Diana Wynne Jones
Queen’s Birthday Sunday—it’s a long weekend here—has been one of those grey, wet, winter days and is just closing in for a dark, brooding sort of dusk. And I have to say that the weather exactly suits my mood, because after spending most of the day doing more revisions on Part 2 of Gathering, I popped over to Tor.com for a little R’n’R only to read (quoting Ansible) that Diana Wynne Jones has “chosen to stop chemotherapy treatment for cancer; her doctors fear that she has only months left to live.” You can read the full article here.
My mother died of cancer a few years back and I know that she, too, reached a stage where she felt it was the right thing to do to end any but palliative treatment. But it’s tough. Very tough: for the person’s who is ill, for their family, and for all those who love and value them.
I do not know Diana Wynne Jones, but I have known, loved and valued her work since my early teens. The first book I recall reading was A Power of Three—and I loved it. Within the next few years I read both Eight Days of Luke and Cart and Cwidder, which together are possibly still my favourite of all her books. But it is hard to say, because I don’t believe I have ever read a Diana Wynne Jones novel that I didn’t like and sometimes the book one likes best can depend on reading mood. And “Most Recently Purchased’ was The Merlin Conspiracy, which I feel is (again!) Diana Wynne Jones at her best.
So has Diana Wynne Jones been an influence on me as a writer? The answer is a resounding “yes.” I love her stories and I love the way she tells her stories. In that sense she is an exemplar, for me, of what it mean to be a good writer. But most of all she has given me many hours of pleasure as a reader and stories and characters that I have carried with me, like old and trusted friendships, for many years.
And what gift could anyone give you that is more than that?
you have inspired me to read her work.
I think you will find she repays the visit.
First book I read: Dogstar, followed years later by Charmed Life
Favorites: Dark Lord of Derkholm and it’s sequel The Year of the Griffin.
I have ‘Dogstar’ & occasionally re-read and enjoy. I haven’t read either of the Derkholm books though…