His followers called him Mahasamatman and said he was a god. He preferred to drop the Maha- and the -atman, however, and called himself Sam. He never claimed to be a god. But then he never claimed not to be a god. Circumstances being what they were, neither admission could be any benefit. Silence, though, could.
Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
How can that opening line not hook you into a story? No science fiction or fantasy writer has achieved the consistent level of quality writing that graced Zelazny’s work. Zelazny died in 1995, but his collected works have recently been anthologized in six volumes (four published at this date). As you read them, you cannot help but be struck by the consistent high quality across the short stories and novels.
Zelazny won three Nebula Awards (fourteen nominations)and six Hugo Awards (fourteen nominations). He is probably best known for his Chronicles of Amber, ten novels set in two series of five, but his best work is Lord of Light, which is on most critics short list as one of the ten or so best science fiction novels ever written. Prolific, poetic, wildly imaginative and endlessly inventive, I read and re-read his novels and short stories with delight.
He had a strong influence on writers as diverse as Steven Brust, Walter Jon Williams, Joe Haldeman, Neil Gaiman and Robert Silverberg, and many more. But as much as I like those writers, none of them is quite as good as Roger Zelazny.
Among his many gifts as a writer was his ability to sketch in a world or a situation by hints, rather than exposition. An anti-Robert Jordan, he wrote vividly and precisely, but without indulging in a single wasted word. His writing was poetic but spare, earthy but concise. It is very hard to wade through the latest cookie-cutter plot, 900-page opus, after reading Zelazny.
There is no bad Zelazny. Read anything he had written and see if I’m not right.
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