james_nicoll ([info]james_nicoll) wrote,
@ 2006-11-08 19:42:00
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Significant
I aksed Andrew what was meant by "significant" and got this answer (QWP):

"Not exactly "best" and not exactly "most popular," but somewhere in the
middle, with as much wiggle room as we could build in. Basically, they
were books that we thought were important to the history of the field,
for various reasons."

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[info]mmcirvin
2006-11-08 11:11 pm UTC (link)
"Influential" is a good word.

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[info]countrycousin
2006-11-08 11:28 pm UTC (link)
I read The Sword of Shannara, even enjoyed much of doing so. But it is hard for me to consider it significant. And that is a better opinion than that of many. :<) First significant EFP? If that isn't a contradiction in terms.

The anticipation of The Silmarillion was significant. I'm not sure the actualization was.

But, for those I'm aware of, it was a good list.

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[info]james_nicoll
2006-11-08 11:31 pm UTC (link)
I read The Sword of Shannara, even enjoyed much of doing so. But it is hard for me to consider it significant.

It was hugely influential, in the same way that JAWS was. Before SoS (and Moany Leper Man), that kind of extruded fantasy bloatware didn't exist.

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[info]ccfinlay
2006-11-17 03:28 am UTC (link)
Along with SoS and Moany Leper, don't forget Neil Hancock's CIRCLE OF LIGHT books; bestsellers, another variation on the quest fantasy clear-cut good/evil theme. He's been forgotten, but he was hugely popular at the time and helped sell similar books by other authors. Iirc.

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Well...
[info]seawasp
2006-11-09 12:17 am UTC (link)
... Sword of Shannara was the first large-scale fantasy published since LotR, along with the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. It also did EXTREMELY well, demonstrating that there was a MARKET for such things.

You may not LIKE the resulting market, but it was,indeed, tremendously influential in establishing fantasy as a genre. I suspect RPGs such as D&D were one of the other key factors.

Note that BEFORE SoS, fantasy accounted for a small fraction of the SF/F sales; these days, fantasy is the BIG seller and regular SF is the little one.

I happened to LOVE The Silmarillion; I reread it every so often.

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Re: Well...
[info]davidgoldfarb
2006-11-09 12:49 am UTC (link)
I remember when The Silmarillion came out, I'd already read The Hobbit and TLotR something like ten times. So I read The Silmarillion over and over, even though I didn't really enjoy it, until I'd read it as many times as the others.

I now regard this as nothing short of insane, but it seemed sensible at the time.

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Re: Well...
[info]dd_b
2006-11-09 05:01 am UTC (link)
Wow. I'm with you. Um, the current you, I mean.

I did read it all the way through when it came out, which I now regard as probably a poor use of time.

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Re: Well...
[info]countrycousin
2006-11-09 02:44 am UTC (link)
You have a (significant?) point.

Actually I like the market. I am even re-reading some Eddings books at the moment. And I still have SoS. Somewhere. I think. And it is significant because it showed publishers could sell books like that to people like me? Now I see why folks like to believe in the forgiveness of sins. ;<)

I have the Silmarillion. I have re-read parts. I think part of the delight of LotR for me was seeing the story through the perceptions of the hobbits. The Silmarillion has great tales of great beings but it was harder to become emotionally involved.

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Re: Well...
[info]seawasp
2006-11-09 05:02 pm UTC (link)
SoS is the book I've ended up being the lone crazed defender of for years. It does help that after years of doing so, I finally met Terry Brooks and found that he's one of the nicest guys I've ever met. And the later Shannara books built on what he did, departing ever farther from "LotR Clone".

In the case of the Silmarillion, well, some of my favorite reading as a kid was Greek and Norse mythology books. The Silmarillion was Just Like Those, only for Middle-Earth. To me that was a "How incredibly COOL is THAT!!!" moment.

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Re: Well...
[info]mjlayman
2006-11-09 09:50 pm UTC (link)
I'd rather have good books than nice authors.

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Re: Well...
[info]seawasp
2006-11-10 04:50 am UTC (link)
I'd rather have good books than nice authors.

Fortunately, I feel I got both. I know many people think I'm mad, but really I'm just slightly annoyed.

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Re: Well...
[info]redbird
2006-11-16 01:07 pm UTC (link)
In some cases, I have both, but not all nice people are good writers.

And there's the extremity of the other direction, where I find an author personally or politically offensive enough that I won't buy his books, because I don't want to give him the royalties. (Pronoun chosen because thus far the few cases of this are all men.) If the books themselves are good, I may read a borrowed (library or friend) or second-hand copy.

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Re: Well...
[info]amberdine
2006-11-17 02:59 am UTC (link)
Hey, I join you in no-longer-lone crazy defense!

SoS and sequels were some of my favorite books at the time. Years later, after having heard all the bashing, I figured, gee, I must've had bad taste.

But on rereading, if I had bad taste, I guess I still do. They're fun.

Your Silmarillion to mythology connection was like my Narnia to Christianity connection. "No way, that was just LIKE ASLAN!!" Heh.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]shewhomust
2006-11-17 11:37 am UTC (link)
(Here via [info]sartorias) Thanks for that definition: I've quoted it in my post on the subject.

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Who can help me with .httpaccess ?
(Anonymous)
2007-02-05 02:26 am UTC (link)
Who can help me with .httpaccess ?
where i can fined full information about .httpaccess file syntaxis?

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