And in Other News

So, from Scalzi's blog, via Unreasonable Faith, I've learned that Catherynne Valente has written a fictional series based on the Prester John myths.  The first book is called The Habitation of the Blessed, and it's out now.

I shouldn't have to tell you that it's piqued my interest.  I mean, seriously.  Every once in a while the question gets asked, "Is there some new or completely ignored world we can explore?"  Prester John is way up on that list.

So, yeah, my interest is piqued.  Wait,  I said I shouldn't have to tell you that.  Oops.

Comments

[Cynical Nymph]

Came out yesterday, in fact. In October I went to a reading/Q&A with Catherynne and Seanan McGuire. CV read a chapter from Habitation of the Blessed and... WHOA. I have so much freaking stuff on my reading list right now (in fact I'm reading another CV book right now), but as soon as I'm done with the current stuff, I am reading this book *immediately*. I had never heard of her 'til that reading and I basically came away wanting to read as much of her writing as I can. Her knowledge of all kinds of myths from all kinds of cultures is encyclopedic, to say the very least, and her communication of that knowledge in story form is just unparalleled in this generation, as far as I can tell.

[Cynical Nymph]

Wait, my bad, it didn't come out yesterday - it came out on the first. I keep thinking today is Tuesday.

[Geds]

Yeah. I knew nothing of Catherine Valente, either. But the weird combination of vorjack over at Unreasonable Faith, Scalzi, and the fact only really interesting people are interested in Prester John made this a "must look in to."

But I'll definitely take your comments as a recommendation. Apparently a fairly strong one...

[Cynical Nymph]

Yes, just a bit of a positive recommendation... I wish I had recorded the Q&A at that reading, since Seanan McGuire actually holds her degree in folklore, so between the two of them all the Prester John talk (both about the story and about its context among other myths) was just fascinating.