Today wraps up my first blog tour with CSFF. Thanks everyone for your comments and participation–your answers to my question yesterday are fascinating.
When I first visited Dean’s HiddenLands.net, I was struck by the beginning of his “About Me” page:
Dean Barkley Briggs is an author, father of eight, and prone to twisting his ankle playing basketball. He grew up reading J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Patricia McKillip, Guy Gavriel Kay, Stephen R. Donaldson, Ursula K. Leguin, Susan Cooper, Madeline L’Engle, Terry Brooks, Andre Norton and Lloyd Alexander (just to name a few)…and generally thinks most fantasy fiction pales in comparison. (Yes, he dabbled in sci-fi, too. Most notably Bradbury, Burroughs and Heinlein).
Yesterday I asked why you write. One answer which I think holds true for most–if not all–of us is that we write because we read. As children, and now as adults, our ways of imagining and understanding the world are shaped by what we read. Mr. Briggs’ list struck me because it reflected my own reading list as a kid: with the exception of Donaldson (who I didn’t like), Norton (who I haven’t read), McKillip (who I read and liked, but wasn’t hugely struck by) and Kay (who’s a very recent discovery), he’s naming my own formative influences. Add Robin McKinley and Stephen R. Lawhead to the list, and you’re looking at the foundations of my young imagination.
I’ve long thought that I owe a special debt to Susan Cooper and Lloyd Alexander, neither of whom are household names the way Lewis, Tolkien, or J.K. Rowling are. So it was fun to come across this video on YouTube, wherein Dean Barkley Briggs names and talks about two of his favourite authors … you can probably guess who :).
I’ll be blogging about The Book of Names again once I actually get a chance to read the book :). In the meantime, I pass the question on to you: Who do you read? Who did you read as a child? Whose work has been most influential in shaping your imagination?
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