Perished Palantir
New Member
Hello one,
Hello all...
My first name is actually Martin, not Perished – there are a lot of things for which my folks are to blamed, but at least my moniker isn't one of them. I'm quite an old geezer (early 50s) and I've been writing since I was a teen (never professionally, I must add, only for my own amusement). For the last two decades I've been rolling around a fantasy novel in my head, wrote two 200,000-word drafts and then promptly deleted them after realising they'd been infected terminally by LotR, Medieval, and D&D tropes. It was painful at the time, but I consider them healthy excisions, now that time has blurred the initial horror I felt after tapping that button.
Anyway, that's enough about me. Anyone would think I'm an egomaniac or something (who would ever accuse a wannabe writer of having a rampant ego, huh?!)
For a soupçon of my literary tastes I present a top 5:
LotR (of course, it has to be at the top.) I first read it when I was nine, and it did a pretty good job of showing me a world that didn’t exist, but definitely should have existed.
Gormenghast. I didn’t get round to Peake until I was in my 30s, and I regret all those lost years. The man was a genius, horribly cut down by the Fates.
The short stories of Clark Ashton Smith, particularly the Averoigne tales.
The Conan tales of Robert E. Howard. Again, I came to Howard late. And yes, Conan is a complete organ of the male persuasion (particularly in the God in the Bowl, where he decapitates someone for telling a lie). I still like the Cimmerian, though, despite the fact that if I met him in real life I'd run a mile in the opposite direction
Last, and by no means least, I present Little, Big by John Crowley. I first read this when I was seven or eight, and I admit a lot of its nuances flew right over my head. Coming back to it at a later date just proves to me what great taste I had as a child. Somebody should give me a medal or something. Maybe three cheers would suffice. I’ll let you decide.
Top Five songs? Oh, if you insist, but you’re really just embarrassing me…
An English Lady of a Certain Age by the Divine Comedy. For someone who generally doesn’t like pop songs, this is just sublime,
The Circle of the Tyrant by Obituary (not the Celtic Frost original). An absolutely brutal song made gloriously more brutal.
Winter Sky by Big Country. Been a BC fan since my teens. This was never an album track, having been recorded in an empty room before a gig. Still a great song.
A Pagan Place by the Waterboys. Like BC, I got into these guys (one guy?) at around the same time. Some songs just speak to you…
The Rotting Horse on the Deadly Ground by Summoning. An Austrian duo, whose lyrics and themes are drawn almost exclusively from the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien. (See? You were wondering how I was going to twist things back to the fantasy genre, yet I confounded you with my genius. Apologies in hard currency only…Whatyamean the banks are closed and the internet’s down? Why you, I oughtta…. )
Movies, you say? Why, you’ll be wanting to know my inside leg measurement before long, you tease! Well, okay, as long as you promise me dinner afterward…..
Harvey. A giant invisible rabbit. What's not to love?
Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. I never saw it in the theatre. I heard the BBC radio play many years later. Then I finally saw the film adaptation. I bow to those who say the movie is the inferior version, yet still it tickles - nay strokes!- my fancy. Heads!
Dead Man's Shoes. To quote Harry Enfield, of whom I'm positive most of those reading this will be unaware, “It's grim up north....” but still morbidly amusing.
Europa Report. A science-fiction movie *hiss*, but isn't all SF a jog rather than step into the fantasy realm? I like it, because the alien encountered is something nobody would want to meet, tip a hat to, or try to turn in to a biological - weapon. It's scary.
The League of Gentlemen (1960). Just one of the films I always come back to, like a comfy blanket.
And that's about all the personal information I'm willing to divulge to strangers on the internet. If anybody wants more details, they'll have to buy me lots of strong alcohol and maybe some underwear that doesn't chafe...who knows, ya might get lucky....
Hello all...
My first name is actually Martin, not Perished – there are a lot of things for which my folks are to blamed, but at least my moniker isn't one of them. I'm quite an old geezer (early 50s) and I've been writing since I was a teen (never professionally, I must add, only for my own amusement). For the last two decades I've been rolling around a fantasy novel in my head, wrote two 200,000-word drafts and then promptly deleted them after realising they'd been infected terminally by LotR, Medieval, and D&D tropes. It was painful at the time, but I consider them healthy excisions, now that time has blurred the initial horror I felt after tapping that button.
Anyway, that's enough about me. Anyone would think I'm an egomaniac or something (who would ever accuse a wannabe writer of having a rampant ego, huh?!)
For a soupçon of my literary tastes I present a top 5:
LotR (of course, it has to be at the top.) I first read it when I was nine, and it did a pretty good job of showing me a world that didn’t exist, but definitely should have existed.
Gormenghast. I didn’t get round to Peake until I was in my 30s, and I regret all those lost years. The man was a genius, horribly cut down by the Fates.
The short stories of Clark Ashton Smith, particularly the Averoigne tales.
The Conan tales of Robert E. Howard. Again, I came to Howard late. And yes, Conan is a complete organ of the male persuasion (particularly in the God in the Bowl, where he decapitates someone for telling a lie). I still like the Cimmerian, though, despite the fact that if I met him in real life I'd run a mile in the opposite direction
Last, and by no means least, I present Little, Big by John Crowley. I first read this when I was seven or eight, and I admit a lot of its nuances flew right over my head. Coming back to it at a later date just proves to me what great taste I had as a child. Somebody should give me a medal or something. Maybe three cheers would suffice. I’ll let you decide.
Top Five songs? Oh, if you insist, but you’re really just embarrassing me…
An English Lady of a Certain Age by the Divine Comedy. For someone who generally doesn’t like pop songs, this is just sublime,
The Circle of the Tyrant by Obituary (not the Celtic Frost original). An absolutely brutal song made gloriously more brutal.
Winter Sky by Big Country. Been a BC fan since my teens. This was never an album track, having been recorded in an empty room before a gig. Still a great song.
A Pagan Place by the Waterboys. Like BC, I got into these guys (one guy?) at around the same time. Some songs just speak to you…
The Rotting Horse on the Deadly Ground by Summoning. An Austrian duo, whose lyrics and themes are drawn almost exclusively from the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien. (See? You were wondering how I was going to twist things back to the fantasy genre, yet I confounded you with my genius. Apologies in hard currency only…Whatyamean the banks are closed and the internet’s down? Why you, I oughtta…. )
Movies, you say? Why, you’ll be wanting to know my inside leg measurement before long, you tease! Well, okay, as long as you promise me dinner afterward…..
Harvey. A giant invisible rabbit. What's not to love?
Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. I never saw it in the theatre. I heard the BBC radio play many years later. Then I finally saw the film adaptation. I bow to those who say the movie is the inferior version, yet still it tickles - nay strokes!- my fancy. Heads!
Dead Man's Shoes. To quote Harry Enfield, of whom I'm positive most of those reading this will be unaware, “It's grim up north....” but still morbidly amusing.
Europa Report. A science-fiction movie *hiss*, but isn't all SF a jog rather than step into the fantasy realm? I like it, because the alien encountered is something nobody would want to meet, tip a hat to, or try to turn in to a biological - weapon. It's scary.
The League of Gentlemen (1960). Just one of the films I always come back to, like a comfy blanket.
And that's about all the personal information I'm willing to divulge to strangers on the internet. If anybody wants more details, they'll have to buy me lots of strong alcohol and maybe some underwear that doesn't chafe...who knows, ya might get lucky....
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