Kind of surprised there's no A. A. Attanasio threads.

[ddawson]

One of my favorites. Beautiful lush environments, probably due to living in Hawaii. Link to his home page: http://www.aaattanasio.com/index.htm

Would like to hear what others think of him and his books.

 

[Venusian Broon]

Hey ddawson - just seen your post (I'm more on the writing side, rather than the reading, as I don't like 'polluting' my mind by reading other people's books while I write primary chunks of my own work !)

I haven't read much of his work but I have got The Last Legends of Earth which I have to say I adored. Big multi-universe stuff, big eras of time, big interconnected stories. Why I haven't got round to reading anything else of his...is a mystery. I think at the time I then found PKD, Dickens and Dune and a whole bunch of other stuff. (There just isn't enough time in the world to even finish the books that are already published, and here I am trying to add more...)

What of his books do you recommend?

 

[j d worthington]

One of my favorites. Beautiful lush environments, probably due to living in Hawaii. Link to his home page: http://www.aaattanasio.com/index.htm

Would like to hear what others think of him and his books.

Simply put, Attanasio hasn't drawn much attention for a while now, thus is not "hot" subject matter for discussion. Not due to any lack of ability or worth (I've not read that much, and what I did has been some time back, but it left a very favorable impression), but simply a shift in what catches peoples' eye.

At any rate, here's hoping that this can get the ball rolling, as I agree that there is plenty for several conversations there....

 

[ddawson]

Hi VB and JD - Nothing like starting a thread and then bailing for a week due to being buried in BS . . . should be more careful what I start.

(I'm more on the writing side, rather than the reading, as I don't like 'polluting' my mind by reading other people's books while I write primary chunks of my own work !)

I haven't read much of his work but I have got The Last Legends of Earth which I have to say I adored. Big multi-universe stuff, big eras of time, big interconnected stories. Why I haven't got round to reading anything else of his...is a mystery. I think at the time I then found PKD, Dickens and Dune and a whole bunch of other stuff. (There just isn't enough time in the world to even finish the books that are already published, and here I am trying to add more...)

What of his books do you recommend?

Understand that first part and don't blame you. Fortunately (or unfortunately) I haven't tried writing (well) enough except in brief spurts to have others affect my writing. I tend to read in some sort of fantasy world with lots of image and impression, but my memory sucks. Things I observe shove inwards instead of out. Too many fevers as a kid or too many drugs and alcohol later or just a basket case? Probably the latter and the others were just a relief from it. Fortunately didn't have TV for most of my childhood so learned to read young and went hog wild. Almost have my life set up so I can finish writing all the crap I started and never finished that's stuck in my head, we'll see if it actually happens.

Hard to compare the world building in The Last Legends of Earth with anything other than his Dominions of Irth trilogy (Under pseudonym Adam Lee in the US and his own name in the UK???? - Publisher trying to resolve something?), though Last Legends was tastier.

Read PKD, Dickens and all Herbert's books before Attanasio was published. Read Radix first, then Last Legends. Picked up the other books in the series later and found them all very loosely related.

Solis was a fun read, as was Wyvern (his first novel). His Perilous Order of Camelot is an interpretation of the Arthurian legends with everything else added in (faeries, unicorns, witches and women, black holes, alternate realities, the war between pantheism and monotheism, etc... all mixed up the those legends.)

Been trying to find some of his other UK releases that aren't available here, though he now has them available on Kindle, just like reading in book form instead of electronic.

Simply put, Attanasio hasn't drawn much attention for a while now, thus is not "hot" subject matter for discussion. Not due to any lack of ability or worth (I've not read that much, and what I did has been some time back, but it left a very favorable impression), but simply a shift in what catches peoples' eye.

He seems to have finished his work of getting all his books available electronically, so hopefully he starts some new novels.

 

[Venusian Broon]

Cheers ddawson, I may have to find space in my 'books to get, then read' list - although it is groaning with far too much stuff. I think, looking at his bibliography, that he went fantasy when I was exploring other genres and authors so that is why he dropped off my radar.

 

[BigBadBob141]

The only book I have read by A. A. Attanasio is "Wyvern" which was a long time ago.
It's really a historical adventure, not really fantasy but it was well written and I enjoyed it a lot so would recommend it.
I will have to keep an eye out for more off his stuff!