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Lyta_Underhill · 03-02-2003, 12:22 AM

I have read and enjoyed plenty of other science fiction and fantasy works from this century, and some of them are contemporaneous with Tolkien's work. I think his fantasy is unique and full of depth, but there are created worlds that I can enjoy just as well without having to know their entire history. (I must admit there is something addictive about being able to immerse oneself like that, however!)

One world I particularly enjoy is Fritz Leiber's Nehwon and this world is mapped, just as Middle-Earth is mapped. There was even a role playing game based upon Nehwon at one time. The thing I liked about these books, the Swords series, was the completely human attitudes of its two protagonists, Fahfrd and the Grey Mouser. They were much less heroic and more pragmatic, but also quite different from each other. And they each were pupils of a different wizard with vastly different characteristics. But the focus is not heroic in the traditional sense, but rather adventurous. They satisfy me on a different level than LOTR does. But I enjoy them both! Right now, however, I am caught in the obsession that brought me here!

Thanks for allowing me to prattle on a bit!
Cheers,
Lyta

03-02-2003, 12:22 AM	#31
Lyta_Underhill Haunted Halfling Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: an uncounted length of steps--floating between air molecules Posts: 841	I have read and enjoyed plenty of other science fiction and fantasy works from this century, and some of them are contemporaneous with Tolkien's work. I think his fantasy is unique and full of depth, but there are created worlds that I can enjoy just as well without having to know their entire history. (I must admit there is something addictive about being able to immerse oneself like that, however!) One world I particularly enjoy is Fritz Leiber's Nehwon and this world is mapped, just as Middle-Earth is mapped. There was even a role playing game based upon Nehwon at one time. The thing I liked about these books, the Swords series, was the completely human attitudes of its two protagonists, Fahfrd and the Grey Mouser. They were much less heroic and more pragmatic, but also quite different from each other. And they each were pupils of a different wizard with vastly different characteristics. But the focus is not heroic in the traditional sense, but rather adventurous. They satisfy me on a different level than LOTR does. But I enjoy them both! Right now, however, I am caught in the obsession that brought me here! Thanks for allowing me to prattle on a bit! Cheers, Lyta __________________ “…she laid herself to rest upon Cerin Amroth; and there is her green grave, until the world is changed, and all the days of her life are utterly forgotten by men that come after, and elanor and niphredil bloom no more east of the Sea.”