Kevin's Watch

Series (only)

The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant-Donaldson
Neverness/A Requiem for Homo Sapiens-Zindell
A Song of Ice and Fire-Martin:f
Dune-Herbert
The Lord of the Rings/The Silmarillion-Tolkien
The Gap Saga-Donaldson
The "Uplift" series-Brin
Hyperion-Simmons
New Sun-Wolfe
Earthsea-Le Guin:f
Metaplanetary/Superluminal-Daniel
Illuminatus!-Wilson & Shea
The Hitchhiker's Guide books-Adams
Metropolitian/City on Fire-W. J. Williams
The Ea Cycle-Zindell:f
Foundation-Assimov
Otherland-T. Williams (about to read M, S, T)
The Chronicles of Amber-Zelazny:f
The Riddle Master of Hed-McKillip:f
Mordant's Need-Donaldson:f
The Worm Oroborous/The Mezantium trilogy-Eddison:f
Elric-Moorcock:f
The Ice Saga-Fortchen:f
King Kull-Howard:f
The Pelbar Cycle-P. O. Williams:f


Yet to be read and greatly anticipated: Erikson, Hamilton & Kay

Dan Simmons is a great great writer.

Simmons rocks! (we have a Simmons forum at the Hangar too )

Yeah, I've read it a few times. I should go back there and post a few more times.

Here are my current favourites.
fantasy -
Donaldson - TCTC
Tolkien - LOTR
Martin - ASOIAF
Rowling - Harry Potter novels.

Australian Lit -
Winton - Cloudstreet
Anderson - Tirra Lirra by the River
Carey - True History of the Kelly Gang

Lit -
Dickens - Pickwick Papers
Dickens - Hard Times
Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
Nabokov - Lolita
Lawrence - Sons and Lovers
Golding - Lord of the flies
Tolstoy - Anna Karenina
Twain - Tom Sawyer

My fave authors (apart from SRD) are Lawrence and Dickens.

I will never recover from the deep abiding sadness that none of you have read/ recognize the greatness of Melanie Rawn's Dragon Prince/Dragon Star trilogies....

Some of you say dragons are cliche, but she uses them in such an original fashion!!

Character depth and storytelling at its finest!!!

It's just so sad....

Baradakas, I'll get around to Rawn one of these days.

How is she with action scenes? I've found that a lot of female authors have trouble writing a credible scene of violence. C. J. Cherryh's action is way too disjointed and confusing. Rosemary Edgehill (sp?) just backs away and tells it "off-camera," so to speak. Anne McCaffrey won't go into graphic detail, so the scenes read like juveniles. Many other women authors fall into one of these three categories. Confusing - shy away - juvenile.

Julian May is an exception. Is Rawn more like her or like these others I've mentioned?

Matrixman wrote:Good rebuttal, F&F. You've handed my ignorance back to me on a plate. It's clear I'm out of my depth among such avid readers on this thread.

(retreats to Sesame Street coloring book)

Don't beat yourself up. You said it's been a while since you read the first book, after all. And he did write a few hot sex scenes in there!!

Matrixman wrote:Some of you say dragons are cliche, but she uses them in such an original fashion!!

Hey, the dragons of Earthsea are awesome!!! Dragons may be used a lot, but they can be handled SOOOO brilliantly! Anyway, I guess I'll have to add Rawn to my list. And maybe it'll be easier to get ahold of than those Zindell books!!

Roland of Gilead wrote:Julian May is an exception.

Infelice and (I think) Durris have also mentioned her. I even looked for her the other day, but the local stores really bite. I'll be off to B&N this week, and hope to find her there.

Fist, you can't go wrong with The Saga of Pliocene Exile. Might be the most under-rated series in speculative fiction.

Yeah? The Galactic Milieu was what Infelice mentioned. Now I have to add TWO series to my list???? That's freakin' great!!

Poor Baby!

Top of the list always will be the Chronicles.
Then.......The Mists of Avalon/ Marion Zimmer Bradley, Earthsea/Ursula Le Guin, House Between the Worlds/ Bradley, and another list begins with the ancient writings of Jane Lead and Jacob Boehme and a few others.

Cate, come join us in the Immanent Grove at the Hangar: p210.ezboard.com/fahirashangarfrm37

my sci.fi/fantasy list

Fav. Series;

SRD- TCTC and The Gap
Stephen King- The Dark Tower
Arthur C. Clarke- Rama
Frederick Pohl - Gateway
Larry Niven - Ringworld
Tolkien - LOTR (including the Hobbit)

Non-Series Fav. Books

Stephen King - The Stand and well, almost everything else written by any of the above authors (especially SRD, ACC and SK), I'm another one who stubbles accross someone she likes and then tries to read everything they've ever written.

Honourable mention to:
Herbert - Dune
Katherine Kurtz - The Deryni series
Clive Barker - Weaveworld
Sheri S. Tepper - for lighter reading.

I meant to add this to my prev message but forgot.

FizbansTalking_Hat wrote:Ok, I am sure its been done before, so don't bite my head off for posting such a newbie topic, ...

I'm a "newbie" here and I loved having a chance to give my opinions, so thank you!

Tolkien - anything he has written
SRD - TCTC
Julian May - Saga of the Exiles, Intervention, The Galactic Milieu Trilogy
Anne Rice - anything she has written
David Eddings - The Belgariad, The Mallorean and The Prequels
Weis & Hickman - Death Gate Cycle
Rowling - Harry Potter series
Richard Harris - Watership Down
Stephen Lawhead - The Pendragon Cycle
Peter James (author of The Prophecy) - Host, Twilight
Marion Zimmer Bradley - Mists or Avalon, The Forest House
Arthur C. Clarke - The Space Odessy series
Jean M. Auel - The Clan of the Cave Bear books.
Michael Cordy - The Miracle Strain
Stephen King - almost anything of his
Wilbur Smith - Warlock

These ones I expect to add once I read them.

Flowers for Algernon - Keyes
Gates of Fire - Pressfield
ASOIAF - Martin
Neverness - Zindel
and the rest of the Earthsea books.

Day late and a dollar short, but, in no particular order, a few books off the beaten path:

The Stars My Destinations by Alfred Bester
Who's Afraid of Beowulf? by Tom Holt
Cats Have No Lord by Will Shetterly
Why Do Birds by Damon Knight

For anyone who is particularly drawn to the Gap series, in particular to aspects of Angus Thermopyle's violence and victimization, I strongly suggest taking a look at The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester. I found some parallel themes running between the two.

For scifi & fantasy in no particular order:

Attanasio - Radix (what a mind-trip) & the Last Legends of Earth
Heinlein - Revolt in 2010
Brin - Startide Rising & The Uplift War
LeGuin - Always Coming Home (bizzare, but beautiful)
Zelazny - Lord of Light
Donaldson - Chronicles of Thomas Covenant
Mieville - The Scar
Hamilton - Fallen Dragon
Silverberg - Lord Valentine's Castle
Banks - Use of Weapons
Vance - Lyonesse series

1: Stephen Donaldson - all the TC books.
2: Raymond E Feist - Magician series.
3: David Gemmell - Legend, Knights of Dark Reknown and just aobut all the others
4: Bernard Cornwell - Harlequin
5: Pratchett - The first 3 discworld books
6: M R James - Oh Whistle and I'll Come to You - and other ghost stories
7: Edgar Allen Poe - Fall of the House of Usher, the Masque of the Red Death
8: Solzhenitsyn - Cancer Ward (depressing or what?)

I read LOTR a long time ago, and was enthralled then. However, I tried reading it again last year and could hardly keep awake - I have to say IMHO the films are much better than the books.

Although the idea and the richness of the story cannot be denied, and I am still a fan of Tolkein - but I find the books tedious now, compared with how far SF has come.

However - my recommendation is READ DAVID GEMMELL - his books are refreshing and have a gritty realism I haven't foiund elsewhere. It's often not clear who the good/ bad guys are as all are flawed. I notice not too many people here list his books at all.