Survivor Appendix N Authors- LEIBER WINS!

[CleverNickName]

. . . and you're right it isn't necessarily the page count. Its what you do with those pages. There is a lot in the Lord of the Rings that is . . . at the risk of painting a target on myself . . . filler. Lot's of stuff that if cut wouldn't remove from the central story...

Completely agree; a lot of the stuff in the Lord of the Rings (and The Hobbit) are backstory and history. Today's readers already know what a "dwarf" is in fantasy literature, and an "elf," and a "halfling." This stuff is all well-established here in the 21st century. The world-building all feels superfluous by today's standards, but at the time it was written it was incredible--the richness, the color, the detail, was still shiny.

Today's "brand" of fantasy fiction owes a great deal to Tolkien. There's no escaping that.

 

[CleverNickName]

PS . . . and I only read the first two books in "A Game of Thrones" for the same reason. The first one was great, but after finishing the second and realizing that many of the character who were introduced were never connected to any of the other characters (in fact a couple died before they could interact with the primary story), I gave up on the series.

You're not alone; I couldn't even finish the first one. I kept finding other, more interesting stuff to read.

 

[Parmandur]

Yeah. I shouldn't have brought up Sanderson, as he must be paid by the word. (Although his more recent Alloy of Law series is more to the point.)




. . . and you're right it isn't necessarily the page count. Its what you do with those pages. There is a lot in the Lord of the Rings that is . . . at the risk of painting a target on myself . . . filler. Lot's of stuff that if cut wouldn't remove from the central story: poems, long-winded historical accounts, superfluous scenes (e.g., Tom Bombadil) etc. In places it feels a lot like reading the Icelandic sagas word for word, with their pages of genealogy. Now, I realize that much of this extra material may help set the tone and many view it as value-added. At the time when I first read the Lord of the Rings, I didn't mind it at all. Now, I find it a distraction. I was hoping that the movies would be more tightly edited, as movies usually are. But, we all know how that went (really, did The Hobbit need to be a movie trilogy?)

Oh, man,beyond value added, that stuff is the point. I also like long lists of names in Icelandic Sagas, to be fair.

 

[Bradley Hindman]

You're not alone; I couldn't even finish the first one. I kept finding other, more interesting stuff to read.

Boy howdy. When my friends tell me I'm missing a great series if only I could get through a couple of mediocre books to get to the good stuff (not necessarily Martin's unfinished opus), I just think of all the great books I haven't read yet. I now give a book about 70 pages. If its not great from the start, I put it down and pick something else up. My "reading for pleasure time" has gotten too precious to waste as I've gotten older.

 

[Bradley Hindman]

Oh, man,beyond value added, that stuff is the point. I also like long lists of names in Icelandic Sagas, to be fair.

This comment explains oh so much

 

[Reynard]

Bellairs, John 7-2=5
Burroughs, Edgar Rice 16
Carter, Lin 14
de Camp & Pratt 7
Dunsany, Lord 17
Leiber, Fritz 15
Merritt, A. 16
Offutt, Andrew J. 14
Pratt, Fletcher 12
St. Clair, Margaret 11
Tolkien, J.R.R. 8+1=9
Wellman, Manley Wade 14
Williamson, Jack 16
Zelazny, Roger 16

 

[Invisible Stalker]

Fox, Gardner 1 - 2 = -1 Wow, I take a week off, and not much progress thinning down this list. Here's some help.

Number of comic books I've read by Gardner Fox > Number of anything else I've read from the rest of Appendix N combined

 

[Invisible Stalker]

Bellairs, John 3
Burroughs, Edgar Rice 16
Carter, Lin 14
de Camp & Pratt 7
Dunsany, Lord 17
Leiber, Fritz 15
Merritt, A. 16
Offutt, Andrew J. 14
Pratt, Fletcher 12
St. Clair, Margaret 11
Tolkien, J.R.R. 10
Wellman, Manley Wade 14
Williamson, Jack 16
Zelazny, Roger 16

 

[Gradine]

You're not alone; I couldn't even finish the first one. I kept finding other, more interesting stuff to read.

I'm one of those weirdos who enjoyed the series the further it went on. I thought A Feast for Crows was magnificent, especially after reading A Dance with Dragons and realizing the characters that were missing from book 4 weren't actually up to all that much that was interesting. Other than the ending the bulk of ADWD is completely missable.

 

[SpellJammer16]

Bellairs, John 3
Burroughs, Edgar Rice 16
Carter, Lin 14
de Camp & Pratt 5
Dunsany, Lord 17
Leiber, Fritz 16
Merritt, A. 16
Offutt, Andrew J. 14
Pratt, Fletcher 12
St. Clair, Margaret 11
Tolkien, J.R.R. 10
Wellman, Manley Wade 14
Williamson, Jack 16
Zelazny, Roger 16