Fantasy books you suspect no one else on the board has read

[Galactus]

Oh yes: The land of the water-people. Doubt anyone else has read that. Maybe Cerys I guess :P

[Grack21]

I hate to be THAT GUY that brings up things from other threads, but this might have relevance on why female authors don't get read as much, plus it also has the added effect of pissing me off:

Is KJ Parker a chick? The wikipedia page says she/he might be. And the book definitely read like chick-lit with everyone thinking of love constantly. I mean, shit, does the word love or thinking about loved ones really enter into people's heads as often as it does in these books?

[Nukelavee]

The thing is, to me, SciFi and Fantasy go hand in hand (at least the good non derivative stuff does), I think saying there are big differences beyond settings isn't exactly fair or correct.

Before you accuse me of gross simplification or such...bear with me a moment or two.

It's not so much a case of magic/hi-tech (Niven's Law) being the same thing...it's that either genre can be used to explore and speculate very similar themes.

Admittedly, this is MY take on things, my views, so, it might only be right for me. But, does it matter if a story is set in a "make-believe" fantasy world, or on a made up colony world? I don't think so, in that some writers will put just as much work into geography, history, ecology, and ground rules for magic and tech. Neither genre "owns" the tendancy to explore different cultural or social concepts, or philosophies.

Both genres can end up as soapboxes for an authors's personal views on humanity. Both genres feature works where, honestly, a few pages is all that distinguishes them as one or the other genre - The first Pern novel could easily be fantasy, if you missed the occasional reference to technology long lost.

Sean McMullen - read his stuff? if not, you should, btw. He has 2 series out, one Scifi, one Fantasy, and he's a very clever funny writer with lots of interesting ideas and great action. The thing is, he does the same thing in his scifi as his fantasy: He takes his premise on the background "tech", the rules he's following, and pushes them in ways you wouldn't expect. His Miocene Arrow books basically have humanity restricted to wind, water, and human muscle power, and gunpowder. No electricity, no speeds over 80 mph, no vehicles larger that 10X20 feet...and then he runs with it. His fantasy - he creates concepts for magic, limitations on technology, and runs his cultures as far progressed as he can within those limits.

I guess what I'm saying is that, to me, it's just details - I don't care if it's magic or science that keeps that dragon in the air; a good writer can tell the same kind of story in either genre, and I look for that, and at that as, common ground in what I read.

So, yeah, I thinks its odd that people will onlu read one or the other.

Btw - no idea why more female authors don't get mentioned. I'm a huge reader of Cherryh, who never gets mentioned, Joan D Vinge, Emma Bull, Hambly. I used to read Rawn, Friesner, Gentle, Morris, Norton...

[Nukelavee]

damn, doublepost

[Grack21]

I just picked up some Cherryh finally last week.

I think its interesting that she had to hide the fact she was female when she was first publishing. Granted, it was a long time ago, but it makes you wonder if we havn't come as far as we liek to think we have.

Man, I'm bitter today. Sorry.

How about Jane S. Fancher? I rarely see her get mentioned, although I suppose not publishing a book since 2000 will do that.

[Nukelavee]

Which book(s) did you get?

(prays it wasn't Fortress of...or Hammerfall).

I read something the other day about her "hiding" being female; this version is that it wasn't that she was female, it was that Cherry (her last name) sounded like a romance novelist in the publishers opinion.

Plus, dude, the 70's WERE quite a while ago.

[Grack21]

Which book(s) did you get?

(prays it wasn't Fortress of...or Hammerfall).

I read something the other day about her "hiding" being female; this version is that it wasn't that she was female, it was that Cherry (her last name) sounded like a romance novelist in the publishers opinion.

Plus, dude, the 70's WERE quite a while ago.

No . The 80s were yesterday. I'm going to eat a cheese sandwhich and play with my Legos while watching Ducktales!

Ahem.

I want to say I bought the collection that has Gates of IVel in it? Does that sound right? I try to read things in publishing order if I can, cause I'm weird that way.

[casrot]

I'm going to check out Firethorn and The Secrets of Jin-Shei from my library. Kind of surprised that they have both of them.

Your reputation is on the line. If I am not pleased, my wrath will be great...

[murphy]

No . The 80s were yesterday. I'm going to eat a cheese sandwhich and play with my Legos while watching Ducktales!

Ahem.

I want to say I bought the collection that has Gates of IVel in it? Does that sound right? I try to read things in publishing order if I can, cause I'm weird that way.

That's the Morgaine saga. I'm a very big Cherryh fan, but I am still unable to get through that series. What sold me on Cherryh was the Faded Sun Trilogy and Brothers of Earth. There are some of her fantasies that lose me from the first, but her SF is great. But unlike Nukelavee, I greatly enjoyed the Fortress series.

She started publishing in the late '70s. :P

[Liadin]

Has anyone here read the Old Kingdom Trilogy (Sabriel, Lirael, Abhorsen)? Not quite adult fantasy but impressively imaginative. I really liked them.

Yes. Excellent YA fantasy, tons of people have read it.

I'm going to check out Firethorn and The Secrets of Jin-Shei from my library. Kind of surprised that they have both of them.

Your reputation is on the line. If I am not pleased, my wrath will be great...

That's okay. ;) (I assume this was directed at me.) You're bound to like at least one of them.

Here's what i'm finding out - I don't prefer stuff by men. I like Kate Griffin more than I like Jim Butcher, Zoo City is better than The Windup Girl, Valente's grim fairy tale retellings are better than Neil Gaimans, etc. Its not a charitable, well, i've read some women too, go me, political correctness box ticked. Women write lots of really, really good books (news at 8.) Why haven't I been reading them? Partly becuase they don't get discussed that much so they're less on my radar, in this threads chicken and egg thing, and partly because I have a stigma against female writers.

I shouldn't, but there it is. I notice that a book is by a woman, and at the back of my brain something goes...well, not serious writing. I'm probably not going to like this. For no reason whatsoever. I have no idea what it is I expect(ed) - its not like I assume theres going to be lots of romance/endless descriptions of clothes/etc/whatever, I don't associate any particular quality with female authors, and nevertheless...its a mark against a book. I think it comes down to it feeling like a womans name on the cover is some kind of indulgence, for her and me both.

That's interesting. Guess I'm glad I wasn't a member of online SFF communities in my formative years--the only other fantasy readers I knew were other girls, which probably helped me avoid developing that stigma.

[Nukelavee]

Morgaine? Really? I love those, although I admit the 4th is a bit of work to get started.

I REALLY love the Merchanter's Luck series, but I'll admit, she has a very, umm, spare style in a way. No humour.

Signy Mallory is the best character ever. Well, or maybe Joachim Steuban from Hammers Slammers. They're like Falconetti from Rich Man Poor Man.

[gyrehead]

I really enjoyed McMullen's Moonworlds series. I thought there was at least one more book for that series. Another Sean that has gone AWOL.

Count me as a Morgaine and a Fortress lover. I think The Chanur books are the only ones I have had trouble with. And I plan to return to them someday to give them a second chance.

[Guinevere Seaworth]

Has anyone here read Jennifer Roberson? I see her stuff in the library and I'm curious, but 80's fantasy is a wild card for me (really good or really bad).

[Grack21]

Has anyone here read Jennifer Roberson? I see her stuff in the library and I'm curious, but 80's fantasy is a wild card for me (really good or really bad).

I tried her NOvels of Tiger and Del and had to put it down after 4 pages, it was that bad. The POV character uses the world, no joke, Hollie, about 12 times in the first few pages, apparently it's a swear word? I didn't get far enough to see if it had any relevance to the world but from what I understand from other reviews, it isn't. He just says Hoolie. A LOT. Basically the female character walked into some bar and the POV was basically, LOOK AT HOW HOT AND EXOTIC AND DASHING AND CLEVER SHE IS! HOOLIE!

I think I'd rather reread the Goodkind with the evil chicken.

So, uh, no I did not like it. I understand it was her first novel, so maybe she improved? I'm not sitting through 10000 hoolies to find out.

[beniowa]

How about Jane S. Fancher? I rarely see her get mentioned, although I suppose not publishing a book since 2000 will do that.

I read her Dance of the Rings trilogy some years back. It wasn't too bad, but not great either. Fairly average.

That's the Morgaine saga. I'm a very big Cherryh fan, but I am still unable to get through that series. What sold me on Cherryh was the Faded Sun Trilogy and Brothers of Earth. There are some of her fantasies that lose me from the first, but her SF is great. But unlike Nukelavee, I greatly enjoyed the Fortress series.

She started publishing in the late '70s. :P

I love her Faded Sun and the first eight books of Foreigner. I've read one of her fantasy. All the rest are scifi. I should say older scifi. I couldn't get into any of her recent stuff.

Has anyone here read Jennifer Roberson? I see her stuff in the library and I'm curious, but 80's fantasy is a wild card for me (really good or really bad).

Have a couple of her books, but never gotten around to them.

[Ealasaid]

Not sure how unusual this is, but I've read a good portion of Lord Dunsany's writings. Some of the more obscure books were bloody hard to get via inter-library loan at the time, so maybe there's something there.

It's not all up to the standards of The King of Elfland's Daughter and his other great works, but if Dunsany wrote it, it's almost certainly worth reading, IMO.

EDIT: An extra bonus: some are available for free on Project Gutenberg.

Love the King of Elfland's Daughter. And any dreamy William Morris.

Who wrote Tea with the Black Dragon? A great and funny book, as I remember.

[murphy]

Love the King of Elfland's Daughter. And any dreamy William Morris.

Who wrote Tea with the Black Dragon? A great and funny book, as I remember.

R. A. MacAvoy. She seems to have retired from writing and is now raising horses in central California. There was a sequel, but it was't nearly as good.

[Grack21]

I pray that know of you have ever read Bilsborough's The Wanderer's Tale. i picked it up on a whim but apparently it was billed as the fantasy debut of 2007? Yikes. Biggest misfire since Newcomb? Plus I read his interview for the first time today and I just...wow. If I didn;t know better I'd swear someone at TOR was trolling us.

[mjgambino]

I've mentioned this on another thread, but it seems that not many people here have read much by Walter Moers. I just finished Rumo & His Miraculous Adventures and am almost done with 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear. I highly recommend them both.

[Procrastimancer]

A Sword for the Immerland King - F.W. Faller

Wouldn't surprise me either, considering it was published by a small Christian press. I wasn't aware of this until after I read it, not that it mattered. I thought it was pretty good for a random library selection and eventually went on to buy it. Didn't bother with the rest of the series though.