Tanith Lee

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Custer1	Tanith Lee	Lead	[-]
Star Fleet Admiral Posts: 5564 (08/28/07 00:10:24) Man of Tomorrow Wizard of Science By night known as: Captain Future Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Tags : None Our first port of call must be Wikipedia, which says Tanith Lee's "prolific output spans a host of different genres, including adult fantasy, children's fantasy, science fiction, horror, gothic horror, gothic romance, and historical novels. Her style and atmosphere is probably closest to Jack Vance who, similarly, is not tied to a specific genre." She has certainly written a lot of novels, many of them memorable; her Fantastic Fiction page lists 102 books! "one of the leading fantasy authors writing today", they quite rightly comment. Her own website is tanithlee.com, which seems to be more in the form of a news-blog than the usual multi-page affair. Personally I've read very little Lee, so I look forward to seeing what other people here have to say!
dogpoet	Re: Tanith Lee	#1	[-]
Star Fleet Admiral Posts: 507 (08/28/07 03:54:00) Starship Commander Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	The Vance thing is quite interesting, that isn't a comparison that's ever occured to me, but not a completely unreasonable one (though Lee's fantasy novels tend to be both rather fatter and a lot nastier than Vance's). One thing that might be worth mentioning is that she's also written for the telly: there's a couple of episodes of Blake's 7 she scripted. (It's quite interesting that the blurb on that copy of The Birthgrave describes it as science fiction, as that's definitely in the science fantasy bag: you might just as well describe the Dying Earth as an SF novel on the basis of a couple of stray plot devices.) An annoying thing about Lee is that a lot of her better fiction is out of print at the moment. Please buy my book, somebody?
Custer1	Re: Tanith Lee	#2	[-]
Star Fleet Admiral Posts: 5564 (08/28/07 08:19:18) Man of Tomorrow Wizard of Science By night known as: Captain Future Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I was looking more closely at my copy of The Birthgrave, and, you know, it doesn't actually have a special introduction by Marion Zimmer Bradley inside. However, they do print an excerpt from it on the back cover. "It's filled with adventure and beauty, rich alien names, half-sketched barbarian societies, ruined cities, decadence and wonder... As I read this I thought most often of "The Dying Earth" stories of Jack vance. THE BIRTHGRAVE has something of the same color and wonder... You can get involved, learn to know the people, get fully submerged in the colorful and fascinating world Tanith Lee presents. And I predict that when you, satisfied but regretful, turn over the last page, you will wish there were more."
ljim2000	Re: Tanith Lee	#3	[-]
Star Fleet Admiral Posts: 5558 (08/28/07 16:53:34) Simulacrum Cretin Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Maybe that would make a good group book read, if we could all find copies... I'll look on Amazon after my evening stroll with the mrs.
ljim2000	Re: Tanith Lee	#4	[-]
Star Fleet Admiral Posts: 5558 (08/28/07 18:15:30) Simulacrum Cretin Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Looks a copy can be procured online for as little as $1.49! Here's a review. Perhaps this one would be too far into the Fantasy/Sword & Sorcery realm, since she has actually written actual science fiction as well... Official Amazon Page Maybe Eva Fairdeath would be more up our alley with a plausible post-apolyptic SF explanation? Also a decent review from one reader in Amazon, and can be acquired online for as little as $3 plus shipping. Or, Don't Bite the Sun looks to be firmly science fiction with a bit of satire as well, and also excellent reader reviews. Only 85 cents for the cheapest copy before shipping too! Another review here. Perhaps one of these in October? Here's an online interview with a pretty hawt photo! And here are the Locus Interview Quotes. ''I used to throw away my holograph manuscripts after I'd typed them, but I'm keeping a lot of them now, because obviously, at 50, I'm starting to think, if anyone ever is interested in me after I'm dead, they can look and see, 'My god, this woman was a maniac!'"
Custer1	Re: Tanith Lee	#5	[-]
Star Fleet Admiral Posts: 5564 (08/29/07 00:11:57) Man of Tomorrow Wizard of Science By night known as: Captain Future Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	*Quote:* Genre categories are irrelevant. I dislike them, but I do not have the casting vote. Writing is writing and stories are stories. Perhaps the only true genres are fiction and non-fiction. And even there, who can be sure? Admit it, it was the "hawt" photo that got you thinking about featuring Ms Lee in a Group Read!
ljim2000	Re: Tanith Lee	#6	[-]
Star Fleet Admiral Posts: 5558 (08/29/07 06:35:46) Simulacrum Cretin Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	It might give us something to liven the invitations, but no, not initially. Honest.
dogpoet	Re: Tanith Lee	#7	[-]
Star Fleet Admiral Posts: 507 (08/29/07 07:03:12) Starship Commander Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	She's much better known for her fantasy stuff, but Tanith Lee has written a lot of (often hardish) SF as well. Along with Don't Bite The Sun/Drinking Sapphire Wine, there's also The Silver Metal Lover, The Electric Forest, Eva Fairdeath (as mentioned above), Sabella and Days Of Light all spring to mind. Please buy my book, somebody?
dogpoet	Re: Tanith Lee	#8	[-]
Star Fleet Admiral Posts: 507 (08/29/07 12:25:25) Starship Commander Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	It's Days of Grass, in fact, not Days Of Night (though Days Of Night is the most Tanith Lee title maginable, which is probably why I invented it...) Please buy my book, somebody?
ljim2000	Re: Tanith Lee	#9	[-]
Star Fleet Admiral Posts: 5558 (08/29/07 16:15:26) Simulacrum Cretin Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Which ones have you read, and which ones are you missing dogpoet?
dogpoet	Re: Tanith Lee	#10	[-]
Star Fleet Admiral Posts: 507 (08/30/07 05:11:16) Starship Commander Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I've got quite a few in my to read pile at the moment, ljim. As for those I've actually read: The Birthgrave and its two sequels. The Storm Lord and its sequel Anackire The three Blood Opera novels (Dark Dance; Personal Darkness; and Darkness, I: I was a bit peeved she abandoned that one.) The Flat Earth series (Night's Master, Death's Master, Delusion's Master, Delirium's Mistress and Night's Sorceries) Nightshades Companions on the Road (one of her children's books) Sabella The Silver Metal Lover Drinking Sapphire Wine/Don't Bite The Sun (the copy of this I have puts both novels together) The Secret Books Of Paradys series (The Book of the Damned, The Book of the Beast, The Book Of The Dead and The Book of the Mad) The Electric Forest The Blood Of Roses Lycanthia I'm probably forgetting a few, but there's a lot more I haven't read, obviously. Please buy my book, somebody?
ljim2000	Re: Tanith Lee	#11	[-]
Star Fleet Admiral Posts: 5558 (08/30/07 16:16:02) Simulacrum Cretin Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	O.k. then, narrow it down to a non-Fantasy SF setting and what have you got?
dogpoet	Re: Tanith Lee	#12	[-]
Star Fleet Admiral Posts: 507 (08/31/07 08:48:43) Starship Commander Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Don't Bite The Sun and Drinking Sapphire Wine, Sabella, possibly The Birthgrave (the end veers into SF big time, and a lot of what appears to be fantasy elsewhere in the book may, in this light, be SF plot devices cross dressed), The Silver Metal Lover and The Electric Forest. Please buy my book, somebody?
ljim2000	Re: Tanith Lee	#13	[-]
Star Fleet Admiral Posts: 5558 (08/31/07 17:34:37) Simulacrum Cretin Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Well, if that's the case, perhaps we should go back to the Birthgrave, since we know it's in Custer's "to read" pile, and I can get it online easily enough.
Custer1	Re: Tanith Lee	#14	[-]
Star Fleet Admiral Posts: 5564 (09/01/07 01:00:38) Man of Tomorrow Wizard of Science By night known as: Captain Future Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Heheh, it is a pretty tall pile, as you can imagine... you research the general availability. The Birthgrave does have the advantage of being a mere 400 pages long, while "the novel that takes up where The Birthgrave left off", Vazkor, Son of Vazkor (aka Shadowfire), is little more than half the length, and the conclusion of the trilogy, Quest For the White Witch, seems to be halfway between, length-wise.
ljim2000	Re: Tanith Lee	#15	[-]
Star Fleet Admiral Posts: 5558 (09/07/07 22:48:20) Simulacrum Cretin Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	So it's official: The Birthgrave will be our group read for the Science Fiction Message Board for October of 2007. I just purchased a copy for $3.95 from Powells.com and opted to pick it up rather than pay for shipping (they are sending it from the Beaverton OR store to one closer in Portland for me for free!)
ljim2000	Re: Tanith Lee	#16	[-]
Star Fleet Admiral Posts: 5558 (09/09/07 10:53:38) Simulacrum Cretin Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	My copy of The Birthgrave has arrived at the Powell's nearer me now, so I'm picking it up this afternoon.
ljim2000	Re: Tanith Lee	#17	[-]
Star Fleet Admiral Posts: 5558 (09/28/07 17:05:10) Simulacrum Cretin Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I've cheated and started early, as I'd finished my last book, and didn't think I had time to knock off another before the group read starts officially. My edition has the Marion Zimmer Bradley intro which was a nice piece of enthusiastic hype. She had never heard of Tanith Lee when Donald Woldheim asked her to read it, and ended up polishing it off in one sitting. I'm sure she felt she'd found a literary soul mate. It certainly starts quite well!
Custer1	Re: Tanith Lee	#18	[-]
Star Fleet Admiral Posts: 5564 (09/29/07 00:11:18) Man of Tomorrow Wizard of Science By night known as: Captain Future Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	400 pages of rather small type in one sitting? I hope you manage to slow yourself down a bit compared to MZB, or this Read will be over before it has even begun!
dogpoet	Re: Tanith Lee	#19	[-]
Star Fleet Admiral Posts: 507 (09/29/07 06:06:44) Starship Commander Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	That sounds interesting, ljim. The edition of The Birthgrave I have has no introduction (but it does have a very nice Peter Jones cover painting...) Please buy my book, somebody?
Custer1	Re: Tanith Lee	#20	[-]
Star Fleet Admiral Posts: 5564 (09/29/07 09:01:11) Man of Tomorrow Wizard of Science By night known as: Captain Future Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	As previously mentioned, my first Daw edition from June 1975 says it has the MZB introduction, but all it does is quote it on the back cover. Quite a striking George Barr cover, as scanned in for the start of the "Author August" celebrations here, though perhaps his best Daw covers were for Thomas Burnett Swann's books; he also provided a frontispiece. a little bonus Daw quite often provided.

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