Comparisons

Every writer worth reading has a distinctive style and distinctive strengths. Comparisons are inevitable because similar themes are addressed. However, comparisons also show contrasts. They do not reduce one author to a copy of another, especially when the creators in question were not necessarily aware of each others' works.

I mention this because I am able to continue a sequence of comparisons initiated in a recent post:

dead bodies walk and attack the living at night in "The Tale of Hauk" by Poul Anderson and in The Alchemist's Revenge by Peter Cakebread;

Anderson wrote a trilogy about a detective based in contemporary San Francisco whereas Cakebread has more recently written a novel about two detectives based in the Victorian seaside town of Morecambe!

My wife, Sheila, a fan of detective fiction, is reading The Morecambe Medium while I am still reading The Alchemist's Revenge (to be interrupted by attending a Latin class today). I have visited San Francisco only in works of fiction whereas Morecambe is part of Lancaster City District where Peter, Ken, Sheila and I live - I expect to visit the fictional Victorian Morecambe shortly.

So Anderson and Cakebread have in common:

historical fantasy set during the English Civil War;
detective fiction that, in both cases, happens to be set in a city by the sea.

Despite all these parallels, Anderson fans who check out Cakebread will find that he has a distinctive voice and is worth hearing in his own right.