NaNoReadMo, book one: The Dragon Waiting, by John M. Ford

[cpolk]

 (part of this was lifted directly from a post I made on cohost, but I don't have friends there yet.)

The first book of the month is The Dragon Waiting by John M. Ford. It's a reissue, as the book first came out in the ... early 90's? amidst epic quest doorstoppers. (ETA: Early 80's! GOLLY!) I never read it back then. I'm only a little ways in now.

So far, I think Mike (as all of his friends have called him forever, so I do too, even though I think we barely spoke at all, and if so, only online) was every bit the genius my friends say. I'm taking my time through the first pages and in fact I've gone back to the beginning to re-start at what I call my learning pace, because hoo doggie, this is goood. and it's perfectly wonderful read aloud, which I have been doing when I have the whim.

The experience is like I'm listening to someone who is made of stories, and all of those stories have gathered themselves up to become someone who can sit by me, smiling as if it's perfectly sensible (the way dreams feel sensible when you're in the midst of them) to chat with someone he knows, because enough stories about him have been told to me that we are acquainted, and to tell me this story, quietly enough that I have to devote everything to listening. That's the best I can explain it.

I'm pretty sure Mike could do better.

Comments

[jazzfish]

OH MY GOSH YOU ARE IN FOR A TREAT AND A HALF but then you already knew that.

[cpolk]

i am certain that I am!

[kore]

Aw, that's a lovely way to put it.

I LOVE this book. I had a total squee fest over it at rydra_wong's several years ago (altho I thought "the new Sleater-Kinney album" the other day and noo, it was released in 2011, whoops).

[cpolk]

Every once in a while I wonder what kind of writer I would have grown up to become if I had found this alongside the books I read in high school

[pameladean]

That's an awesome description. I mean, he WAS -- Mike WAS made of stories. And "quietly enough so that you have to devote everything to listening" was true in life as well. It was how he told a joke. There were a few tells but they were very small.

P.

[cpolk]

I'm so happy that I managed to describe it!

[oracne]

There's a Concordance that's a lot of fun, once you get to the end of The Dragon Waiting: https://eblong.com/draconc/

[gentlyepigrams]

That's an amazing book. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.