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the linguistically challenged. If you want simple, easy books, go
read 'The Bobbsey Twins at the Seashore'. How's that for towering
arrogance?
In line with that thought, I'll take one last pass at that 'I get letters'
business. Some I've received have candidly admitted, 'I didn't really
like to read before I got into your stories, but now I read all the time.'
Let television tremble. Big Dave and Little Leigh are coming to black
out those screens. Maybe that's our purpose in life. We're here to
teach whole generations how to read - not everybody, perhaps, but
enough to possibly make a difference. 'They left the world better
than they found it,' sounds like a tombstone, but there are worse
things you can say about people, wouldn't you say? Egomaniacal,
huh? But egomania is a requirement for any writer. You have to
believe that you're good and that people will want to read your
stuff. Otherwise, you'll give it up after your first rejection slip.
Always remember that Gone with the Wind was rejected by
thirty seven publishers before it was finally accepted, and short of the
Bible, there are probably more copies of that book in print than any
other in publishing history - or so I've been told.
I'll close with a recommendation. My personal favorite fantasy
author is Lord Dunsany. He teaches me humility, since he does more
in four pages than I can do in four hundred. Read The Book of
Wonder. Get to know Slith, Thangobrind the jeweler, Pombo the
Idolater, and Nuth. Ponder the fate of people who jump off the edge
of the world. Consider the folly of messing around with Hlo-Hlo,
the Spider idol. Journey across the Plains of Zid, through the cities of
Mursk and Tlun, around the shoulder of the Peak of Mluna that
overlooks the Dubious Land, and cross the bridge from Bad to
Worse.
Go ahead. I dare you.
THE END