What other fantasy books do YOU read?

[Dain]

Yeah, I clearly forgot Douglass Adams. Oops.

And I'm glad you recommend Banks, Rumil, and most importantly a book to start with. I've been wanting a push in his direction for a while, if you know what I mean.

I agree about Eddings being a bit shallow. I enjoyed them when I was a youth, but all the plots end up with the hero doing battle in gigantic form with the enemy to save the world. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] But I did enjoy them...

I've heard good things about George R. R. Martin, can anybody support that?

I find the trouble with a lot of fantasy is that the characters feel "modern" and so they don't seem to fit in their setting. Or else they are hopelessly stereotyped. Tolkien's work has an authentic feel that few others have duplicated. It's strange to judge a work of "fantasy" by how "real" it seems, but that's one of the keys for me...

[ April 16, 2003: Message edited by: Dain ]

[The Saucepan Man]

I'm sure all UK Downers of a certain age will fondly remember Monkey, Pigsy, Sandy and the rather confusing (boy or girl?) Tripitaka.

Yup. [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img]

Afte reading LotR (age 10) I was desperate to read more. I tried the Silmarillion, but found it hard going and gave up (I have recently rectified that omission). So I moved on to as many other fantasy authors as I could find to quench my thirst for the genre. Unfortunately, I do not recall coming across anything to rival LotR. However I do recall greatly enjoying Robert E Howard's Conan books and Michael Moorcock's Prince Corum series. I also have fond memories of Anne McCaffrey's Pern series. On the other hand, I gave up very early on with Terry Brooks' Shannarah books, which I recall thinking of as very pale imitations of LotR. This is all some time ago now, so my memories of all of these books are pretty dim.

... a long time favourite of mine was the fantastic Douglas Adams (now sadly missed) who wrote the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and others

Amen to that. I would recommend the books to anyone and the TV adaptation was great too (and still frequently repeated on UK Gold type channels). An earlier post on this thread referred to Dirk Gently and his holistic detective agancy. Did Adams only write one of these books, or were there more? In any event, Dirk Gently is certainly a character that I am glad to be reminded of.

For now, however, there is certainly more than enough Tolkien to be catching up on ... [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

[Cúdae]

Hmmm... I have always loved Lloyd Alexander's books (I know I'm too old for them, but I still like them) and I'm a huge fan of Ray Bradbury. I read Something Wicked This Way Comes twice in one day. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]
I also love any King Arthur story- especially (sp?) TH White's The Once and Future King and Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon.
I will also read anything (and I mean anything) about Cuchulain. I read Lady Gregory's Cuchulain of Muirthemne and I am now reading Morgan Llewelyn's (sp?) Red Branch, which so far I have found to be pretty good.
And finally, Garth Nix's books Sabriel, Lirael, and Abhorsen all hold the treasured, coveted space next to my copies of the Lord of the Rings.

[ April 16, 2003: Message edited by: Cúdae ]

[Rumil]

Hi Ironfoot and Sospan Fach, we all seem to be on the same wavelength tonight.

I agree with you Dain that too many fantasy writers make their characters too 'modern'. It's something you see a lot of in historical novels as well, the heroes are generally opposed to nasty practices such as slavery, racism and flogging whereas it seems that the majority of people in those benighted times were not. I think its a fine line to tread though, the reader needs someone to identify with, I can think of some Sci-Fi (written from an Aliens' point of view) which rapidly becomes unreadable. (I've mailed you about Iain M Banks)

Yes indeed Mr Saucepan, there was a second Dirk Gently Book (I think 'The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul' , though maybe that was the first one). Offhand I think there were 5 books in the Hitchhikers trilogy, 2 Dirk Gently, 'The Meaning of Liff' (which invents useful new words for modern day life), 'Last Chance to See' which is a factual book on endangered species and, my most recent purchase, 'The Salmon of Doubt', which is a bit of a Douglas Adams Unfinished Tales, published posthumously, containing the start of a new Dirk Gently and lots of other intriguing snippets.

If only he hadn't left so soon! (and suffered from such ferocious writer's block)

btw , there's a website called H2G2 hosted by the BBC, which aims to provide a 'Guide' in the Adams style.

Don't Panic !
[img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

[Sophia the Thunder Mistress]

Not that Lawhead hasn't been mentioned enough, I have to say, his Taliesin is one of the best ones I've ever read. I absolutely love Charis and his description of Atlantis.

And I'm a hitchhiker fan as well... [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] I'm one of those people that likes to sprinkle character names through things, so I've used zaphod, fordprefect, and damogran for nicknames on different things at different times, and my current fish is named Zaphod [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

*gulps* I've really struggled with TH White though, is it worth the effort to dig back in?

Sophia

[Orual]

RIP, Douglas Adams. He was one of the best of us.

Much of Lloyd Alexander (though his books follow a pattern and grow predictable after a while), all of Madeleine L'Engle's early works (Meet the Austins, the Time Quartet, etc), all that I could find of Susan Fletcher, some Patricia Wrede, 'Till We Have Faces' from C.S. Lewis, I'm up to book three of the Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan, 'Dune' by Frank Herbert (though I never read the sequels), a little of Anne McCaffrey, Orson Scott Card's 'Ender' quartet and the parallels (I know they're sci-fi), and though I've barely scratched the surface of her many works, I adore Jane Yolen. I never got into Shannara, but I did read part of it.

We have some well-read people among us. I'll keep an eye on this thread...I always need more books on my list.

~*~Orual~*~

[Aiwendil]

An earlier post on this thread referred to Dirk Gently and his holistic detective agancy. Did Adams only write one of these books, or were there more?

There are two - Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul. The first is very good, but the second is truly brilliant - one of my favorite books of all time. He had also begun a third Dirk Gently book but never finished it. Apparently, shortly before he died, he had decided to go back to it and turn it into a sixth Hitchhiker book instead of a Dirk Gently book - but alas, he never did. What is extant of it was published recently as The Salmon of Doubt, along with quite a few miscellaneous bits of writing by him (some previously published elsewhere).

[Orual]

On the topic of Douglas Adams--I wasn't going to bring this up, as it's not fantasy, or even fiction--anyone who likes him simply *must* read "Last Chance to See." It's a non-fiction about a trip he took to write about endangered species. Picture: Douglas Adams in Madagascar to see komodo dragons. Or in Mauritius to see the echo parakeets. But I digress; just read it.

~*~Orual~*~

[The Saucepan Man]

There are two - Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency and The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul.

Ah good, then I've read them both. But it's been a long time. Must dig them out again. Thanks Rumil, Aiwendil and Orual, I must add Salmon of Doubt and Last Chance to See to my list of things to read (which is currently Tolkien dominated). [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

PS Rumil, are you from Wales by any chance? [img]smilies/cool.gif[/img]

[ April 16, 2003: Message edited by: The Saucepan Man ]

[Morwen Tindomerel]

"I think all of you should go out and buy a George Macdonald book..A good one would be "Lilith"..."

And if you figure out what it's about please email me! Yes I own a copy but have never understood the plot, (assuming there is one). The Christian imagery is of course impossible to miss but as to what it all means...... [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img]

H. Ridder Haggard's adventure stories definitely shade into fantasy, especially with the 'She' books, (Ayesha reminds me a little of Galadriel actually - a Galadriel who took the Ring that is!)

I see I'm not the only Katherine Kurtz reader here - Chronicles of the Deryni, Histories of King Kelson, Legends of Camber of Culdi and Saint Camber's Heirs. The Eleven Kingdoms are a very detailed high medieval fantasy world with an emphasis on political intrigue, ritual magic and the Catholic religion and canon law. Featuring a magically gifted race known as the Deryni who are feared and persecuted by the normal Humans, and not without reason!

In addition to Lloyd Alexander's 'Chronicles of Prydain' there is another series based on the Mabinogion by Evangeline Walton; Prince of Annwn, Children of Llyr, Song of Rhiannon, and Isle of the Mighty. Which is far closer to the source material and mature in theme.

Has anybody read R.A. MacAvoy's 'Damiano' trilogy? featuring a young Italian wizard, a Finnish witch and the Archangel Raphael.

And then there's Tom Holt's humorous fantasies; 'Expecting Someone Taller' in which the Ring of the Nibelung, (remember that?) comes to a nice if nebbishy young Englishman who finds absolute power isn't anywhere near as much fun as one might think, especially when one has the entire Norse pantheon on ones back. In 'Who's Afraid of Beowulf' an archeologist named Hildy Frederiksen discovers a wonderful viking ship burial, unfortunately the vikings turn out not to be as dead as she thought they were. King Rolf Earthstar and his band of heroes adopt her as their guide to the modern world as they set out to destroy the evil Sorceror King, who for some reason has gone into computers.... 'Flying Dutch' features, who else? the Flying Dutchman who wants to find a cure for his immortality - which has some unpleasant side effects the legend forgets to mention.

Also in the humor category is Tim Powers 'Drawing of the Dark' where in a sixteenth century Irish soldier of fortune is recruited by an odd character calling himself 'Aurelianus' to act as a bouncer in an Viennese Inn and brewery which is definitely more than it seems - and so unfortunately for him is poor Brian Duffy!

Barbara Hambly is the author of several fantasy series. Her names show a definite Tolkien influence; a wizard named Ingold Inglorion, a dragon called Morkeleb. She is a highly descriptive author with an eye for fashion and decor. I like that, but not everybody does.

A favorite of mine that nobody has mentioned is Randal Garret's 'Lord Darcy' series. Mystery stories set in an alternate world where magic takes the place of science and Plantagenet Kings still rule most of Western Europe and the Americas through a modified feudal system. Customs and technology are Victorian and nobody seems to mind the highly stratefied social system. Lord Darcy himself is Chief Investigator to his Royal Highness Prince Richard Duke of Normandy. Assisted by that able master of forensic sorcery Master Sean O'Lochlain. Perpare to learn more than you ever wanted to know about practical sorcery and the laws of magic!

I've got lots more but I think I'll stop now. My fingers are tired [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

[Taralphiel]

My reccomendation is for a book Im not sure is easy to find. Its by an Australian author called Kate Forsyth, 'The Witches Of Eileanan' Highly addictive! Based on a Scottish sort of otherworld fantasy. It is available in America though....

[drigel]

Silver shod - if you are trying to read that stuff you need to read Robert E Howard's Conan novels. If JRRT was the father of fantasy - then REH was the father of pulp fiction. Not as high brow, but the story is set "...in an age undreamed of... before the rise of the Sons of Aryas and the sinking of Atlantis.." (paraphrase)
good stuff

[Burzdol]

Lately I have read many new series that I liked, here they are:

Pendragon [D. J. MacHale]
Dragonriders of Pern [Anne McCaffrey]
Ender's Game [Orson Scott Card]
Redwall [Brian Jacques]

That's all I can think of now.

~Burzdol~

[Tinuviel Took]

This is to you people talking about the Myst books. I've read the Book or Artus, but it was more interesting for me because my international pastor (at the time) is the father of the two guys that wrote the game.

[Rumil]

Just a quick note to any UK 'Monkey' addicts, its back on Channel 4 !!! Still has great comedy value. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

[Guo Si]

Off-topic: Any way for a resident of the US to see this "Monkey" show?

On-topic: I just read an amazingly good short story today. Its the "Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath" by H.P. Lovecraft. Unlike most of his stuff, this is pretty much pure fantasy, albeit one of a macabre variety. I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone who isn't opposed to reading anything a bit on the creepy side, as its wonderful writing style and relatively long length (its almost novella-length) should keep one entertained for a while.

[Sapphire_Flame]

The other fantasy books I enjoy are:

-Harry Potter (heh...)
-Sword of Truth series

Has anyone else here read any of the Sword of Truth books? They're by Terry Goodkind. Very good books...

[vanwafeniel]

Hey people, im new to this conversation as is obvious, well any way...i love books. [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] Any kind of book will do as long as it has WORDS! I recently read The Wasp Factory by Ian Banks. That changed me, it was so well written, dark, disturbing and psychotically funny. I wouldn't recommend it if you don't like Psycho-analytical books, very philosophical. I have read most of Ann Rice's Vampire Chronicles. They were very interesting for people like me who read gothic horror type science fiction, Ooooh I do love the main Character Lestat but the attempt at movies was a bad idea for Ann Rice. Memnoch the Devil is a brill Vampire Chronicle, by far her most philosophical chronicle though Interview With The Vampire is my favourite. [img]smilies/evil.gif[/img]
I think it was Guo Si who has read Journey to The West, please can you tell me where to find that book, i really want to read it! Thanks. I like the Darren Shan books by Darren Shan. Its tacky i know but they get gorier by the book. I seem to read lots of Vampire Fiction. I like most of my friends tried to read White Teeth by Zadie Smith but got bored by page 150, i wish they hadn't let her write, may sound harsh but the thought of boring books existing and pulling innocent readers into it scares me. [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img]
I like funny books, not so much as decent science fiction but hey, we all need humour, stuff by Eoin Colfer, his Artemis Fowl books were hilarious.
Aswell as science fiction does anybody here read actual science books? Stuff by Hawking? I love the Elegant Universe and anything on Schroedinger's theory. I am aware that its spelt wrong but i'm tired.
Please name some excellent science fiction books, i would be glad to read them. I have also read the books on Narnia etc but it was ages ago. I'm re-reading The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings in french! [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

[vanwafeniel]

Sorry i just started typing and forgot to stop but i like rumil's choice of Literature. Hitchhikers gude was brilliant, my family are big fans of that book, 42 anall. I loved Consider Phlebas, since The Wasp Factory i have been a bit scared to touch Banks' books. Disturbing. i plan to read Feersum Endgin though. Is that spelt right?hmmm...Who knows? [img]smilies/tongue.gif[/img]

[Rumil]

Cheers for the appreciation Van,

'We shall confront the ineffable and see if we may not eff it after all'

(One of my favourite Douglas Adams quotes)

I know what you mean about 'The Wasp Factory' but if you liked 'Consider Phlebas' you'll love 'The Player of Games'. On Monkey, I think the Video is available from channel 4 in the UK, I guess they have a website. (doesn't everyone?)

(Must say that I've just reserved my copy of 'Harry Potter and the Order of The Phoenix',)

[img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

[vanwafeniel]

S'ok rumil, i thought i was the only one awake at this time! its 2am! Yea i was going to buy the player of games today but i couldn't walk to Waterstones so i went home.(God i love that place, so many books, i know every section of the place by heart and the staff!) Sounds odd i know but i winded meself skateboarding.
I think i'll search for the video a bit later. When i first heard of Ian banks, before i read his books, i was a bit worried, you know the banning of his works and the scrutiny, themes etc. People in the sixties seemed so afraid of the truth which is what he tried to write about. I think it was the sixties. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

[vanwafeniel]

P.S. i HAVE READ THE HARRY POTTER SERIES 5 TIMES BUT I REFUSE TO READ THE NEXT BOOK! J.k. rowling is competition to j.r.r.t not to mention a thief! It probably isn't that good anyway..i hope...can't be..hmmm. My fave is The Prisoner Of Azkaban. I'm using the strongest of my will power not to order The Order of The Phoenix. [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img]

[Rumil]

You know you WANTSSSSSS to read it my PRECIOUSSSSSSSSSS ! [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

There have been extraordinarily impassioned threads about LoTR vs HP, but I say live and let live, Potter is certainly less 'deep' than Tolkien, but that's no reason not to enjoy it. (By the way, if this turns into a Rowling/Tolkien thread I'm sure it will be deleted, so this ends here OK?)

As I've said before, Banks is really for adults only, (and 80s not 60s), don't buy them if you're easily shocked!

I firmly believe that heaven is an extremely large branch of Waterstones, where you can get all of Tolkien's latest posthumous works and have a chat with the man himself on Tuesdays, but it has an infinitely greater number of comfy Chesterfield sofas.

[Morwen Tindomerel]

*Nothing* is as deep as Tolkien. I don't think any other author has ever dedicated so much time and sheer intellect to the creation of a secondary world.

This does not, of course, make other writer's work worthless. Any more than Shakespeare makes other playwrites redundant.

[Frodo Brandybuck]

Brian Jacqes 'Redwall'series are excellent books as well as his book 'Castaways of the Flying Dutchman' (its better than it sounds) They were originally written for blind children so they contain exquisite descriptions of everything. [img][c:\mydocuments\anasphotos\hobbitstuff\pippinbecomi ngahobbit.jpg][/img]

[Eldawen of Lorien]

I like Anne McAffery's "Dragonrides of Pern" series and "Black Horses for the King", "The Chornicles of Narania" by C.S. Lewis, and "The Mists of Avalon" and its prequels by Marrion Zimmerman Bradley.

[Hilde Bracegirdle]

Unfortunately, the first fantasy series I read was Chronicles Of Narnia and LoTR after that. Then on to C.S. Lewis’s SciFi. After that I spent a LONG time trying to find something as good as LoTR but after many years gave up.

During that time (late ‘70’s) I read
Lloyd Alexander
Katherine Kurtz's Deryni books
T.H. White
Madeline L'Engle
Terry Brooks (The Sword of Shannara only)
Lewis Carrol
Ursula LeGuinn
Frank Hebert’s Dune series

All these guys are good and very talented writers (especially LeGuin And Herbert) but they just don’t have what Tolkien did. He is the master! Frank Herbert comes close, in depth.

Most of the stories had a dark element to them as well, and given the choice between an excellent dark tale and an excellent one that isn’t 10 times out of 10 I’ll pick the one that isn’t. I mean even Tolkien’s twisted stuff isn’t so much deeply disturbing as it is deeply tragic (Turin).

So off I went to myths & epics, Anne Dillard, Farley Mowat, Hermann Hesse (Magister Ludi is excellent!), Douglas Adams and landed in classics. Current favorite besides Tolkien is George Eliot.

There has been a lot of stuff mentioned here that is rather tempting, though.

[Belethfacwen]

w00t, A live action The Last Unicorn. I LOVED that book, it's a favorite of mine.

Philip Pullman and the His Dark Materials trilogy has also been a favorite of mine for a long while. I hear they're making live action movies of those, too.

Actually, other than Tolkien and the above mentioned ones (Or if you count Marion Zimmer Bradley), I read embarassingly little fantasy. I'm going a bit off topic, but you can't really consider Anne Rice fantasy, which is my latest kick.

Nice post.

[ April 20, 2003: Message edited by: Belethfacwen ]

[Amanaduial the archer]

I read embarassingly little fantasy

Good lord, stay away, stay away!!!!!

Ermmm....*sees people looking at her oddly and stands up from crouching position, smoothing down her clothes*...yes. Well. Anyway.

[Salocin]

Most of the stuff I like has already been given a lot of time here, so I won't mention it right now.

There are 3 things that I am surprised at how little they are mentioned.

First: E.R. Eddison hasn't been mentioned at all. Has no one read The Worm Ouroboros? I guess I am going to have to give you guys a full rundown.

E.R. Eddison started his fantasy in the tweenties (way before Tolkien). He wrote a few things and published a few translations of Old English stuff before creating his own fantasy world(sound familiar?). The Worm Ouroboros was published in 1926. It is an epic novel covering the last war between two rival, man-like races: the witches and the demons; battling it out on Mercury. (The demons are the good guys [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img]. The races don't really have anything to do with demons and witches besides the present king of the witches being a scorceror and demons having small, goat-like horns above their ears and under their hair.) The detail is amazing, the depth astounding. You'll have to disregard the Tolkien refferences on the back of the book and in any reviews because it really has nothing to do with the Proffesor at all. It is a completely different style.

After The Worm Ouroboros, Eddison wrote the Zimiamvian Trilogy. I know, most of us hard core Tolkienist cringe at other fantasy "Trilogies", but you have to keep in mind that Eddison's was written before the Tolkien's, though I am not suggesting Tolkien got the idea from Eddison. Their versions of fantasy are very different and I am very opposed to them being compared in any way exept to say they both wrote good fantasy.

The Zimiamvian Trilogy consists of Mistess of Mistresses (1935), A Fish Dinner in Memison (1941), and The Mezentian Gate (I don't have it on hand so I don't know when it was published). To put things in perspective, LoTR was published 1954-1955. The Mezentian Gate was never finnished (Eddison, like all great authors, died before he wrote enough for us [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img] ) but he wrote with outlines in such away that it is much more readable than most fragments and one can accually get the story out of it and even the ending.

The Zimiamvian Trilogy also takes place on Mercury, but in a different part of the planet and is completely unrelated to The worm Ouroboros. It takes place in a region known as Zimiamvia (go figuer). The books are highly philosophical and are very tough reading (at least for me, but I found LoTR tough the first time through)

I need to go so I better finnish this quickly.

In short, C.S.Lewis loved Eddisons work, he raved about it and was probably his biggest fan. Tolkien read them and admitted they wear well written but said he didn't like the complete absence of christian morality. (I know this sounds weird, since Tolkien claimed LoTR was not a chritian allegory, but its true.) The Eddison books are bassed on a savage, pre-christian, almost pagan, morality.

Well got to go for now.

[Elfstone]

Wow, I'm surprised that no one has mentioned The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever. Author Stephen Donaldson has an obvious Tolkien influence, but nonetheless makes an excellent story. The Unbeliever is a study in self-loathing.

Another great story is Watership Down by Richard Adams. A completely different kind of fantasy, but one with deep undertones of righteousness in the face of oppression.

[Durelin]

THE WHEEL OF TIME SERIES ROCKS!

[img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

[Luinalatawen]

There are so very many fantasy books that I read... In fact, it's basically the only genre that I like. My favorites:

P. Pullman - His Dark Materials Trilogy
C. S. Lewis - Chronicles of Narnia
J. K. Rowling - Harry Potter (I like all the others better, but I still have to put them on my list)
P. McKillip - Any of her books- she has a fresh, different style of writing

There's probably a ton more, but that's it for now.

I've heard that Jordan's Wheel of Time series is good for about the first few books, but then all the rest are just plot developers and nothing major happens at all. So I haven't even attempted reading any of them. Yet. Maybe someday I'll read the first few and then the last few and get summaries from the ones in beween.

[vanwafeniel]

I bought The Player Of Games by Iain Banks yesterday. I should finish it tonight, its brilliant. The Culture is a brilliantly large and complex structure, it makes the future seem morbid, drones and outer species aswell as always being linked to the Culture. Apart from the scenery in the book its a fantastic fiction book. I haven't heard of Eddison, maybe i'll look him up. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] And personally Morwen I hate Shakespeare. [img]smilies/tongue.gif[/img] In other Sci-fi books at the mo Iain Banks features heavily on my list, theres not much else. As gruesome as the wasp factory was i have to say it was captivating. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

[GlingleglingleglingleFairy]

I have to say that I pretty much never read fantasy because, in my opinion, it's all the same. There's always heroes and dragons and really cheap thrills and magic that's ridiculous. I know I've never read most books and perhaps I'm being prejudiced, but that's it. I have no problems with fairytales though, and if any Tolkien fan needs books to read the most basic fairytales (unabridged, or close) are always my choice. I do have a few fantasy series that I think are great; the series (I forget what its called) by Phillip Pullman that starts with Northern lights is great, as is any Terry Pratchett book. (woohoo for the Discworld)

[vanwafeniel]

Everyone has their own opinion of sci-fi and fantasy. But i like them. I tried reading Pullmans books but couldn't finish them,i know 8-10 yr olds who read them and love them,i was told they're for children which is annoying because they seemed good...before i read them. They just didn't keep me enthralled which a good book should do (at some point).

[Hilde Bracegirdle]

Tried The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever but couldn’t get into it.
Watership Down was good, and Shardick was interesting but couldn’t get through Plague Dogs. Again it’s all dark stuff.

Never heard of Eddison’s though.

[ April 21, 2003: Message edited by: Hilde Bracegirdle ]

[Sapphire_Flame]

Never heard of Eddison’s though.

Me neither. [img]smilies/confused.gif[/img]

And has anyone here heard of Terry Goodkind? I just need to know. I'm finishing the first book of the Sword of Truth series (Wizard's First Rule) and I wanted to know if anyone else has read the books.

[vanwafeniel]

Sorry sapphire, i never heard of them. [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img]

[Salocin]

Part of the reason you may not have heard of Eddison is that he has been out of print for decades [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]. The only way to find his books is at a library, ebay, or (how I did) through Amazon.com's used book dealers. I'd have to say he is not for everyone, but if its deep you want, you want Eddison.

I also think C.S.Lewis's Space Trilogy hasn't been mentioned enough [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]. They are AMAZING, especially That Hideous Strength. Out of the Silent Planet was a little kidish, but I liked it (I read it when I was 13).

If there are any Lewis fans out there, you may want to hear this. There is a book of his short stories, some complete, some fragments, that was published posthumerously called The Dark Tower (not to be confused with the Stephen King book by the same name). The story it is titled after is a really intriging fragment Lewis wrote about a chromographer; a progector that is supposed to progect images from the same place in space but a different time. It wasn't developed enough to have a deffenite main character, but Ransom and Lewis himself have staring roles. Chronologically it was supposed to take place between Silent Planet and Perelandra, about the time when Ransom was taking Lewis into his confidence. In it Lewis takes a very unorthodox stance and investigates what it would be like with 3 dimentions of space and 2 of time. Absolutely fasinating.