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Guess who bought all six Highlander seasons on Amazon today.

*ahem*

In much sadder news, Diana Wynne Jones died. I never knew about her books when I was a child, but about 8 or 9 years ago I finally succumbed to my friends' nudging and read a couple of them ... and then voraciously read them ALL. What I loved most about her books -- even beyond the humor and joy, the warm emotions, the mind-blowing creativity -- was how twisty and unexpected her characters were. Most YA fantasy characters wear their nature on their forehead: they are Good or Evil, which is usually betrayed by outward characteristics -- ugliness or beauty, perhaps, or choosing to ally themselves with the Good Side or the Evil Side (the Gryffindors or the Slytherins). But DWJ's characters were so much more than that -- those who were deemed evil by society or appeared ugly at first glance could turn out to be beautiful inside; those who seemed too good to be true often were. She wrote about people discovering that the world is not as simple as they were taught to believe, that ugliness does not equal evil nor beauty kindness, and that people can learn to love each other and do the right thing no matter the barriers in their way. Children learn that their "ogre" of a stepparent is just unused to kids; a girl spends her life afraid of the "evil" magician over the next hill, and then meets him and discovers that he's a giant dork and basically a sweet guy; a boy slowly realizes over the course of a book that his benevolent and kind uncle is actually a wicked and brutal person who's been enslaving him and using his talents for evil purposes, while the spy who betrayed him is a kind person caught in a dreadfully difficult situation.

I was always delighted to discover a new DWJ book (though I think I'm a couple behind now -- must fix that!) and the idea that there will never be another new one, ever again, is terribly sad. But she kept writing up to the end, doing something she loved that had brought joy to thousands of people. Would that we all could go like that.

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Sad sad news. Dianne Wynne Jones’ writing is magical. As little kid reading The Power of Three was my happy place.

I only discovered her as an adult, but I wish I'd known about her books when I was a kid; I think I would have loved them then, at least as much as I did when I started reading them a decade ago.

With the advent of Harry Potter suddenly the fact that I liked and voraciously read fantasy and sci-fi, meant that people were asking about ‘books just like it’ to read. I could happily recc Susan Cooper and Dianne Wynne Jones and tell them that they were significantly better. I probably preached a little bit. But it annoyed me that Harry Potter was so popular and the woman needs a beta reader, but she’s fêted, and Dianne Wynne Jones wasn’t (at least not in the mundane *g* world).

There’s so many of her books which seemed to have have the absolutely minimum amount of publishing. I’ve got tomorrow off work, I’m going to rake through the town’s second hand book stores and see if I can find some ‘new’ Dianne Wynne Jones books to read.

Heh, that's more or less how it was rec'd to me, by friends who kept telling me that it was sort of like Harry Potter, but much better.

Luckily I got into DWJ after her star started to rise as Harry Potter exploded on the scene; I'm told that her books were incredibly hard to find in the '90s, but by the time I started looking for them, most of them were reprinted or available in the library. I know there are still a few that I never read, though, and a couple that have come out in the last couple of years that I don't have.

I have to ask, have you read Susan Cooper?

I read her books as a kid. Honestly, I don't remember liking them all that much. But it's possible that I was simply too young for them at the time I read them (I was 9 or 10, I guess), because I remember them being very dark and heavy, by my standards at the time.

I actually am pretty sure that I still have them around here someplace, so maybe I ought to give them another try!

Oh, I understand that. I remember reading Katherine Kurtz's Lammas Night as a kid and I knew that I was missing gianormous gaps in the storyline. I sort of looked at the book cover, put it on the shelf with the other Katherine Kurtz books and though "I'll come back when I... know more."

If you're going to reread Susan Cooper Dark is Rising sequence, start with the Dark is Rising rather than the first one published.

Such sad news; her books were a gateway into fantasy for me and always such a joy.
RIP Ms Wynne Jones and thank you for years of pleasurable reading

She was writing up to the end, and that's so wonderful and inspiring. I got a lot of joy from her books, and many other people did too; that's a lovely legacy to leave behind.

Wow. I haven't read any of her work since I was a kid (though I think she has adult novels too). I've wanted to introduce my daughter to her books, but I haven't found any in the stores. I must fix that now.

Very sad to hear the news.

Maybe it's time for me to re-read some of her books. It's been awhile.

I've never read any of her books, but I've heard nothing but good things about them. They're on my to-read list now.

Guess who bought all six Highlander seasons on Amazon today.

Not me, because I ordered mine on Friday. (Will still take ages for them to actually get here, alas!)

Oh, I really love them -- though I feel compelled to warn you that she muffs the endings a lot. That ALMOST turned me off her books in the beginning, because the first book of hers that I read -- Deep Secret -- is a really good book right up until the last few chapters, which are a gigantic letdown. And a number of her books are that way to some extent. But they more than make up for it with wonderful characters who keep living on after the last page; I still think about some of her characters from time to time, even though it's been years since I read most of her books.

Thanks for he warning! I'll keep that in mind. :)

You can add me to the 'just bought all seasons of HL list. I am so rubbish at resisting temptation.

Hee! :D I'm such a terrible influence...

Guess who bought all six Highlander seasons on Amazon today.

But are you watching them!? :D

I've been playing with the idea of buying the DVDs myself -- after all I've always loved rewatching this show. I had it all taped, you see, but it would be pretty hard to play it all back on VHS.

[a boy slowly realizes over the course of a book that his benevolent and kind uncle is actually a wicked and brutal person who's been enslaving him and using his talents for evil purposes, while the spy who betrayed him is a kind person caught in a dreadfully difficult situation.]

Which book is this by the way? Sounds interesting. I've never read any of her books, tho. :(

Edited 2011-03-27 19:32 (UTC)

The book in question is ... er, one of the Chrestomanci books. The Lives of Christopher Chant, I think? *reads description* Yeah, that's it. :) It's in a series, but they all stand alone, and it's one of my very favorites of hers. Perhaps a visit to the library is in order ...

One of the things I love most about so many of DWJ's books is that they involve kids making erroneous (but very appropriately kid-like) assumptions about the adults in their life, and then finding out that they're wrong, usually by reading the surface of things rather than looking at what was underneath. I'd much rather have that kind of life lesson than the "good people are good, bad people are bad" simplicity that so much fantasy tries to foist off on us (and not just YA fantasy, but adult fantasy as well).

Oh, I've had them rec-ed to me before, but I haven't had a chance to read it. Maybe now I'll pick it up :)

Thanks!

Congratulations on your purchase. Very good.

Btw, wanted to ask you. How do you crosspost on DW with the comment count showing. I do post on DW and crosspost on insane journal (is anyone even over there any longer?). But it didn't work when I tried to crosspost to lj. And all I want to do is have the link in my LJ post like you do with the comment count.

That's actually the default crossposting footer now -- though it didn't used to be. Here is the page where you set up the crossposter, and in my case, all I had to do was put in my LJ information, and now it does it for me! :)

I have a paid account, though, so if you don't, what you see might be different? And there also might be a limit of how many accounts you can crosspost to? I only crosspost to the one account, but I have an upper limit of 3; I imagine it's lower than that for free accounts if that's what you have ...

Anyway, let me know if you have problems, because it worked fine for me, so I can see if I can help if you need it.

Thanks. That's the page I was using. I've been cross-posting to insanejournal for ages. And I had set it up for my LJ, but it's not cross-posting. Does it take a long time to cross-post?

Of course, LJ has been acting wonky this morning anyway. But, yeah, I have a paid account and it says I can cross-post up to 3 journals. *shrugs*

I posted on DW this morning and still waiting for it to show up on LJ.

Work has been horrible. Haven't been around in awhile except a hit or miss post on my journal. Have you watched any more episodes of HL? Waiting until your dvds arrive? I think you'll get a big kick out of the extras. Lots of fun to watch.

... hmm, that's odd! Mine always crossposts immediately, and then gives me a message in my PM messages that it successfully crossposted. Maybe try checking your settings -- perhaps the username or password is set wrong for the LJ account, so it can't do it? Otherwise, maybe it's time to contact their support, because, yeah, it ought to do it immediately ...

Have you watched any more episodes of HL? Waiting until your dvds arrive?

Oh dear, I was actually sort of hoping no one would ask me that. ^^; See, I have been, but I've taken to posting about it (temporarily) under f'lock. After my recent spoiler post, someone (not you!) spoiled me again in another thread rather promptly, so I gave up -- I created a filter of a few trusted people from my flist and started posting to it.

I do plan to come out from under f'lock eventually and unlock my last batch of HL posts so everyone can join in (I'm up to "Methuselah's Gift", which, SQUEE) but I'm going to wait until either I'm past the part of the series that I was getting majorly spoiled for, or at least in a mental place where I can weather some squee-harshing. It was getting to where it was just making me angry all the time, and ruining my fun and interest in the show and in Methos ... and how much fun is that?

I really, really don't want to appear unfriendly and unwelcoming to new people -- that's not the best foot to get off on in a new fandom, not at all! But I needed to get away for a while and get my squee back again. I'll be back. :) (And I'm writing HL a bit too -- nothing is finished, but it definitely seems to be a fandom that engages my fic-writer brain, so perhaps there will be some fics forthcoming when I finish the series!)

And I'm very much looking forward to being able to discuss the whole series with people when I no longer have to worry about being spoiled. :)

Very cool. The important thing is that you're enjoying it. And writing! Yay! We need more new Highlander fic. You said you're up to MG. Have you watched it yet?

Yes, and I loved it! :) I think it's one of my favorite episodes so far. THE BRIDGE SCENE EEEEEEE!

And I saw your other comment on DW posting. Maybe the footer-display option is set to "never" for you? Going back to this page, this is what I see on mine:

Thank you. It was driving me nuts~!

Okay, what did you think of the train yard scene? And the sword fight between Methos and Amanda? Gotta know since your other posts are f-locked.

Liz told us a story at a con in LA about that scene. Adrian directed the episode. And Liz was exhausted doing the fight. She said it was all she could do to hold the sword. And she started crying and she was upset at Adrian. They were kind of yelling at one another and she tearfully yelled to him "I still love you" and he was very upset and "I love you too". As friends, btw. Not romantically involved. But it was so funny to hear them tell the story. It might actually be on the Walkabout DVDs. That's where she told us the story. Lots of great dvds on the HLWW site that you might want to check out some day. They are interviews and forums fromt he conventions. There is a dvd of the HLWW Paris trip (which I missed), the Scotland trip (I was there!) and the Vancouver trip (I missed that one because I was ill). But I did do the PWFC Vancouver tour.

Edited 2011-03-31 23:27 (UTC)

Ohhh, poor Liz! But that's very sweet. :)

I pretty much loved the whole episode. The train yard fight and making up was made of WIN and SQUEE; the whole breaking-into-the-vault thing was EVEN MORE WIN, and the bridge scene was beyond awesome. :D (Yeah, I think that about covers it ...)

Plus we found out more of Methos' history. He rode with Butch and Sundance *g*

Heh. I kinda wondered if he was being serious or just trying to get a reaction out of her, because, while I can totally see Methos being a thief/bandit/robber at various points in his checkered lifetime, Methos riding with a famous Wild West outlaw gang is hard to wrap my mind around!

*nods* You kind of have to take what Methos says with a grain of salt. There was also a lot of discussion about what he said to Duncan in the episode "Methos". Does he really not remember being mortal? his origins? More of his history? I tend to believe him, but I had a friend who didn't.

I can believe he rode with Butch. When you look at Duncan's flashbacks you can see he did many different things. Someone as old as Methos has had to change and adapt over 5000 years.

There was also a lot of discussion about what he said to Duncan in the episode "Methos". Does he really not remember being mortal? his origins? More of his history? I tend to believe him, but I had a friend who didn't.

I'd have to rewatch the episode, but wasn't that something that was said about him, rather than directly said by him? I thought that bit was mentioned when some of the characters were talking about the Methos "legend", which means it wouldn't necessarily be true (though it certainly could be, of course).

During their walk Duncan asked him if he was really 5000 years old. Methos said yes, that was when he remembered taking his first head, but it was all a bit fuzzy before then. So, was that his first head or just the first one he remembered? How long was he an immortal before then? Who was his teacher? Where and how did he live as a mortal? He only remembers back 5000 years when he took a head. True? I feel it very well could be. My friend thinks the Immortals have perfect recall and, of course, he remembers. But for some reason he didn't want to give Duncan that information.

Another thing that was discussed in the day was the "perfect recall" aspect. How do we know they have perfect recall? It appears so by Duncan's flashbacks but how do we know his recall is correct? Just because he remembers the event does not mean it is correct.

There were many such discussions between fans during first run.

Ah! Apparently I need to watch that scene again. :D I hadn't really taken that to mean that he couldn't remember, though, just that it was a bit vague. Which is understandable; I don't have especially clear recollections of grade school, either, and that was only 25 years ago, not 5000 ...

I had never interpreted the flashbacks to mean that Immortals have perfect recall, though. I just figured it was a dramatic convention -- of course we see the flashbacks as if they're happening in perfect recall and real time, because anything else would be vague and confusing! I figure that Immortals' memories are just like anyone else's, perhaps a little sharper than most because they don't suffer the degradations of age that the rest of us do. Methos seems to be able to rattle off specific dates, but he's the only Immortal that I've ever noticed doing so, and he's also the only one who keeps a journal; I figured the two were probably related. *g* If he rereads his journal entries, it'd keep his memory fresh as to when things happened, which might become quite an issue after the number of years he's been alive ...

I just rewatched the scene. You know it was a hardship *g*.

Duncan stated, "Five thousand years?"

Methos: "Give or take. And that was when I took my first head. Before that it all starts to blur."

Duncan: "I guess it would."

He gives the impression that it wasn't just vague. However, that was one of the great things about the series. It was really fun to think about and discuss. As I said, my friend thinks he has perfect recall and he was lying to Duncan.

I think he was telling the truth.

I'm like you about the flashbacks, but there was really the train of thought that since the flashbacks were shown so clearly that it was the immortal's perfect memory. That's even stated in many fanfiction stories.

I'm not sure how far you've gotten so I don't want to delve into this too much though.

Okay, figured out part of the problem. My password was in the system wrong for LJ at DW. Corrected it and it did cross-post from DW to LJ. But it doesn't show the link with the amt of DW comments received like yours does. I'm sure there is something I should be checkmarking or doing, but can't figure it out.

I too only found her as an adult, and I still haven't read a lot of DWJ's books, but I've so loved those I have...her passing's not unexpected but it is sad, and a loss to fantasy.

It's very sad, but on the other hand, I find it kind of inspiring that she was writing up to the last, and brought so much joy to so many people ... what a wonderful legacy to leave behind.

I think it's time for a re-read of her books! And I know there are at least a couple of new ones, and maybe a few old ones, that I haven't read yet.

I just read the Chrestomanci series. I saw it in the used bookstore and picked it up on a whim. I really enjoyed it, and I think Emma will really like it once she's done with Harry Potter. She just started Order of the Phoenix.

I read the Chrestomanci books completely out of order and all over the place over a couple of years, but I loved them. *g* The Lives of Christopher Chant is one of my favorites of her books -- I'm pretty sure it was the first of them that I read, though it's been long enough that I don't remember for sure -- and I think I'm going to see if the library has it the next time I'm out that way, because I would love to read it again.

I've only read the first volume (with Charmed Lives and The Lives of Christopher Chant), but I really enjoyed it. In fact, it's only just now after reading your post that I looked closely at the book and realized there are MORE! LOL I see another trip to the bookstore is in order.

I had never heard of her until someone mentioned her to me on LJ a couple of years ago. I finally got around to buying one of her books (the first in the Dalemark series) and now I'm on book 4. Not really my genre, but something about them - the way she draws a character, the slow reveal of backstory - intrigues me.

And the Dalemark Quartet books are among the most classically "high fantasy" of her books -- though most have fantasy or sci-fi elements, she also does a lot of genre-bending as well. Actually, one thing I love about her books is that many of them are very difficult to quite squish into a proper category.

Anyway, I'm glad you're liking those and I hope you continue to enjoy them. :) Since she has so many books, would you like some recs? It's just my own personal taste, of course, but perhaps it will help you winnow them down! Only if you're interested, though; I don't want to be pushy about it.

Rec away! I love good books.

Okay! Let me see (and bear in mind these are *my* favorites):

Howl's Moving Castle - one of her most famous novels (because of the movie); pretty straightforward fantasy, but funny and delightful with wonderful characters.

Archer's Goon - wonderfully twisty, funny, genre-defying, and addictive; I picked it just now to read a bit from the first chapter to see if you might like it, and couldn't put it down for three chapters even though I just re-read it not long ago, which gives you some idea. *g* It's aimed at a pretty young reading level, but the actual story is far more complex than you'd expect.

The Ogre Downstairs - in some ways this is a bit little-kiddish, but I absolutely love its overall message about finding common ground with people you hate: two sets of siblings in a blended marriage make war against each other and then find themselves on the same side when their plans go horribly, magically wrong.

Hexwood - this is a very twisty, mysterious, weird novel that straddles the border between fantasy and scifi. The plot is kind of odd, but I absolutely adore the hero.

Dogsbody - the dog star Sirius is a god who becomes trapped in the body of a mortal dog; I haven't read this one in so long that I hardly remember most of the plot, but I remember liking it a lot, and finding it very sweet and sad.

Time of the Ghost - The main character appears to be a ghost, but she has no idea who she is or how she got this way, so she must travel in time and space to solve the mystery of her own death.

Fire and Hemlock - one of the more grown-up and serious of her novels, this one is a modern retelling of the folktale of Tam Lin, and the story of a girl growing up in the middle of a web of mythological weirdness. It's not actually one of my favorites, but at least half the people I know who are into DWJ say that it's one of theirs, and I do think it's one of her best-written and most emotionally complex novels.

So sad to hear :(I loved her books to pieces.

I know! I'm so sad there will never be any new DWJ books, ever again.

In much sadder news, Diana Wynne Jones died.

Damn. I haven't read many, but I enjoyed Howl's Moving Castle, and The Dark Lord Of Derkholm and of course The Tough Guide to Fantasyland. And from the interviews I've read with her she was a thoroughly good egg and interesting person.

Guess who bought all six Highlander seasons on Amazon today.

Didn't get mine on Amazon, but they're on the way...

Yeah, reading her books, and from everything I heard about her, made me think she was probably a wonderful and fascinating person.

But she lived the life she wanted to live, and brought joy to many people -- it was a good life, I think.

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