Elizabeth McCoy (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} archangelbeth) wrote,@ 2008-03-04 11:49:00 |
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A post about Barbara Hambly.
Who I do not know personally at all. But she has a LJ, which I'm subscribed to.
Recently, Janet Kagen, a cool author with far too few books, and at least one short-story that isn't in any book I know of, died. She had a LJ, too. I found this out only after her death. Blast it.
So, well, authors on LJ, right? Great opportunity to try to get over one's case of raving fangirlism and say, tongue-tiedly, "Hey. You write good."
In particular, while I was feeling so awful this morning (it's amazing how much better I'm doing after a mere hour or two's sleep, with some ibuprofen in me), I was reading one of her Ben January mysteries, Dead Water. (Also available for Amazon's Kindle reader.) And first off, it was a very nice distraction from the misery I was in, and second on -- as I've raved before but probably not all in one place, Ms. Hambly's ability with description... It makes me want to break out over-used adjectives like "rich" and "lush." It makes me want to babble about "paints a picture with words." And even better, it's not delivered in lumps that stop the action. (In fact, the "random" descriptions near the front of the book? Provide major clues for the resolution.) She's got that "literary" feel, with excellently-large words when needed, but it doesn't get in the way of the characters or the plot. It illustrates the characters and the plot.
When it comes to description, as a barely-published author myself? I wanna grow up to be her.
Thank you, Ms. Hambly, for all your books, all the enjoyment that I've gotten from them, and for giving me such an excellent example of descriptive text to aspire to.
PS: Also, the cliffhanger at the end ofThe Silicon Mage The Silent Tower? EVIL. ("It's either going to be a cliffhanger or really depressing and I don't know which would be worse.") I appreciate evil like that.
Who I do not know personally at all. But she has a LJ, which I'm subscribed to.
Recently, Janet Kagen, a cool author with far too few books, and at least one short-story that isn't in any book I know of, died. She had a LJ, too. I found this out only after her death. Blast it.
So, well, authors on LJ, right? Great opportunity to try to get over one's case of raving fangirlism and say, tongue-tiedly, "Hey. You write good."
In particular, while I was feeling so awful this morning (it's amazing how much better I'm doing after a mere hour or two's sleep, with some ibuprofen in me), I was reading one of her Ben January mysteries, Dead Water. (Also available for Amazon's Kindle reader.) And first off, it was a very nice distraction from the misery I was in, and second on -- as I've raved before but probably not all in one place, Ms. Hambly's ability with description... It makes me want to break out over-used adjectives like "rich" and "lush." It makes me want to babble about "paints a picture with words." And even better, it's not delivered in lumps that stop the action. (In fact, the "random" descriptions near the front of the book? Provide major clues for the resolution.) She's got that "literary" feel, with excellently-large words when needed, but it doesn't get in the way of the characters or the plot. It illustrates the characters and the plot.
When it comes to description, as a barely-published author myself? I wanna grow up to be her.
Thank you, Ms. Hambly, for all your books, all the enjoyment that I've gotten from them, and for giving me such an excellent example of descriptive text to aspire to.
PS: Also, the cliffhanger at the end of
