Reading the past

Writing requires reading. Everybody in the writing business I've talked to, from Mercedes Lackey to Robert Asprin, tout this. I've always been a voracious reader, sometimes I've been known to go through 2 or 3 novels a week when I'm focused on that. As I"ve been writing more, I've also noticed that my tastes have become somewhat refined, in my own way, just like they've changed back and forth over the years.

I used to read a lot of hard military sf, things like Hammers Slammers. Before that, there were phases of humorous fantasy (Asprin comes to mind). I periodically pick up new releases by old favorites, Orson Scott Card, for example, keeps me entertained with a constantly changing battery of different styles.

What I've been writing with Imperfect Hope is somewhere from my long ago reading habits. I suppose it has an official name for the genre within the fantasy realm, but off the top of my head, I can't think of it. One of the prolific writers of my reading past (probably 20ish years ago) is Marion Zimmer Bradley, specifically her Darkover novels. I've come to realize that much of what I'm writing about in the d'oril realm is influenced by that styling.

MZB often set her novels in the harsh, cold climes of Darkover, I remember images of castles nearly swallowed up by massive drifts of snow much of the year, the residents hardened against the winter by their breeding and magical talents. D'oril is similar, the k'tath are quite inured by the cold of their homeland. I've also built a stable of potential heroic characters, and I've noticed that, Like MZB, many of them are female. I suspect many of them will show up in my stories.

I suppose it seems rather arrogant of me to compare my writing to Ms Bradleys, but in truth, I'm only making some very general comparisons, I know the reality is that I'm only just beginning, regardless of how much practice I'd had writing for the IFGS and fantasy gaming. But the realization of where some of my deep down inspirations have come from has reawakened my desire to dig out the darkover series and reread... Except I donated away most of my paperbacks about 10 years ago. Guess I'll dig up that library card and see what I can find.....