Sci-2 Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 Ah now see Vance doesn't vary his voice AT ALL and yet it is so ridiculously eloquent that I just don't care.Well neither does Mieville. Valente does to an extent, though I think her voice is pretty recognizable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 QFT regarding Vance. An awesome writer. The Lyonesse trilogy, in its one-volume omnibus edition, may be the definitive work of secondary world fantasy in one volume, alongside Lord of the Rings (a case could also be made for Dying Earth, except that Lyonesse is one continuing story, whilst Dying Earth is very episodic).Stephen R Donaldson varies his prose quite a bit. Contrast his Gap cycle with his Convenant series.Indeed. And contrast the prose in The Real Story with the four books that follow. Completely different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Sheepf*cker Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 Felix Gilman, Mieville, Vandermeer, K.J.Bishop, Wolfe, Kay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbpark Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 Right now, M.John Harrison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liffguard Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 Tolkien was remarkably inconsistent and could often come across as very twee but when he was on form he could stand with the best of them. Theoden's charge on the Pelennor fields is probably the greatest passage I've ever read. It's funny, because I usually prefer a more minimalist style like, say, FX Toole (who isn't SF to be fair). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 Right now, M.John Harrison.No. Bad. Bad bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BookWyrm Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 QFT regarding Vance. An awesome writer. The Lyonesse trilogy, in its one-volume omnibus edition, may be the definitive work of secondary world fantasy in one volume, alongside Lord of the Rings (a case could also be made for Dying Earth, except that Lyonesse is one continuing story, whilst Dying Earth is very episodic).I couldn't agree more with you, and all the preceding posts that mention Vance.I think Mervyn Peake is also great.An author that I hear quoted a lot when people talk about prose is Lord Dunsany, but personally, I can't stand that over-the-top dreamy stuff. It feels overdone to me. The same goes to Lovecraft, who tried to emulate Dunsany. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dietl Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 I think this Abercrombie guy has some really good prose. Reading the beginning of Red Country really was a pleasure for me.Other than that Peake, Rothfuss, Martin, Wolfe and Erikson were the authors whose prose I remember liking very much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Datepalm Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 Jesus, Kay's prose makes me nauseas these days, frankly. Bloated purple squigliness. About what prose sets out to accomplish - yeah, I think trying to write has made appreciate the difficulty of readability over prettiness. They're not necessarily contradictory, but having pretty without readable is not much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamjm Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 I think Roger Zelazny has some very good prose, particularly in Creatures of Light and Darkness.Out of modern SF authors I think Ian McDonald does a good job of varying his prose to match the setting and character he is writing about.I'll agree with the mentions of M. John Harrison and Kay.Which leads to the question, which SFF authors have the greatest range, able to vary their voice depending on the workThis immediately makes me think of Cloud Atlas where David Mitchell did a great job of varying his prose between six different writing style and some of the stories did have great prose (even if some bits of the book like Half Lives used deliberately plain prose). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seli Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 Tolkien was remarkably inconsistent and could often come across as very twee but when he was on form he could stand with the best of them. Theoden's charge on the Pelennor fields is probably the greatest passage I've ever read. It's funny, because I usually prefer a more minimalist style like, say, FX Toole (who isn't SF to be fair).He was varied, and that intentionally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howdyphillip Posted March 29, 2013 Share Posted March 29, 2013 Any list that doesn't contain Ray Bradbury and Robert A Heinlein in the category of prose in science fiction needs to be burned and scattered to the winds... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard Posted March 29, 2013 Share Posted March 29, 2013 :ack: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naz Posted March 29, 2013 Share Posted March 29, 2013 To me, there's Le Guin, Wolfe, and Vance and then everyone else. I'm just talking prose here, not story. So while I love Tolkien and Martin to death, their prose is not as uniformly... amazing... as the former three. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle Loechner Posted March 29, 2013 Author Share Posted March 29, 2013 This is the trend I'm seeing: the masters of prose don't sell many books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDanish Posted March 29, 2013 Share Posted March 29, 2013 It remains to be scene (sic). But mostly people are just saying whose prose they like, which is hard to disagree with. It's when they start explaining what good prose is that I usually rub my temples and shake my head and say stuff like, "these goddamn kids need to get off my prose-lawn."Joe Abercrombie's prose is obviously the best of them all, especially when he personally signs copies of his books and sends them to loyal fans :drunk: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheEvilKing Posted March 29, 2013 Share Posted March 29, 2013 I like the prose of Daniel Fox (Chaz Brenchley) and Felix Gilman.I find Mieville's prose to be often overrated. To me, it's his ideas and world-building where he stands out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord of Rhinos Posted March 29, 2013 Share Posted March 29, 2013 Dan Simmons is one of the best prose writers in SFF. He can vary his voice better than just about anyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Abercrombie Posted March 29, 2013 Share Posted March 29, 2013 Joe Abercrombie's prose is obviously the best of them all, especially when he personally signs copies of his books and sends them to loyal fans :drunk:Your signed book is in the mail.But it may not arrive for ten thousand years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted March 29, 2013 Share Posted March 29, 2013 Right now, M.John Harrison.M. John Harrisons has some very good prose.Shame about his skills with characterisation. And plot. And everything else.(caveat: based on the Viriconium novels and short stories alone) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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