What sorts of fiction do you like?

[Kaleon Moonshae]

Well no one has mentioned a few of mine and I know some of you will laugh at me, oh well;P

Favorite Authors that most people might agree with: Moorcock, Martin, Lovecraft, Barker.

Favortie Author right now: Laurall K. Hamilton. I like her Merry Gentry books better than her Anita Blake (but I like those too). They are very indulgent reads and Merry and her guards have a taste for the sexual that mirrors mine (along with Barker).

 

[TDRandall]

Never even heard of LeGuin or Mieville - thanks for the heads-up folks! Although given the thoughts about those from above it may not exactly line up with what I'm looking for...

For me, reading fantasy fiction is one of the rare realms of "utter fun" I have left; maybe I end up too "fluffy" as a result. Of course I remember Tolkein - he hooked me for fantasy after all - but I probably won't read it through again. Never could get through the Silmarillion even back then...

I read several books by Feist, but that petered out over the years. Same for McCaffrey and Brooks and Moorcock, but I stuck with them longer than Saberhagan. I was big on Piers Anthony way back when but dropped out of Xanth - last thing I read of his was the Incarnations series.

I think I've read everything by Eddings. One person I haven't seen listed here yet that I really did enjoy is Melanie Rawn - enjoyed the Dragon Prince, Dragon Star, and the Exiles series so far. I enjoyed Troy Denning with the Dark Sun Prism Pentad, but don't think I've read anything else of his. Although not exactly fantasy, and each book is done by a different authore IIRC, I enjoyed the Dark Matter novels too - even have "By Dust Consumed" but haven't been able to get into it given it's electronic format).

Reviewing the above, it looks like I enjoy multi-book series that don't go into TOO many books before some major shift in overall story thrust.

The biggest disconnect I have is George R.R. Martin. I want to love him. I just finished Game of Thrones and am impressed by the overall sweep and style. He certainly seems to like extremes, though - the evil people are just so evil (and devious), crazy is sheer lunacy, the sex is blatant, loyalty is loyal to a fault (not exactly dumb, but always one step behind). And while I expect the "good guys" to have challenges that seem daunting, I expect them to have some major victories too. Except for a glimmer of hope with the status of the war at the end of the book, the Stark family as a whole crashed and burned a whole lot more than I was ready for.

But I am definitely more a reader than anything else. Movies are OK, I haven't hit the theatre in years, TV is being watched less and less. I'd rather let the pictures run through my head as I turn the pages.

 

[Kaleon Moonshae]

Never even heard of LeGuin or Mieville - thanks for the heads-up folks! Although given the thoughts about those from above it may not exactly line up with what I'm looking for...

For me, reading fantasy fiction is one of the rare realms of "utter fun" I have left; maybe I end up too "fluffy" as a result. Of course I remember Tolkein - he hooked me for fantasy after all - but I probably won't read it through again. Never could get through the Silmarillion even back then...

I read several books by Feist, but that petered out over the years. Same for McCaffrey and Brooks and Moorcock, but I stuck with them longer than Saberhagan. I was big on Piers Anthony way back when but dropped out of Xanth - last thing I read of his was the Incarnations series.

I think I've read everything by Eddings. One person I haven't seen listed here yet that I really did enjoy is Melanie Rawn - enjoyed the Dragon Prince, Dragon Star, and the Exiles series so far. I enjoyed Troy Denning with the Dark Sun Prism Pentad, but don't think I've read anything else of his. Although not exactly fantasy, and each book is done by a different authore IIRC, I enjoyed the Dark Matter novels too - even have "By Dust Consumed" but haven't been able to get into it given it's electronic format).

Reviewing the above, it looks like I enjoy multi-book series that don't go into TOO many books before some major shift in overall story thrust.

The biggest disconnect I have is George R.R. Martin. I want to love him. I just finished Game of Thrones and am impressed by the overall sweep and style. He certainly seems to like extremes, though - the evil people are just so evil (and devious), crazy is sheer lunacy, the sex is blatant, loyalty is loyal to a fault (not exactly dumb, but always one step behind). And while I expect the "good guys" to have challenges that seem daunting, I expect them to have some major victories too. Except for a glimmer of hope with the status of the war at the end of the book, the Stark family as a whole crashed and burned a whole lot more than I was ready for.

But I am definitely more a reader than anything else. Movies are OK, I haven't hit the theatre in years, TV is being watched less and less. I'd rather let the pictures run through my head as I turn the pages.

I can't believe I didn't include Rawn. The whole di-trilogy of the sunrunners was great and really had an effect on me, even spent a year working on a d20 version (until the ex and I split and she didn't let me have the disk it was all on).

I agree that Martin likes extremes... but I have to put him on the list because he must have hooked me or I would not have been soooo pissed at the way game of thrones went and *still* read it to the end, on the secnd one now.

 

[Pants]

Never even heard of LeGuin or Mieville - thanks for the heads-up folks! Although given the thoughts about those from above it may not exactly line up with what I'm looking for...

Mieville is good. You want to read China Mieville.
He's not exactly 'contemporary' fantasy as his stories have a more gritty, urban, and steampunkish feel to them, but if you're in the mood for something decidedly different and very good, then you can't go wrong with Mieville.
So far, he has four books out:
King Rat - generally considered to be not that good, but I can't comment as I haven't read it.
Perdido Street Station, The Scar, and Iron Council (just came out in hardcover).
Read Perdido Street Station first, then The Scar. Iron Council just came out, so I haven't had a chance to read it. Note, all of these books are standalones, they take place in the same world, but tell different stories.

The biggest disconnect I have is George R.R. Martin. I want to love him. I just finished Game of Thrones and am impressed by the overall sweep and style. He certainly seems to like extremes, though - the evil people are just so evil (and devious), crazy is sheer lunacy, the sex is blatant, loyalty is loyal to a fault (not exactly dumb, but always one step behind). And while I expect the "good guys" to have challenges that seem daunting, I expect them to have some major victories too. Except for a glimmer of hope with the status of the war at the end of the book, the Stark family as a whole crashed and burned a whole lot more than I was ready for.

That's the main reason that I like Martin

 

[TDRandall]

Pants "suggests" => Mieville is good. You want to read China Mieville.

I hear and will obey, my master! (Blew THAT saving throw!)

After a bit of searching I realize that LeGuin's work is not completely unknown to me. I had heard others give some acclaim to an "Earthsea" series - I just hadn't gotten around to them yet. Guess I'll bump them up a bit on my purchase list.

I have a friend that seems to absolutely worship the Deathgate series. And I've been tossing around the idea of looking into Katherine Kurtz's Deryni series. Anybody here have strong opinions on these (or does this diverge the thread intent too far?)

 

[RaceBannon42]

After a bit of searching I realize that LeGuin's work is not completely unknown to me. I had heard others give some acclaim to an "Earthsea" series - I just hadn't gotten around to them yet. Guess I'll bump them up a bit on my purchase list.

I have a friend that seems to absolutely worship the Deathgate series. And I've been tossing around the idea of looking into Katherine Kurtz's Deryni series. Anybody here have strong opinions on these (or does this diverge the thread intent too far?)

I havent read Earthsea since the mid 80's. I know I enjoyed it then but it was some of the first fantasy I had ever read outside of CS Lewis and Lloyd Alexander. I don't recall much of those books anymore.

As for Deathsgate Cycle. I read them as they came out. I was a big Weis and Hickman fan at the time. As I recall they developed a bit slowly and I think I even quit in the middle of Elven Star. But I eventully finished it and the last several books were much better. If you feel like picking up a 7 book series from scratch I'd go ahead and give it a try. It was a different type of concept from most of what I had read at the time.

 

[RaceBannon42]

double post

 

[Jeremy Ackerman-Yost]

I hadn't even noticed that. That may partly be due to the fact that, whereas the wonders of Gutenberg make books widely available to anyone, not everyone has good theater in their town.

Absolutely. The access to quality here makes a BIG difference.