Almost four years back, I started the monthly Worlds of Speculative Fiction monthly talk series, partnering with the Brookfield Public Library. I have had a number of motivations for engaging in the series, and one of those from the very beginning has been that it would allow me to engage in "guilty pleasure reading".
Since my childhood, I've enjoyed reading works across the range of the multiple genres of speculative fiction - fantasy, science fiction, horror, alternate history, utopian/dystopian, as well as others (and their combinations or overlaps). Given my perennially packed work schedule, I often don't have much time to indulge myself in reading in these genres for enjoyment. Having to prepare for monthly talks gives me an excuse - even an imperative - to read speculative fiction.
For several years now, I have solicited input both from the regular participants in the talk series and from my viewers, subscribers, and followers, about some of the authors I ought to focus upon. I cast a wide net at first, and then have people vote on which authors should fill the 3-5 available spots (I've always got some other writers I definitely want to work on lined up).
One of the authors selected in this way this year was someone I was entirely unfamiliar with - R. Scott Bakker, known primarily for his vast (and as yet, unfinished) Second Apocalypse series. I decided that I'd focus on the Prince of Nothing trilogy comprising the first part of that series - The Darkness That Comes Before, The Warrior Prophet, and The Thousandfold Thought. (The second part of the series, The Aspect Emperor, is an even longer 4 volumes. The third part is yet to come.)
Given the length of his books, I thought that it would be prudent for me to get a start on reading them, so about a month ago, I got my hands on the first volume, which is a solid 600 pages, and started reading. I won't say that after reading the first page, or even the first chapter, I was enthralled. . . but by the time I was 100 pages in, I certainly was! Once I had read my way through that first volume, I went on to the next, and then the third, which I just finished two nights ago.
I'll write more in another post about precisely what it is that I like so much about these books, and the incredibly rich and philosophically deep worldbuilding that undergirds the narrative. Suffice it to say, I'm hooked, and I'm planning on going on to the next four volumes, which I may even have read by the time we discuss Bakker this coming month (though that might be a bit ambitious. . . . )
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