Honoring Greatness

I was recently asked to name my personal heroes. Though I had to think for a moment, it wasn't much of a surprise to realize they're my favorite novelists.

J.R.R. Tolkien
Anne McCaffrey
Guy Gavriel Kay

I'm currently re-reading Guy Gavriel Kay's The Lions of Al-Rassan. If I ever meet Kay, I hope I don't crumple to the floor and grovel at his feet. He'd deserve that, but still, a little embarrassing for me.

Kay is a master of story, and he does it with an eloquence that makes me weep. Add in the rest of his brilliance at emotion, description, dialogue, tension, pacing, everything—sheer genius.

And I've never found a writer as adept at the art of magnificent surprises.

I hope someday to write a novel I love as much as The Lions of Al-Rassan. If I manage it, just kill me then. I'll die in glory.

I just bought a copy of Lions for my critique partner because I simply HAD to share this with someone. In a few weeks, we'll sit down together and study the book to figure out how Kay has created this jewel. But first, I just want to enjoy the story again. No, to bask in it.

And that is the mark of a great novel.