AAAARRGGGHHH!!! (Or "Enough with the trilogies already!!!")

[talinthas]

Snow Crash by Stephenson, To Reign in Hell by Brust, Good Omens by Pratchett and Gaiman, Calculating God by Sawyer, and of course, American Gods, but you knew that already.

I'm a sucker for fantasy/sci fi about man's relation with God and stuff =)

Of course, i'd also like to recommend a book called The Cybergypsies, by Indra Sinha, but it's not really fantasy, so much as a fictionalization of the real world of early BBSes and internet and stuff. Well, it's hard to explain but worth a read.

lately, i too have been looking for one shots.

 

[Hypersmurf]

I like Mirror Dance best...

Yeah?

Hmm. I think I'd put Memory, Brothers in Arms, and The Warrior's Apprentice on my list ahead of Mirror Dance.

A Civil Campaign does make me laugh like no other book in the series, though...

There was a sadistic genius in the way Baen put the book up on their website up until chapter 9... and then stopped.

By the time the book hit the shelves, I was champing at the bit...

Illyan gets the best lines, though.

"Don't ever try that with Miles. Just... don't."

and

"She shouldn't have to ask twice. Or... once."

What fourth planet? Barrayar, Komarr, Sergyar (which Shards of Honor takes place on, as I understand it), and...?

San Martin!

... no, wait...

-Hyp.

 

[Particle_Man]

[takes off his shoes, starts counting]

Oops!! I meant the discovery of the THIRD planet probably involves Miles in some significant, and as yet not yet fully documented though strongly hinted at, way.

My mistake. Insert that embarrassed Smilie here.

Edit: here we go!

 

[The Gryphon]

Snare by Katharine Kerr

 

[drothgery]

Tigana? You know, by that guy, yeah, that guy, Guy Gavriel Kay? One of the best fantasy books of all time, made better by the fact that it is a standalone book, and not stretched out into some series?

About my only annoyance with Kay is that so many of his characters don't stop to think "Is there is even the most remote chance that this relationship could turn out well?" before getting involved with someone that's virtually certain to cause them very serious problems, and does.

 

[Farganger]

About my only annoyance with Kay is that so many of his characters don't stop to think "Is there is even the most remote chance that this relationship could turn out well?" before getting involved with someone that's virtually certain to cause them very serious problems, and does.

All-too-common - drives the plot, after all!

But actually with Kay I am inclined to think his characters are if anything overly, if not improbably, introspective. They often do in fact stop to think about the consequences of their romantic choices, and other things . . . I haven't read all his novels, but in A Song for Arbonne, which I'm reading and enjoying at the moment, Blaise's constant reflections on his changing attitudes with respect to women and song are at times a bit much given everything going on around him.

I'd definitely concur with adding the stand-alone Kaye titles that I've read to this list: Tigana and The Lions of Al-Rassan.

 

[Mr. Kaze]

"Bridge of Birds" by Barry Hughart is an awesome little fantasy for those wanting to try a Tolkien-less variation on the genre. Sequels were written (and are now available as a collected tome), but most of the imagination, style and craft got put into the first book which is a complete book in and of itself.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Oops!! I meant the discovery of the THIRD planet probably involves Miles in some significant, and as yet not yet fully documented though strongly hinted at, way.

Uh... Sergyar was discovered before Miles was born. Before his parents met, even (though only just).

-Hyp.

 

[jmucchiello]

The Golden Key by Melanie Rawn, Jennifer Roberson, Kate Elliott
- Yes it's got a trilogy of authors but it's a standalone book. It's a pseudo-pre-renaissance-europe-like world where the main character is not the hero. He's a painter, in a world where paintings can morph reality.

The Barbed Coil by J. V. Jones
- A transported from earth to fantasy world story. I include it here because I actually recommend JV's Book of Words Trilogy but that's off topic.

 

[Justinian]

Heroes Die, by Matthew Woodring Stover.

A few years later Stover wrote another book about the same protagonist, Blade of Tyshalle, but the first book can be read completely by itself.

Both books are in my top five fantasy novels. (Guy Gavriel Kay, with some off-topic books, fills in the other spots.)