As some of you will be aware, author Tanith Lee died last weekend. I didn't know her personally, and never met her, although those I know that did have only good things to say about her, even before she died. But Tanith Lee was an early inspiration of mine, and was one of the reasons I wanted to become a writer. Her skill with words, using them to evoke shadow and light, mood and form; her wonderfully drawn characters, were second to none.
I think it was the Birthgrave saga that I read first, certainly that I owned first, finding them in the bargain bin of the local, now defunct Martin's store in the small town of Rugeley where I went to school. I read them voraciously; they (along with other works like Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionavar Tapestry) were certainly responsible for a large hole in my exam revision. I was at University when I discovered The Silver Metal Lover, a copy of which I found in the local reading library in Beeston (not in the University library, oh dear no!). I'm not a 'chick flick' type, but the book was strangely moving, so much so that an oil painting I did of the cover now hangs on my mother's living room wall (along with a painting of the cover of Bradley Denton's Wrack and Roll, the lovely Leeza).
Later came The Flat Earth series, and let's face it, they were marvellous. Who couldn't admire the magnificence of Azhrarn, Night's Master, Prince of Demons. Her writing transcends this life, makes it seem dull in comparison to the rich worlds she created.
I read all of her I could find, even the children's works. I never tired of her magic and her mythos.
Now she will write no more. The world has lost a great voice, a wordsmith of the highest order. We will not see her like again.
I think it was the Birthgrave saga that I read first, certainly that I owned first, finding them in the bargain bin of the local, now defunct Martin's store in the small town of Rugeley where I went to school. I read them voraciously; they (along with other works like Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionavar Tapestry) were certainly responsible for a large hole in my exam revision. I was at University when I discovered The Silver Metal Lover, a copy of which I found in the local reading library in Beeston (not in the University library, oh dear no!). I'm not a 'chick flick' type, but the book was strangely moving, so much so that an oil painting I did of the cover now hangs on my mother's living room wall (along with a painting of the cover of Bradley Denton's Wrack and Roll, the lovely Leeza).
Later came The Flat Earth series, and let's face it, they were marvellous. Who couldn't admire the magnificence of Azhrarn, Night's Master, Prince of Demons. Her writing transcends this life, makes it seem dull in comparison to the rich worlds she created.
I read all of her I could find, even the children's works. I never tired of her magic and her mythos.
Now she will write no more. The world has lost a great voice, a wordsmith of the highest order. We will not see her like again.
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