One of the most gorgeous prose authors I know of - Grant manages to blend his inspired and lyrical fantasy into a world striving to be as real and modern and hopeful as can be.

Grant's work can easily be broken down into two distinct categories:

His early work is all set within the same somewhat post-apocalyptic world. What has actually transpired to bring the world to this state is never discussed... something has simply gone wrong. Blending a mixture of fairy tale motif with an agressive desire to define the act of story-telling and its place within novels and the like, this period of his work is wholly successful. While the author and his impact remains hidden by his language, the act of story-telling itself and the emphasis he places upon a story's self awareness comes very clearly to the forefront. His work within this period is startling and like nothing else I've ever read.

It's also all out of print. Go figure.

After a substantial wait, Grant began releasing books again in the late 90s. These works are also all of a sort and focus mostly on the follies of new age mysticism. While I find the subject less engaging, Grant's ability as a writer has done nothing but mature. What I find lacking in these works is not the power of his language to inspire and amaze, but rather a lack of the experimentation that made his early work so important and so fresh.

Yet to be released:

  • Kaspian Lost (2001)
  • Not to be confused with Richard E. Grant.