Marion Zimmer Bradley ?

[Moontravler]

Hi guys. I searched the forum, but there doesn't seem to be much regarding this prolific author.

I read something of hers years ago, and would like to try her again, but I'd like to hear some recommendations from Zimmer Bradley fans on which books would be a good starting point. Thanks.

 

[nixie]

I've only read

Avalon
1. The Mists of Avalon (1979)
2. The Forest House (1993) (with Diana L Paxson)
aka The Forests of Avalon
3. Lady of Avalon (1997) (with Diana L Paxson)
4. Priestess of Avalon (2000) (with Diana L Paxson)

and one she wrote about Cassandra of Troy. I have to say I found them all enjoyable but The Mists of Avalon has to be my favourite Aurthian legend ever.

 

[Moontravler]

Thanks so much for your input Nixie! When I researched her lately, I saw that there is a huge series based on a planet called Darkover. I've been wondering if they are any good, and then she also has a Sword and Sorceress series.

I'll definitely be reading the Avalon series - I already have mists of Avalon and Priestess of Avalon, will look for the interceding books.
I adore Arthurian legend, so I suppose it's a no-brainer that I should start with them.

Thanks again.

 

[Allanon]

Right, i now know my next strain of reading to search for. i'm running a small library at work and am intending to replace most of the books that i dont want to read with ones from recommendations here that i will want to. selfish i know but not that many people utilise my library so i may as well have it for my own useage.

 

[j d worthington]

The Darkover series varies in quality, as well as in type. Some of them are of the older blend of sf and fantasy one saw so much of in the 1940s and 1950s; some are much closer to outright fantasy. It has been about 20 years or more since I last read the set, so I'm not sure I could give you specifics, but I would advise at least looking some of them up and seeing what you think....

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I agree with JD that the quality of the Darkover books varies. The earliest books tend to be a little thin. The later books were written when she was in a physical decline and I don't think those are among her best, either. It's the middle period where she truly was writing at the height of her powers.

As for the Sword and Sorceress books, she didn't write those. They are anthologies of stories by other writers, which Bradley edited. Those and some of the Darkover anthologies (as opposed to the novels) often contain early stories by writers who later went on to success on their own. As such, they're a good introduction to a lot of authors one might not have read before.

 

[j d worthington]

That reminds me... I meant to post this link as an aid to knowing which was which, and it slipped my mind:

Marion Zimmer Bradley Bibliography

 

[Moontravler]

Thank you, people. Well, I'll look at the chronological bibliography and start in the middle, and look up reviews for those.

Phew, sometimes I think researching what to read next is almost more taxing/time-consuming than the actual reading itself... .. but with so many books and hybrid genres and subgenres around these days to choose from, one does need to plan your reading.

 

[Ian Whates]

I read the Darkover books many many years ago, starting with The Sword of Aldones which was actually the first written but comes fairly late in the series' chronology.

In common with many Darkover fans, I loved this book and it remained my favourite of the entire series. The fact that Sword was so popular used to irritate the author enormously, at least to judge by several interviews with her that I read, in which she all but disowned the book and expressed puzzlement that it remained such a favourite.

I always felt I could have explained the book's popularity to her in an instant, given the chance. Yes, later books might have been more substantial and better written, but Sword had pace, excitement and, most importantly, a real sense of wonder. Many of the later volumes, it seemed to me, spent a great deal of time deconstructing the elements of wonder within Swords and turning them into something very mundane and unexciting. Better characters, quite probably, better plotting, undoubtedly, but much slower in tempo and a great deal less energy and impact.

 

[Siberian]

I also read The Sword of Aldones first before I even knew it was part of the series and enjoyed it quite a bit. I read a couple of other books (can't remember the titles now, I think it was an omnibus reprint in the 1990s) but they didn't grip me as much.

By the way, wasn't SoA reworked into another novel years later? Would be interesting to compare it with the original.

 

[Natasha Bennett]

I loved reading the Sword and Sorceress series when I was a kid. I still have a couple of her books in storage.

 

[chrispenycate]

MZB wrote a number of other books, apart from the Avalon and Darkover series, some straight SF, some pure fantasy (I'm not on my computer here, so looking out the references is a bit more difficult) but I think "All the colours of space" (or something like that), "Witchlight" and - what were the Atlantis ones called? for SF, historical fantasy and urban (or at least rural) fantasy. Even mainsteam. She was writing in a period when very few female authors in the genre were owning up to their gender, and was important in opening the way for the present generation, both with the sword and sorceress series.

I wrote her a couple of letters explaining the physics and biology of her Darkover universe () which got printed in her newsletter, and she was nice enough to suggest that my writing was not as bad as all that, and that I should develop it (which was not true at the time, but I suppose tha an editor of anthologies gets to read some really inferior stuff. Besides, with a name like 'Chris' she couldn't know whether she was encouraging a male or a female.)

But her eclectic 'bit of F, bit of SF' was the recognisable point; "Hunters of the red moon") anyone?

An important influence.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I also read The Sword of Aldones first before I even knew it was part of the series and enjoyed it quite a bit. By the way, wasn't SoA reworked into another novel years later? Would be interesting to compare it with the original.

Sharra's Exile. It was a good book, but I never did like the way Bradley went back and rewrote some of her stories so that the characters and the plots became entirely different. Although I said that her early books were a little thin, I did enjoy them, and as The Sword of Aldones was one of the first that I read, I've always had a sentimental attachment to the characters and events of that story.

 

[Ian Whates]

Sharra's Exile. It was a good book, but I never did like the way Bradley went back and rewrote some of her stories so that the characters and the plots became entirely different. Although I said that her early books were a little thin, I did enjoy them, and as The Sword of Aldones was one of the first that I read, I've always had a sentimental attachment to the characters and events of that story.

I agree with you, Teresa. It's not that Sharra's Exile was a bad book, but I felt almost affronted by MZB's attempt to rewrite her own created history, as if she were determined to expunge a much loved book from the series entirely.

 

[digs]

I read The Mists of Avalon for uni and loved it (despite being forced to study it). I thought it was a brilliant take on the Arthurian legend, beautifully weaving fantasy and history and imbuing everything with the inevitable sense of sadness and doom that usually goes with King Arthur. The only modern take on the Arthurian legend that beats it, in my opinion, is Patricia Kennealy-Morrison's second Keltiad trilogy (though Marion Zimmer Bradley is much better known).

I have a few of Bradley's other Avalon novels lurking around but for some reason I've never gotten to reading them - I get the impression that Mists was her best (of that series, anyway).

 

[Moontravler]

Hmm, nice Zimmer Bradley chat. I definitely need to pick her up. (I've known that for a long time, but she's quite prolific, so not easy to know where to start - but I need to go with Avalon first, I think).

Patricia Kennealy-Morrison's second Keltiad trilogy

Ha! Made a note of that one - thanks!

 

[digs]

No worries. Just a heads up (I don't know if you're familiar with Kennealy-Morrison or not): the Keltiad imagines that many of the Celts, along with their mythology and magic, fled Earth in very late Roman times, migrated to distant planets, and developed futuristic technology there. The first trilogy is about the people of Earth reconnecting with the people of Keltia in the distant future, the second goes into Keltia's history and explores the King Arthur/Guinevere/Morgan myth in that setting. So it's a bit of a sci-fi/fantasy combo, written in a nice lyrical and sort of old timey prose, which I find beautiful but others find annoying. Also the books might be quite difficult to get nowadays.

Anyway, sorry, I'm not trying to hijack the thread. Ummm, now to return to MZB...yeahhhh.

 

[elvet]

Good thread, Moontravler. I see her books at the bookstore - she's very prolific - but I never know where to start. I like Arthurian fiction, so I may give the Avalon books a try.

 

[Ian Whates]

The reason the Darkover books so caught my imagination was that the whole concept behind them was so wondrous and novel.

Expanding human society discovers a colony world where science has developed along psychic lines rather than technological. Groups of psychics, combining various talents, would form gestalts that were able to do many of the things technology did on other worlds. A feudal system with psychic aristocracy, except that at the time of rediscovery, the telepaths etc who had ruled and provided for the populace for so long had all but died out.

Great premise, and the series progressed into both the planet's future and past from there.

 

[JagLover]

The reason the Darkover books so caught my imagination was that the whole concept behind them was so wondrous and novel.

Expanding human society discovers a colony world where science has developed along psychic lines rather than technological. Groups of psychics, combining various talents, would form gestalts that were able to do many of the things technology did on other worlds. A feudal system with psychic aristocracy, except that at the time of rediscovery, the telepaths etc who had ruled and provided for the populace for so long had all but died out.

Great premise, and the series progressed into both the planet's future and past from there.

The only books I have read of hers are the Darkover ones. Some interesting books like the Saga of the Renunciates, which is quite a feminist take on sci-fi/fantasy.

Not the most well written of books, but very interesting in their world building and themes. A world away really from some of the Tolkein clones in the genre.