Tuesday 14 November 2017

Death, Villains And Heroes

An apparent death - thus, a figurative death and resurrection - in Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol prompted the line of thought in the previous six posts. We do not rank Brown alongside either Poul Anderson or SM Stirling but we do welcome interesting comparative ideas. Brown's villain, Mal'ach, resembles Stirling's Count Ignatieff to the extent that he practices blood sacrifice and expects to be welcomed among demons when he enters the hereafter.

Fiction requires conflict between characters. See Paces, combox. It seems that we will still be reading about heroes and villains, both old and new, into an indefinite future - provided that the world survives, of course.

3 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

The illustration reminded me of how there is a real world cult of the Peacock Angel! Albeit, the religion of the Yazidis is NOWHERE as horrible as the cult of Malik Nous practiced by Count Ignatieff and the Russia seen in THE PESHAWAR LANCERS.

And what is your view of fiction and action/adventure? I know you are inclined to prefer more philosophical novels. But I know you are not opposed to all action/adventure. And I agree with Stirling about how conflict follows from human being simply ACTING on what they think, desire, believe, etc.

Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,
Well written action/adventure fiction is very enjoyable. PA obviously enjoyed writing it although he was capable of a lot more.
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I absolutely agree! And PA did show how he was capable of MUCH more than simple/action adventure. Such as his HARVEST OF STARS books. And even the tales he wrote for PLANET STORIES had much besides action and adventure in them.

Sean