Author Topic: Fantasy Literature Poll - Group A  (Read 9894 times)

Ocicat

  • Castle Watchcat
  • Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 3722
  • Anything for a Weird Life
on: May 13, 2010, 04:50:00 PM
Welcome to the Fantasy Literature poll!  Where we're going to start with 96 entries and eventually arrive at the Escape Artist's Forum's single favorite work of Fantasy Literature.

I'd like to just say "fantasy novel", but let's face it - much more than in SF, Fantasy tends to come in huge series.  I mean sure many great Science Fiction stories have sequels, but they tend to be tacked on to what are otherwise stand-alone books.  Dune and Ender's Game didn't need sequels, and the readership tends to view the first books in a very different light than the series as a whole.  Whereas Fellowship of the Rings was always meant as part of a trilogy, and stands on the shoulders of The Hobbit as well.  Fantasy authors tend to create their whole huge worlds and write long spanning epochs through them.  So for the poll any books that even hint at being in the same universe will be grouped together. 

I often use the notation of "first book / series name by author".  Or sometimes first book / second book.  Sometimes, like for Charles de Lint, almost any of their works qualify as in a single world, so we're really voting for the author.  Of course some fantasy novels do stand alone.  In this first poll we have... uh, Good Omens.  Ya, most these are going to be series.

Full rules for how the poll will go down were posted over at the Fantasy Board

For the first group stage, vote for any series you like.  Even if you've only read one book, or only *like* one book from a long series, go ahead and vote for it.  And more importantly, talk about it!  This poll is meant to inspire discussion!

And we have some great stuff here!  This group alone proves there's more to fantasy than just Swords & Sorcery.  Tazan is classic pulp fantasy without either swords or spells.  The wonderful Bridge of Birds features a kind of immoral Sherlock Holmes of ancient China.  You've got an angel and a demon teaming up to prevent the apocalypse in Good Omens.  The modern children of Greek Gods in Percy Jackson.  Magical Realism by Charles de Lint.  A King Arthur retelling by Stephen Lawhead.  I haven't read Gormenghast, but apparently it's a gothic story with no overt magic.  And of course you have Wonderland with it's surrealism, word play, and logic jokes.

None of them are the classic image of High Fantasy.  But then it's a broad genre, as Podcastle regularly shows.
« Last Edit: May 13, 2010, 05:41:51 PM by Ocicat »



Heradel

  • Bill Peters, EP Assistant
  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 2938
  • Part-Time Psychopomp.
Reply #1 on: May 15, 2010, 05:39:38 AM
Well, I guess I'll be the first to post something then. I can't really say I'm surprised at the ones that are far and above outstripping the others, but I wonder how much of it is that those are the two most people have read?

I Twitter. I also occasionally blog on the Escape Pod blog, which if you're here you shouldn't have much trouble finding.


Boggled Coriander

  • Lochage
  • *****
  • Posts: 545
    • Balancing Frogs
Reply #2 on: May 15, 2010, 08:12:38 AM
Well, I guess I'll be the first to post something then. I can't really say I'm surprised at the ones that are far and above outstripping the others, but I wonder how much of it is that those are the two most people have read?

That's exactly why I don't feel comfortable participating.  I haven't read any of the books in this group apart from the two by Carroll.  To me, that means I can either (a) vote for the one I've read, (b) go on a massive reading bender to get myself fully qualified to decide before voting closes, or (c) abstain from voting.  The first option doesn't seem right to me, and while the second doesn't sound unpleasant, it's not feasible for me. 

So I won't vote. But thanks for the recommendations!

"The meteor formed a crater, vampires crawling out of the crater." -  The Lyttle Lytton contest


eytanz

  • Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 6109
Reply #3 on: May 15, 2010, 10:05:49 AM
This isn't going to be helpful in anyone's dillema, but I think that popularity isn't skewing the poll too much. At the very least, I've read 5 of the 8 entries in this group (including every single book by Charles de Lint) - and I voted for the two entries that are winning.




Talia

  • Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 2682
  • Muahahahaha
Reply #4 on: May 15, 2010, 04:10:39 PM
The fact that Tarzan is beating Charles de Lint is slowly killing something inside me :p



Eliyanna Kaiser

  • Matross
  • ****
  • Posts: 236
    • Just Another Writer
Reply #5 on: May 16, 2010, 12:44:12 PM
I'm having a really hard time believing that everyone has read Peake. I voted for Titus Groan and it is a CLASSIC but I know damn well that this is the one that way too often no one has heard of. So yeah, I'm worried about popularity impacting this too...

If you must mount the gallows, give a jest to the crowd, a coin to the hangman, and make the drop with a smile on your lips.
-Birgitte, R. Jordan's Wheel of Time


Scattercat

  • Caution:
  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 4904
  • Amateur wordsmith
    • Mirrorshards
Reply #6 on: May 16, 2010, 03:18:22 PM
Titus Groan and Bridge of Birds are the only ones on here that I haven't read.  *shrugs*



eytanz

  • Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 6109
Reply #7 on: May 16, 2010, 04:02:34 PM
I'm having a really hard time believing that everyone has read Peake. I voted for Titus Groan and it is a CLASSIC but I know damn well that this is the one that way too often no one has heard of. So yeah, I'm worried about popularity impacting this too...

Ok, to be entirely honest here, I've *started* reading Titus Groan about 5 times now. There's a lot I like about it but I find it very difficult to get into. It's sitting on my shelf by my side right now, waiting for a time when I believe I can get the necessary long reading stretches it will take.

The two books I've voted for, however, are books that I've read many times (the copy of Good Omens on my shelf is actually my third, after one fell apart from over-reading and one was given to a close friend), and have on more than one occasion, made time to read, in the sense that I failed to do stuff on time because I was rereading Alice in Wonderland or Good Omens. There are very few books that I can say that about, so this particular group was quite easy for me.
« Last Edit: May 16, 2010, 04:05:09 PM by eytanz »



kibitzer

  • Purveyor of Unsolicited Opinions
  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 2228
  • Kibitzer: A meddler who offers unwanted advice
Reply #8 on: May 16, 2010, 11:05:11 PM
Heh. Sounds like my attempts to read The Silmarillion;D


Scattercat

  • Caution:
  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 4904
  • Amateur wordsmith
    • Mirrorshards
Reply #9 on: May 17, 2010, 01:39:19 AM
Heh. Sounds like my attempts to read The Silmarillion;D

My mother (who was dedicated enough that she learned to write Elvish fluently in college) used to tell me about how hard it was to slog through the Silmarillion.



FireTurtle

  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 898
Reply #10 on: May 17, 2010, 01:43:30 AM
Heh. Sounds like my attempts to read The Silmarillion;D

My mother (who was dedicated enough that she learned to write Elvish fluently in college) used to tell me about how hard it was to slog through the Silmarillion.
I can't tell you how happy it makes me to know I'm not the only one who couldn't get through it!

“My imagination makes me human and makes me a fool; it gives me all the world and exiles me from it.”
Ursula K. LeGuin


Heradel

  • Bill Peters, EP Assistant
  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 2938
  • Part-Time Psychopomp.
Reply #11 on: May 17, 2010, 01:49:59 AM
Heh. Sounds like my attempts to read The Silmarillion;D

My mother (who was dedicated enough that she learned to write Elvish fluently in college) used to tell me about how hard it was to slog through the Silmarillion.

I read it in middle school by possessing the naiveté that it would get good at some point.

I Twitter. I also occasionally blog on the Escape Pod blog, which if you're here you shouldn't have much trouble finding.


lowky

  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 2717
  • from http://lovecraftismissing.com/?page_id=3142
Reply #12 on: May 17, 2010, 05:15:27 PM
Heh. Sounds like my attempts to read The Silmarillion;D

My mother (who was dedicated enough that she learned to write Elvish fluently in college) used to tell me about how hard it was to slog through the Silmarillion.
I can't tell you how happy it makes me to know I'm not the only one who couldn't get through it!
You certainly aren't alone.  so and so begat so and so just bored me to tears.


Bdoomed

  • Pseudopod Tiger
  • Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 5891
  • Mmm. Tiger.
Reply #13 on: May 17, 2010, 07:23:26 PM
Ugh, The Simarillion bored me to tears, I never got past the first 20 or so pages.

I'd like to hear my options, so I could weigh them, what do you say?
Five pounds?  Six pounds? Seven pounds?


Ocicat

  • Castle Watchcat
  • Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 3722
  • Anything for a Weird Life
Reply #14 on: May 17, 2010, 11:57:02 PM
I'm sad to see that I'm the only person voting for Bridge of Birds.  Obviously, people here haven't read it.  This is, seriously, the funniest book I have read since Hitchhiker's Guide.  It's set a mythological China, featuring an unethical scholar and investigator of the weird who always introduces himself with the words "My surname is Li and my personal name is Kao, and there is a slight flaw in my character."

The books are fast moving and wonderfully written.  Highly recommended to fans of non-european fantasy, enjoy characters thinking and fast-talking their way out of (and into) tight situations, or just anyone who likes a good laugh.



Fenrix

  • Curmudgeonly Co-Editor of PseudoPod
  • Editor
  • *****
  • Posts: 3996
  • I always lock the door when I creep by daylight.
Reply #15 on: May 18, 2010, 03:52:25 AM
I'm sad to see that I'm the only person voting for...

For what it's worth, I'm making notes for things to add to the "to read" pile. Part of the purpose of this exercise is being accomplished.  :)

All cat stories start with this statement: “My mother, who was the first cat, told me this...”


Eliyanna Kaiser

  • Matross
  • ****
  • Posts: 236
    • Just Another Writer
Reply #16 on: May 18, 2010, 04:02:17 AM
Can we nominate books/series for future groups or is that set?

If you must mount the gallows, give a jest to the crowd, a coin to the hangman, and make the drop with a smile on your lips.
-Birgitte, R. Jordan's Wheel of Time


Ocicat

  • Castle Watchcat
  • Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 3722
  • Anything for a Weird Life
Reply #17 on: May 18, 2010, 04:10:48 AM
Can we nominate books/series for future groups or is that set?

There was a thread for that over in the Fantasy Discussion forum, but it's all over now and our entries are set.



knigget

  • Matross
  • ****
  • Posts: 177
  • Help! Help! I'm being oppressed!
    • apoGrypha
Reply #18 on: May 20, 2010, 06:20:53 PM
I'm sad to see that I'm the only person voting for Bridge of Birds.  Obviously, people here haven't read it.  This is, seriously, the funniest book I have read since Hitchhiker's Guide.  It's set a mythological China, featuring an unethical scholar and investigator of the weird who always introduces himself with the words "My surname is Li and my personal name is Kao, and there is a slight flaw in my character."

The books are fast moving and wonderfully written.  Highly recommended to fans of non-european fantasy, enjoy characters thinking and fast-talking their way out of (and into) tight situations, or just anyone who likes a good laugh.

Agree 100%.  I was late to the poll, not that it would make much difference, but the entire 3-book series is quite possibly the most underappreciated fantasy work in history, and I in all honesty feel overwhelming envy toward those of you who will go and buy it and read it in one gulp and chortle at random intervals, such as at children with candy.  I must have read all the books five times.  Go get it.  Then reopen the voting, it will be the runaway winner.

http://www.apoGrypha.blogspot.com

What would have been written. 

Spoiler (click to show/hide)


CryptoMe

  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 1146
Reply #19 on: May 21, 2010, 03:22:26 AM
Heh. Sounds like my attempts to read The Silmarillion;D
My mother (who was dedicated enough that she learned to write Elvish fluently in college) used to tell me about how hard it was to slog through the Silmarillion.

I read it in middle school by possessing the naiveté that it would get good at some point.

Wow, that is really young!

I read it in High School. Twice. I was really, really interested in the world building aspect of Lord of the Rings, so I just soaked it all up like a history textbook. ;D



kibitzer

  • Purveyor of Unsolicited Opinions
  • Hipparch
  • ******
  • Posts: 2228
  • Kibitzer: A meddler who offers unwanted advice
Reply #20 on: May 30, 2010, 10:38:11 PM
FWIW I've started reading the Master Li and Number Ten Ox stories. Wonderful stuff! Loving it.