When I was a little girl, I loved visiting the San Diego Public Library. It had multiple floors with thousands of books. The children’s section took up almost one entire floor of the building.
It seemed like a treasure trove to me. So many books written by so many authors! Now, as I think back, I wonder how many of those books are still being checked out by readers.
Times change. Tastes change. New authors arise to fill bookshelves with their works.
And those old books can fade away like endangered species.
We can’t save all the books from obscurity, but we can make sure our favorites are passed down to the next generation. That’s the purpose of my blog today – to tell you about one of my favorite fantasy authors, Patricia McKillip. Back in the 1970’s, every fantasy fan knew about her books. Nowadays, I talk to fantasy readers (and even authors) who have never heard of her.
Patricia McKillip’s books can best be described as “gentle” fantasy. Her stories were never graphic or gory. She wrote about magical places filled with delightful creatures and likeable characters. The pacing kept the plots interesting, but never overwhelmed the reader. Often, her books had an element of humor, and she loved character names that involved puns.
Most of her books were high fantasy, meaning they take place in an entirely different world with no connection to ours. She had an amazing imagination, and her fantasy universes always felt fresh and original.
Her best-known trilogy – the one that made her a well-loved author in the 1970’s and 1980’s – was the Riddle of Stars. If you’ve never read her books, that is definitely the place to start.
The trilogy begins with The Riddle-Master of Hed, the story of a young man’s journey to discover the meaning of his strange birthmark – three stars on his forehead. I won’t give any spoilers here, except to say that the trilogy is epic fantasy and significant events are happening in the world around him.
The next two books in the trilogy are Heir of Sea and Fire and Harpist in the Wind. The three books form one continuous story. Don’t read them out of order. You’ll be very confused!
In addition to securing a permanent place on my top ten favorite fantasy works of all time, the Riddle-Master of Hed also has the distinction of being one of the few paperback books that I almost bought because of its cover. I say “almost” because I did not actually buy it that day in the bookstore. Instead, I purchased it a short time later, after two of my friends recommended it. Most of my reading in those days came from the recommendations of my friends.
Here is that original cover:
If you prefer a standalone fantasy novel instead of a trilogy, then I recommend The Book of Atrix Wolfe. It is probably my second-favorite of McKillip’s works. I own a copy (and probably both the paperback and hardcover), but when I scoured my bookshelves today looking for the book so I could include a photo in this blog, I couldn’t find it. (Argh!! I own so many books! Can you own too many books?)
So, here is an image from the internet instead:
The Forgotten Beasts of Eld, another standalone, is well worth the read. The book cover has changed over the years, but the story is still compelling and almost poetic.
Sadly, I was never able to meet Patricia McKillip in person to tell her how much I love her books. In 1979, I attended a Westercon where she was scheduled as a guest author, but she never appeared on any of the panels. During the convention, I wrote her a letter (which was delivered to her by one of the other convention guests), and she sent me a lovely letter in response. But that was the closest contact I ever had.
Her books had a tremendous influence on my development as an author. In some ways, her gentle fantasy stories were precursors to the cozy high fantasy books of today. Like today’s cozy books, McKillip’s fantasy novels were beautiful, comforting, and full of wonder.
In conclusion, if you are looking for a new author to try, please consider Patricia McKillip’s books. She wrote both novels and short stories, and this blog only highlights a handful. Most of them are still available to purchase on Amazon. Let’s keep her fantastic writing alive!
Women Writing Other Worlds 