Trueblood Posted July 5, 2010 Share Posted July 5, 2010 George R R Martin, provided your happy embarking on a series that hasn't been concluded yet. Perhaps try some Neil Gaiman or some Michael Moorcock? I believe his Song of Ice and Fire series is to be turned into a TV series, even though it ain't finished yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
somewhatdamaged Posted July 6, 2010 Share Posted July 6, 2010 The Eternal Champion saga by Michael Moorcock is one of the best fantasy series ever written. Elric of Melnibone is probably the greatest anti hero in fiction. The character and his sword have been ripped off many a time including:- Soul Edge from Soul Calibur, The Lich King from World of Warcraft (sword AND character!), The Soul Reaver from Legacy of Kain) and many others. Elric's sword Stormbringer is wonderful to read about and you can't wait for him to draw it just to read about the carnage that will follow. Give it a try, i think you would love it. Oh, whilst i'm here, i started to collect "The Fantasy Masterworks Collection" It's apparently the fifty greatest fantasy novels ever written. I'll post the list below for you. I buy most of them off Amazon marketplace. Sorry for the poor formatting.... Number Title Author 1 The Book of the New Sun, Volume 1: Shadow and Claw -Gene Wolfe 2 Time and the Gods -Lord Dunsany 3 The Worm Ouroboros -E.R. Eddison 4 Tales of the Dying Earth -Jack Vance 5 Little, Big -John Crowley 6 The Chronicles of Amber -Roger Zelazny 7 Viriconium -M. John Harrison 8 The Conan Chronicles, Volume 1: The People of the Black Circle -Robert E. Howard 9 The Land of Laughs -Jonathan Carroll 10 The Compleat Enchanter: The Magical Misadventures of Harold Shea -L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt 11 Lud-in-the-Mist -Hope Mirrlees 12 The Book of the New Sun, Volume 2: Sword and Citadel -Gene Wolfe 13 Fevre Dream -George R. R. Martin 14 Beauty -Sheri S. Tepper 15 The King of Elfland's Daughter -Lord Dunsany 16 The Conan Chronicles, Volume 2: The Hour of the Dragon -Robert E. Howard 17 Elric of Melnibone -Michael Moorcock 18 The First Book of Lankhmar -Fritz Leiber 19 Riddle-Master -Patricia A. McKillip 20 Time and Again -Jack Finney 21 Mistress of Mistresses -E.R. Eddison 22 Gloriana or the Unfulfill'd Queen -Michael Moorcock 23 The Well of the Unicorn -Fletcher Pratt 24 The Second Book of Lankhmar -Fritz Leiber 25 Voice of Our Shadow -Jonathan Carroll 26 The Emperor of Dreams -Clark Ashton Smith 27 Lyonesse I: Suldrun's Garden -Jack Vance 28 Peace -Gene Wolfe 29 The Dragon Waiting -John M. Ford 30 Corum: The Prince in the Scarlet Robe -Michael Moorcock 31 Black Gods and Scarlet Dreams -C.L. Moore 32 The Broken Sword -Poul Anderson 33 The House on the Borderland and Other Novels -William Hope Hodgson 34 The Drawing of the Dark -Tim Powers 35 Lyonesse II and III: The Green Pearl and Madouc -Jack Vance 36 The History of Runestaff -Michael Moorcock 37 A Voyage to Arcturus -David Lindsay 38 Darker Than You Think -Jack Williamson 39 The Mabinogion -Evangeline Walton 40 Three Hearts & Three Lions -Poul Anderson 41 Grendel -John Gardner 42 The Iron Dragon's Daughter -Michael Swanwick 43 WAS -Geoff Ryman 44 Song of Kali -Dan Simmons 45 Replay -Ken Grimwood 46 Sea Kings of Mars and Other Worldly Stories -Leigh Brackett 47 The Anubis Gates -Tim Powers 48 The Forgotten Beasts of Eld -Patricia A. McKillip 49 Something Wicked This Way Comes -Ray Bradbury 50 The Mark of the Beast and Other Fantastical Tales -Rudyard Kipling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbx Posted July 6, 2010 Share Posted July 6, 2010 Robert Rankin. Very funny fantasy stuff (bit like terry pratchett) set in modern times with recurring themes. Good stuff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
- Paul - Posted July 8, 2010 Share Posted July 8, 2010 Bit of an old one written in the 1920s so a bit dated in some of the attitudes and speeech The Ship of Ishtar - A Merritt available here as a gutenberg ebook http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0601941.txt Also The Purple Cloud - M P Shiel (1901) http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/11229 A 'last man' story with some twists. You might also look at some of Poul Andersons stuff Although a well known Sci Fi Man, he has done some good books in the Fantasy Genre Eternal Champion saga by Michael Moorcock is one of the best fantasy series ever written. Elric of Melnibone..... Agreed - well worth trying and often poorly emulated since. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilitantDogOwner Posted July 8, 2010 Share Posted July 8, 2010 A bit long and very (very) dark, the Unbeliver series (also called the Thomas Covenat series) by Stenphen Donaldson. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jam_Sandwich Posted July 9, 2010 Share Posted July 9, 2010 I quite like Trudi Canavan Karen Miller K.J. Parker (Specially the Engineer & Fencer Trilogy) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted July 12, 2010 Share Posted July 12, 2010 Ed Greenwood 8-) Karen Travis (Imeriel Commando) that i believe karen Miller is completing ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ushtey Posted July 12, 2010 Share Posted July 12, 2010 Jim Butcher = The Codex Alera (6 book series). Can also recommend his Dresden series as well, though these are modern magic based rather than pure fantasy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
somewhatdamaged Posted July 13, 2010 Share Posted July 13, 2010 I'm currently re reading Von Bek by Michael Moorcock (the first book in the tale of the eternal champion) I had forgotten how superb it was. Von Bek's soul is (unknown to him) already owned by Lucifer who offers him the chance to talk to God and plea his case in being allowed to go to Heaven should he succeed in his mission. Satan tasks Von Bek to find the "Cure for the worlds pain" or "Holy Grail" as some would call it. He believes that if this object was found and the worlds ills cured he would be granted an audience with God and could beg His forgiveness. The quality of the entire Eternal Champion series is such that one can only assume Tolkien had a far greater publicist than Moorcock ever had. Of course, one of the things i love about Moorcock is that he never copied a single thing Tolkien ever did (due to him not being a fan of his "Merry England" writing style - yet is revered by other fantasy giants such as David Gemmell and Tad Williams. I am intending to read the entire series in order (which i haven't done before) as i've currenly got a fractured arm and can't really play games. This could turn out to be a blessing in disguise although i am sure my wife would not agree! Keep the recommendations coming guys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimcalagon Posted July 16, 2010 Share Posted July 16, 2010 How about Edgar Rice Burroughs' (the creator of Tarzan) Mars books - A Princess of Mars is the first one and there another 10 to follow (although some of the later ones dip in quality) and all freely available on Gutenberg. Although it is set on Mars, it is much closer to fantasy than Sci-Fi. Stirring stuff, especially as it is nearly 100 years old, loads of swordplay, 14 foot tall warlike aliens, anti-gravity battleships, evil priests, subterranean dungeons, gladiatorial arenas, naked princesses, whet more could you ask for? - and soon to be Pixar's first live-action film. It was mentioned above that Michael Moorcock never coped a single thing that Tolkien wrote - well that's possible, as he was too busy copying Burroughs' fantasy output under the guise of 'The Eternal Champion'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimcalagon Posted July 16, 2010 Share Posted July 16, 2010 Oh and not fantasy as such, but similar to Gemmell's excellent output, Bernard Cornwell's Saxon series, set in the late 9th Century, is very good. The first book in the series is 'The Last Kingdom'. Also, set in England at the same time, try Harry Harrison's 'The Hammer and the Cross' - starting off with real historical events during the Viking invasion of 866 (which also features in 'The Last Kingdom') but ends up departing from the real history because of a saxon serf (who is the illegitimate son of a norse god, possibly). I can't recommend this highly enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jam_Sandwich Posted July 19, 2010 Share Posted July 19, 2010 Nice suggestion Jim Going to look into that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimcalagon Posted July 20, 2010 Share Posted July 20, 2010 Nice suggestion Jim Going to look into that! Which one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevie Boy Posted July 22, 2010 Author Share Posted July 22, 2010 Some excellent suggestions from everyone, going to keep me busy for a while!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trueblood Posted August 1, 2010 Share Posted August 1, 2010 Waterstones are currently running a 3 for 2 offer on all SF/Fantasy books if anyone's interested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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