Anansi Boys
I'm reading Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys, and like anything Neil produces, it's genius. I'm starting, finally, to notice some patterns in the writers I really like, the ones that make me miss stops on the bus because I'm so engrossed in the story. The primary examples of these are Neil himself and Diane Duane, and the points in common - apart from the slightly similar milieu of magic and weirdness in the normal world - is the language. Solid, plain language, with no frills, leaving all the weird stuff to happen in the story. This kicks my other favourite writers, China Mieville and Barbara Hambly, down a notch on the overall scale, because they both glory in words, and stopping to work out what chiaroscuro or watercraeft might be breaks the run of the story - fine words though they both are.
Posted by Drew Shiel at October 6, 2005 1:55 PM
