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Message: <blockquote data-quote="James Heard" data-source="post: 1913908" data-attributes="member: 7280">Ok, a lot of people have sort of talked about staples of fantasy literature but I'm going to reach deep and see if I can't name some books that are very nice and worth reading I think instead of just a tame list of favorites that repeats itself:1.Jennifer Roberson: No, not most of the books she's got on the shelves, but her Tiger & Del series, starting with Sword Dancer. Honestly the plot isn't particularly clear and some of the villains are downright paper thin, but the interaction with between the two main characters is fun and every time I read those books I have a tremendous sense of wonder and respect for a woman that's seemed to have managed to write a first person male internal narrative dead spot on.2. Lawrence Watt-Evans: I think everyone should read a few of Watt-Evan's Eshtar novels. They're not complex and they're not high art, but they're complete reads while still being a series. No worrying that you missed something because you didn't read the last novel or hanging plot threads or any of that nonsense. Again, they're fun. I usually digest them in a few hours and consider the time and money well spent - unlike muddling through Umberto Eco or something.3. Steven Gould: I think his books are out of print now, and I'm not sure he's writing (I've looked within the last year or so). Again, not complex, not high art. Simple good fun reads. The few things I've read of his seem to follow the tried and true "what if" plot premise and just follow it. "What if you could teleport?" or something and then not even bother really with explaining it away. Why's don't matter with some fiction, and that's sort of nice.4. Gabriel Garcia Marquez: Not really fantasy or science fiction at all, but everyone should read some of his short stories like "The Handsomest Drowned Man In The World" and "The Very Old Man With Enormous Wings." If I ever have any more kids I'm going to gloss over some of the dirty parts and read them Garcia Marquez. Oh yeah, and he's won a Nobel prize for Literature so if you're impressed by such things...5. Dan Simmons: Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion go onto every single list of books to recommend from me no matter how many times anyone mentions them. I stopped with those first two books, and I'm afraid to ruin the things by reading the rest of the series - but these are my favorite books ever, along with his book Carrion Comfort which is my favorite horror book ever. Hyperion and its sequel are Chaucer's tales on manic nanocrack.6. C.J. Cherryh: The Foreigner series, they're new and in print and at least the first few books are remarkably...alien. That's cool. I've even thought about modelling my elves after the aliens in the books - but I figured that my players would hate me the first time I had them assassinated for doing things in pairs instead of prime numbers.7. I can't think of anymore. I just felt like ending at 7.</blockquote>

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