One of the most gorgeous
prose authors I know of - Grant manages to blend his
inspired and
lyrical fantasy into a world striving to be as
real and
modern and
hopeful as can be.
Grant's work can easily be broken down into two distinct categories:
His early work is all set within the same somewhat post-apocalyptic world. What has actually transpired to bring the world to this state is never discussed... something has simply gone wrong. Blending a mixture of fairy tale motif with an agressive desire to define the act of story-telling and its place within novels and the like, this period of his work is wholly successful. While the author and his impact remains hidden by his language, the act of story-telling itself and the emphasis he places upon a story's self awareness comes very clearly to the forefront. His work within this period is startling and like nothing else I've ever read.
It's also all out of print. Go figure.
After a substantial wait, Grant began releasing books again in the late 90s. These
works are also
all of a sort and focus mostly on the follies of
new age mysticism. While I find the subject less
engaging, Grant's ability as a writer has done nothing but
mature. What I find lacking in these works is not the
power of his language to inspire and amaze, but rather a lack of the
experimentation that made his early work so
important and so fresh.
Yet to be released:
Kaspian Lost (2001)
Not to be confused with Richard E. Grant.