Jerol Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 Reactor, TOR's new blog site, post this last week and it dredges up a few things I had forgotten. It generated quite a bit of talk and further recommendations on another forum I hang out on. I suspect it will generate OPINIONS here. A couple of these haven't aged well for me, but what do I know. YMMV. Have fun. https://reactormag.com/10-iconic-fantasy-novels-ripe-for-rediscovery/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ran Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 (edited) Rather baffled by obvious science fiction novels (Catspaw, Shards of Honor / Cordelia's Honor) on a list allegedly about fantasy novels. Absolutely yes to Tanith Lee and Ellen Kushner, Zelazny and McKillip. Moorcock obviously (but is Elric really "forgotten"? Well, maybe these days). McCaffrey as "forgotten" too? Well, again, maybe I suppose. And yes, technically that's a science fiction setting, but it's not really clear in the first novel and hews close enough to fantasy so I'll allow it. De Lint, sure, important figure. Judith Tarr's The Hound and the Falcon or Avaryan Rising would be one I'd slot in there. Robin McKinley's The Blue Sword and The Hero and the Crown. Or as recently discussed, Lloyd Alexander's Prydain series starting with The Book of Three. Alan Garner's The Owl Service and its ending still haunts me today. Jack Vance... is he forgotten? I'll wager most readers under 30 don't know who he is, so The Dying Earth or Lyonesse. And if we want something that would make an amazing adaptation... John M. Ford's The Dragon Waiting would be fantastic. If he had been a British author, it would have been adapted in some form in the UK long ago, but alas, he was American. Edited March 10 by Ran Jerol and Ormond 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Werthead Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 I'd always slot in Patrick Tilley's Amtrak Wars by dint of it being very much forgotten, batshit insane, a lot of fun (despite some 1980s-isms) and a very original genre-mashup of epic fantasy, 1980s Americana, post-apocalyptic science fiction and, just for giggles, Shogun. I was always fond of Tilley depicting North America free of from modern civilisation basically as a fantasy landscape on a par with Middle-earth. Quite striking. Jerol 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaxom 1974 Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 I'm (obviously) a huge proponent of McCaffrey so it's nice to see her on this list...but Anne's stories. NOT her son's terrible fan fiction... Ser Lany 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilbur Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 Michael Shea is an excellent choice for this list. He was the anointed successor to Jack Vance to continue the story of Cugel the Clever and his misadventures with The Quest for Simbilis, and his further stories along the same vein improved upon it. While Vance would have written a book with funnier dialogue and more hilariously awkward situations, Shea engaged Cugel's various inherent abilities to advance the plot and extract the characters from the predicaments in which they became entangled. He also raised the moral peril, with Actual Hell as a valid endpoint for the protagonists! Furthermore, his two novels The Extra (2010) and Assault on Sunrise (2013) both could easily have taken place in the universe of Dagmar Shaw or Caine Black Knife. Ran 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ormond Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 On 3/10/2024 at 2:10 PM, Ran said: Rather baffled by obvious science fiction novels (Catspaw, Shards of Honor / Cordelia's Honor) on a list allegedly about fantasy novels. Absolutely yes to Tanith Lee and Ellen Kushner, Zelazny and McKillip. Moorcock obviously (but is Elric really "forgotten"? Well, maybe these days). McCaffrey as "forgotten" too? Well, again, maybe I suppose. And yes, technically that's a science fiction setting, but it's not really clear in the first novel and hews close enough to fantasy so I'll allow it. De Lint, sure, important figure. Judith Tarr's The Hound and the Falcon or Avaryan Rising would be one I'd slot in there. Robin McKinley's The Blue Sword and The Hero and the Crown. Or as recently discussed, Lloyd Alexander's Prydain series starting with The Book of Three. Alan Garner's The Owl Service and its ending still haunts me today. Jack Vance... is he forgotten? I'll wager most readers under 30 don't know who he is, so The Dying Earth or Lyonesse. And if we want something that would make an amazing adaptation... John M. Ford's The Dragon Waiting would be fantastic. If he had been a British author, it would have been adapted in some form in the UK long ago, but alas, he was American. I am also baffled they would put these particular Bujold books in a "fantasy" list -- even though I love those books and have always thought Cordelia was one of the best characters ever created in science fiction, more impressive to me than her son Miles, who gets most of the love from Bujold fans. Not sure how well-known in the past something has to have been to be considered "forgotten" rather than just never given enough attention in the first place -- but I certainly wish a lot of young people would discover or rediscover the "Trio for Lute" trilogy by R. A. MacAvoy and Evangeline Walton's four-volume retelling of the Welsh Mabinogion. Ran 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaxom 1974 Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 (edited) Okay, the list convinced me to give Kushner's Swordspoint a try, though looking over her books, The Privilege of the Sword looked more interesting but I figure I should start at the beginning to make sure I understand what's going on in this world... Also picked up The Tower at Stony Wood by McKillip, as my library didn't have the story listed in the article available and this one seemed like I'd enjoy it. Edited March 13 by Jaxom 1974 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.