originally posted by GOLLUM
Hi again…
Been away celebrating the Aussie socceroos entry into the final 16 at the Soccer World Cup. YEH!!! Bad luck for the USA, better fortune next time.
Back to reading, I agree that the Nightfall books are good. They're my No .2 Reichert series behind the Renshai.
Just purchased from the handily placed bookshop near work Jeff Vandermeer's seminal work "Veniss Underground" incl. a novella "Balzac's war" I've not yet read. Anyone who is a fan of M John Harrison should check this guy out. The other major book to date is a collection of stories surrounding a mythical city and is called "City Of Saints and Madmen". Very highly recommended.
I also picked up a copy of Matthew Pearl's "The Poe Shadow" which tackles the enigma that is Edgar Allan Poe's death. The main character is a Balitomre lawyer who employs the services of one C. Augustine Dupin, the first example of the modern detective in literature and Poe's own creation. For those who enjoyed Susanna Clarke's wonderfully English novel "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel" you may like this book for it's apparent quaint use of language. The research is also supposed to be first class. I hope to get to these 2 books by sometime in July.
All for now…
originally posted by Murmur
Hiya all’
I beg forgiveness if any of these have been mentioned in the past! I have not read through all the previous posts, so I plead ignorance (laziness??)
Here goes:
Poetry/Prose:
Tennyson (All his works!)
Edgar Allen Poe (WOW…)
Mary (Yes, she wrote poetry as well as Frankenstein’) & Percy Bryshe (Spelling??) Shelly
Lord George Gordon Byron (My personal favourite, and my cat’s very apt name’the little poser’)
Edmund Spencer’s Fairie Queene (Quite a mind/eye tickler this! Is it even English?)
Philosophy:
Sun Tzu - The Art of War
Lao Tze
Nietzsche (For sheer bloody-minded complexity. All of his works are absolutely brilliant and, although it took me quite some time to read them all not to mention that I had a headache halfway through each one; his thoughts are very, very interesting!)
Kahlil Gibran (This must have been a beautiful man!!!)
The Works of Marcus Aurelius
Miyamoto Musashi’s Go Rin No Sho (Apparently quite a prolific number of businessmen use this book for inspiration)
The Consolation of Philosophy by ?
Fiction:
Jean M. Auel’s Earth’s Children Series - Go Anya’ (Very below the belt in some places though. Speaking of which; anyone read De Sade??? Sick fellow that’)
Marcel Pagnol (The Time of Secrets & The Time of Love ’ BEAUTIFUL!!!)
Rafael Sabatini (Scaramouche, one of my favourite books of all time! For pure swashbuckling action; The Captain Blood novels. The Tavern Kight etc. Lovely ‘old-school’ English’)
Pc. Wren’s ‘Beau’ series (Beau Marche, Beau Sabreur, Beau Ideal)
The Works of Alexander Dumas & Victor Hugo
Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac (Also an exquisite movie with Gerard Depardieu. This could fall under poetry for the sheer beauty of the poems in this book!!!)
Comedy:
Not a huge fan of the comic read, so I’m at a slight loss’
Raoul Dahl (Spelling?) Nice dark humour ’ Revolting Rhymes’
Historical Novels:
Caesar’s War Commentaries (I’m quite certain Goscinny ’ the author of Asterix ’ was a fanatical reader of this book)
Cicero’s Orations
Fantasy:
Marion Zimmer Bradley (The Mists of Avalon is magnificent! Still have to read the rest of the series, as well as The Firebrand, all of which have been gathering dust in my bookshelf)
Stephen Donaldson (ALL of his work. Amazing writer!!!)
Terry Brooks (The Shannara series, and the Landover novels)
Clive Barker’s Weaveworld
Jonathan Stroud’s Bartimaeus Trilogy (Still need the third and final book. Has it been published yet?)
Raymond E. Feist (One of the very first fantasy authors I got my hands on)
Margaret Weiss & Tracy Hickman’s Death Gate Cycle
Elizabeth Scarborough (Song of Sorcery & Bronwyn’s Bane ’ Very humorous!! Did she write any other books??)
Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Series. (Has anyone read The Salmon of Doubt, if so, how does it compare to his other books?)
Gothic??
Poppy Z. Brite (If you’re a fan of the dark and gloomy, these are the books for you!!! Lost Souls, Drawing Blood and last but not least, Exquisite Corpse)
Anne Rice (Isn’t she the popular lass these days’!)
Scientific/Physics:
Gary Zukav (All his works especially The Dancing Wu Li Masters) ’ This could fall under philosophy??
Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time (Lots of mind-blowing facts, although I struggled with this one…my foundation for complete understanding of these concepts is somewhat poor.)
Ok, mind’s a buzzin’ right about now’will continue posting some more as they come to me’
originally posted by Trys
Hi Murmur,
I like Jean Auel's books save for the last one. I didn't think it moved the characters forward and frankly if she described his attributes and how well they fit her attributes one more time…
I agree regarding MZB… she is missed. You might try Diana Paxson, one of her "proteges".
For 'gothic' try Barbra Hambly's {Those Who Hunt the Night} for a different twist on vampires.
Trys
originally posted by GOLLUM
If you want to read arguably the best Vampire novel ever written then check out George RR Martin's "Fevre Dream"! I'm still making my way through this but it's very fine indeed!!
For Poetry don't forget to check out pre war pulp fiction writer Clark Ashton Smith.
For a thinking person's fantasy and SF you can't really do better than Gene Wolfe, Ted Chiang, M. John Harrison, Italo Calvino, R Scott Bakker, Ricardo Pinto, Edward Whitemore, Jeff Vandemeer and the list goes on…
For horror as you did mention Poe, check out Thomas Ligotti and HP Lovecraft. Three masters of their craft.
I agree Donaldson is a wonderful writer but wait until you check out my favaourite fantasy author of all time Streven Erikson and his Malazan series. For EPIC fnatasy also try R Scott Bakker and George RR Martin.
For great prose look no further than Italo Calvino, M John Harrison, Kellly Link, Jeff Vandemeer, China Mieville and our own Janny Wurts…
There's so many more I could talk about but time beckons…
originally posted by Cheryl Detmer
Just thought I'd share that on my recommendation of Janny, a friend I met online just bought Curse of the Mistwraith. I talked her into it so I hope she enjoys it. I told her it was one of those special books that don't come around very often. Hope she enjoys it. I'm reading several books now. LOL I'm in book heaven again. Has anyone read Nightlife by Rob Thurman? It really is a good book. It's about two brothers and one of them is half-monster and half-human but his human half is very handsome, lol and these grendals are hunting for him. I enjoy the style of writing on this book. I've never read one quite like this. The humor is there with the scary stuff too. A good blend of both. Makes you get so involved with it. I think this is the author's first book. He or she did a great job. I'm assuming a he since the name is Rob. Just thought I'd recommend this book here. It's one of a kind. lol It reminds me of that tv show Supernatural. I love that show. grin
originally posted by Cheryl Detmer
Oh by the way, had anyone heard of Margarite Weis writing a new novel of the Companions? I was so shocked to see this in the stores. I was so happy to see Dragonlance and Margarite Weis return to the Companions. I don't know how I missed this news but it's great to see a new one out by them. If you like these books, I recommend this one too. This should be big news all over the net but I hadn't heard of it but was so happy about it. Had to share that too.
originally posted by Jo
I read my first David Gemmel books the other day (sorry if spelt incorrectly) The White Wolf and Swords of Night and Day and quite enjoyed them. Still have to say I still haven't found any books that compare to the WOLS.
Also does anyone know if you can still get Master of Whitestorm? I have tried so many books shops, internet and libaries to no avail.
originally posted by GOLLUM
Yes Cheryl, I've seen the latest Weiss and Hickmann novel, part of a new series. It was at my local bookstore but yet to revisit to purchase.
originally posted by Bruce Passey
Just finished Glasshouse by Charles Stross which was an interesting take on gender and what identity theft could be way in the future.
Currently I'm reading The Novels of Tiger & Del Vol1, which collects the first two books of Jennifer Roberson sword dancer series. This is my first time reading Roberson other than the Golden Key and I'm enjoying it a lot.
originally posted by Trys
Welcome to Chat Area Bruce.
originally posted by Bruce Passey
Trys,
Thanks, but I've posted before, but they were unregistered posts.
originally posted by Trys
Well, welcome anyway. I'm glad to see people are starting to post again after the spam invasion.
originally posted by David Gardner
Haven't seen this publicised many places yet, but David Gemmell died on Friday aged 57 from (I think) complications from a heart bypass operation. Most sad: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/5224868.stm
originally posted by Jay_Jay
Jo, I believe Master of Whitestorm is long out of print, at least in North America. Suggest you try a web search, at places like Alibris. I actually managed to get my hands on not one, but two copies by frequenting used bookstores. (I gave one away when I got a slightly better copy…sorry!) If I still had it, I'd send it to you. 
Okay, a quick search on Amazon pulled up 55 copies for sale from different sellers, some in 'like new' condition!
originally posted by Artemis Dainty
Hello all,
Sorry to hear of the death of David Gemmell.
Jo,
his book 'Legend' was one of the first fantasy novels I read and is still one of my favourites.
It has everything, lost causes, excellent heroes,
love story, it's triffic!
Yes, 'triffic'.
Artie
originally posted by Jo
Thanks for your help Jay, amazon say they are sending me master of whitestorm but I am not convinced as it is a new one. Will wait a few more weeks then try the second hand books.
I too was sad to hear of the death of David Gemmell as I have only just discovered him. I'll try and find his other books as I always like a lost cause and a good sword fight.
originally posted by Cheryl Detmer
I just came back from a long trip and I find out David Gemmell has passed. I'm so sorry to hear this. I think he comes to WFC also. I had hoped to meet him this year. I'm sorry to hear this but have never read his books yet. I think I'll have to sometime. I'm always intrigued with them but never buy one to read it. That is sad of the complications of the operation. Glad the spam is gone now Trys. I missed that I think too.
originally posted by hosanna
A challenge for the Sci Fi fans out there.
I have always been more a Fantasy reader than sci fi but have decided to spread my wings and try some. Now, what do you recommend? I don't want to start a series straight off, just some stand alone novels. Something character driven please. nothing too overtly preachy eg. "the computers have taken over the world, aaargggh". I did try a couple I'd picked up from the library but wasn't impressed - maybe the genre just isn't for me - but I'd like to read some recommended by people whose taste in fantasy I share before I give up completely.
Anyone care to summarise the state of the genre these days? some broad sub-categories to look out for?
Cheers
Anna
originally posted by Anna
I'm not much of a SF reader myself these days, but The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell is excellent, character-driven, and not part of a series. Although, if you like it as much as I did, there is a sequel called Children of God which I also enjoyed very much.
If/when you're ready to venture into multiple volumes, I love the Jaran series by Kate Elliott (who also writes fantastic fantasy, if you haven't read her yet)
(another ) Anna
hosanna -
My personal SF favorites, lately, for good solid stories, great characters - (in no particular order)
Julie Czerneda's In The Company of Others
Kristine Smith's series which starts with Code of Conduct (if you try this one, it takes about three chapters to orient yourself, but it's truly wonderful and worth it)
Anything at all by Sarah Zettel
Warchild by Lowachee
Anything by Carolyn Cherryh
Anything by R.M. Meluch - The Myriad is likely to be easily found.
All of these are beautifully written, have sparkling characters, the sort of plot that has depth enough you can't predict, and well drawn worldbuilding. I'd challenge, that any of my fantasy readers would like them.