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the Unofficial Recommendation Thread


werewolfv2

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  • 1 month later...

There are some nice picks in there. I will try to post the series, books, and authors with little ideas about the themes from them that I feel are important.

Lawerence Watt-Evans: The Lords of Dus books. Adventure-quest fantasy involving a non-human protagonist, highly inventive.

Fritz Leiber: The Books of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Fantastic adventure-quest fantasy with quirky characters, highly inventive.

Stephen R. Donalson: The mirrior of her dreams, A Man Rides Through. Atypical fantasy two-book series, highly inventive, great intrigue.

Tanith Lee: Quest for the White Witch, Vazkor, Son of Vazkor, The Birthgrave. Sweeping intrigue and magic, quest for identity.

Andre Norton: Wheel of Stars. Presents much of the theme used in other later books and series, such as Jordan's Wheel of Time series.

Michael Moorcock: Gloriana. Great villians and court intrigue similar to George Martin, but set in 1680's era alternate England.

E. R. Eddison: The Worm Orobros. After an odd 50-page start, it presents a very intricate story of feudal intrigue in highly polished prose, probably later immitated and improved on by J. R. R. Tolkien.

Tad Williams: Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series. These books have a great take on high magic and its affects on space and time around it. Epic quest fantasy.

J. R. R. Tolkien: The Lord of the Ring series. Very good read and sort of a blueprint for style and themes in epic aventure fantasy.

Samuel Shellebarger: The Prince of Foxes. Epic court intrigue and warfare novel with great characters acting knavishly in 16th century Italy.

Frank Herbert: Dune. Good style and a very imaginitive story. Pure fantastic epic science fiction.

George R. R. Martin: A Game of Thrones, Ice and Fire series. Fantasy theme with a great focus on intrigue and the plots between men. Where Jordan seems to have started writing Tolkien fantasy and then switched over to some sort of court intrigue novel, Martin is able to maintain the overall epic fantasy theme while mixing elements of magic into his wars between interesting characters.

I would recommend as a non-fiction book on warfare, Hans Von Luck: Panzer Commander.

I recommend as a western series with good dialogue, Ralph Cotton: While Angles Dance, first 4 books in Jeston Nash series.

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  • 4 weeks later...

The Blade Itself- Joe Abercrombie

Gardens of the Moon - Steven Erikson

Curse of the Mistwraith - Janny Wurts

Magician - Raymond E Feist (Ignore all his other books)

Deverry series - Katherine Kerr

Wheel of Time - Robert Jordan (obv)

Farseer Trilogy - Robin Hobb

The Lies of Lock Lamora - Scott Lynch

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  • 1 month later...

Fritz Leiber: The Books of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Fantastic adventure-quest fantasy with quirky characters, highly inventive.

Not fantasy but have you had opportunity to read the author's horror novel Conjure Wife. This is one scary fuckin story! I highly recommend it!

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Dracula - Bram Stoker

Jaws - Peter Benchley

Legion - William Peter Blatty

The Ninth Configuration - William Peter Blatty

The Shining - Stephen King

Cujo - Stephen King (his most underrated and one of his very best)

Salem's Lot - Stephen King

The Green Mile - Stephen King

Carrie - Stephen King

The Running Man - Richard Bachman

The Long Walk - Richard Bachman

The Dead Zone - Stephen King

Pet Sematary - Stephen King

IT - Stephen King

Rage - Richard Bachman

The Island of the Dr. Moreau - H.G. Wells

The Invisible Man - H.G. Wells

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My idea of the best fantasy available at the moment (from what I've read at least and obviouslly Song of Fire and Ice goes without saying), in no particular order:

The Steel Remains - Richard Morgan

The First Law Trilogy and Best Served Cold - Joe Abercrombie

The Gentlemen Bastards Series - Scott Lynch

The Nights of Villjamur - Mark Charan Newton

The Deepgate Codex - Alan Cambell

The King Killer Chronicle - Patrick Rothfuss

The Twilight Realm Series - Tom Llyod

The Company - K J Parker

The View from the Mirror, The Well of Echoes & Song of the Tears - Ian Irvine

Anything by Tolkien

And a cheeky no. 11 for the Thomas Covenant books by Stephen Donaldson

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  • 4 weeks later...

welp, since the time I started this thread so many moons ago I have another list to add :D

I will stick with my old post and just make some changes:

> Monarchies of God trilogy by Paul Kearney, soon to be released in a killer omnibus

> Rhone by John A. Karr, new author that rocks

> Troy series by David Gemmell

> Shadows of the Apt series by Adrian Tchaikovsky

> All Creatures Great & Small by James Herriot (not fantasy, but a must read for any animal lover)

The Malazan Book of the Fallen (1st book: Gardens of the Moon) by Steven Erikson

A Song of Ice and Fire (1st book: a Game of Thrones) by George R.R. Martin

The Prince of Nothing (1st book: The Darkenss that Comes Before) by Scott Bakker

Perdido Street Station by China Mieville

Black Jewels Trilogy(1st book: Daughter of the Blood) by Anne Bishop

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> Monarchies of God trilogy by Paul Kearney, soon to be released in a killer omnibus

Everyone one in the world should be reading this guy. He is one of the only authors that has never let me down. Everything, and i mean /everything/ i've read by this guy is amazing. It's sad to me that he can't find a bigger audience... can't pimp him out enough

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I'm reading a wonderful book at the moment by Hilary Mantel called Wolf Hall. It's beautifully written - reads like poetry sometimes - and about Cromwell as the author envisions him in the reign of Henry VIII. Nothing like GRRM of course except that it's historical fiction and ASOIAF is pseudo-historical fiction, and you have intrigue in the corridors of power, a bit like Tyrion at King's Landing but rather more subtle. One of the best reads ever, if you like historical novels or even if you don't.

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  • 3 months later...

Some History-based fiction:

"Imperium" and "Conspirata"(also known as "Lustrum") by Robert Harris - 2 first books of a trilogy dedicated to the great Roman politican Cicero.

"Pillars of the Earth" and "A World Without End" by Ken Folett - books set in medievel britain.

Fantasy:

All the books of Guy Gavriel Kay. For me the best was "The Lions of Al-Rassan", but they are all very good.

the "Liveship Traders" trilogy by Robin Hobb. Liked them much better than the Farseer books.

Beside the above - "Good Omens" by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaima. A hilarious apocalyptic book.

That what comes from looking at my shelves. All those books that were borrowed from the city library...can't remeber now. maybe I'll update this post later on.

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  • 2 months later...

In Science fiction I tend to read Asimov (Foundation trilogy) and Heinlein (The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Time Enough for Love etc). Clifford Simak is good too (Time is the Simplest Thing). What attracts me most are treatments involving the nature and structure of time, especially those that resolve the traditional so-called paradoxes using multidimensional ideas of how time works.

If you don't mind my including this here, I also offer my own novel "A Superior State of Affairs" which is a science-fiction adventure taking place in the near future (2017) and which involves time travel, trinary optical computers, and delves into the quirkiness of time and of mind. It's also just a really fun adventure that takes place in the Copper Country of Northern Michigan with a lot of the action underground in the old copper mines! I have a webpage about it here with an intro blurb and the first three chapters online. http://www.shirepost.com/DIGGER.html

Mostly I'm known to the Westeros world as the guy who makes the coins. But I wrote this book based on places I have been and things I have seen... with (of course) some fanciful speculation thrown in for good measure.

Be well!

Tom Maringer

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Wow! I'm still listed as a member! I haven't been here since the last (or other) incarnation of the board. I've enjoyed everything I've read recently so I'll just list some more recent stuff, or more notable stuff of the last 3 years:

Ilium-Simmons

The Algebraist, Use of Weapons-Banks

The Rift-Walter Jon Williams

Runes of the Earth, Fatal Revenant, Against All Things Ending-Donaldson

Hunter's Run-Martin, Dozios, Abraham

Metaplanetary & Superluminal-Daniel

Brokedown Palace and the first 11 Vlad Thaltos books-Brust

The Prince of Nothing trilogy-Bakker

Quicksilver-Stephenson

American Gods-Gaiman

Gardens of the Moon (three years ago) & Deadhouse Gates (presently)-Erikson

and up to chapter two of The Farthest Shore in a group reading of the Earthsea books-LeGuin

on the horizon-Memories of Ice & The Judging Eye

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