Fantasy and Sci-Fi favorites

[Mog Elffoe]

Terry Prachett. Somehow, still, some thirty books later, he still can blow my mind. It's amazing.

That's the truth. I envy anyone who's discovering Pratchett for the first time. 30-plus of the quickest, most fun reads I think I've ever had. Plenty of ideas for gaming as well.

 

[barsoomcore]

Finally Steven Erickson gets a nod!

The Malazan Empire books are just staggering. Utterly staggering. I haven't been so affected by a book like I was by Memories of Ice since I was a teenager.

Talk about blowing me away. I couldn't talk properly after I finished that book. Holy crap, what a monster.

For Steven Brust, in addition to his more well-known series, look for Agyar (and don't let ANYONE tell you about this book -- just find it, pick it up and read it -- it's completely lovely) and The Sun, the Moon and the Stars -- possibly the best book on the creative process I've ever read.

Steven Brust.

Steven Erickson.

I need nothing more.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Ash: A Secret History, by Mary Gentle

The only Gentle I own is Grunts.

... and I don't think I could say that grabbed me by the heart.

It does, however, offer the immortal "Pass me another elf, Sergeant" line.

For Steven Brust, in addition to his more well-known series, look for Agyar...

I've lost my copy!

So I've been looking for Agyar. It must be in the house somewhere.

I lost a Zahn once, as well... which breaks what I think is an otherwise complete set. (Not counting short stories appearing in other peoples' anthologies.)

-Hyp.

 

[Napftor]

I could not put Margaret Weis' Star of the Guardians trilogy down. Great read!

 

[CCamfield]

The only Gentle I own is Grunts.

... and I don't think I could say that grabbed me by the heart.

It does, however, offer the immortal "Pass me another elf, Sergeant" line.

Hehehe... that's one I haven't read although I have been told about the basic concept.

Ash wasn't one of the books that really grabbed me by the heart so much as blew the top off of my head with neat concepts and surprises. It was, otherwise, a very gritty medieval fantasy military story that I'd recommend to someone who likes The Black Company or Malazan books.

 

[Sir Whiskers]

...I've lost my copy!

So I've been looking for Agyar. It must be in the house somewhere.

I lost a Zahn once, as well... which breaks what I think is an otherwise complete set. (Not counting short stories appearing in other peoples' anthologies.)

-Hyp.

Check eBay. I keep buying extra Zahn books just to give them to friends. At one point I got so many of them hooked on Blackcollar we started a Hero System campaign set in that universe (and just like the books, the blackcollar characters kicked tail). It was a blast.

Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game.

I can't believe I forgot Orson Scott Card. Songmaster. The Worthing Chronicles. Folk of the Fringe. Great (if sometimes disturbing) stuff.

 

[Hypersmurf]

At one point I got so many of them hooked on Blackcollar we started a Hero System campaign set in that universe (and just like the books, the blackcollar characters kicked tail). It was a blast.

Damn you, Zahn! Write book three!

-Hyp.

 

[d4]

i'll give another nod to Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun series, as well as his Book of the Long Sun series and Book of the Short Sun series. (i'm sensing a pattern... )

someone else has already mentioned Julian May's Saga of Pliocene Exile series, but i'll bring it up again -- one of my favorites. the following Intervention and Galactic Milieu books were good, but not as good as the original Saga.

everyone needs to track down and read Daniel Keys Moran's Tales of the Continuing Time books: Emerald Eyes, The Long Run, and The Last Dancer. the second one is especially good: the protagonist Trent the Uncatchable is probably my favorite fictional character of all time.

Jack Vance is always good. for fantasy, his Lyonesse series is particularly nice.

the Norse-inspired fantasies of Elizabeth Boyer -- The Sword and the Satchel, The Elves and the Otterskin, and The Thrall and the Dragon's Heart -- were all good reads.

for science fiction, i really liked John Barnes' Mother of Storms and Kaleidoscope Century. Orbital Resonance takes place in the same "universe" as Kaleidoscope, but it didn't grab me like the the other two did.

 

[Capellan]

Believe it or not, some of the most original fantasy that I have read recently is out of Scholastic Books

Since they publish Tamora Pierce (Song of the Lioness, Circle of Magic, Trickster's Choice) and Philip Reeve (Mortal Engines and Predator's Gold), I have no trouble believing you

Continuing the 'younger readers' theme:

Eoin Cooper's Artemis Fowl books are also very good.

Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain seem to be available again, and are classics of the fantasy genre.

Diana Wynne-Jones wrote the Chrestomancy series a long time before Harry Potter over took the 'magical children' genre.

Finally, Michael de Larrabeiti's The Borribles is a 'must read'.

 

[diaglo]

what about Brian Jaques RedWall series?