Fantasy authors you (and I) should read

[BenG]

Originally Posted by Jack Tingle

Henderson, Zenna, "Ingathering" p ****
This is NESFA's collection of all of Henderson's "The People" stories. I loved these stories when I was a teenager. I still like them a lot. I also recommend NESFA's excellent series of collections and volumes of significant sf works.
_______________

Happy Reading,
Jack Tingle

I enjoyed Henderson's work. I may still have the paperbacks at my mother's house. I also seem to remember a TV movie about The People starring William Shatner.

[TGNY]

These Three are absolute musts...
Michael Moorcock- Elric Saga (best fantasy ever)
Robert E. Howard- Conan
Fritz Leiber-Fafrhd & Grey Mouser series

somewhat New and Noteworthy--Robert Holdstock- Mythago Wood

[sasilk]

I would recommend...

Barbara Hambly - Dog Wizard series

Tim Powers - specifically The Drawing of the Dark but many of his others as well. (Not all are fantasy, and some are almost impossible to categorise.)

Christopher Stasheff - Warlock of Gramarye series. Wizard in Rhyme series.

Orson Scott Card - Alvin Maker series

Katherine Kurtz - Deryni series

Ursula K LeGuin - Earthsea series

L Frank Baum (et al) - Oz series (Surprised no-one's mentioned it yet) :-)

Lynn Abbey - Thieves' World series

L E Modesitt Jr - Recluce series. Soprano Sorceress series.

Alan Dean Foster - Spellsinger series

Piers Anthony - Xanth series (But take them in small doses.)

Elizabeth A Lynn - Chronicles of Tornor series (Not for children)

L Sprague de Camp - Almost anything, but the Enchanter sereis is brilliant.

Patricia A McKillip - Riddlemaster of Hed series

Robert Silverberg - Majipoor Chronicles (A bit of an SF/Fantasy mix)

Manly Wade Wellman - Who Fears The Devil & John the Balladeer

Marion Zimmer Bradley - Darkover series (Not my favourite, but well-liked by many)

Mary Gentle - Grunts (*Highly* recommended! Definitely not for children.)

Forgot to include Neil Gaiman!

[PhishStyx]

Hal Duncan- Vellum & Ink, his writing style is somewhat like Neal Stephenson in that it is complexly dense and requires both concentration and re-reading to catch all of his meanings.

If you're looking for something you can skim and not think about, read Eddings*; Duncan's writing is thoughtful and worth spending the time to understand.


*I'm not saying that to be harsh on Eddings, simply to differentiate the 2 types of writing. My wife and step-daughter read in that style often, and I think it's an excellent style for younger readers to read their first longer novels in.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by TGNY

somewhat New and Noteworthy--Robert Holdstock- Mythago Wood

Not that new. Mythago Wood was first published 25 years ago. There are other books in that setting, and Holdstock has just released a book that is a direct sequel to Mythago Wood.
______
Dennis

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by sasilk

I would recommend...
L Frank Baum (et al) - Oz series (Surprised no-one's mentioned it yet) :-)

Note that the originals by L. Frank Baum are all now in the public domain and appearing in places like Project Gutenberg.

Piers Anthony - Xanth series (But take them in small doses.)

Personally, I could handle about the first three, and none after.

L Sprague de Camp - Almost anything, but the Enchanter sereis is brilliant.

Written in collaboration with Fletcher Pratt. See also the de Camp/Pratt collaboration _Land of Unreason_.

de Camp also wrote SF, largely in the Viagens Interplanetarias series. Interestingly, de Camp once decided that FTL travel was impossible, and refused to use it in further work.

Robert Silverberg - Majipoor Chronicles (A bit of an SF/Fantasy mix)

What do you consider fantasy about it? From where I sit, it's straight up SF.

Marion Zimmer Bradley - Darkover series (Not my favourite, but well-liked by many)

And arguably SF, not fantasy, though I can see why it might be seen as fantasy.

Mary Gentle - Grunts (*Highly* recommended! Definitely not for children.)

Fun, but for me, way too long. It's an extended joke that could have been treated in a novelette.
______
Dennis

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

Here's one that should be on the list.

Silverlock by John Myers Myers. Available at fictionwise for around 6 dollars (multiformat, no DRM). it's a fantasy about reading, for lack of a better word.

Absolutely wonderful. And there is the Silverlock Companion by Fred Lerner, originally published by Niekas Press. (Silverlock contains an enormous number of literary references, and identifying them all can be a challenge.) This is part of the NESFA Press hardcover edition. I don't believe it's part of the Fictionwise ebook.

Myers also wrote a book called _The Moon's Fire-eating Daughter_, which is sometimes billed as a sequel to Silverlock. It isn't, but it's worth a shot on its own.

Another is the Lord Darcy series by Randall Garrett. Available at Baen for 6 bucks. The perfect conjunction between Fantasy, Science Fiction and Mystery.

Splendid stuff, that I've been fond of since the stories first appeared in Analog Magazine. Also perfect grist for a "define fantasy and sf" session, since it's argualbly fantasy, but worked up and presented in best hard SF style.
______
Dennis

[BenG]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

de Camp also wrote SF, largely in the Viagens Interplanetarias series. Interestingly, de Camp once decided that FTL travel was impossible, and refused to use it in further work.
______
Dennis

I remember Asimov mentioning this. He didn't believe in faster than light travel either, but used it in his stories because it was so convenient.

[BenG]

And arguably SF, not fantasy, though I can see why it might be seen as fantasy.

The early stories about their relations with the Terrans were more sci-fi, but some of the books that take place before re-contact verge on fantasy or sword-and-sorcery. I guess they could be considered planetary romances like ERB's Mars and Venus books.

[BenG]

I would recommend...
Tim Powers - specifically The Drawing of the Dark but many of his others as well. (Not all are fantasy, and some are almost impossible to categorise.)

I like his pirate and voodoo novel On Stranger Tides, which incidentally has the same name as the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean sequel. I don't know if it's a completely different story or or if they're trying to fit Jack Sparrow into the plot of the book.

[Billjr13]

Alright I know they are not great lit but they are fun Robert Asprin's Myth series. Asprin was also the editor of the Thieves' World by Lynn Abbey.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by BenG

I remember Asimov mentioning this. He didn't believe in faster than light travel either, but used it in his stories because it was so convenient.

I think a lot of SF authors do this.

de Camp was a purist. The informal rule for SF was that you could postulate what you liked for things not yet discovered, but you had to get what we already knew right. By his interpretation, once he decided FTL was in fact not possible, he had to stop using it in stories.

At this point, FTL travel is "wallpaper" in SF, taken for granted and not explained. In earlier days, SF writers felt compelled to provide some explanation for how it all worked, even if it was largely hand waving. Brian Aldiss once did a story in which the narrator said "FTL travel? Oh, yes! Had it for decades! I'd be happy to explain how it works, but the printer refuses to typeset the three pages of equations required to give the explanation, so let's just take my word for it and carry on, shall we?"

More recently, David Brin had fun in his Uplift series. He decided that if there was one way to go FTL, there was more than one, and different galactic species used different methods. The Tandu, for example, have a client species called the Episiarchs. The Episiarchs are bred for Psi powers. Tandu ships travel between the stars when an Episiarch denies the current location of the ship so strongly that space is warped and the ship reappears elsewhere. The method isn't foolproof, and a Tandu ship occasionally disappears from its present location and doesn't reappear elsewhere, but the Tandu are willing to accept the risks.
______
Dennis

[ctol]

Dave Duncan' A Man Of His Word series should definitely be added to the list. It is well written and has an interesting take on how people become more powerful warlocks. wizards, and soceresses.
There is also a sequel series called A Handful Of Men.

[Archergal5219]

Originally Posted by BlackVoid

Joe Abercrombie - the best fantasy I have ever read by far
Brandon Sanderson - Mistborn trilogy is great
Brent Weeks - Way of Shadows trilogy is excellent

Avoid - overrated, slow paced, pointless:
Robin Hobb
China Mieville
R. Scott Bakker

Another vote for Brent Weeks Way of Shadows trilogy. I liked that one very much.

Brandon Sanderson has some good story ideas, but I tend to get impatient with his books as they go along, and often end up unsatisfied by them.

I quite like Robin Hobb, and look forward to her new book next year. Though I have to say her Soldier Son series was a departure in tone from her earlier work, and may not have appealed to all.

I'll add Peter Brett's The Warded Man. Original ideas and good execution.

I've read genre stuff for so many years that lots of times I feel pretty jaded. Whenever I hit something new and different, my ears perk up and my eyes shine.

[Archergal5219]

Originally Posted by ctol

Dave Duncan' A Man Of His Word series should definitely be added to the list. It is well written and has an interesting take on how people become more powerful warlocks. wizards, and soceresses.
There is also a sequel series called A Handful Of Men.

I read a lot of Dave Duncan a few years back. He always has an interesting twist on stories, and his books are very readable.

I like Robert Holdstock too. Mythago Wood and Lavondyss are older books, but are some of my all-time favorites. His idea of a bit of primeval wood that contains hidden depths of myth and mystery is one I find immensely compelling.

I listened to Od Magic by Patricia McKillip a while back and thought it was one of her best books in years. She consistently writes beautiful prose that's a pleasure to read.

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susannah Clarke is a wonderful and amazing book. It's got very 19th century prose, with lots of footnotes. But the footnotes add little details that flesh out the world she creates. It's a little slow to get going, but by the end I couldn't put it down. A thoroughly satisfying reading experience, at least for me.

And everyone should read Terry Pratchett. I resisted him for years, and I don't even know why. I did the same thing with Patrick O'Brian. But once I started reading both of them, I couldn't stop. Great stuff.