Looking For New Author To Read

[Scribe Ineti]

I didn't catch if Stephen Lawhead was on your list. If not, check out his Pendragon cycle of books. Five novels, Taliesin, Merlin, Arthur, Pendragon, and Grail. Excellent retelling of the Arthur story, with absolutely tons of Celtic influence, period details, and solid characters.

I hear he's working on a new trilogy about Robin Hood. I think the first book is out. He also has more books based in medieval or Celtic England, but I don't recall the titles off hand.

 

[Zaukrie]

See, I don't think there is really any SF in the Coldfire books, other than the initial arrival. Other than that, it is really pure fantasy in my opinion. Really, I can't recommend these strongly enough to someone that likes fantasy books. Start the first one, you won't regret it.

 

[mmu1]

It's hard to qualify my Really Weird caveat - as other posters have pointed out, de Lint and Holdstock can get pretty weird at times, and I still like them. It's probably my most easily broken caveat - it's just got to be well written and resonate if it's going to get weird. My only concern about Powers is that some of the themes of Tim Powers' books don't resonate with me too well, from what I read about a few of them last night (e.g. gambling, crime, etc.). I do like the Fisher King stuff, though.

Crime? I'm not sure whether I'd call that a theme in Tim Powers' books at all. Like in just about any adventure, there is naturally a great deal of criminal behavior, largely on the part of the "bad guys", but not even Last Call, which probably has the strongest "criminal" element, is a book about organized crime or the criminal underworld.

Gambling is a strong theme in Last Call, but I'd still say it's not a book about gambling, as such - just like Casino Royale is not a movie about poker, despite the fact that a poker game is one of the centerpieces of the story.

 

[Wombat]

Ideal - the storytelling ability of David Gemmell, the style of Tanith Lee, the characterisation of Katharine Kerr.

Other authors I like: Charles de Lint, Robert Holdstock, Guy Gavriel Kay, JRR Tolkien, Robin Hobb, Bernard Cornwell, Greg Keyes, Trudi Canavan, Mervyn Peake, Alan Garner, Lloyd Alexander, Susan Cooper, Mary Stewart, AA Attanasio, Emma Bull, William Horwood, Ellen Kushner, Diana Paxson, George RR Martin
Authors that I have read and reasonably enjoyed: Kirsten Britain, Tamora Pierce, Glen Cook, Patricia McKillip, Ellen Datlow, Stephen Donaldson, CJ Cherryh, Ursula LeGuin, Terry Goodkind, Janny Wurts, Raymond Feist, Martha Wells, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Robin McKinley, Anne McCaffrey, Elizabeth Moon, Michael Moorcock, Orson Scott Card, Neil Gaiman, RA McAvoy, Robert E Howard, Fritz Leiber, John Crowley, JV Jones, Juliet McKenna, Octavia Butler, Simon Green, Katherine Kurtz, Patricia Kenneally, Mickey Zucker Reichert, Judith Tarr, Sheri Tepper, Freda Warrington, Jane Yolen
Authors I don't particularly like in the genre: Steven Erikson, Tad Williams, Kate Elliott, Terry Brooks, Robert Jordan, David Eddings, Susanna Clarke, Robert Silverberg.

Okay, I've been mulling this for a day because I wanted to get the right recommendations for you. Now these might be out of bounds in certain ways, but I so respect your likes and dislikes list that I hope you will give it a chance.

Two trilogies first.

Storm Constantine's Magravandias Chronicles is wonderful, with a feel almost like Tanith Lee writing about Middle Earth. The books are Sea Dragon's Heir, The Crown of Silence, and The Way of Light -- three books from three different points of view, thus I don't feel like it is padded. You might find it so, but I think you would enjoy them.

K.J. Parker's Fencer Trilogy is deep, technical, somewhat depressing, but so deeply written that it is hard to put them down. Imagine a combination of a treatise on siege warfare, characters from Hamlet, and mysteries that only slowly unravel in the third book. Again, while it is a trilogy, I do not feel that the books are padded in any way. You will find the characters and the world intriguing; it is also sad in the same way that Lions of al-Rassan is sad.

Finally, and this is a realy stretch as you said "no horror", I strongly suggest you try one of Phil Rickman's Merrily Watkins books (beginning with Wine of Angels). These books are only nominally "horror"; they are more like studies of potential psychic phenomena, but every experience can be potentially explained away -- no monsters moaning about how they wish to be human, no vast gorey scenes. The Rev. Merrily Watkins, her daughter Jane, and Gomer Perry Plant Hire will be as real of characters as Jilly Coppercorn. While you will not always agree with what the characters are planning to do, you utterly understand why they are doing it -- something deep inside their own minds. The books, while a series, do not really require that you read the whole group or even necessarily in order. He also has several stand-alone books, such as The Chalice.

In any case, enjoy your reading!

 

[Simon Collins]

Crime? I'm not sure whether I'd call that a theme in Tim Powers' books at all. Like in just about any adventure, there is naturally a great deal of criminal behavior, largely on the part of the "bad guys", but not even Last Call, which probably has the strongest "criminal" element, is a book about organized crime or the criminal underworld.

Gambling is a strong theme in Last Call, but I'd still say it's not a book about gambling, as such - just like Casino Royale is not a movie about poker, despite the fact that a poker game is one of the centerpieces of the story.

Well, maybe the reviews on amazon were misleading. I'm most likely to give Drawing of the Dark a try first, though.

 

[Simon Collins]

See, I don't think there is really any SF in the Coldfire books, other than the initial arrival. Other than that, it is really pure fantasy in my opinion. Really, I can't recommend these strongly enough to someone that likes fantasy books. Start the first one, you won't regret it.

Oh, OK. I could probably handle that - I'll add them to my list. Thanks for the clarification.

 

[Simon Collins]

I didn't catch if Stephen Lawhead was on your list. If not, check out his Pendragon cycle of books. Five novels, Taliesin, Merlin, Arthur, Pendragon, and Grail. Excellent retelling of the Arthur story, with absolutely tons of Celtic influence, period details, and solid characters.

I hear he's working on a new trilogy about Robin Hood. I think the first book is out. He also has more books based in medieval or Celtic England, but I don't recall the titles off hand.

Hmmm...no, he wasn't on my list. I (very) vaguely seem to remember picking up the first book about twenty years ago and finding it a bit dry. I could well be mis-remembering though. I do know of Lawhead and for some (subliminal) reason can't seem to gather the enthusiasm to pick his books up. But you've re-sown a seed...

 

[Simon Collins]

Okay, I've been mulling this for a day because I wanted to get the right recommendations for you. Now these might be out of bounds in certain ways, but I so respect your likes and dislikes list that I hope you will give it a chance.

Two trilogies first.

Storm Constantine's Magravandias Chronicles is wonderful, with a feel almost like Tanith Lee writing about Middle Earth. The books are Sea Dragon's Heir, The Crown of Silence, and The Way of Light -- three books from three different points of view, thus I don't feel like it is padded. You might find it so, but I think you would enjoy them.

K.J. Parker's Fencer Trilogy is deep, technical, somewhat depressing, but so deeply written that it is hard to put them down. Imagine a combination of a treatise on siege warfare, characters from Hamlet, and mysteries that only slowly unravel in the third book. Again, while it is a trilogy, I do not feel that the books are padded in any way. You will find the characters and the world intriguing; it is also sad in the same way that Lions of al-Rassan is sad.

Finally, and this is a realy stretch as you said "no horror", I strongly suggest you try one of Phil Rickman's Merrily Watkins books (beginning with Wine of Angels). These books are only nominally "horror"; they are more like studies of potential psychic phenomena, but every experience can be potentially explained away -- no monsters moaning about how they wish to be human, no vast gorey scenes. The Rev. Merrily Watkins, her daughter Jane, and Gomer Perry Plant Hire will be as real of characters as Jilly Coppercorn. While you will not always agree with what the characters are planning to do, you utterly understand why they are doing it -- something deep inside their own minds. The books, while a series, do not really require that you read the whole group or even necessarily in order. He also has several stand-alone books, such as The Chalice.

In any case, enjoy your reading!

Thanks for taking the time to think about your recommendations. I had forgot to put in that I have read Constantine's Wraeththu series which, though pretty weird, I thought was very evocatively written. I'd like to read more of Constantine's work and your suggestion reminded me I had once come across one of the Magravandias Chronicles on a bookshop shelf a few years ago and for some weird reason had forgotten about them - so thanks. This has jumped to the top of my list.

Parker's 'Fencer Trilogy' - your description just gave me a couple of concerns - when you use the words 'technical' and 'treatise' I get the feeling the books might be a bit dry for me? 'Deep' and 'intriguing' I could handle, but the plot has to move along, and the characters must be compelling and fluid.

Rickman's 'Merrily Watkins' - I quite like a bit of supernatural in my fantasy (modern or medieval) if it's done subtly but I did not grasp from your overview whether the books are fantasy or not. I presume they're modern, though.

I suppose I should also say that I'm a lot more lax about fantasy/horror cross-over than fantasy/sci-fi - I wouldn't enjoy Tanith Lee otherwise!

I've also remembered another series which I have read and enjoyed to a certain extent - Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel trilogy.
http://www.amazon.com/Kushiels-Dart-Legacy-Jacqueline-Carey/dp/0765342987/sr=8-2/qid=1164911382/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/104-7980243-3837530?ie=UTF8&s=books

Also, I saw a book the other day entitled 'Orc' and a quick flick through showed it to be reasonably well written - but I've forgotten the author. It's written from the perspective of an orc. Anybody know/read this book?

 

[Simon Collins]

Ah, rats! I just looked up the reviews for the Magravandias Chronicles and realised I've read them already (or at least Sea Dragon Heir anyway). Can't remember too well, mind you, so doesn't say a great deal abou them (or perhaps my state of mind at the time!) :\

 

[Hypersmurf]

Parker's 'Fencer Trilogy' - your description just gave me a couple of concerns - when you use the words 'technical' and 'treatise' I get the feeling the books might be a bit dry for me? 'Deep' and 'intriguing' I could handle, but the plot has to move along, and the characters must be compelling and fluid.

Fencer Trilogy - good for someone having problems with their family.

'cos after you read it, your family will look perfect in comparison!

-Hyp.