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kindkitRecently read: Inspired by Melissa Scott, I've been re-reading Katherine Kurtz's Deryni novels, which were dear to me in my youth. I was given the second trilogy, the Camber books, for Christmas when I was fifteen or sixteen; they were probably the first fantasy I'd ever read, and I fell in love with Kurtz's medieval-inspired world. It fostered not only my love for fantasy, but my later academic interest in medieval and early modern England.
So far I've re-read the first trilogy (Deryni Rising, Deryni Checkmate, High Deryni), the second trilogy (Camber of Culdi, Saint Camber, Camber the Heretic), and most of the third (The Harrowing of Gwynedd, King Javan's Year, and The Bastard Prince, which I've got waiting in the wings until I finish my library books). Re-reading reveals the books' flaws mercilessly: Deryni Rising is frankly terrible (and not helped by the self-congratulatory preface Kurtz has added to the new, expanded edition). The series does get better from there; the other books of the first (weakest, in my view) trilogy are already a dramatic improvement. But even the second trilogy, which I think is the series' high point, has problems ranging from poor characterization to repetitious and overly-detailed scenes of ritual magic to the fact that all the good guys are fairly devout Catholics while all the baddies are either hypocrites, religiously lax, or not-Catholic, e.g. fantasy-world versions of Orthodox Christian or Muslim.
I still feel the love, though. It helps that, considering the books have no canonically queer characters and a high level of implicit homophobia (a couple of the bad guys seem to be queer coded), there's a good deal of slashiness. Alister Cullen and Jebediah of Alcara, from the second trilogy, are practically canon--though smarm-canon, with priestly celibacy used as the guarantor of No Actual Homo--and I can see subtext for other pairings all over the place, though admittedly I'm good at that.
I can't actually recommend these books but I'd be happy to talk about them with anyone who has read them.
What I'm reading now: I'm about halfway through Mary Beard's SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome. I'm impressed by this book, which does what I always want popular history to do: while definitely written for the nonspecialist, it retains some of the rigor of academic history. In particular I like Beard's attention to historiography. She pays a lot of attention to problems of scant evidence, biased evidence (e.g. most of what we know about Catiline comes from his arch-enemy Cicero), and what evidence is actually evidence of (e.g., ancient Romans writing about Rome's early history often imported the concerns of their own times). And she makes an effort to explore traditionally silenced perspectives like those of women, the poor, and slaves. Beard also writes brisk, clear, fluid prose that's a pleasure to read.
What I'm reading next: I have two library books next on the agenda. A Kill in the Morning, by Graeme Shimmin, is a post-WWII alternate history, a genre I'm shamefully fond of. Could be good, could be dreadful. Matt's Ruff's Lovecraft Country, which explores the Lovecraft mythos and its underlying racism through the story of African Americans in the 1950s confronted with bigoted white cultists, is a book I've heard very good things about. I'm looking forward to it, though with some trepidation because I expect it will be wrenching. (Though it would have to work hard to be as devastating as Kai Ashante Wilson's extraordinary and brutal The Devil in America, which tackles similar themes of the murderous history of racism in America, though without the Lovecraft element.)
After I've read those, it will probably be back to the Deryni for me.
So far I've re-read the first trilogy (Deryni Rising, Deryni Checkmate, High Deryni), the second trilogy (Camber of Culdi, Saint Camber, Camber the Heretic), and most of the third (The Harrowing of Gwynedd, King Javan's Year, and The Bastard Prince, which I've got waiting in the wings until I finish my library books). Re-reading reveals the books' flaws mercilessly: Deryni Rising is frankly terrible (and not helped by the self-congratulatory preface Kurtz has added to the new, expanded edition). The series does get better from there; the other books of the first (weakest, in my view) trilogy are already a dramatic improvement. But even the second trilogy, which I think is the series' high point, has problems ranging from poor characterization to repetitious and overly-detailed scenes of ritual magic to the fact that all the good guys are fairly devout Catholics while all the baddies are either hypocrites, religiously lax, or not-Catholic, e.g. fantasy-world versions of Orthodox Christian or Muslim.
I still feel the love, though. It helps that, considering the books have no canonically queer characters and a high level of implicit homophobia (a couple of the bad guys seem to be queer coded), there's a good deal of slashiness. Alister Cullen and Jebediah of Alcara, from the second trilogy, are practically canon--though smarm-canon, with priestly celibacy used as the guarantor of No Actual Homo--and I can see subtext for other pairings all over the place, though admittedly I'm good at that.
I can't actually recommend these books but I'd be happy to talk about them with anyone who has read them.
What I'm reading now: I'm about halfway through Mary Beard's SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome. I'm impressed by this book, which does what I always want popular history to do: while definitely written for the nonspecialist, it retains some of the rigor of academic history. In particular I like Beard's attention to historiography. She pays a lot of attention to problems of scant evidence, biased evidence (e.g. most of what we know about Catiline comes from his arch-enemy Cicero), and what evidence is actually evidence of (e.g., ancient Romans writing about Rome's early history often imported the concerns of their own times). And she makes an effort to explore traditionally silenced perspectives like those of women, the poor, and slaves. Beard also writes brisk, clear, fluid prose that's a pleasure to read.
What I'm reading next: I have two library books next on the agenda. A Kill in the Morning, by Graeme Shimmin, is a post-WWII alternate history, a genre I'm shamefully fond of. Could be good, could be dreadful. Matt's Ruff's Lovecraft Country, which explores the Lovecraft mythos and its underlying racism through the story of African Americans in the 1950s confronted with bigoted white cultists, is a book I've heard very good things about. I'm looking forward to it, though with some trepidation because I expect it will be wrenching. (Though it would have to work hard to be as devastating as Kai Ashante Wilson's extraordinary and brutal The Devil in America, which tackles similar themes of the murderous history of racism in America, though without the Lovecraft element.)
After I've read those, it will probably be back to the Deryni for me.
no subject
Date: 2016-06-17 02:16 am (UTC)I think the posts go up on Mondays or Tuesdays. She's done the first trilogy and is in the middle of Camber of Culdi. Some rereads have ended up with lively discussions in the comments, but I haven't checked the comments sections here. I also have no idea how well Tor polices comments for trolls. I'd expect them to because it's the online face of their company, but... That doesn't always mean anything.
I remember seeing Kurtz speak at the first SF convention I went to. I was only there for Friday evening, I think. She was talking about visualization and self hypnosis.
I loved the Deryni books when I first read them, and I kept buying them up until the King Kelson trilogy. I've fallen away, and I'd be afraid to reread them now. I remember buying the first Camber book when I was sixteen or seventeen and being really, really excited to get my hands on it. I was visiting my grandparents in Florida during winter break, and I just wanted to dive into the book and ignore everyone around me.
But I still remember getting very, very angry at Kurtz for having gone to all the trouble of writing an essay about how Deryni powers were an X chromosome trait (the Haldane powers were, if I recall correctly, a Y chromosome trait) and then having a cis-male character inherit such powers from his father.
no subject
Date: 2016-06-17 01:16 pm (UTC)having a cis-male character inherit such powers from his father
Was that Duncan's son? Yeah, that doesn't make sense. Kurtz does say, somewhere in an essay in one of the expanded editions of the first three books, that she's now decided Deryni inheritance is more complicated than she made it sound in that essay. Or, in other words, she flubbed it. (As I recall now, there's at least one other case of the same mistake--a minor character, one of the Healer hostages, has a Deryni son with his human wife.)
no subject
Date: 2016-06-20 11:46 pm (UTC)Deryni inheritance being more complicated would be sensible, given the range of abilities and how some people are good at particular things. I think I'd be happier if Kurtz hadn't tried to explain the genetics.
I don't think I read King Kelson's Bride, but I really don't remember for sure. I was kind of surprised to find out that there are new (or at least newish) books in the series.
I think that Kurtz did a good job capturing the role religion would play in people's lives. I think the world beyond the borders is a bit Potemkin, however, and I'm not sure how I feel about the religion being Christianity. Part of me appreciates that she didn't disguise it, but using Christianity carries a lot of baggage.
no subject
Date: 2016-06-17 08:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-06-17 01:23 pm (UTC)