There are few authors whose works bring me greater joy than Roger Zelazny.

Zelazny was a master of craft and style who could present in a terse style that seamlessly evolves into evocative prose without any awkwardness or jarring transitions. His strengths as a writer were myriad: incredible storytelling, plot development, vivid descriptions, character development, and boundless imagination in the creation of strange worlds — sometimes a shade different from our own; other times wholly alien.

In The Chronicles of Amber, Zelazny exhibits all his strengths as a writer. It’s almost frustrating to read him, because he seems to perform his craft so effortlessly.

[Click the images for master craft versions.]

Roger Zelazny’s The Chronicles of Amber is an absolute classic that I am about to revisit. I recently reread his novel Jack of Shadows, which is another fantastic work. But the Amber stories were perhaps his finest achievement.

Zelazny’s style of prose is something I really appreciate. It fluctuates from economical and concise, to poetic, to stream-of-consciousness — and it never jars the reader. It’s so smooth. I admire his work quite a bit.

I am a part of the evil which exists to oppose other evils. I destroy Melkins when I find them, and on that Great Day of which prophets speak but in which they do not truly believe, on that day when the world is completely cleansed of evil, then I, too, will go down into darkness, swallowing curses. Perhaps even sooner than that, I now judge. But whatever… Until that time, I shall not wash my hands nor let them hang useless.

—Roger Zelazny, The Chronicles of Amber, Book 2: The Guns of Avalon

There’s much more to Zelazny than the world of Amber, of course.

Jack of Shadows is a novel that I can read again and again. It’s a perfect fusion of science fiction and fantasy, conceived by a true master of genre fiction. It could make a great film in the right hands.

Jack of Shadows (Signet, May 1989). Cover by Richard Hescox

Shadowjack, Master Thief of Hell!

Who are his foes? All who would despise him or love the Lord of Smage of the Jackass Ears, the Colonel Who Never Died, the Borshin, and Quazer, winner of the Hellgames and abductor of the voluptuous Evene. One by one, Shadowjack would seek them out and have his revenge, building his power as he goes. And once his vengeance is obtained, he would come to terms with all others who are against him, he would unite the World of High Dudgeon, destroy the Land of Filth, and bring peace to the Shadowguard. But to accomplish all, Jack of Shadows must find Kolwynia, the Key That Was Lost…

A Night in Lonesome October (AvoNova paperback reprint, September 1994). Cover by James Warhola

A Night in Lonesome October is an absolute masterpiece. His final “solo” novel, this story is told from the first-person viewpoint of Jack’s watchdog, Snuff. Without giving away too many spoilers, Jack is loosely based on the infamous Jack the Ripper, and Snuff functions not quite like a pet, but a familiar spirit, one of several familiars (a bat, a cat, an owl, a rat, etc.) in the story, each with their own agendas, each with an eccentric master of great notoriety.

Zelazny’s prose often slows me down, as I pause to reread passages that are so well-wrought. Allow me to set this scene: Snuff is trying to remove a dead (murdered) body that was deposited on Jack’s property. He’s doing it not because Jack is the killer, but because he’s concerned about how it will look. Night after night he drags the body closer to a local river…

First time out yesterday I got him farther through the muck, but he was still in it when I left him. I was tired. Jack was sequestered with his objects. The police were about, searching the area. The vicar was out, too, offering exhortations to the searchers. Night came on, and later I made my way back to the muck, chasing off a few vermin and beginning the long haul once again.

I’d worked on and off for over an hour, allowing myself several panting breaks, when I realized I was no longer alone. He was bigger than me even, and he moved with a silence I envied, some piece of the night cut loose and drifting against lesser blacknesses.

He seemed to know the moment I became aware of him, and he moved toward me with a long, effortless stride, one of the largest dogs I’d ever seen outside of Ireland.

Correction. As he came on I realized he wasn’t really a dog. It was a great gray wolf that was bearing down on me. I quickly reviewed my knowledge of the submissive postures these guys are into as I backed away from the corpse.

Quoting for emphasis:

He was bigger than me even, and he moved with a silence I envied, some piece of the night cut loose and drifting against lesser blacknesses.

That was a line I read again and again. True genius.

---

Jeffrey P. Talanian’s last article for Black Gate was a look at the The Enduring Legacy of Jack Kirby. Jeffrey is the creator and publisher of the Hyperborea sword-and-sorcery and weird science-fantasy RPG from North Wind Adventures. He was the co-author, with E. Gary Gygax, of the Castle Zagyg releases, including several Yggsburgh city supplements, Castle Zagyg: The East Mark Gazetteer, and Castle Zagyg: The Upper Works. Read Gabe Gybing’s interview with Jeffrey here, and follow his latest projects on Facebook and at www.hyperborea.tv.