195 replies to this topic

[evisceratedmemories]

I would recommend EVERY Discworld book. Terry Pratchett is probably my favorite author. Even his non-Discworld books are great.

I also want to recommend the Fafhrd and Gray Mouser series of books by Fritz Lieber (its either Lieber or Leiber, I can never remember). Very good sword and sorcery books.

I cant get into Terry Pratchett...somthing about his writing throws me off!

[Kevin Grubbe]

I hope i can suggest my own novel here...

Tiger's Realm is an epic Science Fantasy with elements of action, romance and social commentary. I'll paste the blurb below and the information on where to buy. If you want to find out about my other works, just click the link in my sig and go to the official CanAuth website for all of my published material and news about my upcoming works.

Read an independent review of this book

Blurb:
Metal Tiger is a Mal; human animal hybrids created by wizards long ago as slaves. After leading his people to freedom he must fight for the right to exist. An army of humans now closes in on the beleaguered mal forces. They struggle daily to stay free, while the chains of leadership chafe at Metal Tiger. He wants only to live in peace, but is forced into battle by an unrelenting man bent on revenge.

In the midst of war, a new threat emerges, forcing the two sides to join, lest they all be consumed. With the help of an intriguing tigress named Krystal, he must learn to trust humans again if any of them are to survive.

Genres: Fantasy, SCI-FI, Romance, Action
Length: Full Length Novel (206 pages, 66130 word count)

Read Excerpt

Buy Now

[The Adventurer]

Anything by the late David Gemmell is worth reading IMO.

ERB's Mars, Venus, Caspak and Pellucidar series are all worth their weight in gold as far as I am concerned.

Beyond the Farthest Star by ERB is also a fantastic novel, originally envisaged as his new "Barsoom" style series, but he only ever got round to the completing the first novel.

ERB fans should also check out Mahars of Pellucidar by John Eric Holmes.

Lin Carters ERB rip-offs are good fun ("Callisto" series, "Zanthadon" series etc)

Mooorecock's "Eternal Champion" books are great stuff (Erekose, Elric, Corum, etc).


TA

[Lankmar]

We have to include the Wizard of Earthsea series by LeGuin. It started as a trilogy but MUCH later she added a final, fourth story.

The Tarnsman of Gor series is both great, and deeply flawed by Normans suppressed-and-later-released desire to write porn. The first six books of the series are truly fantastic. Nomads of Gor in particular is not to be missed.

Almuric is a must read for fans of REH. For me, it is much beter than Kane or Bran Mak Morn or other better known works.

The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan contains at least two and maybe four of the ten best fantasy novels ever written. No one has ever developed a more fascinating vocabulary and description of the inner workings of "magic." I would also contend that no one has ever written more interestingly of battle at every level, from one-on-one, to squadron skimishes, to massive battles involving tens of thousands. Jordan has the ability to zoom in to the micro and back out to the macro, showing how it all ties together. Absolutely great stuff.

For me, this was the greatest fantasy series ever, surpassing even Tolkein. Yes, the series did have a couple of weak entries, yes it got (WAY) to long, and yes, Robert Jordan died tragically before he could complete the 10,000 page monstrosity. Nonetheless, 1) The Eye of the World, 2) The Great Hunt, 3) The Dragon Reborn, 4) The Shadow Rising, and 5) The Fires of Heaven, can all be recommended unreservedly. After that... you will be addicted even if you do not always like the taste. Most fans agree that in the final two books written by Jordan (Crossroads of Twilight and Knife of Dreams) Jordan had pulled it back on track and was writing great stuff again.

The publisher has hired a writer to complete the series (three more books, three thousand pages!) beginning with The Gathering Storm. I will have no choice but to read it through to the finish... however bitter it may be.

As a final note on the Wheel series, it is G rated. No foul language of any kind, and only the barest prude hint that boys and girls might go beyond holding hands.

I worte some stuff here about books to avoid, then realized my "books that are a waste of paper" list would make fans of those books mad. I LOVE that this site does not flame, so in respect to all I will say that even the very worst fantasy ever published is better than I can do. I applaud all authors who work so hard to entertain us.

[Amaron]

Joe Abercrombies First Law Trilogy-The Blade Itself, Before They Are Hanged, and my favorite book read this year Last Argument of Kings. Very cool for a variety of reasons. great characters in gritty dirty rough situataions. I would honestly liken abercrombie to George RR Martin but ithink Abercrombie is better, not that Martin isn't great but Abercrombie kept me hanging on even more. The climax for the trilogy is so awesome and it does not end like you expect fantasy to end.

And how big of an ass can I be to push my own book? Heroes of the Fallen by David J. West out in October. I would hope REH fans would like it.

[deuce]

Joe Abercrombies First Law Trilogy-The Blade Itself, Before They Are Hanged, and my favorite book read this year Last Argument of Kings. Very cool for a variety of reasons. great characters in gritty dirty rough situataions. I would honestly liken abercrombie to George RR Martin but ithink Abercrombie is better, not that Martin isn't great but Abercrombie kept me hanging on even more. The climax for the trilogy is so awesome and it does not end like you expect fantasy to end.

And how big of an ass can I be to push my own book? Heroes of the Fallen by David J. West out in October. I would hope REH fans would like it.

Y'all ought to check out the late, great Steve Tompkins' reviews of Abercrombie here:

http://www.thecimmerian.com/?p=2218

http://www.thecimmerian.com/?p=3446

[Doug]

Your right...i have just finished it and it was ****ing ace...just ordered the 'BOOKS OF THE SOUTH' chronicle...cant ****ing wait

I'm about 2/3s of the way through the first part of the "Books of the South". I got really jumpy waiting these past 6 months for it's release. I read through the "Books of the North" in a week back in January and almost went nuts when I found out the next omnibus was 6 months down the road.
I was happy when that big envelope came 2 weeks ago!!

Take care.
Doug

Ha ! nice one...do you know if they are gonna release the rest of the books in a third compilation ?
Cheers
WW1919

I can hardly wait!!!!
Take care and enjoy the weekend.

Doug



As I mentioned in another thread it is now faily laze in 2009 and things have changed for the better!!!!


Return of the Black Company



http://www.amazon.co...o...1786&sr=1-1

[El Borak]

It may be a stretch to include The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov since it isn't anything close to genre fantasy. I recommend the hell out of it though! It's got naked witches, the Devil himself, magic, mayhem and even a trigger-happy talking cat! It was banned in the Soviet Union until the sixties. In a similar vein I'll also mention One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Again, not genre fiction, but probably THE best example of the literature known as 'magical realism' and a book everyone should read, period. Speaking of magical realism, check out The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie and while I'm at it, Umberto Eco's Baudolino is a wonderful historical fantasy by one of the world's most brilliant living writers.

[Libaax]

Magical realism is not a real genre, its literary fantasy written by non-genre writers.

People critics are scared of calling fantasy writers.

[El Borak]

Magical realism is not a real genre, its literary fantasy written by non-genre writers.

People critics are scared of calling fantasy writers.

That's why I mentioned those books here. They all have strong fantasy elements, but you wouldn't find them shelved with Terry Brooks and Robert Jordan. I think genres tend to be a lazy way of grouping books in order to market them. The same is true of detective fiction and romance novels. Publishers get away with printing a lot of crap just because it panders to a certain demographic.

[Reaver]

I just read the first two books in Morgan Howell's Queen of the Orcs trilogy, and am awaiting the third book from the library. Excellent reads. Very engaging. I breezed through them both at speeds I had not read in years.

[Libaax]

Magical realism is not a real genre, its literary fantasy written by non-genre writers.

People critics are scared of calling fantasy writers.

That's why I mentioned those books here. They all have strong fantasy elements, but you wouldn't find them shelved with Terry Brooks and Robert Jordan. I think genres tend to be a lazy way of grouping books in order to market them. The same is true of detective fiction and romance novels. Publishers get away with printing a lot of crap just because it panders to a certain demographic.

Yeah to me fantasy is Dunsany, not Jordan,Brooks among the authors i think about when i picture fantasy story. He is a classic writer that the collections of Irish lit in the library doesnt even mention he wrote fantasy...

Nobody really needs the words genre, we all know what we like,read what type of story it is. Its not like we read the same type of fantasy all of us who read fantasy.

I cant stand epic fantasy series for example but i still read alot of fantasy books.

[El Borak]

Magical realism is not a real genre, its literary fantasy written by non-genre writers.

People critics are scared of calling fantasy writers.

That's why I mentioned those books here. They all have strong fantasy elements, but you wouldn't find them shelved with Terry Brooks and Robert Jordan. I think genres tend to be a lazy way of grouping books in order to market them. The same is true of detective fiction and romance novels. Publishers get away with printing a lot of crap just because it panders to a certain demographic.

Yeah to me fantasy is Dunsany, not Jordan,Brooks among the authors i think about when i picture fantasy story. He is a classic writer that the collections of Irish lit in the library doesnt even mention he wrote fantasy...

Nobody really needs the words genre, we all know what we like,read what type of story it is. Its not like we read the same type of fantasy all of us who read fantasy.

I cant stand epic fantasy series for example but i still read alot of fantasy books.

I haven't been able to find any Lord Dunsany in the used book stores, but I do have an excellent book about Sidney Sime which has a lot of snippets. I should hunt around the internet for The King of Elfland's Daughter or Gods of Pegana. Do you have any other recommendations?

Edited by El Borak, 02 November 2009 - 10:14 PM.

[El Borak]

Oh yeah, I can't believe I forgot to mention The Once and Future King by T.H. White! I love that book. It's such a funny, fresh and really human take on the Arthurian legend.

[Axerules]

Welcome to the forum, EB!

It may be a stretch to include The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov since it isn't anything close to genre fantasy. I recommend the hell out of it though! It's got naked witches, the Devil himself, magic, mayhem and even a trigger-happy talking cat! It was banned in the Soviet Union until the sixties. In a similar vein I'll also mention One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Again, not genre fiction, but probably THE best example of the literature known as 'magical realism' and a book everyone should read, period. Speaking of magical realism, check out The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie and while I'm at it, Umberto Eco's Baudolino is a wonderful historical fantasy by one of the world's most brilliant living writers.

[deuce]

I haven't been able to find any Lord Dunsany in the used book stores, but I do have an excellent book about Sidney Sime which has a lot of snippets. I should hunt around the internet for The King of Elfland's Daughter or Gods of Pegana. Do you have any other recommendations?

Hey ElB! We have a Dunsany thread with numerous recommendations here:

http://www.conan.com...ny&fromsearch=1

Happy hunting.

[El Borak]

Thanks Axerules!

Wow! Thanks Deuce! I'll check that out for sure.

[brakkk60526]

Oh yeah, I can't believe I forgot to mention The Once and Future King by T.H. White! I love that book. It's such a funny, fresh and really human take on the Arthurian legend.

Ill second that El Borak.( dont take this the wrong way but your picture logo is ah shall I say a bit disturbing)

[deuce]

I don't know if "recommend" is the right term, but y'all should check out this link:


http://www.dangerous...w_in_paperback/

[deuce]

Oh yeah, I can't believe I forgot to mention The Once and Future King by T.H. White! I love that book. It's such a funny, fresh and really human take on the Arthurian legend.

dont take this the wrong way but your picture logo is ah shall I say a bit disturbing

It's one of the sculptures of CAS (REH was a fan, BTW), brakkkkkkkkkkkkk. It's supposed to be "disturbing". I have to wonder what you found "disturbing", though. Don(')t take that the wrong way.