-a-book #niche

The means of defence against foreign danger have been always the instruments of tyranny at home. Among the Romans it was a standing maxim to excite a war, whenever a revolt was apprehended. Throughout all Europe, the armies kept up under the pretext of defending, have enslaved the people. ↗

— James Madison

#liberalism #liberty #tyranny #roman

Who learns most from a good book is the author. ↗

— Jose Bergamin

#book #good #good book #learns #most

So I don’t think I’ll make Poet Laureate, but I swear I’m not twisted and bitter, If finely-wrought talents don’t weigh in the balance, I can always write haiku on Twitter. ↗

— Rosy Cole

#contemporary-poets #new-releases #poetry #quotes #rosy-cole

But I'm going to try to tell the truth. Except for the parts I'm leav­ing out, because there's still stuff I'm just not going to tell you. Get used to it. ↗

— Robin McKinley

#storytelling #truth #storytelling

A daydreamer is a writer just waiting for pen and paper. ↗

— Richelle E. Goodrich

#daydreaming #fantasies #richelle #richelle-goodrich #stories

The only living works are those which have drained much of the author's own life into them. ↗

— Samuel Butler

#drained #into #life #living #much

Let us come to the philosophers, whose authority is of greater weight, and their judgment more to be relied on, because they are believed to have paid attention, not to matters of fiction, but to the investigation of the truth. ↗

— Lactantius

#authority #because #believed #come #fiction

The ultimate authority must always rest with the individual's own reason and critical analysis. ↗

— Dalai Lama

#analysis #authority #critical #individual #must