Yes!!! John Crowley is a god! Beasts took me a couple of reads, but I
now think it's one of the most lyrical pieces of fiction since, oh,
Lolita. Tough to get into the right mindset to receive the whole thing,
(whereas Nabokov slams you over the head with poetry, Crowley is always
more subtle) but once you do, it's a peach. Many of his books are like
that, IMO. Little, Big is to die for --- I literally both cried my eyes
out and laughed my ass off while reading it.
> The other is a World Fantasy Award winner called Talking Man, by Terry
> Bisson, which concerns a Kentucky Tobacco farmer, his daughter, her
> lover, the extinction of the universe, and the end of time.
Yes yes yes!!! This is a true gem. It's that weird, recent
quasi-absurdist North American reaction to the South American
magic-realism thing, really really really a cool and stylish novel. If
you liked that, read Mojo and the Pickle Jar (can't recall the author,
sorry) or anything by Tim Powers or later James Blaylock.
jb