Actually, some of his earliest works are msyteries. "A Matter of Time"
and "Heirs of Babylon" are both murder mysteries.
Richard Chilton wrote:
>I think they started because Cook wanted to write a detective novel but
>was only known for fantasy. This way he could practice writting the new
>form while staying close to one he knew.
>At the start they are a bit "film Noir" with some fantasy, but not
>driven by fantasy. Change the war to a long running WWII, the vampires
>to nazis, and you have something approaching a Bogart movie for Sweet
>Silver Blues. Yes, there is lots of fantasy in it, but if they were
>fantasy driven there would be more understandable magic like the Lord
>D'arcy series.
>
>
We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.
The first three books in this series remain my favorites. I like Crocker's viewpoint and there were some clever set-ups that paid off later on.
I enjoyed having different characters become the first person viewpoint. As Crocker grew in statue, it became more difficult to identify with him. Other people needed to step in to replace him as as the point-of-view character.
I would love to see the next set of BC book set again in the North. I am hopeful that Cook will use elapsed time in the series to give familiar settings a new look. Rebuilding the City of Oar into a thriving metropolis. Discovering deeper levels of tombs in the Barrowland. Showing Father Tree to be something other than a benevolent God from another world.
Perphaps most important, I would like to see the Black Company shatter into factions and have to find itself and rebuild itself. Crocker, Murgen, and others are quick to tout the virtues of brotherhood. Yet the Company continues to absorb countless people and ideas from other cultures. At some point in time, the coin loses its value and needs to be reminted. The Company went South to find its origins but found only desolation, instead. Perhaps Cook will see his way to give the Company a crisis of spirit and forge his creation anew.
