Heraclix & Pomp's Top 20

5:52 pm 16 November 2013

Every author has been influenced by the books they've read. Sometimes, this manifests itself in a work, whether in a blatant retelling of another story, or in more subtle ways, by inference. My novel Heraclix & Pomp (forthcoming from Resurrection House press) is no exception. So I wanted to acknowledge the books that influenced me while I wrote Heraclix & Pomp. Some of them are works that had a more subtle influence by way of atmosphere or structure,while others were more "up front," sometimes used as reference works. I won't parse out which is which, but when you read Heraclix & Pomp, you'll be able to tell that some of them by a direct reading of the test and others only after reading the novel, then reading the other books and pondering a bit on how they relate. I admit that some of these were largely subconscious influences, and it took me some time to meditate on them and draw out the connections. You might have to do the same. But, hey, the greatest rewards in reading come from these kinds of exercises. Here's the list, Heraclix & Pomp's Top 20: 

 

  1. The Golem, Gustav Meryrink
  2. The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, Christopher Marlowe
  3. Magic Prague, Angelo Maria Ripellino
  4. Searching for Memory: The Brain, The Mind, And The Past, Daniel L. Schacter
  5. The Marquis: Inferno, Guy Davis
  6. Europe in the Eighteenth Century, 1713-1783, M.S. Anderson
  7. Official Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual, Gary Gygax
  8. Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
  9. Dueling: The Cult of Honor in Fin-De-Siecle Germany, Kevin McAleer
  10. By the Sword: A History of Gladiators, Musketeers, Samurai, Swashbucklers, and Olympic Champions, Richard Cohen
  11. Lamentations of the Flame Princess, James Edward Raggi IV
  12. Die Leiden des jungen Werther, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
  13. The Bridge on the Drina, Ivo Andric
  14. Gustave Moreau: Between Epic and Dream, Genevieve Lacambre
  15. Islamic Art, Barbara Brend
  16. Franz Kafka: The Complete Stories, Franz Kafka
  17. The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: Inferno, Dante Alighieri
  18. Traveler's Companion: A Collection From Harper's Magazine, Harper's Magazine
  19. Numbers in the Dark: And Other Stories, Italo Calvino
  20. Burnham's Celestial Handbook, vol. 1, vol. 2, and vol.3, Robert Burnham, Jr.

OK, so the last one is three volumes, but it's really only one book.

 

I'm sure there are other influences I'm missing. In fact, you might know some, not even having read Heraclix & Pomp. What books do you associate with those in the list above? Let me know and I'll add to my infinitely long To Be Read list on both Goodreads and Booklikes!