Little Yellow Gnomes

Eryn and I have been reading The Sword of Shannara trilogy.  I read it as a 16 year old at camp when I was a BSA counselor.  What I remember most was getting the first book wet in my tent, swelling to about three times its normal size, and yet I still read it, enough so that I remember it fondly after all these years.

As we've been rereading it, I've come to suspect that what I really enjoyed was camp and my surroundings, and my enjoyment of the book was a direct result of that situational enjoyment.  Because it's just not very good.  Great for reading to my daughter.  She's having a great time.  But a bit melodramatic, poorly written, and seriously stealing from Lord of the Rings.  Disagree?  Tell me where this scene comes from: wizard fights with evil, demonic creature, lots of fighting action, both tumble into a fiery pit.  While it could be argued that's a basic scene in any fantasy book, it's pretty close in the actual details.

As for the writing, here's an example:

"Get away while you can, hateful one!" Allanon commanded in the most menacing tone any of the members of the company had ever heard him use.  "You frighten no one here.  We will take the Sword, and you will not stand in our way.  Step aside, lackey, and let your Master show himself!"

and...

"I will destroy you, Allanon.  Then no one will be left to oppose the Master!  You have been our pawn from the start, though you could not have guessed.  Now we have you within our reach, along with your most valuable allies.  And look what you have brought us, druid--the last heir of Shannara!"

Might as well be Snidely Whiplash and Dudley Dooright.

And I'm worried it might be racist.  On page 183: "The gnomes gathered together in a yellow group."  Dubious, subject to debate, but I get the weird feeling that the little yellow angry gnomes descended of people from the past (who were us) are Asian.  They run around in bonsai-style hordes attacking the pretty nordic folks, like the humans and elves.  And the dwarfs.  But who doesn't like to smack a dwarf around.  They're built for punishment.

You Offend Me, You Offend My Family disagrees and feels the elves must be Asian.  So maybe our own racial prejudices and preferences are playing into our perceptions.

I don't seem to be the only one who thinks old Terry Brooks is sort of unpalatable or a blatant lifting of most of the Lord of the Rings.  I know he got better as I read some of his later books.  Maybe we should have started there.

Busy Days Off

I have this week, and almost all of next week, off to stay home with Eryn while she's on Christmas vacation. I thought it would be relaxing and, for the most part, it is. But so far we've had our family pictures taken for a few hours at the Walker Sculpture Garden. Had lunch at Macy's followed by checking out the Christmas exhibit - a day in the life of Santa's elves. Took a trip to St. Peter to visit Klund, his wife, and kids and drop off a 15 year old espresso maker that I probably could have had shipped to his house for cheaper than the gas to get it there. But Eryn and I had fun visiting the murder of Klunds (or is it a pod?), and we can't do that if we send things by mail. To put icing on the trip we sang along to Christmas songs on the radio for 2.5 hours and managed to stop at the stoplight in Burnsville right next to this:

"Some residents of the Burncliff Apartments will be allowed to return home this afternoon after fire destroyed one building and forced the evacuation of the other at the complex. Nearly 200 people were left temporarily homeless, but no one was injured."

When we stopped, fire was starting to shoot out of the eaves in one area, and by the time the light changed, there was a great big fire shooting out of the roof. Eryn was particularly worried that one of her teachers, who said she lives in an apartment, might live in that apartment (complex) as it wasn't too far from Tesseract.

And then this morning we got up at 6:15 a.m. to head downtown and have breakfast with Erik at the new Hell's Kitchen digs. They're quite the step up from the old restaurant, and the art with the guy trying to push his way out of the wall fascinated Eryn. Not this guy. A different, faceless, scarier guy. It was a great morning for bison sausage and lemon ricotta pancakes topped with mixed berries. I drank caffeine despite my no-to-little caffeine rule that's supposed to keep the restless legs issue lessened, because who wants to have a gourmet breakfast and drink decaf?

I think we're now officially resting, however. Me typing blog posts and working on a novel. Eryn playing with Microsoft Word, Crayola Model Magic clay, and Santa Clause 3 on Netflix instant streaming. Both of us waiting anxiously for the first round of presents tomorrow.