Goodbye, Diana

I learned a sad thing yesterday.  Diana Wynne Jones, author of many wonderful YA fantasy novels, passed away at the age of 76.  She'd been fighting lung cancer for a while, and it eventually got the best of her.  I owe her a lot - through her books, she gave me many a happy reading experience, and opened up my mind to many new ideas.  I've never read a book of hers that I didn't like, and I haven't even read all of them. 

What I loved most about her books is that they were witty, humorous, real, fantastic, and gritty all at once.  She didn't shy away from any of the nastier aspects of her stories.  She was honest.  She was tough.  She was sweet, and thoughtful.  She pulled no punches, but denied no rewards, either.  Her characters are fallible, noble, inadequate, strong, and weak.  They are, in fact, real people that just happen to be fictional.

I wish that more people knew Jones' work.  I recently contributed two articles to Topless Robot, which were lists of YA fantasy and science fiction novels, respectively.  Jones was featured on both of them, which is a testament to her versatility - and my fondness for her writing.  It's unfortunate that one rarely sees any of Jones' "deeper tracks" on bookstore shelves - the tendency seems to be to cater to the popularity of Hayao Miyazaki's film adaptation of "Howl's Moving Castle."  Both the film and the book are wonderful in their individual ways, but they barely scratch the surface of Jones' prolific history.  For my part, my immediate recommendations would be "The Dark Lord of Derkholm" and her Chrestomanci books - those will easily get you hooked into the rest of her books, and you'll be better for it.

It seems trite and insignificant for me to write one single post to honor this amazing woman.  It's odd to think about how much I've been influenced by someone I've never met - and now never will.  But I would be remiss in failing to acknowledge such a person's passing.  Rest in peace, Diana Wynne Jones.  Thank you for everything.  I'll leave you with a quote that, while not exactly fitting to send her into the void beyond, is a classic distillation of her style:

"I seem to have excaliburated this knife." - Enchanted Glass