These words are Tim's, who also goes by JohnnyTest...
It always seems, to me at least, that fantasy novels are a great idea until I pick one up. Anyone else feel this way? That the genre is riddled with the same Lord of The Rings cliches? I've only read a few *great* fantasy novels. Those being: Lord Foul's Bane (a post-modern fantasy epic), The Dark Tower series from Stephen King (hopefully this counts)...at this time I don't recall any others, sadly.

Help me out. Give me some good readin'!

Joe Crow, freelance game writer and voracious specfic reader. Actually, I've been reading a lot of Robert E. Howard's stuff lately. I'm on kind of a "heroic fantasy/sword & sorcery" trip, while I'm outlining what might turn into a barbarian swordsman (actually, barbarian horse archer, but...) novel, getting into the vibe. Also, just finished Lynn Flewelling's new one, "Hidden Warrior". Good stuff, that.

I like my fantasy like I like my coffee. Dark. However, I'm not a big fan of the 100,000 word tomes of today. I prefer my work around the 35k to 60k range. You won't find many works that fit that range, so I read a lot of anthology collections. I think I'm one of those people who love the concept of fantasy, but tend to hate most of the product. Another story with a ranger, elf, and dwarf and I'll probably puke. China Meiville has some good stuff, as well as Tad Williams, Kage Baker, and Matthew Stover. Stover is a last but not least on that list. His fantasy breaks the mold and flushes down the toilet. Very good stuff. Oh, and about me. I write. I write what I would like to read, which is a strange combination of dark fantasy and pseudo-science fiction with somewhat happy endings. Well, they're happy in a Casablanca cynical kind of way.

Okie dokie... as a late arrival, I'm a mixed personality-type person. On one hand, I'm a totaly bookworm, grew up on greek and norse mythology, fairytales, and fun children's authors like Ruth Chew, Robin McKinley and Tamora Pierce (in her early days). Then on the other hand, I'm a crazy painter girl, who wants to create amazing things and put it all out there. So, yeah. That's me.

As for favorite authors, Charles De Lint is one, Sheri S. Tepper's become another (though she flows into sci-fi quite a bit), Tanith Lee and Robert Holdstock, Tad Williams, Neil, and various other oldies but goodies. I really enjoy mythos-related stories that relate to structures of belief previously in place. But I also like stories that create entirely new belief structures.

Greetings everyone,

I'm new here and I like fantasy and sci fi equally which is probably why I like to read Piers Anthony so much. Let's see... some of my other favorite authors include Katherine Kurtz, Terry Goodkind, and others...

-Lil

I haven't been reading fantasy as much as I used to, but it's still my favorite fictional genre and what I own most of. I'm not sure why it appeals to me so much whereas I only read a little SF. My favorites are the Narnia Chronicles, Susan Cooper's "The Dark is Rising", Madeleine L'Engle's Wrinkle in Time trilogy, Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" and a bunch of others. The "kids" books are things I return to again and again.

Although a lot of folks seem to consider her writing trashy, I'm a fan of Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover series of books. It's not really because I like her actual prose. I just really like the world she created. I'm also a fan of Katherine Kurtz' Deryni series of books (although I think she writes better prose...)

Morgan Llewelyn, R. A. MacAvoy are others

Charles de Lint's stuff is a relatively recent discovery for me and I'm looking forward to reading more of his books. I found him through the Windling/Datlow adult fairy tale anthologies. I'm also trying to delve into Guy Gavriel Kay although it's slow going because his stuff hardly ever shows up used.

de Lint is probably who I'd name as my favorite fantasy author at the present time.


There are a bunch of authors I've heard people I trust recommend and I need to make more of an effort to check them out.

Personally I like the huge epic series that are several thousand pages. First, because I read really fast and anything under 300 pages goes too quick. Second, the world can be much more in depth when you don't have just one "main" character.

Authors I like: Tad Williams, Sheri S. Tepper, Melanie Rawn, George R.R. Martin, Robert Jordan, C.S. Friedman, Robin Hobb.

I do not like Terry Brooks. I started reading The Sword of Shannara and felt like it was a big Lord of the Rings ripoff.

And as far as Tolkien goes: I loved all the Lord of the Rings movies, and I tried to read the books, but found Tolkien's writing style to be incredibly dull (and slightly condescending). I've never been a fan of the writing styles where you feel like you're listening to a storyteller.

-Lara Amber

Hi everyone.....

I've been avidly reading fantasy as long as I could remember (suffice to say, fifteen years tops) and I've already got an inkling as to what makes good and bad stuff in the genre.

Here are some of my personal faves (and a coupla rants):

1) Michael Moorcock - he's BLOODY genius...Elric of Melnibone is bar none of the greatest characters visualized for high fantasy...so contemporarily realized (a scrawny albino sorcerer who appears to be more a victim than a master of his sorceries)
...so gut-wrenchingly real (he's hooked on herbs that keep him up, not to mention that bloodthirsty Stormbringer)

2) Fritz Leiber - godsresthissoul, he was there way way before Herc & Xena!!!! Fafhrd the Northern barbarian seeking civilization meets up with The Gray Mouser, sneaky Suthern'r cutpurse in the city of Lankhmar (where anythin' & everythin' could happen!!!!!!!) and together they create a whole new genre by wining, wenching and slinging swords. Yep, rollickin' good fun and not a wee folk or a dragin in sight!!!!

On the other hand....no offense (to Shannara devotees), but I'm kinda let down by Terry Brooks' Shannara series - many parts and chars appear to be Tolkien rip-offs!!! Along the same lines, I've ceased to be impressed by the works of Tolkien himself having seen all three LOTR films - they've started to become too "mass-market" for me. Nevertheless, I still hold JRRT much respect and especially Peter Jackson for his excellent work in shepherding the otherwise unfilmable trilogy to the world's cineplexes.

And...yes...spare me Harry Potter and the horde of YA wizard wannabes....

Hi,

New to the tribe here.

Uh, my name's Joel. Been reading fantasy steadily for the last decade or so (was more of a sf fan before).

Uh, current favorite authors:
Robin Hobb
Lynn Flewelling
Lawrence Watt-Evans
Holly Lisle
Patricia Bray

Oh! Question: Can we post reviews on this site?

Hi all - I'm new here! :)

I grew up on sci-fi/fantasy since my family's very big into reading. Some of my favs are: David Eddings (liked the Belgariad, not big on the Mallorean), Jane Yolen (Sister Light/Sister Dark), The Wrinkle in Time series, The Lord of the Rings (read all of them by 5th grade, still have to go back and read The Silmarillion), Anne McCaffrey, John Carter of Mars series, The Naria Chronicles...those are just a few off the top of my head. I could go on and on... ;)

I started out reading CS Lewis but I can't say he is a big influence for me. Soon I began reading darker "adult" fantasy, and it's dark fantasy that most captures my interest. Tolkien bores me to tears, and I feel far more compelled by the complex, lived-in, multi-cultural worlds of Robert E. Howard, Michael Moorcock, or Fritz Leiber. Also, I'm a big time Lovecraft fan. Fairy tales are another staple in my fantasy reading. Grimm's never cease to provide ideas for me. Curently I'm reading Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber, a collection of her reworkings of fairy tales.

Hi. New to this Tribe, moderately new to Tribe itself.

I primarily enjoy video games, fiction of all kinds (though primarily sci-fi and fantasy), and pen-and-paper roleplaying games.

Favorite authors: Hm. Many, many; perhaps too many to list. A short mentioning of a few would be: Brust, Card, Cherryh, Friedman, Gaiman, Gemmell, Gibson, Kay, Martin, Niven, Samura, and Zelazny. Other appreciated authors would be: Anthony, Asprin, Baudino, Bear, Brin, Burroughs, Clarke, Coe, Feist, Haydon, Herbert, Hughart, Kidd, King, Lackey, Leiber, Lewis, McCaffery, Moorcock, Rice, Saberhagen, Sawyer, Stephenson, Tolkien, Wurts, and Zahn. There may also be some I forgot. :D

Oh, and a quick note on Terry Brooks: I found the same problem with Sword of Shannara that was mentioned above... But my fiance says that the other books in the Shannara series are a *lot* less Tolkien-derivative, and I tend to believe her. :D Also, his Magic Kingdom of Landover series is pretty fun; we both enjoyed those.