Is there life in fantasy after Tolkien?

[Teresa Edgerton]

I left off "Over Sea, Under Stone," on purpose. It's good, but aimed at even younger readers, and it's possible to enjoy the rest of the series without reading it first. I also didn't list a Furlong prequel, and the third book in Paul Hazel's series for similar reasons.

Though I don't doubt that I've left off some authors entirely, out of sheer absence of mind.

edit: And, in fact, yes I did. Tim Powers and James Blaylock for instance.

In any case, the list is long enough to demonstrate why I think there is plenty of life (also excellence and originality) in fantasy after Tolkien.

 

[Brys]

Well, if you take a look at anything written by Cook, Erikson, Martin or Mieville, it seems clear that original work can and is being produced that is not just another rip-off of Tolkien. Tolkien was influential, but he doesn't shadow out other writers - the reason it seems that way is that many writers have chosen to use a world already created for them by Tolkien and not try anything original for fear it won't sell well.

 

[GOLLUM]

I agree that Tolkien was influential on modern fantasy but there's a number of examples of fantasy works written in the 20th Century prior to Tolkein's release of The Hobbit and LOTR in addition to a number of modern authors who have very clearly broken the Tolkien mould or are clearly not Tolkien clones.

 

[neverseen]

there is fantasy in every one of us, but not every one cant expresed im selfe in the way like some can

 

[Mark Robson]

Welcome, Neverseen. Nice to see a new name on the boards.

Kelpie, you mentioned the trilogy by Michael Scott Rohan. Seeing the titles, I remember reading that series and loving it. Goodness only knows what happened to my copies - I probably leant them to someone and never got them back. That's what normally happens to my best books!

I'm going to have to have a dig around for some of the other titles though. I don't think I've read more than about a quarter of that list.

 

[unon]

eloquently put

 

[orionsixwings]

Is there life in fantasy after Tolkien? Yes, I think the professor actually opened an entire doorway to fantasy writers and readers, and because his stories enjoyed so much success, there will always be fantasy writers brave enough to come up with their creative ideas knowing there is a whole group of people who will respond to his work positively.

 

[Asmer20]

The life after tolken is reality.... I saw on the discovery Channel the other day that there was once a hobbit race. The research is in its early stages, but they found significant information, but the real human hobbits did not have hairy feet. I guess science likes to discover after all Tolken imagined it and it's now been proven that hobbits did exist...and still do to this day. Check the website out:
http://www.johnhawks.net/weblog/fossils/flores/hobbit_mystery_discovery_2006.html

 

[j d worthington]

Of course, there are plenty of threads on here that cover this topic, but I might add a few here anyway:

Before JRRT:

William Morris:

The Glittering Plain
The House of the Wulfings
The Roots of the Mountains
Golden Wings
The Well at the World's End
The Wood Beyond the World
The Water of the Wondrous Isles
The Sundering Flood

Kenneth Morris:

The Book of the Three Dragons
The Fates of the Princes of Dyfed

John Myers Myers:

Silverlock
The Moon's Fire-Eating Daughter
The Harp and the Blade

Leslie Barringer:

Gerfalcon
Joris of the Rock
Shy Leopardess

E. C. Vivian:

Fields of Sleep
City of Wonder

Arthur D. Howden Smith:

Grey Maiden

Arthur O. Friel:

The Pathless Trail
Tiger River

J. Allan Dunn:

The Treasure of Atlantis

H. Rider Haggard:

Wisdom's Daughter
She
She and Allan
Ayesha: The Return of She
Allan Quatermain
King Solomon's Mines
The Wanderer's Necklace
Eric Brighteyes (to name only a few)

James Branch Cabell:

Biography of the Life of Manuel (18 vols.; only part can be strictly considered fantasy, true; but, while each can stand alone, all are interrelated in theme and to some degree characters -- such as Horvendahl or the multitude of aspects of the "Witch-Woman")

A. Merritt:

The Metal Monster
The Moon Pool
Dwellers in the Mirage
The Face in the Abyss
The Fox Woman and Other Stories
The Ship of Ishtar

Contemporary to JRRT:

Fletcher Pratt:

The Well of the Unicorn (Teresa already mentioned The Blue Star)

Fritz Leiber:

He began his Fafhrd and Gray Mouster series in Unknown, in 1939

C. L. Moore:

Her Jirel of Joiry and Northwest Smith tales, blending sf and fantasy

Hannes Bok:

The Sorcerer's Ship

Fletcher Pratt with L. Sprague de Camp:

The Harold Shea stories (originals collected in The Complete Complete Enchanter)
Land of Unreason

Clark Ashton Smith:

Hyperborea Cycle
Zothique Cycle
Averoign Cycle
Poseidonis Cycle

Post-JRRT:

If we're dealing with urban fantasy here (and I don't see why not, as it's very much a valid type), then we'd have to include a huge chunk of the following:

Harlan Ellison (especially the following):

Deathbird Stories
Strange Wine
Shatterday
far too many stories scattered throughout collections to mention more than a handful: "Jeffty Is Five", "One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty", "The Other Eye of Polyphemus", "All the Sounds of Fear",....
(Make no mistake; while he has written sf, Ellison himself has flatly stated that he is not a science-fiction writer, he's a fantasiste; he's quite correct)

Rod Serling
Ray Bradbury (both contemporary and post-Tolkien; again, more fantasy than sf)
Richard Matheson

And, for more "traditional" fantasy:

I'd add Alan Garner's Elidor, even though it's aimed at a younger audience; it's quite a good book

Andre Norton:

Witch World
Web of the Witch World
Three Against the Witch World
The Year of the Unicorn
and a whole slew of others in this series (though some later ones run into problems)

Poul Anderson:

Three Hearts and Three Lions
The Merman's Children

Katherine Kurtz:

the Deryni books (at least the early ones)

Avram Davidson:

The Phoenix and the Mirror
Peregrine: Primus
Peregrine: Secundus
The Island Under the World

I think that JRRT sort of did for the world of the traditional, fairy-tale type fantasy what M. R. James did for the English ghost story; he's been something of a standard to live up to, but also a rather stultifying presence in the field, all too often; something neither of them would have liked.

I could go on, but I think the answer is an obvious and resounding "Yes, there most definitely is life in Fantasy after Tolkien -- if we don't let ourselves get too rigid in our definition of the term."

 

[GOLLUM]

I agree JD, how I didn't come across this thread before now beats me though...

Rosemary recently gave me a wonderful book entitled Tales Before Tolkien: The Roots Of Modern Fanatsy. I'm sure Teresa has it already.

It is basically a collection of short stories that apparently directly infliuecned Tolkien's wirtings. Not sure if that's the aim of this thread but here's the list anyway:

I'm a bit rushed to type it out so here's a link to the contents page of the book:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/sitbv3/reader/ref=sib_dp_pt/002-0540744-7252047?%5Fencoding=UTF8&asin=0345458559

If the link doesn't work try this and search inside book if necessary:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345458559/002-0540744-7252047?v=glance&n=283155

OR check out this SF site review.

http://www.sfsite.com/02a/tt169.htm

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I do have Tales Told Before Tolkien. While I was impressed by the selection of authors, I seem to remember that in some cases I felt they had written stories that were more representative (and more likely to have influenced JRRT) than those included. The example that comes most readily to mind is Clemence Houseman. Her story "The Were Wolf" would have been a much better choice than "The Drawn Arrow." But the notes at the back have been very, very helpful in terms of turning up interesting new (old) writers.

 

[The Ace]

Yes, as long as Americans aren't allowed to do it.

 

[j d worthington]

Yes, as long as Americans aren't allowed to do it.

Now, wait just a cotton-pickin' minute here......

 

[Koopa]

there is still room for improvement, i mean he is a bit of a prude, and his storyline follows a too predictable path, its like from this point to that one and yo already know basically what is gonna happen. okay there are bits of chunks , but basically they go from on end to another illiminating first saruman treat to rohan and then sauron threat to the whole 'good' world.

the indepth characters are and the backgrounds are amazing though, still i can not help but feel that parts of the silmarillion and what happened with Numenor through the ages more interesting then LoTR in itself.

 

[stinking_dylan]

I think writers these days try to get away from Tolkein, there is so much fat fantasy around which attempts to copy him to some extent, or at least doesn't bother to make anything new up. Personally, I'm interested in the genre because I like reading interesting and weird things, and reading the same things over and over again just isn't interesting or weird enough for me.

I agree entirely. The only fantasy saga I really enjoyed was Tad Williams Memory, Sorrow and Thorn. The other sagas I've read I'd hardly even call fantasy, they just use a Tolkienesque world as a canvas to write a soap... Nothing very imaginative or wierd, so I wouldn't call them fantasists.

Modern fantasists I enjoy would be Michael Moorcock, Tanith Lee, Clive Barker, Terry Pratchett, David Gemmell, Ursula Le Guin and to a certain extent Stephen King. I'm about to experiment with Neil Gaiman, as what I've heard about him sounds like something I'd enjoy.

 

[Aeris]

I am so glad I found this thread. I have been thinking the same thing ever since I read Terry Brooks' Shannara books. The first time I read The Sword of Shannara, I really liked it. However, when I re-read it (or started to, at least), I felt gypped. Not only was the storyline almost identical to LoTR, but some of the material felt big-headed....almost like he just liked to hear himself talk.

Lately, I haven't been exploring the fantasy genre as much as I would like to, but some of the books that I've read and enjoyed that are fantasies that DON'T copy Tolkien, are:

-Any book by Patricia C. Wrede. I feel like she doesn't get enough recognition for her works. Her Enchanted Forest Chronicles are quick reads, but very funny and original and entertaining. Her Lyra novels are equally entertaining, but have more depth and history behind them. The characters are delightful, and all of the races are believable. I cannot stress enough how much I love this author. I read and re-read her novels because they are so GOOD!!!

-Brian Jacques. I have only read Redwall by him, but the moment I finished it, I wanted to flip back to the beginning and start over again. I read it when I was younger and enjoyed it, and I read it again recently and enjoyed it as much if not more. Excellent author. Excellent book. All around excellence.

 

[Storm Centurion]

I am surprised more people don't mention Peter S. Beagle.

While I credit Tolkien with exposing me to fantasy for the first time ( as an adult) Beagle is my favorite author hands down. He is always original. His characters are unique in a way you don't usually find in fiction, especially fantasy.

I find the Innkeeper's Song and Giant Bones to be my favorite stories. Giant Bones is a collection of stories that takes place in the same un-named world as the Innkeeper's Song.

The Last Unicorn, Tamsin and A Fine and Private Place are also terrific stories.

 

[jackokent]

I stumbled across the Last Unicorn quite by acident and thought it was amazing.

Tolkien was great but others are brilliant too. There's a Wagner thread posted up earlier and many people asked the same question "is there life in romantisim after Wagner" Of course, there is always room for improvement. As some people have said, Tolkien did have his faults such as his description of women.

 

[Telperaca]

But then, Tolkein did produce a whole world with history...

Kind of makes you wonder if he did anything else...