Re: Adaptations and borrowing..

I wonder if the Fafhrd and Gray Mouser are an archtype and that’s why they keep coming to mind in other stories. Kind of a buddy book: a pair with complementary skills who go seeking adventure or treasure.  This is not quite the same as the “Group of companions”, but that is as close as I can come.

I noticed a similar effect of accidental literary reference in Jay Lake’s Mainspring, when his young female protagonist teams up with a metal man to go on a journey.  My mind was playing “Follow the Yellow Brick Road”, but Jay did tell me he had not intentionally tried for Oz reference.  My suspicion is there is plenty of this in books, which a reader might believe was put there on purpose.

Colleen
Colleen Cahill
[email protected]



From: Charley Seavey [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Wednesday, March 11, 2015 11:38 AM
To: Science Fiction and Fantasy Listserv; Cahill, Colleen
Subject: Re: [SF-LIT] Adaptations and borrowing..

One of S.M. Stirling's earlier  books and some overtones of Faf and the Mouser! I cannot for the life of me remember the title.

charley

On Wed, Mar 11, 2015 at 4:19 AM, Cahill, Colleen <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
Mike,
   I just finished reading "The Godstone of Venus" in the Old Venus anthology and felt a hint of Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser.  Was that intentional or just me?  Really a great story!

Colleen
Colleen Cahill
[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>



-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Resnick [mailto:[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>]
Sent: Tuesday, March 10, 2015 2:03 PM
To: Science Fiction and Fantasy Listserv; Cahill, Colleen
Subject: Re: [SF-LIT] Adaptations and borrowing..

On Tue, March 10, 2015 6:25 am, Colleen Cahill wrote:
> Charley,
>    The first two authors who jumped to my mind are Matthew Hughes
> (http://www.matthewhughes.org/) and Chris Dolley (chris-dolley.com<http://chris-dolley.com>),
> both of whom have written science fiction homages to P.D. Wodehouse's
> Bertie and Jeeve's stories. They both captured the good hearted humor
> of the original works and are quite a bit of fun.
>
>   This is just the tip of the ice burg, as I am sure most authors have
> some literary influence.
>
> Colleen
> Colleen Cahill
> [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>

I think we all have influences to greater or lesser extents. My "Harry the Book" stories are a homage to Damon Runyon, THE SOUL EATER was my answer to MOBY-DICK, "Mrs. Vamberry Takes a Trip" was a homage to Thorne Smith, etc.

-- Mike Resnick



--
Charley
Desert Sailor