Intelligent Fantasy

[Oftencold]

Have you seen this? If not, I hope ya' like it.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4oxrTSRkC0"]YouTube - Hogfather[/ame]

 

[Oftencold]

In case you wonder what we mean be Discworld. . .

What's all this Discworld stuff you ask . . .

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_UbDSlwAME"]YouTube - Terry Pratchett's Hogfather[/ame]

 

[jallman]

I liked the Riftwar books by Raymond E Feist for pure entertainment value.

I don't read fantasy for much else besides entertainment but if I had to pick something as "intelligent" fantasy, it would definitely be C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia and The Screwtape Letters.

 

[the makeout hobo]

I liked the Riftwar books by Raymond E Feist for pure entertainment value.

I don't read fantasy for much else besides entertainment but if I had to pick something as "intelligent" fantasy, it would definitely be C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia and The Screwtape Letters.

I dunno, Lewis is something I really soured on as I got older.

 

[jallman]

I dunno, Lewis is something I really soured on as I got older.

Whether you adhere to the same beliefs he does or not, you have to admit he has a very humorous and entertaining way of spinning an allegory. I also find him to be pure genius in the way he told a tale that, when revisited as an adult, carries so much more meaning than the mere entertainment factor it had as a child.

 

[the makeout hobo]

Whether you adhere to the same beliefs he does or not, you have to admit he has a very humorous and entertaining way of spinning an allegory. I also find him to be pure genius in the way he told a tale that, when revisited as an adult, carries so much more meaning than the mere entertainment factor it had as a child.

That is true, you generally don't even realize they're religious parables until you're an adult.

 

[Redress]

Whether you adhere to the same beliefs he does or not, you have to admit he has a very humorous and entertaining way of spinning an allegory. I also find him to be pure genius in the way he told a tale that, when revisited as an adult, carries so much more meaning than the mere entertainment factor it had as a child.

The Narnia books will always have a special place for me, I loved them when I discovered them in the 6th grade. There are better children fantasy(see Lloyd Alexanders The Chronicles of Prydian, and don't be put off by the horrible disney movie made from The Black Cauldron of that series), but it still is a damn good series.

 

[Catz Part Deux]

I'm a fan of Sheri S. Tepper, but her books always have a feminist/agnostic/pagan bent to them. Raising the Stones is particularly good, I think. So is Grass, which I think I've read at least 40 times.

Octavia Butler was also quite brilliant.

In the realm of historical fiction verging on fantasy, I like Jillian Bradshaw, as well. Her books are all great.

I never played D&D, I went straight into sci-fi/fantasy, but this is a pretty funny graphic:

 

[Caedon]

I'm a fan of Sheri S. Tepper, but her books always have a feminist/agnostic/pagan bent to them.

Shouldn't that be you're a fan because the books always have a feminist bent to them? :twisted:

 

[Panache]

I can't believe there are four pages of a thread on intelligent fantasy and Neil Gaiman hasn't been brought up yet. :doh

American Gods, Neverwhere, and the Sandman series are some of my particular favorites. For those of you who also like Terry Pratchett, Good Omens is a good place to start, as Terry collaborated on it.

 

[RightinNYC]

Early Robert Jordan. Brandon Sanderson, the guy who took over the Wheel of Time series is also awesome in his own right.

 

[Caedon]

Early Robert Jordan. Brandon Sanderson, the guy who took over the Wheel of Time series is also awesome in his own right.

The Mistborn series is fantastic.

 

[RightinNYC]

The Mistborn series is fantastic.

Seriously. After they announced that he would be taking over for Robert Jordan, I bought the first one just to see if I liked his writing. I finished it the day I got it and immediately bought the next two. I also loved Warbreaker, especially the fact that as he wrote/edited the book, he put the entire thing online in a word doc so that people could download it and read it for free/give comments/see how his revisions changed things. He's one of the best in terms of being in touch with readers and offering insight into the writing process and how the publishing industry works.

(Have you seen the Mistborn annotations? He goes through every single chapter of the books and explains what he was trying to do, where he got the ideas, etc. It's incredibly interesting.)

 

[Caedon]

Seriously. After they announced that he would be taking over for Robert Jordan, I bought the first one just to see if I liked his writing. I finished it the day I got it and immediately bought the next two. I also loved Warbreaker, especially the fact that as he wrote/edited the book, he put the entire thing online in a word doc so that people could download it and read it for free/give comments/see how his revisions changed things. He's one of the best in terms of being in touch with readers and offering insight into the writing process and how the publishing industry works.

(Have you seen the Mistborn annotations? He goes through every single chapter of the books and explains what he was trying to do, where he got the ideas, etc. It's incredibly interesting.)

Did you read Elantris? It's a bit straightforward in terms of the characterization but the rest is great! Interesting twists, in my opinion.

 

[jallman]

Early Robert Jordan. Brandon Sanderson, the guy who took over the Wheel of Time series is also awesome in his own right.

Wow...I dunno how I forgot about the Wheel of Time series. but it was great reading.

I also like Raymond E Feist and his Riftwar Cycle just for the way he portrayed the different societies in the series.

 

[the makeout hobo]

Wow...I dunno how I forgot about the Wheel of Time series. but it was great reading.

I also like Raymond E Feist and his Riftwar Cycle just for the way he portrayed the different societies in the series.

My ex kept on trying to get me to read WOT, but I'm afraid to pick up a 13-volume series.

 

[RightinNYC]

Did you read Elantris? It's a bit straightforward in terms of the characterization but the rest is great! Interesting twists, in my opinion.

I liked it a bunch, though not as much as some of his other stuff. Still great though.

Wow...I dunno how I forgot about the Wheel of Time series. but it was great reading.

The next one comes out in 5 days...:mrgreen:

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Gathering-Storm-Wheel-Time/dp/0765302306/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1256236136&sr=8-1]Amazon.com: The Gathering Storm (Wheel of Time) (9780765302304): Robert Jordan, Brandon Sanderson: Books[/ame]

 

[bowerbird]

For those of you who are fantasy fans, you will know what I mean. Most fantasy is simple drivel, a cheap knockoff of Tolkien, often replete with plot holes roughly the size of the author's ego.

That being said, I have found a few decent authors. One that I've read quite a bit of in the past year is Steven Erikson. His Malazan Book of the Fallen series is excellent, although particularly dense. The only negative that I've seen is that I don't think he proofs his writing much - some of his sentences have just horrible structure and are overly obtuse.

I rather like David Eddings and the Belgariad but he did rather flog it to death

A failing of American TV and literature I fear

 

[Caedon]

I rather like David Eddings and the Belgariad but he did rather flog it to death

A failing of American TV and literature I fear

Eddings is fun and light in my opinion.

Maybe I'm a bit of a cynic but I've found my interests drifting more towards heavier writers with darker worlds such as Glen Cook and S. Erikson.

 

[Morality Games]

For those of you who are fantasy fans, you will know what I mean. Most fantasy is simple drivel, a cheap knockoff of Tolkien, often replete with plot holes roughly the size of the author's ego.

That being said, I have found a few decent authors. One that I've read quite a bit of in the past year is Steven Erikson. His Malazan Book of the Fallen series is excellent, although particularly dense. The only negative that I've seen is that I don't think he proofs his writing much - some of his sentences have just horrible structure and are overly obtuse.

Anything by Ursula Le Guin.

You should probably just skip the bullh-t and go straight to the good stuff though.

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Medieval-Epics-Sagas-Legends-Pt/lm/R1HIYR0ASBV52E/ref=cm_lmt_srch_f_2_rsrsrs0]Amazon.com: Medieval Epics, Sagas And Legends Pt. 1[/ame]

Special attention to Egil's Saga. So good.

Also, Arthurian Legend.

[ame]http://www.amazon.com/Morte-DArthur-Arthur-Legends-Classics/dp/0451528166/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1256421646&sr=8-5[/ame]

There is a reason why these are resources of fantasy writers. Because they personify the fantastic and the intelligent. Just not always the contemporary.

 

[Redress]

Anything by Ursula Le Guin.

Earthsea was wonderful

 

[bowerbird]

Anything by Ursula Le Guin.

You should probably just skip the bullh-t and go straight to the good stuff though.

Amazon.com: Medieval Epics, Sagas And Legends Pt. 1

Special attention to Egil's Saga. So good.

Also, Arthurian Legend.

Amazon.com: Le Morte D'Arthur: King Arthur and the Legends of the Round Table (Signet Classics) (9780451528162): Sir Thomas Malory, Keith Baines, Robert Graves: Books

There is a reason why these are resources of fantasy writers. Because they personify the fantastic and the intelligent. Just not always the contemporary.

Have you ever read "The Once and Future King"?

 

[bowerbird]

Earthsea was wonderful

Agreed! As was her "Winterworld" series although they were more SF than fantasy

 

[Goshin]

Don't care for Ursula LeGuinn. I tried reading some of her books many years ago, and for the most part I just didn't like them.... couldn't really explain why, just didn't.

Years later, I read an exposition by another Sci-Fi writer on one of her "utopian" stories, dissecting it in detail and referring to other trends in her writing as well. She's quite the leftist, pacifist and a rather extreme feminist apparently... which would explain a lot about why I didn't like her work.

 

[Mach]

Erikson and Cook, specifically the Malazan and Black Company novels, are about the best I've ever read.

Erikson raised the bar, I approach man-love for him. For me it's so far and away the best group of books in that genre I've read.

I found I had very few out of the thousands of pages, of times when I glossed over pages to get to something else. He intentionally bulids so many interesting characters that he gives himself the freedom to keep both fast pace, and to be brutal. The volume he outputs is well worth any preceived loss in sentence structure I'd wager. He has more interesting things happen in 100 pages than most books can muster in an entire series.

Cook/Black Company are good as well, maybe leaned on heavily by Erikson. A must-read for any fans of the genre. Might even have some female appeal, given that they aren't all fight scenes and women play major roles.