[public] Hey, question for all those *other* ballad freaks out there....

[kniteracy]

Now that I have both of y'all's attention... ;-)


Even if you think I have read them, please comment with a list of every work of fiction you can think of that is:

• based on an English, Scottish or Appalachian ballad;
  
• includes a character who appears in balladry or is based on a character from balladry, no matter how small a part they play in the book; or
  
• incorporates a theme or storyline from balladry.

I would love it if you could note which characters/ballads/themes you're thinking of, as well.

I don't mind if you repeat things other people have said, so there's no need to go trawling through the comments (I am sure there will be at least two!) unless you're just looking for something new to read. ;-)

Harper, who is definitely looking for something new to read.

PS-- Also, harps. :-)

Comments

[bardling.livejournal.com]

Er, given my memory, I'm not sure I have the time to check my bookshelves to compile that list for you...

[telynor.livejournal.com]

No hurry; I have a lifetime of reading to do.

[angevin2.livejournal.com]

Well, the classic example would be Pamela Dean's Tam Lin.

Greer Gilman's work is very ballad-influenced, too.

[telynor.livejournal.com]

I tried to read Moonwise once and got really bogged down. Would I fare better with more recent work of hers?

[angevin2.livejournal.com]

Hmmmm, perhaps not (though I quite like her style, myself).

Not professionally published, but lilliburlero sometimes writes really neat poetry about ballads. Unfortunately it is all under f-lock...

[telynor.livejournal.com]

Re Gilman-- it was something like twelve years ago. Maybe I'll give her another go. I do still have that copy of Moonwise.

[caoilfhionn.livejournal.com]

That would be the incredibly confusing one I was going to look for.

[caoilfhionn.livejournal.com]

There are the obvious ones, Tam Lin by Pamela Dean, and Thomas the Rhymer by Ellen Kushner.

Amazon gives me The Rhymer and the Ravens: The Book of Fate by Jodie Forrest.

Wikipedia lists many novels based on Tom O'Bedlam, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_O'Bedlam) but not the incredibly confusing one for which I cannot remember the title. Will report back.

[telynor.livejournal.com]

Ooh, thanks for the Tom O'Bedlam list. Lovely. :-)

[telynor.livejournal.com]

I may be one of the few people around who's actually read The Rhymer and the Ravens. I picked it up at a newage store in Atlanta several years ago. It suffers from being a self-published book, or a book published by the author's husband or something. I found it quite a good read, although I can understand why a major publisher might not have picked it up. It doesn't have that instant-interest factor most of them are looking for these days-- but then again, neither does Moonwise, which I've taken off my shelf to try and re-read as of this morning. :-)

[dyddgu.livejournal.com]

You've read String in the Harp, I'm assuming. Also all the Pratchett-ballad stories (mainly the witches/Tiffany Aching stories). Various of Sir Walter Scott too, but I have not-much-patience for him. James Hogg too.
I dare you to read MacPherson's Ossian... ;-)

[telynor.livejournal.com]

I have read String in the Harp, which is lovely.

[trinsf.livejournal.com]

That Gael Baudino book, maybe, Uh, Gossamer Axe? And some of Tom Dietz's things, maybe?

[telynor.livejournal.com]

Gossamer Axe, indeed. She [oops, spoilers!], though, so I'm not sure if it counts. ;)

[caoilfhionn.livejournal.com]

Oh, and Mercedes Lackey has a "Bedlam's Bard" series. I enjoyed Knight of Ghosts and Shadows er... ten years ago?

Charles Vess released graphic novel adaptations of many in The Book of Ballads and Songs.

As this project progresses, please post about what you do and do not like!

[telynor.livejournal.com]

I'm interested in seeing what all kinds of authors have done with ballad characters, partly because of my own work and partly because I'm just a big old ballad geek.

[aunty_marion]

Yet another Tam Lin one is Diana Wynne Jones's Fire and Hemlock. YA, though.

Misty Lackey's Urban Bards and Urban Elves series (can't remember the exact names) have quite a few ballads in them, being played/sung, mostly.

[telynor.livejournal.com]

That is my favourite Tam Lin book, Fire and Hemlock. Mm, mm, good. Should just reread that right now.

ballads

[markiv1111.livejournal.com]

This is the sort of thing I feel obliged to mention even though, strictly speaking, it doesn't really count. My second published story and first Liavek story ("Dry Well" in *Liavek: The Players of Luck*) was based around a balladeer and a ballad. However, the "ballad" was actually written by my sister Alison, so this is only tenuously linked to the old art of balladry.

Nate

Re: ballads

[telynor.livejournal.com]

But good to know. Where can I find a copy of the story?

Re: ballads

[markiv1111.livejournal.com]

The Liavek books have been out of print for years. However, in some American bookstores you can find them by looking under their editors, Will Shetterly and Emma Bull. There are five of them, out only in paperback. I do not currently know how to locate even my own file copy. (The same balladeer, Liramal with his cittern, shows up in *Liavek: Spells of Binding,* in a story that is a sequel and not quite as good. I don't have a spare copy of this one either.) If you really want, I may be able to locate you a used copy here in the Twin Cities; you would then reimburse me for the book (about $2) and the postage (I haven't a clue) and I would send it on. Do you think it's worth the trouble? Or is there an English bookstore where you could check first?

Nate

Re: ballads

[telynor.livejournal.com]

I'll have a look round and see what I can come up with; you'd be surprised what's available over here. ;-)

[white_hart]

DWJ's Fire and Hemlock (Tam Lin/Thomas the Rhymer). Also maybe Cart and Cwidder (general ballads) and possibly Deep Secret (A Lyke-Wake Dirge and How Many Miles to Babylon?).

For harps - Nancy Bond's A String in the Harp, obviously. How about Patricia McKillip's Riddlemaster trilogy? And I think that there's a harp in one of Joan Aiken's Dido Twite novels, but I may be misremembering.

[filceolaire.livejournal.com]

"The Green Hills of Earth" and it's author - blind Reisling the bard of the spaceways was featured by a number of 'golden age' SF authors, besides Heinlein.

Anne McCaffrey's harpers of course
'Windhaven' (GRR Martin, Lisa Tuttle) has an interesting use of a ballad singer and song.
'The Ballad of Halo Jones' is one of my favourite graphic novels (and inspired Validiarosada's 'Cat's Blood'.
I have this feeling that UK Le Guin must have written about ballad singers but that may just be due to the way that her stories resonate in my mind.

[caoilfhionn.livejournal.com]

Gah. I seem to have gotten on a roll.

Sharyn McCrumb wrote a bunch of mysteries with ballad references, including She Walks These Hills. Which I bought for a former roommate solely because we would occasionally horrify everyone by imitating Mick Jagger's performance of "Long Black Veil."

[telynor.livejournal.com]

I actually really enjoyed the ones of those I read. I think I left them with kitanzi when I left the US. I'm sure there were more in the series too....

[bunrab.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was going to suggest these too. If Ever I Return, Pretty Peggy-O is another one in the series. Very well written mysteries.

what about...

[anach.livejournal.com]

Manley Wade Wellman, or did he write the ballads in the stories to go with his work?

Re: what about...

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

Wellman didn't write the ballads--not most of them, anyhow. They were authentic Appalachian ballads around which he built his stories of Silver John. Some of them are collected in a book I own called John the Balladeer, from Baen Fantasy. Joe Bethancourt has recorded a CD of the songs called Who Fears the Devil? which is also pretty good.

[silme.livejournal.com]

This could take a while...

But as I'm swamped at the moment, I'll merely mention Elizabeth Bear's Promethean Age series, which starts with Blood and Iron. Here's my review to the second one, Whiskey and Water. http://www.rambles.net/bear_whiskey07.html

And the third and fourth are out this summer.

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

As anach has posted here, one of the best extant cycles of ballad-based stories is the late Manly Wade Wellman's "Silver John" series, based on actual Appalachian ballads he heard in the Ozarks and Smokies in the 1920s. Some of them include "Vandy, Vandy," "Nine Yards of Other Cloth," "The Desrick On Yandro," "Shiver in the Pines" and "The Little Black Train."

John--he gives no last name--is central to all these stories, telling them in first person and singing the songs as he travels through the backwoods of America encountering people who either form the basis for the songs or are inspired by them to do great evil. John carries a guitar with strings of purest silver with which he can defend himself against or work magic, hence his being sometimes known as "Silver John." You may be able to pick up a copy of the best collection of the stories, John the Balladeer, from a used bookstore or online source; I'm not certain Baen still has it in print.

[telynor.livejournal.com]

Thanks for this; I've actually never heard of this series of books. I'll keep an eye out for them.

[jenstclair.livejournal.com]

Sharyn McCrumb has a ballad series--the older books are better, in my opinion.

I third Manly Wade Wellman, although he does have a writing style that's a bit... non-traditional, I guess.

[dyddgu.livejournal.com]

Hum, I wonder whether Seven Days of Luke (DWJ) counts - it's Norse, though :-/ I gave it to white_hart's brother for Christmas...

[braider.livejournal.com]

Tam Lin, by Pamela Dean

There's a short story loosely connected to Tam Lin by Tanya Huff. Don't remember the title or the anthology.

....that one about Thomas the Rhymer. In fact, I think it's even called that. *goes to check book shelf* Ellen Kushner.

Warlock and Son by Christopher Stasheff, based on Witch of the Westmoreland, which is actually a modern-written ballad - Archie Fisher.

I realized I've read a lot more books based on nursery tales than on ballads.

Oh! The one about the Twa Sisters, based on the variation in which it mentions that there are three sisters, and never again mentions the middle sister. Excellent story. I've no idea, though, what it's called, who wrote it, or what collection it was in. Wait! It might be in a collection that Robin McKinley edited.... Heh, wrong. It's Cruel Sisters, by Patricia C. Wrede, in the collection Book of Enchantments. That one has stuck in my head, despite not remembering author or title.

[gingicat]

Sharyn McCrumb's Nora Bonesteel mysteries are all based on the ballad in the title to each book.

Tam Lin by Pamela Dean, of course.

Amazon.com found an author named Deborah Grabien who writes a "Haunted Ballad" series; no idea if it's any good.

Oh, does Silverlock count?

My favorite series that includes a harp (or is that my favorite harp as character?) is Lloyd Alexander's Prydain series.

[maya-a.livejournal.com]

The Songkiller Saga by Elizabeth (Ann) Scarborough
Vol. 1: Phantom Banjo, 1991
Vol. 2: Picking the Ballad’s Bones, 1991
Vol. 3: Strum Again?, 1992

I suspect you've read them; if not, I think you'd like them.

EDIT: Oh, and Scarborough's earlier Song of Sorcery as well, in which The Gypsy Rover plays a large part.

[tibicina.livejournal.com]

People have mentioned Fire and Hemlock, Tam Lin, Ballads and Sagas, and Cruel Sisters, which are some of my favorites.

An Earthly Knight, by Janet McNaughton is another favorite retelling of Tam Lin.

Things which aren't quite based on ballads or sometimes on invented ballads, but which you still might like:
The Naming, The Riddle (and there will be two others, but I can't remember their titles off hand) by Alison Croggon
The Dalemark Quartet (Cart and Cwidder, Drowned Ammet, Spellcoats, and The Crown of Dalemark), Deep Secret, and The Merlin Conspiracy by Diana Wynne Jones. Hexwood may also have similar themes, it's been too long since I read that one.
Into the Green, The Harp of the Grey Rose (if you can find a copy), and Yarrow by Charles DeLint. (in particular, I seem to recall that Yarrow may have True Thomas in it, though I could be misremembering... actually it might be Taliensin... or it might be a conflation of the two. Again, I should probably read that again.)
Jackaroo by Cynthia Voigt
A Song for Arbonne and the Fionvar Tapestry by Guy Gavriel Kay, though Song for Arbonne is more inspired by french troubadours and Fionvar is more tied into several mythologies than true ballads. Also Tigana, though again, not really tied to specific ballads, though at least one of the important songs in it is closely related to real songs from our world.
Song for the Basilisk and The Tower at Stony Wood by Patricia McKillip (and the Riddlemaster trilogy, in which harps are rather important.)

I'm sure there are a couple of others that I'm forgetting. If I think of them, I'll post again. Ooh, though also on the Graphic Novel front - The Books of Magic, Sandman, The Dreaming, and the Books of Faerie all have a variety of minor or major characters taken from ballads or traditional songs (and mythology and fairytales and other things.)

Part of it is that I have most of my folktales/mythology/ballads/arthuriana/etc inspired books jumbled together, both the ones which correspond directly and the ones which just seem to fall into the same 'feeling'. But if you want just ballads in particular, then it's harder to sort them out. I'll see if I think of anything else.

[cherokeepurple.livejournal.com]

How about Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray? I just happened upon a copy while browsing an antique store - the harp on the spine is what grabbed my attention. I've not had a chance to read it yet, but here's the description from Amazon, "The adventures of eleven-year-old Adam as he travels the open roads of thirteenth-century England searching for his missing father, a minstrel, and his stolen red spaniel, Nick." from the card catalog. And a harp is involved. ;)

[telynor.livejournal.com]

Adam of the Road is a lovely book. I read it as a child, I think, or a young teenager. I think you will enjoy it. Another book you might really like, if you like fantasy books at all that are written for children, is Nancy Bond's A String in the Harp, mentioned here by a few people already. Very much worth the hunt if it's hard to find. :-)

[djonn]

Hmm.

Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising: not precisely based on a ballad, but incorporates elements of ballad and folklore, including referents to "Good King Wenceslas".

There's a "Haunted Ballads" series of mysteries/ghost stories by Deborah Grabien; I have not read these, but clearly they fall within the category of what you've asked about.

Vera Chapman's The Green Knight: draws specifically on "Gawain and the Green Knight"; see also the other two linked books, The King's Damosel and King Arthur's Daughter.

Adam Stemple's Singer of Souls and Steward of Song: The protagonist is a modern balladeer encountering faerie folk; he's very much an anti-hero in significant respects (read "not necessarily likeable"), and the first book ends on a cliffhanger (I have not yet read the second).

To the extent that Robin Hood is a figure of ballad: Robin of Sherwood by Robin McKinley. I did not like the Robin Hood books and stories by Clayton Emery; there's a lot of other Robin Hood fiction out there, at novel length and shorter. One of the odder but more intriguing items I've run across is The Tale of Marian's Wedding, which has a faux Robin Hood ballad written into it....

[keristor.livejournal.com]

Charles de Lint's Jack the Giant-killer is an update of the story, set in 'modern' Canada, and incorporates a load of elements from other ballads and faerie tales. As does the sequel, Drink Down the Moon. It was in a series of books (edited by Terri Windling) retelling (and in some cases resetting) ballads and faerie tales, the only other one I've found in the series was Pamela Dean's Tam Lin.

('Jack' is probably best known as a faerie tale, via the brothers Grimm, but I know there is at least one ballad version.)

[carolf.livejournal.com]

I'm not as conversant with the ballads, so I don't know what matches ballads versus merely sounding bardic. However, I recommend sifting through these authors:

Emma Bull
Charles de Lint
Terri Windling
Jane Yolen

I also recommend the series of short story anthologies edited by Terri Windling and Eileen Datlow.

There is a delightful collection of fantasy short stories specifically themed around music entitled "The Horns of Elfland," edited by Donald G Keller, Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman. I'm sure some of them MUST come from ballad sourcing. The first one, for example, is all about a young woman musician, abandoned out on the open road, enticed into playing for the underground Faerie circle. There's another one about a musician who plays as well as he does because he accepted the gift of the skill at the price of answering to Faerie whenever they required him to play for them. That kind of thing.

Didn't Ivanhoe find King Richard by playing the part of a traveling bard, singing a song Richard would recognize? Or is that just from the movie? (Been way too long since I read the book.)

If I think of more, I'll post again.

So, what's this about?

[bunrab.livejournal.com]

Most of Emma Bull's stuff
the Borderlands series, edited by Terri Windling (Emma Bull is also one of the contributing writers to this)
Jane Yolen, of course