In part, what prompted yesterday’s post about alligators
and mummies was a panel discussion at a Science Fiction convention five years
ago. A writer with a few short stories to
her credit launched into a diatribe on what, to her mind, constituted proper
Fantasy. The man seated next to her,
Eldon Thompson, had written three High Fantasy novels. He mentioned that Terry Brooks had served as
his mentor, and that he had written a screenplay for Brooks’ novel, The
Elfstones of Shannara.
The woman turned to Thompson and said, “I think Terry Brooks
sucks.”
Terry Brooks is a New York Times Bestselling author. In the 1970s, editor Lester Del Rey used
Brooks’ first novel, The Sword of Shannara, to launch the modern High Fantasy
market. I enjoyed reading his Shannara
and Landover novels in my teens and twenties.
His novels were the perfect compliment to the Dungeons & Dragons
games I played with my friends, and formed a major portion of my
shelf-space. While I admired J. R. R.
Tolkien’s richly imagined Middle Earth, I found the Shannara novels more
accessible than The Lord of the Rings. Of
course, as we grow older, our tastes change, and I haven’t read Terry Brooks in
a long time. Still, I have fond memories
of doing so, and would like to reread his books again. Providing it was faithful to the original material, I’d
also love to see a Shannara movie.
I’m not sure why we, as common people, feel the need to pull
down the mighty. Just as some zoo
visitors might jeer and seek to provoke strong, predatory animals (but only if
they’re in a cage), we jeer celebrities and those who have reached the top of
their chosen profession. Remember how
the Bee Gees dominated the air waves in the 1970s, until a couple radio
personalities convinced their listeners how cool it would be to burn their Bee
Gees albums? Remember how moviegoers
took a dislike to an interview in which Tom Cruise actually dared assert an
unpopular opinion, and how it almost cost him his moviestar status? Remember how Brendan Fraser dared gain weight
and star in “Furry Vengeance” after his three Mummy movies? Forget all the movies that received good
reviews and generated lots of revenue. Suddenly,
we cry, “The guy’s lost it as an actor! It’s his fault Universal decided to pull the plug on the
current series and reboot The Mummy franchise!”
It’s as if we feel that, through bringing down the mighty, our own accomplishments
will accrue more significance.
To a certain extent, I’m conflicted as to what I wrote yesterday.
Criticism of another’s work can prove
valuable, and is sometimes necessary.
But slamming someone’s efforts because they’re not (or no longer) to
your taste, or ridiculing their previous accomplishments because they’ve since
done something else that you didn’t like, only serves to show others how
ruthless you can be.
Most of us admire strength and despise weakness. I suppose that’s why we attack others when
they’re down, or make provocative remarks “just to get a reaction.” We regularly probe our friends and peers in
innumerable ways, and if these tests elicit what we regard as weakness, we lose
respect for them. I’ve never understood
that mindset, but then, there’s so much of human behavior that I don’t
understand. (I guess that’s why I
decided to be a writer, ha!) But on one
topic I have no doubt whatsoever.
Terry Brooks definitely doesn’t suck. In fact, I regard him as a masterful storyteller.
Great! Now that I’m
remembering how much I loved his stories, I’m tempted to pull one of his books
off my shelf and set it in the pile by my bed.
As if I haven’t got enough to read….
Dragon Dave
