Novel Beginnings: Intro

(This post was formerly entitled “First Chapters,” but I thought Novel Beginnings was a bit more catchy, with its double meaning and all).

If I write an intro to this blog, it will be on the “About” page, so look there. But to get things started I’d like to dive into a reading project. As I am in the process of packing up my house and moving, I am overwhelmed by the number of fantasy and science fiction novels that I own but haven’t read (or have tried to read but not finished, but only barely sipped). Of late I have had a difficult time finishing books: A combination of, I think, a hectic life, increased pickiness, and a healthy dose of plain old-fashioned laziness. So as part of my ongoing writing education I thought I would read at least the first chapter of every unread novel I own, as well as some novels that I am interested in reading but do not own. This is largely an exercise in learning Craft: specifically on how to improve my own novel’s beginning through better understanding what I Iike and don’t like, what draws me in and makes me want to read more, and how I might be turned off or simply not interested in a given book.

There are no hard and fast rules. If there is a prologue I might only read the prologue. I will continue reading for as long as I feel compelled to. But I will at least read the first chapter (and/or prologue), and then post my comments on this blog.

Below is a semi-comprehensive list of the books I will include in this project. When I read and write about one, I will place it in bold-face; I may add books as I go along.

THE LONG LIST

Abercrombie, Joe – The Blade Itself

Aldiss, Brian W. – The Malacia Tapestry; Starswarm

Anderson, Kevin J. – Hidden Empire

Anderson, Poul – Boat of a Million Years; Fire-Time;Tau Zero

Attanasio, A.A. – Dragon and the Unicorn

Baker, Kage – The Anvil of the World

Barclay, James – Dawnthief

Barker, Clive – Imajica

Barnes, John – A Million Open Doors

Baxter, Stephen – Coalescent

Beagle, Peter S. – The Innkeeper’s Song

Bishop, K.J. – The Etched City

Bisson, Terry – Wyrldmaker

Bradbury, Ray – Dandelion Wine

Brown, Eric – Helix

Brust, Steven – Jhereg

Bujold, Louis – Curse of Chalion

Calvino, Italo – Invisible Cities

Carey, Jacqueline – Banewreaker

Clarke, Arthur C. – City and the Stars

Clute, John – Appleseed

Cook, Glen – The Black Company

Cowper, Richard – The Road to Corlay

Crowley, John – Little, Big; Engine Summer; The Deep

Dann, Jack – The Man Who Melted

De Angelis, Davide – The Seed

Eistenstein, Phyllis – Sorcerer’s Son

Elliott, Kate – King’s Dragon; Spirit Gate

Engdahl, Sylvia – Enchantress from the Stars

Eschbach, Andreas – Carpet Makers

Friedman, C.S. – Black Sun Rising

Frost, Gregory – Shadowbridge

Garfinkle, Richard – All of an Instant

Gilman, Felix – Thunderer

Grant, Richard – Saraband of Lost Time

Hamilton, Peter K. – The Reality Dysfunction

Harrison, M. John – Viriconium

Heinlein, Robert A. – Stranger in a Strange Land

Henderson, Zenna - Pilgrimage

Hesse, Hermann – The Glass Bead Game

Holdstock, Robert – Mythago Wood

Irvine, Ian – A Shadow on the Glass

Jones, J.V. – A Cavern of Black Ice

Joyce, James – Ulysses; Finnegan’s Wake

Kenyon, Kay – Bright of the Sky

Kushner, Ellen – Thomas the Rhymer

Lee, Tanith – The Birthgrave

Le Guin, Ursula K. – Gifts; The Left Hand of Darkness

Lessing, Doris – Briefing for a Descent Into Hell

Lewis, C.S. – Out of the Silent Planet

Lynch, Scott – The Lies of Locke Lamora

McAuley, Paul J. – Four Hundred Billion Stars; Eternal Light; Child of the River

McCarthy, Cormac – The Road

McDevitt, Jack – Deepsix

McDonald, Ian – River of Gods

McKillip, Patricia – The Book of Atrix Wolfe

Mieville, China – The Scar

Miller, Walter M. – A Canticle for Leibowitz

Modesitt, Jr, L.E. – The Eternity Artifact

Munn, H. Warner – Merlin’s Ring

Nicholson, William – Seeker

Nylund, Eric S. – A Game of Universe

O’Leary, Patrick – The Gift

Park, Paul – Soldiers of Paradise; Celestis

Powers, Tim – The Anubis Gates

Reed, Robert – Marrow

Roberts, Adam – Polystom

Sanderson, Brandon — Mistborn

Schweitzer, Darrell – The Mask of the Sorcerer ; The Shattered Goddess

Shaw, Bob – Orbitsville; The Palace of Eternity; A Million Tomorrows

Silverberg, Robert – Across a Billion Years; To Open the Sky

Simmons, Dan – Ilium

Smith, Clarke Ashton – Zothique

Stackpole, Michael – A Secret Atlas

Stross, Charles – The Family Trade

Sturgeon, Theodore – Venus Plus X

Swanwick, Michael – The Iron Dragon’s Daughter; Stations of the Tide

Valente, Catherynne M. – The Orphan’s Tales: In the Night Garden

Vinge, Vernor – A Fire Upon the Deep

Watson, Ian – The Book of the River; The Jonah Kit; Miracle Visitors

Westerfeld, Scott – The Risen Empire

Williams, Tad – Shadowmarch

Wolfe, Gene – Latro in the Mist

Woolf, Virginia – To the Lighthouse

Wren, M.K. – The Sword of the Lamb

Zebrowski, George – Macrolife; The Omega Point Trilogy

Zelazny, Roger – This Immortal; Creatures of Light and Darkness

Zimmer, Paul Edwin – The Lost Prince