Thomas Covenant was an answer to Tolkien Critics!

[Alatar]

I thought this was interesting.

Best-selling fantasy author Stephen R. Donaldson, whose current work-in-progress is The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, told SCI FI Wire that the Covenant books were largely inspired by his love of The Lord of the Rings—and his academic peers who disdain it. "I loved reading fantasy, ... but I lived in an intellectual world that refused to take those books seriously," Donaldson said in an interview at the World Fantasy Convention in Austin, Texas, last month. "In college and as a graduate student, sneering at Tolkien was one of the parlor games. I ended up writing a fantasy about a person who rejects fantasy—Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever—in part because I needed to be able to name to myself why I thought all those people were wrong."

Donaldson said that in his previous two trilogies, Thomas Covenant confronted a power for darkness twice and defeated it, but it's not something that can be destroyed. "In my stories, it always comes back in a new form, takes a completely different manifestation," he said. "In my first trilogy, it was the standard epic stuff—battles, monsters, swords—people hacking at each other. ... In the second [trilogy], it was toxic dumping: The evil came back as a perversion of the natural processes of life, the natural processes of life and growth and death. ... In this last [series], evil is coming back in an attempt [to] corrupt time itself, to disrupt the relationship between cause and effect, between life and death, and that will necessitate once again a completely different way of understanding and responding to the darkness."

The first book in the new series, The Runes of the Earth, was published in 2004, and Donaldson is currently working to finish the second volume, he said. "I have the second volume on paper," Donaldson said. "I'm in the process of doing [a] rewrite to take care of [my editor's] comments, and at that point the book will be ready for [the publisher] to plan a publication schedule. We're hoping to have the book out a year from now."

Donaldson said that although there was a two-decade gap between Covenant books, returning to the characters and world of the series wasn't difficult. "I've actually had this story in my mind for all of those 20 years," he said. "[What's] really difficult ... is to write a story about the erosion of time which doesn't spend all of its time trapped in those famous time paradoxes that people who read science fiction are so familiar with. ... It's a nightmare, and stories that fall into that trap are unworkable. So finding a way within the context of a fantasy novel to write about ... breakdowns in the relationship of time without falling into the pitfall of the endless time paradox—that has been the single most difficult aspect of the project so far."

Donaldson added: "It seems odd at my advanced age, but this is the most ambitious project I've ever tackled. It's certainly pushing me to my limits."

[axordil]

Hmm. That's very interesting. It certainly explains why I disliked the character so much.

[Impenitent]

Which character?

[Sassafras]

Hmm. That's very interesting. It certainly explains why I disliked the character so much.

Well, you weren't supposed to like him, now were you?

And wasn't that the whole point?
An anti-hero on a quest he doesn't believe in.

Imp, (assuming you haven't read Donaldson) Thomas Covenent is the title charcter. He's a leper who is transported to an alternate reality and tries (and succeeds mostly) in convincing himself that he is merely delusional and suffering hallucinations.
His denial of the Land's reality is one of the most intriguing aspects of the books.

I haven't read The Chronicles for years but I remember being very impressed. I know it's fashionable to talk about Donaldson's 'purple prose' and while it is true that some of it is over the top, and is equally true that his debt to Tolkien is palpable, it's my opinion that he made a formidable contribution to the fantasy genre. The fact that 'The Land' is as sentient and is as important as anything that walks on two (or four) legs is worth the price of admission.

I was a bit disappointed in 'Runes of the Earth' 'though.

[Impenitent]

I've read Chronicles (2-3 times IIRC) and it was okay. There are bits of that book that really grated on me and got in the way of unalloyed enjoyoment.

But I wondered whether Ax was speaking of T.C. or of Donaldson himself (or maybe Lord Foul? Was confused. )

[Primula Baggins]

I saw him on a panel of SF/fantasy writers 22 or 23 years ago at UCLA, and my, he was full of himself. He talked and talked and talked. There were other people on the panel I wanted to hear from and didn't. Over the course of more than two hours, he assiduously wrenched every turn in the conversation back to himself. It was so frustrating!

And so I haven't been able to bring myself to read his books.

[Inanna]

Sounds extremely interesting... thanks for the intro to it, sass. I think this is a book I need to pick up.

[axordil]

I meant TC.

[Angbasdil]

I love TCTC, but yeah, Donaldson's prose is rather over the top. Speaking of which, here's an excerpt from Nick Lowe's webpage The Well-Tempered Plot Device.

[snip]

Clench Racing
This is a social and competitive sport, that can be played over and over with renewed pleasure. Playing equipment currently on the market restricts the number of players to six, but the manufacturers may yet issue the series of proposed supplements to raise the maximum eventually to nine.

The rules are simple. Each player takes a different volume of The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, and at the word "go" all open their books at random and start leafing through, scanning the pages. The winner is the first player to find the word "clench". It's a fast, exciting game -- sixty seconds is unusually drawn-out -- and can be varied, if players get too good, with other favourite Donaldson words like wince, flinch, gag, rasp, exigency, mendacity, articulate, macerate, mien, limn, vertigo, cynosure.... It's a great way to get thrown out of bookshops. Good racing!

[/snip]

[rwhen]

so to revive a thread....I LOVED I mean loved....Thomas Covenant, not the character, the books. I first read this series before the second chronicles came out...way before, I recall waiting for the third book. I thought it original and great. I wanted to live in the LAND.

Who ever the writer is, I found this sort of story telling fascinating. A leper who is healed...inconceivable. Can't happen, but it does and what happens after.

I just loved it and been blasted for loving it.

So Alatar, you first posted this quite a bit ago. are you a fan?

Just wondering.

[Alatar]

I loved them when I first read them, but I tried picking them up again recently when I heard the Final Chronicles were being written and I found them to be really poor. I guess I'll try again sometime, cause I gave up after Lord Foul's "Bwahaha lets have some exposition" speech in Drool Rockworms cave.

[BrianIsSmilingAtYou]

I loved the first trilogy when I read it years ago, but the second did not hold my interest. I found it overblown.

I've wanted to re-read the first trilogy, but haven't found the time.

BrianIs AtYou

[Holbytla]

Wow.

I have the 2nd trilogy in hardcover, and also remember awaiting his slow release of books.
I think I like the 2nd trilogy better than the first.

I loved Runes and am eagerly awaiting the next installment this fall.

There is a lot of criticism for liking these books, but what can I say?
I like what I like. They hold my interest and have a lot of the same themes as Tolkien, though more realistic imo.