I’ve recently been consuming a lot of short fiction and anthologies in contrast to the novels I usually read.
I first decided to read a selection of stories in H.P Lovecraft’s Dream Cycle, such as Polaris, The White Ship, Celephais, and The Quest of Iranon. These are an interesting contrast to his more popular Cthulu Mythos stories, as they are more straight-up fantasy than horror (even though they still have horror elements). His descriptions of the Dreamlands are very surreal, and the stories can take on a fairy tale/fable-like feeling, as many of them convey morals through the protagonists' mistakes or character flaws. I remember having great memories of The White Ship, as it was one of the first Lovecraft stories I ever read in my early teens, along with Dagon. However, I think my new favorite of the Dream Cycle is Celephais.
I then finished reading William Gibson’s Burning Chrome, an anthology of his short science fiction stories. I had previously read Gibson’s Neuromancer three years ago and enjoyed it greatly, even if the high-tech terminology and dense prose made the story hard for me to get through at the time. I had wanted to continue Gibson’s cyberpunk trilogy with Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive, but I never got around to it. Lately, I’ve been feeling in the mood to finally read the trilogy, so to prepare myself I decided to read this anthology to get a better feel for Gibson’s style. What surprised me about this collection was the large number of ideas and themes that I remembered and recognized as being revisited in Neuromancer (along with I’m assuming the other two novels). I can only imagine I will find more parallels between Gibson’s short fiction and his novels as I eventually reread them and finish the series. My favorite stories in the collection are “The Gernsback Continuum,” “Hinterlands,” and the titular “Burning Chrome.”
Finally, I am in the middle of reading Robert E Howard’s Conan stories. I chose to get the 3 volume-illustrated Del Rey editions of the books, which present Howard's original unedited stories in the order in which they were written. I previously didn’t pay much attention to the character of Conan despite being familiar with the name since I was a kid. I guess I just had the association in my head that the character was a dumb brute and his stories were simple. However, I've heard from various places around the internet there is more to Conan and Howard than meets the eye. His close friendship with Lovecraft, his highly regarded writing style from the people who’ve read his work, and the many facets of Conan’s character mildly piqued my interest in exploring these stories. Although, what interested me the most was the apparent influence that this character had on Berserk. So, I finally decided to try reading his stories starting with The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian.
Howard’s Conan stories, from what little I’ve read, have been very fun tales. They are well-written and perfectly paced, and it’s cool to see where many of the fantasy conventions of today originated. The world of the Hyborean Age also reminds me of the world of Berserk, as both of them are fantasy worlds that have an uncanny resemblance to our own ancient history. Additionally, the scenes where Conan is fighting humans and cleaving through their armor with his brute strength remind me of Guts bisecting fully armored knights in the Black Swordsman arc. However, I loved the way magic is utilized the most. Unlike many fantasy stories I’ve read, magic in Conan is not only pure evil but Lovecraftian in nature. Very few people can actually use magic in these stories, so when there is a sorcerer or magician pitted against the protagonist, you know things are about to get real. My favorite stories so far are “The Frost Giant’s Daughter,” “The Tower of the Elephant,” and “The Scarlet Citadel.”
After all of my reading for Winter break, I have definitely gained a new appreciation for short fiction and I believe it has some advantages over novels. Short stories require less commitment than normal books due to the page limit and their standalone nature, which is appreciated when you are short on time (it also makes them highly re-readable). Authors also need to exercise their writing chops to make the most of the limited page space. Howard has been especially great at taking advantage of the low page count to create dense and moving stories.
), but it is the 'famous one' so I may as well.
