Fantasy Recommendations - for the unenlightened

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Yes, I had a look (at Amazon) at that one, and it does look like the same book -- although, to confuse the issue, there's another Necronomicon by someone named Simon.

The disquieting thing about the Tyson book is that it's published by Llewelyn, a fairly well-known publishing house that specializes in metaphysical/Wicca/New Age type books. In other words, it looks like someone is actually taking the book seriously.

It reminds me of that ghost story Arthur Machen wrote during World War I, about Saint George and the archers of Agincourt coming to the aid of British soldiers -- which, after it was published, brought forth any number of "eye-witnesses" who claimed the incident was real -- though Machen insisted until his dying day that he made the story up.

Returning to Lovecraft -- the genuine article -- there are also printable e-texts of some of his stories at blackmask. They don't appear to be there, but if you do a search they turn up.
 
Brys said:
Thanks for the recommendations.

I just saw this on amazon:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0738706272/ref=pd_qpt_gw_3/203-6333778-0677542

It's the Necronomicon book, by Donald Tyson. Perhaps that's the one.
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Brys, other than arguably his greatest work the novella Mountains Of Madness, The Nameless City and The Case Of Charles Dexter Ward (although the Silver Key is a good alternate example of his Dream Cylce stories) the following book from Amazon seems to have the majority of his better known works in case you're interested.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345350804/104-8103880-9119102?v=glance&n=283155

From a fan review listing the book contents:

Every story herein deserves it own review, frankly. "The Rats in the Walls," "The Dreams in the Witch-House," and "In the Vault" (one of my favorites) offer traditional horror tales full of Lovecraftian atmosphere. "The Outsider," perhaps the least satisfying read, is an allegorical tale reflecting an isolated individual's view of society and of himself. "The Silver Key" is a solid representative of the dream-myth stories of the author's earlier years and serves as an introduction to Lovecraft's heroic character Randolph Carter. "The Colour Out of Space" is a singular, science fiction/horror tale counted by Lovecraft himself as one of his favorites. "The Picture in the House" is perhaps Lovecraft's most efficiently horrifying story ever, "The Music of Erich Zann" is an unforgettable tale touching on the great secrets of the unknown, and "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" sensationally evokes the horror and depths of influence by unseen agents on this earth. These stories effectively set the stage for the Cthulhu Mythos tales, of which the remaining stories form an integral part. "The Call of Cthulhu" and "The Dunwich Horror" herald the full manifestation of Lovecraft's cosmic horror and describe the ambivalent agency of incomprehensible outside forces on mankind. "The Haunter of the Dark" and "The Thing on the Doorstep" highlight even more mysterious access points of the unknown into man's consciousness. I must give special attention to my two favorite Lovecraft tales: "The Whisperer in Darkness" and "The Shadow Out of Time."
 
Kelpie said:
Yes, I had a look (at Amazon) at that one, and it does look like the same book -- although, to confuse the issue, there's another Necronomicon by someone named Simon.

The disquieting thing about the Tyson book is that it's published by Llewelyn, a fairly well-known publishing house that specializes in metaphysical/Wicca/New Age type books. In other words, it looks like someone is actually taking the book seriously
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The book by Simon you refer to is the most widely distributed of the Necronomicon take offs, reaching mass market publication. Unsupsrisingly Simon doesn't exist either just as the book itself takes advantage of eager fans who are perhaps ready to believe in the book's existence despite Lovecraft's insistence to the contrary.

I can only assume Llewelyn has done the same thing as a way to cash in on the general hype or am I being a little too cynical here?
 
i have to say, i do warn people against goodkind. but i feel very storngly about the way he treats women, more than anything else. for me most recomended are:
farseer triligoy by robin hobb, her stuff got worse after that, tho i hate admiting it. the fool being my all time favourite character
and a song of ice and fire series by george r martin. just amazing
i also like david gemmel's legend. everything else by him is good, but more of the same. but they're so short that it does't matter
 
kyektulu said:
Aurian, Harp Of Winds, Sword Of Flames and Dhiamara by Maggie Furey.

These books are brillient, fantasy in its purest, I really couldnt put them down. :)
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Well I tend to agree with you, it's just a pity her more recent trilogy The Shadowleague displayed such a fall in standards IMO...
 
the_faery_queen said:
i have to say, i do warn people against goodkind. but i feel very storngly about the way he treats women, more than anything else. for me most recomended are:
farseer triligoy by robin hobb, her stuff got worse after that, tho i hate admiting it. the fool being my all time favourite character
and a song of ice and fire series by george r martin. just amazing
i also like david gemmel's legend. everything else by him is good, but more of the same. but they're so short that it does't matter
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I've warned people about Goodkind too because from the first book's cover you think, "Oh, this is gonna be another great fantasy story about a boy and his dragon." - Yeah, right! Now, I absolutely loved Wizard's First Rule as well as Stone of Tears, Temple of the Winds, and Blood of the Fold - but after that...well, his writing has become political and social and rambling; it's like Jordan - when will it ever end?
And I agree with you on Hobb's first trilogy - although, by the third book I just wanted it to end and have no desire to read further.
GRRM is a "god!"
Legend is my second favorite Gemmell story, with Jerusalem Man being first - can't remember all of the others much; like you said they are more of the same.
-g-
 
i read the first four goodkind books, i was bored most of the way through the first, but towards the end, it got interesting, i read on. brought book 2. same thing happened! bored until near the end. then it got good. i read 3 and 4, and then just gave up. teh abuse of women was the main point. i was SiCK of reading about some poor woman who existed just to be raped and abused. sick of reading about sex with monsters and other nasty things.

and i was totally sick of kahalan and richard WHINING for each other and how beautiful and special richard through she was. i never got any further so luckily avoided all the political ramblings. but the rape was MORE than enough to turn me off. i don't like rape in fantasy as it is, but if it adds something, develops something, i can live with it. goodkind just seemed to be indulging his own perverted nastiness with the different ways he abused women

yeah, gemmel is samey, but i like that. its like a comfy jumper, you know what will happen, you know how it will go, but its nice. its why i am not anti cliche. i think new stuff is great, new ideas, but there is always room for a well written cliche, simply because its comfy, and writing doesn't always have to be taxing. it is meant to be enjoyable too. so as long as gemmell writes well, i dont' mind that his plots seem to be, tortured man goes off, does stuff, becomes hero, meets some girl who is also tortured in someway and who likes wearing tight clothes and shooting a bow and arrow :)

i think hobbs series would have been far better ended with farseer. liveship bored me. i LOATHED her characters for the most part, esp the women. she's a female writer, yet she has fallen into the trap of thinking that a bossy woman is somehow strong, that a selfish woman going after what she wants is somehow a strong character. cos she isn't. i hated the heroine and didn't see her as a strong, independant character, but a spoilt whiny brat, and i can't imagfine hobb meant us to see her that way! and the tawny man was ok, i like the fool, so that was good, but the end ruined it. she had such a great ending to the farseer triliogy, it just ended. fitz lost stuff, he was alone, the end. brilliant. tawny man went ott with marriages and babies, and people dying to allow that, and even into mentioning liveship characters JUST to tell us that they got married or had babies!
 
I really enjoyed reading Goodkinds first few books and I certainly had no trouble with dealing with the way he treated the women...I see it as his style of writing.
Maggie Fuery's books were good, Kye. I'm glad you enjoyed them as well. I would certainly recommend those...
As far as Gemmel goes, I found them to be quite good particularly Legend, although at times it seemed as if they were all about fighting!
One author whom I would like to recommend is Sara Douglass - The Axis Trilogy and The Wayfarer Redemption. Both trilogies are well written, the characters and plots introduced in an easy manner.
I have also, on a couple of occasions been known to recommend Erikson!!!
 
see, i can't accept that it was his styule to abuse women as being an excuse. i guess i just take it really seriously, but like i read (on a feminist site elsewhere) its not a good place to be in when rape and abuse of women is used for entertainment, and i just think, personally, if the abuse of the woman adds nothing to the plot, or the character, then it is just shock value/entertainment, and that isn't ok. i personally think that there is too much rape in tv and books and that people should be more careful with how they use it because it is a very real problem in this world and i fear desenstising people with it if its used carlessly. but this is all my own private rantyness.

i diodn't much like maggie fury either. i did, at first, but then i felt her three books of the four (of the first series i can't remember the name) were rushed. i felt rushed through it. that and i never took to the heroine.

as i've said, im a fussy fussy reader!
 
Abuse of women used for entertainment is not much different than reading about men killing each other by various methods, and although I do not enjoy the 'gory details' it is part of the stories .
Of course it is a problem in the real world but I find a lot of the real readers of Fantasy read it because that is what it is...Fantasy.
I am sorry to hear that you didn't like Maggie Fury's work either...
Still, everyone has their own style of writing and their own personal likes and dislikes about what they read....
 
but it isn't fantasy. it is a real problem and i just don't like it being used so carlessly without any thought. i see that as a reflection of today's society and that scares me. i also think it reveals a lot about goodkind as a person.i write, i would never write a graphic rape, and it never crosses my mind to abuse anyone, male or female, in those ways. so it interests me no end that he DID think it and he DID come up with all that detail, and do it so often, and for what reason?

and gore isn't a problem. i dont' mind mass murder of people, i dont' dislike horror (i love it) i do dislike unbalanced sexual abuse. if the abuse was more evenly spread, perhaps, men and women suffering equally, and not all sexually, i would be fine with it. but it isn't, so again, to me thats a, well why is it women, and why is it so often, and why is it almost every opportunity? like i said, its something i take really seriously. i guess because i am a feminist, because i have two friends who were raped, because i am very aware of the way women in society are treated with reguards to rape, that i can't abide it being so simply and carelessly used.

but yep, it all comes down to differences in the end, in perception, in taste. it makes life interesting. we couldn't have these debates without that :)
 
That is very true, although our debate and my next response would probably have been more appropriate in our Discussions Thread....:)
 
I don't have a problem with rape or abuse as long as it is in context.Goodkind I stopped reading not because of his protrayal of women, but because it isn't going anywhere after the first few books it became utter drivel.One of my favourite series is The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant,a lot people are put off by Covenant's rape of Lena but It was a necessary part of the story
 
i felt as though goodkind tacked his plots on. like bla bla, oh a temple of winds, next book, all abotu the temple. it felt, early on at least, as though he had no idea what the overall series was about, and just made it up as he went and tacked on his new idea for the following book onto the end of the one before!
 
Well, I wish I had stopped at four, but it took me seven. :mad: Same with Jordan, seven seems to be the magic number for me. I'm glad that GRRM is gonna end his at six, maybe seven. Else, I don't think I could make it. :rolleyes:

-g-
 
it was ten for jordan and 4 for goodkind, which i guess evens out at 7! :)
and i am really hoping that what you said about martin, in your other post, is just your perception on graphic. because if the abuse is a lot higher, i dont' think i will be reading past this book. can't abide graphic rapes in books. just can't read them, accept them, deal with them!
 
Faery Queen in response to prior sayings the stuff about abuse I got to ask, Your tellin everyone in here you have never thought about hitting someone of the opposite sex? That's all fantasy is, imaginings thought up in the mind of a person who uses that imagination to good advantage
 
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