Fantasy authors worth the reading.

[The Grumpy Celt]

To expand on my earlier naming of William Sanders;

(from the wikipedia entry)

William Sanders (born April 28, 1942) is an American science fiction writer, primarily of short fiction, and is the senior editor of the online science fiction magazine Helix SF.

Sanders has written several novels, including Journey to Fusang (1988), The Wild Blue and the Gray (1991) and The Ballad of Billy Badass & the Rose of Turkestan (1999). The first two are alternate histories with a humorous bent while the last is a more serious work of science fiction.

He has also written a number of mystery novels, including a series featuring Western writer Taggert Roper beginning with The Next Victim (St. Martin's Press 1993), as well as novels marketed by the publisher as Action/Adventure, beginning with Hardball (Berkley Jove 1992).

Sanders, a former powwow dancer, is best known for his use of Native American (although he prefers the term American Indian, see Native American name controversy) themes and his dry, often cynical sense of humor. His most-anthologized and perhaps best known work is "The Undiscovered", an alternate history in which Shakespeare is transported to Virginia and writes "Hamlet" for the Cherokee tribe. The story won the Sidewise Award for Alternate History in 1997. Sanders won a second Sidewise Award for his story "Empire" in 2002. Sanders has said that he considers his best story to be "Dry Bones."

A stickler for detail and accuracy, Sanders has studied history, which led to the publication in 2003 of Conquest: Hernando de Soto and the Indians, 1539-1543, a book begun some two decades earlier and researched by travelling extensively in the southeastern quarter of the US, by motorcycle and small boat and on foot, retracing Soto's probable routes.

As a non-fiction writer, he has written numerous articles on the martial arts and outdoor sports, as well as books on bicycle racing, kayaking, and backpacking.

Since 2006, Sanders has taken on the role of editor and publisher with the launch of the online quarterly magazine Helix SF.

Sanders and his wife live in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.

 

[amethal]

I mostly agree with the OP in terms of what's good and what's not, but there's a few notable exceptions. Moorcock being the most notable.

I don't think the guy's any good. I read at least three of the Elric books, the three Mars books and several others, and I have yet to see anything of his that was well-written. The idea that he was innovative is laughable; all he did was reversed nearly every quality of Conan and the Hyborian Age and called it Elric.

To me, he's the most over-rated of the fantasy "classics" and a classic example of the concept that in a situation of limited supply, even crappy, crappy product can sell like hotcakes. He was lucky to come along at a time when fantasy was getting off the ground, there was more demand for it than writers and publishers could keep up with, so he was able to crank out (and sell) a rather remarkable number of books that today, nobody would even pick up to publish in the first place.

I used to really like Michael Moorcock when I was younger, but now I find his books very hard to read.

However, I don't think he's anywhere near as bad as you make him out to be, and I get the impression those books of his I really don't like (pretty much anything with Jerry Cornelius centre stage, for example) are others' favourites.

The Corum books are probably my favourites.

Overrated - definitely.

Crappy - no.

I think his impressive sales figures come from Gary Gygax recommending him in the AD&D DMG.

 

[amethal]

I once gave in to Amazon and bought 3 of my recommended items at the same time.

I had the pleasure of reading Brian Ruckley's Winterbirth, Joe Abercrombie's The Blade Itself and Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora one after the other.

They were all excellent, and each one was better than the last. Thank you Amazon!

 

[Switchblade]

I'm suprised no one has mentioned Steph Swainston, (appologies to anyone who has mentioned her already if I missed their comments). "Year of Our War", "No Present Like Time" and "The Modern World" are a fantastic and very different read than many fantasy books. They also demonstrate an interesting take on social and technological stagnation caused by the existence of near immortals and how they warp the fashions of the lands.

Already mentioned are:

Pratchett. Which reminds me, his latest release has been out almost a week in hardback and I still haven't got it yet. Must remedy that!
China Mieville, wasn't quite so enamoured with Iron Council but the rest has been outstanding. Only problem with his books is they take a bit of commitment getting through the first half of the book before they pick up steam and get interesting but worth the effort.
Patrick Ruthrus. I'm not sure after only one book he can be called a great writer but a very promissing start. The Name of the wind seems rather generic fantasty but an easy and entertaining read.
Robin Hobb. Assassins, Liveship Traders and the Tawny Man trilogies were some of the best books I've ever read. The latest trilogy (Soldiers son?) was one I have no desire to finish, I just didn't get interested in it and have given up. Anyone who has only read this trilogy of hers I'd advise you not to let that bias you and try some of her earlier work.
Jim Butcher. Good stories, his writing skills need a little more polish but that hasn't stopped me getting hooked on both the Codex and Dresden books. His codex books especially as they are written about the only person in the land without magical powers.
Scott Lynch. Only two books so far but the series shows a lot of promise and the two books really have been difficult to put down.
Regarding George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire it started well but the sheer amount of character has began to drown out the story. While I can keep track of that many plots I don't really want to, it's just diluting pages which could be spent on my favourite characters. Though it is always fun guessing which character dies next, like 24 without Jack Bauer.

And the Anita Blake books are really good modern dark fantasy monster-hunting books about through Obsidian Butterfly, but after that it gets a bit more, um, focused on the erotica aspects of the series.

Obs Butterfly was where I started to lose interest as well. Best of the series but after that it quickly turned into Vampire/WereX erotica. I tried rereading some of the later books, skipping scenes where Anita was getting intimate. They were very short books if you do that. Here's hoping Edward turns up, kills all of Anitas parters and the series gets good again.

 

[Errandir]

Robin Hobb. Assassins, Liveship Traders and the Tawny Man trilogies were some of the best books I've ever read.

I've heard those recommended a number of times. I looked at the first of her Assassin books once, though, and reading the back cover really made me lose interest. To be more specific, it was the character names - King Shrewd, someone Chivalry, Prince Verity, someone Regal, etc. It sounded like a picture book where the characters are given names that describe them (Prince Charming, for example).

That's really all I know about the series, though. Can anyone tell me anything else about them? All the praise for them has made me a bit curious.

 

[amethal]

I've heard those recommended a number of times. I looked at the first of her Assassin books once, though, and reading the back cover really made me lose interest. To be more specific, it was the character names - King Shrewd, someone Chivalry, Prince Verity, someone Regal, etc. It sounded like a picture book where the characters are given names that describe them (Prince Charming, for example).

That's exactly right, but only applies to the royal family (I think - its been years since I read the books).

Don't let the names put you off. The story is well worth reading.

 

[arcanaman]

I plan to read Elantris after I finish the Mistborn trilogy. Kinda wanted to read the first two Mistborn in time to read the third when it comes out, so I could be up on it, despite being new to the series.

Mistborn's magic system sounds like it'd be fun in an RPG. But I'm wondering how they'll make it so mistborn, mistings, and regular folks can all be in a crew together and all be useful. That's been problematic in other fiction-to-RPG adaptations (channelers in the Wheel of Time rpg, Jedi in various Star Wars RPGs, etc.).

Elantris was all shiny and stuff have to say one of the best books I have ever read

 

[Desdichado]

I've bumped Elantris pretty high up on my "list of things to read."

Plus, Sanderson says there's a good chance we're related, even though he doesn't think it likely we're closer than third or fourth cousin at best. So now I feel like I have to know what he's all about.

 

[Shade]

Sanderson is great. The fact that he's writing the final Wheel of Time novel might mean I'll actually enjoy a WoT book for the first time in many years.

 

[drothgery]

Sanderson is great. The fact that he's writing the final Wheel of Time novel might mean I'll actually enjoy a WoT book for the first time in many years.

Eh. Winter's Heart and Knife of Dreams were not bad at all. The Path of Daggers and Crossroads of Twilight, on the other hand...