Early Influences

When I was around ten years old I was at my friends house and he brought out a big red box with a picture of a dragon on it. ‘Want to play a new game?’ he asked. Little did I realise that from that moment on I would be fascinated by the world of fantasy.

The game was of course ‘Dungeons and Dragons and I spent way too much of my time playing it with my friends. For a shy boy desperate to escape the boredom and otten bleak realities of life the thought of being able to be anyone you wanted and do anything you could imagine was very enticing.

Since then I have embraced all aspects of the fantasy world, from tv, film and video games, roleplaying, cosplaying and of course fantasy fiction. I had soon devoured the meagre selection of books in our school library and moved on to raiding the town library's slightly larger collection.

By the time I was a dishevelled teenager with my head in the clouds I had read many of the ‘classic’ fantasies. There were nowhere near as many books back then in the fantasy genre so after Tolkien (of course) I moved onto Michael Moorcock and was entranced by his weird and unique style.

Then I discovered David Eddings and his works were a complete delight to me. They were epic, sweeping adventures that managed to convey threat and danger but there was also a certain level of comfort and familiarity about them too. Needless to say I worked my way through his entire collection of books.

Around that time I also discovered David Gemmell. Hmm, there must be something about the name David. His books were much more violent and gritty then than his namesakes, but I loved them for this reason.

Then of course I landed in the world of the Wheel of Time, Robert Jordan’s almost never ending saga. I know that some people have now taken issue with his writing and his portrayal of women but it was a series of its time. You certainly can’t fault the ambition and grandness of the series even if it lost its way at times and tended to meander.

In the early 90’s I was cruelly thrust into the world of work so had less time, money and energy for reading. I picked up random books where I could and from local libraries but for a couple of years my reading appetite dwindled.

However it came back with a bang in the mid 90’s as a slew of new authors materialised out of the ether. I’m looking at you George R R Martin and your Robin Hobb. But that is for another post.