I continue discussing the sources of my inspirations as I said in the introduction and part 1 of the “pillars”.
Α good friend of my at that time (early 90’s) after suggesting Manowar he told me of the Lord of the Rings and JRR Tolkien.
I was lucky to find an extremely beautiful edition for the one hundred years of the birth of Tolkien (1892-1992) which I still have and cherish.
I cannot remember how many times I have read the book and the Hobbit afterwards and later I tried Silmarillion which is another story!
Christopher Tolkien published (and continues to publish – I can’t wait the new book about Luthien and Beren!) many other books of unpublished material and he gave us a deeper understanding of middle earth but still Lord of the Rings has a mystery for me.
A feeling like going home for Christmas that is still there after so many years and so many readings
As I searched later for similar writers I discovered many excellent ones, giants of epic fantasy:
- R E Howard
- Michael Moorcock
- Fritz Lieber
- Karl Edward Wagner
- Hickman and Weis and their dragonlance chronicles
- Terry Brooks and the shannara series
- Sienkiewicz a personal favorite into historical fiction mainly
- the warhammer series mainly gotrek and felix
- and of course much later Martin and the world of fire and ice
My library now boasts of many books and fills nicely two walls of my office although there are many others writers many other books I want to read!
It is funny how when I write my own stories phrases and words come into my mind that I have read even years before and despite I am not a native english speaker I remember and know a long list of “interesting” vocabulary
Every new book is a little exploration trip maybe it won’t turn out as nice as it sounded but still it travels you with it and it is a rare book that it can take you with it no matter how many times you read
That’s my aspiration and I know I put a hugely difficult goal but during the process, I believe I will (and hopefully the readers) find the same excitement as when reading a book!
eg, of course, the first in the line of epic fantasy writers is Homer with Iliad and Odyssey two books of unrivaled quality and significance.
