Curious thing. I've been reading Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny recently - sort of one of those sf classics you sometimes let slip by. I got annoyed by how many people were telling me it's such a great book, so I relented and finally bought it. I must admit one of Zelazny's more obscure novels - Roadmarks - is probably one of my favourite novels of all time. Hard to explain why, exactly. I suppose it simply appeals to something inside me. I'd try and describe what it's about, except I learned long ago that trying to describe the plot of your average sf novel gets you nothing but funny looks. This is why I try and avoid going too much into the specific plot details of my books when people ask about them - instead, I stick to vague generalities, or a description of a lead character's motivation.
But the thing about Lord of Light is it felt nigglingly familiar. I remembered last night that a while back I found a link to some set and costume designs for a proposed movie of Lord of Light, the artwork by Jack Kirby, the all-time Marvel comics god of artwork. And then it hit me: Lord of Light reads like a Marvel Comic. Especially one of the ones based around the Eternals, or perhaps Thor the Thunder God. They even speak the same way ...
So I flicked back to the publication info at the beginning of the book; it came out in 1967, just about the time Marvel really hit the mainstream for the first time and got serious attention, and started being absorbed into other popular culture of the time - particularly music. I have a theory - and tell me if I'm wrong - that Lord of Light is a deliberate attempt at writing in something like that style. Not to diss the story in any way, or suggest it's hammy; au contraire, it's a retelling of one of the great Indian myth-cycles in a surreal/sfnal setting.
Interesting. Anyway. Back to writing - should finish the second draft by tuesday/wednesday. Should be at least, I think, two drafts after that, also. But I'll workshop it before the third draft.
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