Ever since my sixth grade teacher Mrs. Walker offered me a taste of Walter Farley’s The Black Stallion, I have been addicted to story. With every book I pick up, I send gratitude to Mrs. Walker. More than once, the paperback in my back pocket has saved my sanity. So, what three books have influenced me most? My book acquisitions (not counting Kindle) line three walls in shelves often two deep.
I’m looking at my books. Why the hell do I have so many books? Forgive the digression. I think the acquisitions began also when I was in the sixth grade. I encountered a problem giving the books back. When I liked a story, I wanted it to remain with me, not only in my head, but in my hand. That urge and the way libraries are set up came into conflict. I had no intention of stealing a book, I just found great procrastination in returning it. As I recall, (memory is always suspect) the sixth grade librarian was not happy with me. Books weren’t expensive, and I had started working a few years later so…
For now, I’ll go with Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Earthsea Trilogy. If you’re interested in Fantasy, you’ll have read it. If you think you might be, I would recommend it. I won’t spoil it by giving a review here. I won’t even pretend that I fully understand Mrs. Le Guin’s theme. The theme I took from these books has to do with power, its uses, and limitations.
Every child wants to be a super hero in some way. To have the power to gainsay a parent’s ‘no’, or the ability to leap tall buildings, that’s what imagination is all about. As I began to read history, I kept an eye out for those actors who, if not able to leap tall buildings, had the power to command the lives of people in large swaths of the world. As a child I was convinced that the ability to leap tall buildings would make me happy. Even though I haven’t yet accomplished that feat, my read on others who metaphorically have doesn’t fill me with confidence on the ‘happy’ part.
In The Earthsea Trilogy, Ged learns the ways of power and how the law of unintended consequences restricts its use in direct proportion to the power acquired. Contrary to popular opinion, I do not think the exercise of power leads to happiness or security. The thought is counterintuitive, but history seems to back me up.
The Sun God’s Heir is about a young seventeenth century Frenchman who is challenged by an ancient enemy from his past. His three-thousand-year-old past. In this lifetime he is nineteen when this story begins. An historical fantasy, The Return, book one in The Sun God’s Heir trilogy will be out this summer.
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