I'm both grateful to Tolkien and almost wish he'd never been published. Grateful because, without the success of his books we wouldn't have had so many subsequent books, written by those inspired by his work, nor would so many wonderful classic novels have been brought back into print without the existence of a fantasy genre. My irritation has nothing to do with either Tolkien or his work, but rather the fact that because The Lord of the Rings was initially published as a trilogy when it came out in paperback in NA, it begat (in the minds of publishers, writers and readers) the idea that fantasy works best as a trilogy, or as a series, which has resulted in far too many bloated stories that would have been better served in one book. It also resulted in far too many imitations, which in turn spawned their own imitations, so that now the stores are filled with third and fourth generation bad Tolkien.

But the man himself, and his writing: pure magic.

Charles de Lint
www.cyberus.ca/~cdl

Charles de Lint is a well-known fantasist, residing in Canada. His newest novel, Forests of the Heart, has recently been published by Tor Books, in June 2000. An excerpt is available for reading at his impressive website.