It doesn’t seem fair to the creator of that carefully wrought illusion, undermining all the effort and experience necessary to operate at that rarefied level, but it’s the ultimate nature of mastery, I guess. (It may be lonely at the top, but it must feel better than being at the bottom!)
In late 2002, toward the end of a long American tour that had me drained and feeling sorry for myself, I wrote to Kevin:
One bright spot I can report along the way is that during some idle hours in the tuning room, on the bus, and in hotel rooms, I had the great pleasure of reading Hidden Empire.
First of all, I have to tell you that if you or anyone else had any doubt, I think you have achieved a true Masterpiece with this book—meaning that term in the sense which you clarified for me years ago. It is definitely a piece of work to lay alongside those of the Masters, to be accepted by them and by the great abstraction of “the Audience” as one of the pantheon of masters yourself.
Congratulations. I really think it is a great book. I was so impressed by it at the time, and also after the fact—a true test of quality, I’m sure you’ll agree.
The craftsmanship alone is sheer perfection. The architecture of the storytelling moves forward with grace and economy, combining girders and panels of deft characterizations, wondrous settings, admirable “imagineering,” and all the superstructure of pure thought that has preceded all that.
(The reader will have observed by now that when Kevin asked me to write this essay, it was easy to say yes—I knew the important stuff had already been written, either by me or by him. I would only have to look it up!)
Here are some of Kevin’s thoughts on “style,” from a recent exchange of e-mails on the subject:
I think in a letter to you many years ago, I talked about creating believable worlds and scenes; one of the vital tricks I mentioned was to nail down a few small but very precise and mundane details (the color of a piece of lint, the brand of a gum wrapper wadded up in a gutter), and the reader will buy into the rest of what you’re describing. It seems easy, seems transparent. It’s simple to show off, to be flashy and flamboyant, to prance around and point at marvelous overblown metaphors. It’s more difficult to be subtle.
To which I replied, in part:
Another note about writing style that occurred to me in connection with what I wrote the other day: I just finished Gabriel García Márquez’s memoir, Living to Tell the Tale, and he described his early decision as a writer to avoid all adverbs of the “ly” sort (mento in Spanish, I think), and how it became almost pathological with him, just as Hemingway tried to cut every unnecessary adjective.
In your case, with the necessary “mission” of describing an entirely imaginary universe for the reader, it would seem especially difficult to avoid extraneous adjectives and adverbs—and yet you do, making the descriptions of planets, cities, palaces, customs, and technology fall more-or-less naturally into the ongoing narrative. And … you make it look so easy.
As we have discussed, that is the highest level of craft, and yet the least likely to be admired, or even appreciated. Once I offered a definition of genius, in particular reference to Buddy Rich: “Doing the impossible, and making it look easy.”
And yes, Kevin does make it look easy, though of course it’s not. He works to a very high standard of quality in his writing, from the conception to the execution, and these stories are a testament to the consistency of his art.
When people have called him lucky, Kevin likes to counter, “Yes, and the harder I work, the luckier I get.”
As one of his appreciative readers, I think the harder Kevin works, the luckier we get.
“The measure of a life is a measure of love and respect.”
—Neil Peart, “The Garden”
About the Authors
Kevin J. Anderson is the bestselling science-fiction author of 165 novels. His original works include the Saga of Seven Suns series; Spine of the Dragon; the Terra Incognita trilogy; and with Brian Herbert, is the co-author of 15 novels in the Dune universe. He has written spin-off novels for Star Wars, DC Comics, and The X-Files. His first novel, Resurrection, Inc., was inspired by the Rush album Grace Under Pressure, with lyrics by Neil Peart.
Neil Peart is the drummer and lyricist of the legendary rock band Rush and the author of Ghost Rider, The Masked Rider, Traveling Music, Roadshow, Far and Away, Far and Near, and Far and Wide.
Anderson and Peart coauthored the steampunk fantasy novels Clockwork Angels and Clockwork Lives, as well as graphic novel adaptations of both, and the story “Drumbeats.”
Neil Peart passed away January 2020 after a long battle with brain cancer.
About the Artist
Steve Otis is an accomplished comic artist, illustra- tor, sculptor, and teacher. He started to draw at a very early age, fueled by images of DC and Marvel com- ics, and then the great Warren magazines (Creepy and Eerie in the early 70s). From there he began to delve more deeply into horror, gothic and sci fi art. Heavi- ly influenced by Frazetta, Boris and Richard Corben, he did extensive fantasy work in the late nineties for collectible card games. By the early 2000s, he began o look for techniques to challenge his artistic style in a more “Fine Art” vein while keeping firmly to the themes of dark art.
Steve graduated from the Laval University of Quebec with a major in Art Teaching. He taught art in high school for ten years before concentrating on painting. He has participated in many solo exhibitions and collective art shows in Quebec, Montreal, Italy
