To continue the above posting:
Donaldson wrote another fantasy series called Mordant's Need, based in a world in which mirrors act as gateways between worlds. It explores many of the same themes as the Thomas Covenant series, with the hero and heroine succeeding because of their tragic flaw. The books of Mordant's Need are:
The Gap pentad is a science fiction series, at least on its face. In reality, it is an expression of two concepts:
- A storyline which expresses the standard melodramatic trio of characters (hero, villain, and victim), and then explores the process by which they change roles.
- An interpretation of the storyline of the Ring of the Nibelung opera by Richard Wagner, an opera that deeply affected Donaldson.
The volumes of The Gap series are:
Donaldson also published two volumes of short stories. In the introduction to his first compilation (Daughter of Regals & Other Tales), he makes the statement that:
"...the short story is regarded as a higher art form than the novel. A novel is to a short story as beer is to champagne. In a novel, the writer simply stands back and throws words at his subject until some of them stick - an ordeal from which the subject generally emerges spattered but still unbowed. But in a short story the words, being so few, must be carefully placed on the subject (in the pockets, so to speak, or perhaps behind the ears) in order to have any impact at all. Thus the short story appears to demand more of both reader and writer. The reader must become adept at perceiving the writer's meaning as it peeps past the lapels of the subject - or the writer must become expert at tucking his intent here and there so that it still shows."
Truly, Donaldson is a master of the short story, with stark but powerful
imagery and gripping plots that leave the reader satisfied. Stephen Donaldon's published short story compilations to date are:
As a side note,
Gilden-Fire contains a
cut scene from the
First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the full story of the mission to
Seareach.
Stephen Donaldson was awarded the following honors:
More information about Stephen Donaldson can be found at http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/authors/Stephen_Donaldson.htm