originally posted by Cheryl Detmer
Thanks I'll look for it Sandtiger. Love your writing. Congratulations on the success. I knew you'd make it.
originally posted by Neil
Nice one!
People with talent should, in an ideal world, get to use it and if you can get paid for it so much the better!
You'll have your own chat area one of these days 
originally posted by Lekx
Hi Iris,
I don't often de-lurk, but your story compelled me. This is not a fantasy suggestion, but as a young person, from age 9 even thru highschool I loved Gordon Korman's books. They are absolutely hilarious, and would be great to read to a young person, provided she appreciates good clean humour. Start with the Bruno and Boots books (which he wrote while still in high school here in Toronto - my personal favourite is 'Beware the Fish' though the first one is "This Can't Be Happening at MacDonald Hall") and other good ones are "I want to Go Home," "Who is Bugs Potter" and a longer one is "Son of Interflux" I still reread these tattered books occasionally and often have to pause to catch my breath from laughing! In fact, I read "Beware the Fish" to my wife on one of our first dates, and apparantly it was one of the things that got great reviews…
- Dave
PS - I recently saw a couple of newer books of his in the bookstore. From my quick flip-thru they didn't seem to be in the same humourous vein so I can't say I would recommend them for the same reasons, though they were in the youth section.
Congratulations and applause, Jana! What alot you've had to celebrate, lately!! 
I really loved The Witches of Karres - was it by Schultz or Schmitz or somebody?? at that age…it's not well known but it really should be.
originally posted by Trys
James Schmitz is the author ot The Witches of Karres, a book I enjoyed as well and still have in my collection.
Trys
originally posted by Cheryl Detmer
Maybe we should start a chat board for Jana. I hope my story gets published one day but I enjoy just thinking it might happen. It's fun all the same to have your own stories going on in your head. I applaud right along with Janny to Jana. That is great. I knew she'd make it way back when. grin Boy does Jana write beautifully too. I'm not just saying that either. I mean it.
Hi Peter - Welcome here!
Wow, you read M John Harrison? He has an amazing twist and a refreshing outlook - makes me shout with surprise, sometimes. Nice to see a fellow reader of that one's astonishing mind.
Discuss what you like. Nobody's done it like you, before this.
And thanks for the note of appreciation.
originally posted by Trys
Welcome to the board Peter. Nice eclectic list of authors. I've read most of 'em though a few are new names.
Trys
originally posted by GOLLUM
Hi actually I'm turning into a GOLLUM now. Trys I sent an email about a point of concern I had to Jeff but as yet no reply/action. Don't know if you can also view that paravian email inbox of yours or not or still address the issue easily? BTW Trys what authors haven't you covered yet in the list I provided?
Thanks for the welcome Janny, so you're a big fan of Harrison hey? I think both the scope of his imagination and wonderful prose is what does it for me. If you've not read Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities you might want to give it a try.
Here's a post from another forum I made on 2 of Calvino's works:
Invisible Cities is a set of descriptions of imaginary cities, told as a series of narratives made to Kublai Khan by Marco Polo. Fabulous prose, but there’s a lot more to this somewhat surreal effort than just the prose with some truly great invention cleverly used as a vehicle to investigate multiple themes. It's a little abstract but highly imaginative and intelligently drawn IMHO.
The Baron In The Trees. Another somewhat surreal effort about an 18th Century Baron who decides to live the remainder of his existence in a tree. I enjoyed this almost as much as Invisible cities although the latter still remains the standout.
Now I neglected to mention in the previous post a couple more authors.:
Rodger Zelazny's Chronicles Of Amber is something of a flagship of the Genre for me, although his SF novel Lord Of Light, for which he won a Hugo, may be argued to be the superior read.
A more modern author is Paul Kearney. He's similar to Glenn Cook and Steven Erikson in that they write military fantasy but his prose is pretty good and it's definitely his most polished book to date. Don't know if military-style fantasy is you're cup of tea, although you certainly have some element of that in your current series of course.
OK, time to sign off but I'ld be interested if you have read Gene Wolfe's work at all? For me he's something of a literary hero and IMO one of the best US authors going around independent of Genre.
PS I'll post the Masterwork list shortly.
originally posted by GOLLUM
As promised here's the Masterwork List by imprint Victor Gollancz. There's some really excellent works here and I can recommend them to anyone interested in reading fantasy novels both pre and post Tolkien that have made a significant contribution.
VG is apparently up to title 50, so this is an earlier list of the bluk of the series. My SFF shop here in OZ stocks up to 46.
BTW Janny, Calvino's "If On a Winter Nights and Travel", which I'm still to read, comes highly recommended by several other people I know.
Fantasy Masterwork series. Please note an equivalent SF series also exists. I've read over 3/4's of this list and can't recommend it for it's overall excellence highly enough.
1. Shadow And Claw Gene Wolfe
2. Time And 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 Zelazney
7. Virconium M John Harrison
8. The People of the Black Circle Robert E Howard
9. The Land Of Laughs Johnathan Carroll
10. The Compleat Enchanter L Sprague de Camp & Fletcher Pratt
11. Lud-in-the-mist Hope Mirlees
12. 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 Hour Of The Dragon Robert E Howard
17. Elric 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 Unfulfilled Queen Michael Moorcock
23. The Well Of The Unicorn Fletcher Pratt
24. The Second Book Of Lankhmar Fritz Leiber
25. Voice Of Our Shadow Johnathan Carroll
26. The Emperor Of Dreams Clark Ashton Smith
27. Lyoness: Suldrun’s Garden Jack Vance
28. Peace Gene Wolfe
29. The Dragon Waiting John M Ford
30. The Chronicles Of Corum Michael Moorcock
31. Black Gods And Scarlet Dreams C L Moore
32. The Broken Sword Poul Anderson
33. The House On The Borderland & Other Novels William Hope Hodgson
34. The Drawing Of The Dark Tim Powers
35. Lyoness II: The Green Pearl and Madouc Jack Vance
36. The History of the Runestaff Michael Moorcock
37. A Voyage To Arcturus David Lindsay
38. Darker Than You Think & Other Novels Jack Williamson
39. The Mabinogion Evangeline Walton
40. Three Hearts And Three Lions Poul Anderson
41. The Call Of The Cthulhu & Other Eldritch Horrors H P Lovecraft
42. Grendel John Gardner
43. Replay Ken Grimwood
44. The Iron Dragon’s Daughter Michael Swanwick
originally posted by GOLLUM
OOPS! By way of a footnote to the Masterwork list, a number of these titles are actually collected works from the author rather than necessarily names of individual books. It's one of the aspects I really like in that VG brings together in several cases the collected works of an author, in some cases for the frist time witness Clark Ashton Smith, that would otherwise require you to trawl though the myriad of second hand/used bookshops to find some of these gems. Not that spending hours in dusty second hand shops isn't a treat for this particular member.
originally posted by GOLLUM
OK folks.
Due to techincal reasons I'm going to repost my Intro thread here but don't forget to check out my previous few posts above with some author recommendations plus the wonderful Victor Gollancz Fanatsy Masterwork series you may find useful…
Hi all!
I've only recently joined so be gentle with me!
My call sign is GOLLUM. Actually I have to confess upfront to being an active member and moderator on a number of other SFF boards.
Just a quick introduction. I've been reading Fantasy and some horror for the better part of 25 years now and have enjoyed correspondence with several authors in addition to posting the occasional review, writing short bios of potentially lesser known authors of the Genre, exposes of so-called "classics" of the Genre and assisting local unpublished authors as a wannabe critic…(Insert winking smilie here).
I've been following Janny's work for some years now and more specifically her current Wars Of Light and Shadow epic since it's beginning. Probably one of the main aspects I like about Janny's work is the obvious care she takes in her prose. I often get the sense that no word is wasted and indeed I find her style to be highly economical but not so mechanical as to not evince the full kaleidoscope of emotions. The other aspect I particularly like is Janny's ability to develop multi-layered characters reminiscent of personalities like Donaldson's Thomas Covenant. I especially like Arithon, a highly emphatic individual I suspect many fans can sympathise with. A main criticism I've noticed of Janny's work is that people claim to find it boring or not fast-paced enough. I must admit at times I've found the series a little more slow moving than I would've preferred but then I feel it's much more character-driven than action-driven, so I guess it may not suit those persons who like to have their answers wrapped up with their nightly take-away. Must also mention how I love to see how multi-skilled Janny is with her wonderful coverart!
In addition to Janny's work I try to read a lot of older style authors in an attempt to better understand the historical development of the Genre. I like too many to list here but some include S&S authors like Robert E Howard, Fritz Leiber and Michael Moorcock, those from the so-called pulp fiction era of the 1930s and 40s including the Weird Tales triumvirate in Howard, Lovecraft and Ashton Smith, Tolkien influences such as E.R. Eddison and William Morris, horror authors like Walpole, Radcliffe, Poe, HP Lovecraft as mentioned and Thomas Ligottiand many more primarily fantasy authors like Patricia McKillip, Ursula LeGuin, M. John Harrison, Italo Clavino, Fletcher Pratt, Geoff Ryman, Gene Wolfe, Sherri S. Tepper, C.S. Friedman, David Lindsay, Poul Anderson, Mervyn Peake, Edgar Rice Burrough's (Mars series), Verne, Wells, Andre Norton, Kay and the more recent arrivals like Steven Erikson, R. Scott Bakker, George RR Martin, Tad Williams, Jeff Vandermeer, Michael Scott Rohan, Robert Jordan (earlier work), Ted Chiang, Greg Keyes, JV Jones (current series), Rayomnd E. Feist and the list (like the road) goes ever on and on…
As per Janny's encouraging words, I'll try to cover authors and series within the fanatsy Genre including bios in an attempt to reveal to readers authors and novels they may not be otherwise be aware of as well as trying to particpiate in some of the WOLS discussions. In fact as a side note I've basically read everything Janny has published inlcuding her earlier work, To Ride Hell's Chasm and collaborations with Raymiond E. Feist whom I had the pleasure of meeting when he visited my hometown of Melbourne, Australia a few years ago.
Bye for now…
originally posted by Trys
quote:Jo Clayton, C.J. Cherryh, Heinlein (waiting with bated breath for my volume of the Virginia Edition - a limited edition that will include every novel published by him), Frank Herbert (and not JUST for a couple of his Dune books), Robert Silverberg (wrote the first SF/F book I ever read), to name a few (not where I can run upstairs a peruse the collection).BTW Trys what authors haven't you covered yet in the list I provided?
Trys
Gollum - not familiar with Calvino's work. If I get in the mood for a contemplative book, I will give it a try. Thanks for the suggestion!
Right now, I am finishing one of mine, and - I have THREE favorite authors lined up, that are LOCKED UP, so I will write and meet my deadline first. Good incentive to finish this book.
As a rule, I tend to drift toward books that have something of a heart and soul underneath…that open a door into another way of seeing that ALSO moves me to feel or perceive or understand another angle more deeply. Idea trends read a touch dry for my taste, even if they are "literary darlings" to others. And of course, for me, predictability kills it…
originally posted by HJ
Hi Gollum,
I love George R R Martin but haven't read Fevre Dream yet. I've never ever spoken to or heard of anyone who's read anything by Sherri S Tepper before. I've got a book of hers I've had a very long time and really enjoyed - "The Enigma Score". Stephen Donaldson's "Thomas Covenant" books I love - have you got the new one - "Runes of the Earth"?
I'm quite ashamed that I used to be very close to someone who was really into Michael Morcock. He gave me some Asimov books and that got me started on that road! I've always intended to read some "Elric" stuff and never quite managed to. Sadly. The same guy gave me a Lovecraft book which was enjoyably creepy!!!
Have you ever read the "Many Coloured Land" series by Julian May? Again, I've never spoken to anyone who has.
I read that Julian May work, a loooong time ago…
REally nice to see some of my old favorites on that list, like the Evangeline Walton stuff…
originally posted by Trys
HJ,
I've read a great deal by Sheri Tepper, from her True Game books to some of her somewhat more recent stuff. My favorite books by her are the loose trilogy made up of Grass, Raising the Stones, and {Sideshow}. I've not read her more recent stuff but have the books for when I find time. I suspect I have 25+ books by her.
Trys
originally posted by neil
Sheri Tepper, Julian May and Michael Scott Rohan's books I read in my teens…when the Tolkien/Feist/Eddings tales "ran out"…
I see MSR had wrote a 6th winter of the world book "Shadow of the Seer"…but it seems to have died somewhere and even his web page seems out of date…
I still haven't read Thomas Covenant…went through a "anti-trilogy" phase (but I liked the gap series…story layers nicely / gradually unveiled)
I have had a hard time trying to read some of the "classics"…not for everyone, I feel, since the style of writing is "older"(?) …it might just be that my level of english language is not sufficient or that I simply prefer books that are easy to read
"Each to their own"…
p.s. I see Guy Kay's new book will be Ysabel (Jan 2007)
originally posted by GOLLUM
Hi all and thanks for the kind responses!..
Interesting comments Janny. I certainly agree about the prediciability aspect. Probably why authors like R. Scott Bakker and Steven Erikson's books appeal to me so much. There's just no way you could ever manage to predict what's going to happen plotwise from one minute to the next with their series.
I'm dying to know who those 3 authors are Janny if you're able to share that with us?
Funny you should mention Evangleine Walton. I have the pleasure of corresponding with several US authors including Teresa Edgerton aka Madeline Howard. Don't know if you know her at all (she's a good friend of Kate Elliott and possibly Katherine Kerr) or how much you mix with other authors per se but she refers to Evangeline with obvious respect and she appears to have provided quite a lot of inspiration to later generations of writers. She sounds as if she was quite a character amongst literary gatherings and a wonderful lady to boot.
Trys you list some interesting authors there. That Virgina edition of Heinlien's collected works sounds like it could be a good pickup. I wonder if that SF/F aka science fanatsy novel by Silverberg was one of his Majipoor books. I really like some of Cherryh's work but perhaps not everyone's cup of tea.
Now talkng of Silverberg and May, easily two of the earliest books/series I ever read was the Many Coloured Land, which I remember with a certain degree of fondness and Silverberg's Lord Valentine's Castle, the start of one of my favourite science fantasy series of all timne in his Majipoor novels. Silverbeg's Majipoor sequence is probably the best example I've read of a series of books that attempt to infuse a sense of sheer vastness or size in terms of describing an imaginary world. Highly recommended.
Hi HJ! Yes having now made my way through Fevre Dream after winnnig a copy of the book on a forum competition *BIG GRIN* I'd have to say it's the best vampire tale I've ever read. Written in 1974, the book describes a vampire's dream of uniting his race with humanity by employing the help of a paddlesteamer captain on the mighty Mississippi River circa 1874. It's described by Zelazny as being part chilling, moody and memorable, Stephen King meets Mark Twain.
Yep read Runes in one sitting, wonderful stuff! I really like Donaldson's series the way it attempts to study the human condition within a fantasy framework. You might like to check out Moorcock's "Elric of Melnibone Saga", probably the most famous example of his multiverse themes.
Argh! time to leave you all, duty calls. Next time I'll have more to say on Lovecraft, a tortured genius if ever there was one. A pity he didn't have his own cook but that's another story.
All the best for now.
originally posted by GOLLUM
Hi Neil!
I agree that so-called classics of the Genre are not going to be to everyone's tastes but then again given the sheer variety and number of Fantasy books around these days, there's usually something to satisfy alomst all wants.
I've read Seers and all the other MSR books in that series. It really fell away somewhat with the final 3 books I feel. The orginal Winter Of The World trilogy was for me his best work in this world and probably the best example of Ice as a pure malevolent presence I've come across in the Genre. Wonderful atmospherics.
Gotta run, bye for now…