"Well, so long, Bessie - promise me you'll always be a happy Cow .... and not some Happy Meal."

(Patrick McDonnell, "Mutts III - More Shtuff" 1998)

Nachdem der zweite Band der Khaavren-Bände "Fivehundred Years After" auch geschafft ist, bin ich mittlerweile so weit, daß die überdehnten und umständlichen Dialoge mich nicht mehr nerven, sondern sie im Gegenteil zum wahren Genuß werden und ich mich über jeden besonders gelungenen unnötigen Satz freue. Und genau wie im ersten Band sind es wieder Pel und Tazendra, die dem ganzen noch die Krone aufsetzen:

Tazendra gave a cry upon seeing Pel, and embraced him with an exuberance that simultaneously raised the doorward's eyebrows and threatened the Yendi's ribs. He nevertheless returned the embrace as well as he could before disengaging himself and paying Tazendra a thousand compliments.

"So," he said at last, "you have been seeking me?"
"More than seeking you," said Tazendra. "I have found you."
"Well, you have," said Pel. "And yet - "
"And yet?"
"Well, I wonder - "
"Ah! I recognize you so well in that!"
"Oh, to be sure."
"But tell me what you wonder."
"Oh, I am about to."
"Begin then."
"I wonder why you have been seeking me."
"Why else, but to find you?"
"Yes, yes, I understand that, only - "
"Only you wish to know why I wanted to find you?"
"Yes, Tazendra. You have guessed it. I wish to know why you wanted to find me."
"Oh, as to that - "
"Yes?"
"I will tell you."
"And at once, I hope."
"Why, this, this very instant."
"Then I am listening."
"I wished to find you because I wish to learn what you know."
"You wish to learn what I know? But surely you must
understand - "
"Ah, ah! You know that understanding is not something I do well."
"Oh, but this is something you will understand."
"I am skeptical."
"I know you are, Tazendra, and I assure you that it is a mark of intelligence."
"Do you think so?"
"I am convinced of it."
"Well, what must I understand, then?"

.. und so geht es noch weiter, seitenlang. Oh dear, eigentlich wollte ich ja etwas anderes lesen, aber um "Paths of the Dead" komme ich wohl doch nicht herum, wie es aussieht, da nicht nur die Dialoge süchtig machen auf Dauer. Ah well.

It was a bitch wind, knife sharp and cutting, and it blew
bad and cold.

And they came with it, scurrying and skittering, like yellow
leaves and old newspapers, from a thousand places and from nowhere at all.

They came in their suits and their tee shirts, carrying rucksacks and briefcases and suitcases and plastic bags, muttering and humming and silent as the night.

It seemed like the bitter fall wind brought them there.

Perhaps it did.

----------

The first wind of winter blew from the North, and it had ice and rime on it's breath.

It was dirty and sharp and it cut like a razor, and if it touched you, you could wash and wash until your skin was tattered and bloodied, but you'd never be clean again.

It scattered them into the night, the quiet ones with death in their eyes.

But they left more tentatively than they had come, as if they had seen something unholy inside themselves, something they would never be able to forget.

And they left slowly, one by one, with reluctance, leaving the safety of the light for the chill uncertainties of the darkness.

It seemed like the night sucked them up, took them into it's dark heart.

It seemed like the darkness swallowed them ...

Perhaps it did.

(Neil Gaiman, "The Sandman Library II - The Doll's House", 1990)

Kürzlich hatte ich das Vergnügen, Bücher von zwei Autoren nacheinander zu lesen, welche - nicht nur in Bezug auf ihre Dialoge - absolut gegensätzlich sind, aber dennoch beide unfehlbar auf ihre Art ihre Leser zum schmunzeln, wenn nicht gar zum laut herauslachen bringen.

Tanya Huff schreibt in ihren Valor-Bänden (und nicht nur da) absolut beneidenswert knappe Dialoge:

Torin sighed. "Mr. Ryder, you blind jump out of Susumi space in a vessel smaller than the average SRM. You secure potentially hazardous salvage in vacuum, with no backup, leaving you essentially screwed if something goes wrong. I do not think you're a coward."
He cocked his head and she could see a glint in the blue eyes. "You think I'm a scavenger who makes his living off the misfortune of people you call friends."
"It's like you were reading my mind, Mr. Ryder .."
"Call me Craig."
"... but that doesn't make you a coward."
"Or a marine."
"What makes you think we'd have you?"
"Ouch again."
"Lick your wounds a little quieter, please, they're starting."
"Are you smiling?"
She was. "No."
"Okay."

-------------

"You know, for a cadmium-haired sex maniac, you're a decent shot."
"Thanks. For a .."
"Superior officer."
"... Human, you're a decent pilot."
"Was that an insult?"
"Up to you."
Starboard thrusters. Full topside. The bottom of the Jade skimmed the side of the pen.

"Fuk!" Dursinski twisted around in her strapping. "I could read 'made by the H'san coalition' on the bottom of that thing!"
"You can read?" Werst snorted.
"Up yours."
Morale seemed fine, Torin noted.

(Tanya Huff, "The Better Part of Valor", 2002)

In Steven Brusts Taltos-Bänden sind die Dialoge ähnlich knapp und spritzig, aber in den Khaavren Büchern macht er sich einen Spaß daraus, alle Konversationen so weit in die Länge zu ziehen, bis man um Gnade wimmern möchte:

..Tazendra suddenly announced to Khaavren and Pel, "I have been wondering again."
Pel shrugged. "I had thought you had given over such activities."
"Well, I seem unable to stop myself."
"It is a sign of intelligence," said Khaavren, "to be unable to stop wondering."
"Is it indeed?" said Tazendra, who was greatly pleased by this thought.
"Entirely."
"Well, that is good; I had suspected I was intelligent, now I know that I am, and because of it-"
"Well?"
"I will continue to wonder."
"That is right," said Khaavren.
"And yet, I should like an answer to the question that has been knocking about my head so insistently."
"I understand your annoyance," said Pel, "but I beg you to reconsider."
"Reconsider?"
"Exactly."
"Why?"
"Because, if you ask your question, it might be answered."
"Well, but that is what I want."
"No," said Pel, "it is not."
"How, it is not?"
"Not in the least in the world, I assure you."
"But, it seems to me that is just why I want to ask the question."
"And you are wrong to do so," said Pel promptly.
"But, will you tell me why?"
"I should be delighted to do so."
"Then I am listening."
"Well, here it is: if your question is answered, you will no longer wonder."

(Steven Brust, "The Phoenix Guards", 1991)

"For the first time in her life Granny wondered whether there might be something important in all these books people were setting such store by all these days, although she was opposed to books on strict moral grounds, since she had heard that many of them were written by dead people and therefore it stood to reason reading them would be as bad as necromancy."

(Terry Pratchett, "Equal Rites")

Ächz, und ich hab mir erst letztens "Bleak House" von Charles Dickens zugelegt, auch weil es in Peter Straubs & Stephen Kings "Black House" so hochgelobt wird. Und der gute "Dahl's Chickens" wie Roald Dahl (aargh, noch ein Toter!) ihn nannte, hat doch schon vor längerer Zeit das Zeitliche gesegnet ... Aber da es Regina so gut gelungen ist, mich mit ihrem Brust-Virus anzustecken, komme ich wohl vorerst sowieso nicht dazu. Und Steven Brust ist definitiv am Leben und das auch hoffentlich noch sehr lange ...