Need some fantasy suggestions, please.

[tricia.june]

I'm looking for fantasy books--not children's or contemporary, please--in which the protagonist is NOT on a mission to save his/her people, world or country.

I'm having a really hard time finding what I want, so any help could very well result in me being your best friend forever.

Thanks you guys!

 

[paranoid marvin]

Farewell Horizontal (JK Jeter) - great ,albeit short, novel about a guy trying just to save his own skin after being set up.

 

[j d worthington]

You could well try the Fantasy Recommendations threads -- there's quite a mixture of different types of fantasy there; or the Urban Fantasy thread, etc. Also, look into some of the classic fantasy series, which were of a broader nature than what one sees represented in bookstores these days; we have several threads on those, as well....

As I've been attempting to make plain in my own posts on the subject, fantasy is an extremely broad field, covering a number of types of stories.....

 

[dwndrgn]

The recommendation threads are a good place to start. But just in case they are too daunting to wade through, I suggest Neil Gaiman, Tim Powers and James Blaylock.

 

[Lobolover]

If you like something older,how about Lord Dunsany?

 

[tricia.june]

I've been attempting to make plain in my own posts on the subject, fantasy is an extremely broad field, covering a number of types of stories...

Yes, it is. From Doctorow, to Mieville, to Tolkien, the range of fantasy is astounding, and goes completely unrecognized by so many people, just like that of sci-fi.
Which is why I know there must be books out there that meet my criteria, it's just a matter of me finding them.

If you like something older,how about Lord Dunsany?

Thanks! Just searched Amazon, and it looks great. But I think I might have been unclear. By contemporary, I meant with a contemporary setting, not recently written. Any publication date is fine with me.

Thanks for your help everyone!

 

[Grimward]

Roger Zelazny's Amber series (either one). There are ongoing politics and rather intimidating threats to ways of life that arise within them, but these tend to be sub-plots within the larger framework. Don't confuse these with the more recent works by Betancourt, which are not anywhere near as good as the originals by Zelazny himself. Many of Zelazny's other works fit in your requirements, too, although my two standalone favorites, This Immortal and Damnation Alley, have what I would infer to be a little too much "save the something" going on to be included...

(Presuming the protagonist's self-preservation is an acceptable theme, a few other varied suggestions that aren't already captured above)

Eric Nylund's Dry Water, which was nominated for a World Fantasy Award

Ursula LeGuin's The Left Hand of Darkness, which won both Hugo and Nebula awards in 1969

Sherri Tepper's After Long Silence


Oh, and Welcome to the Chrons, by the way!!! Hope you have many hours of enjoyable exploring herein.

EDIT: Overlooked the "not a contemporary setting" the first time around...depending on how you define contemporary, that might rule out Nylund's offering.

 

[j d worthington]

Well, in the more "classic" realm, you have quite a few of the books of H. Rider Haggard; a fair amount of James Branch Cabell (ironic satire, but fantasy nonetheless); William Morris; Lord Dunsany; E. R. Eddison; Fletcher Pratt (I'd especially recommend The Well of the Unicorn); Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast/Titus books; several of the things by E. C. Vivian, such as Fields of Sleep; Lud-in-the-Mist, by Hope Mirrlees; various things by George MacDonald; Dunsany has been mentioned, but aside from his shorter tales, several of his novels also are of a fantastic nature or have delicate hints of the fantastic, such as The Blessing of Pan; Algernon Blackwood's Jimbo and The Centaur, not to mention quite a few of his novellas, such as "The Man Who Played Upon the Leaf"; and so on....

Several of Andre Norton's books would fit under your description, as well, and the earlier Witch World books, at least, are worth looking into. The first two do deal with such "saving", but not in the usual "quest" mode; while several of the tales are very much personal stories and experiences, rather than far-reaching. Poul Anderson's work is largely of that nature, as well, when he turns his hand to fantasy. Karl Edward Wagner's Kane stories are also well worth looking into, and Kane is often anything but concerned with saving the world... or, for that matter, anyone around him (though this is not always the case....)


The problem is that so many things come to mind, it's difficult to list them all without simply getting bogged down. So, in addition to the threads mentioned above, try these as well:

Ballantine Adult Fantasy series - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Newcastle Forgotten Fantasy Library - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Perhaps with more ideas of the range you're thinking of, more ideas will come to mind. In the meantime, maybe these will supply you with some things you'll enjoy....

 

[Connavar]

If you want to read classic Fantasy that isnt about saving his/hers world, here are four examples you should read.

Robert E. Howard - Conan
Jack Vance - Dying Earth Tales
Poul Anderson - The Broken Sword
Fritz Leiber - Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories

Most of those fantasy are Sword and Sorcery, Heroic Fantasy that is very different from Epic kind of Fantasy you mentioned. They are much more richer stories than what most of their modern kind have become...


Great modern master is David Gemmell. Sure several his stories are quest like but its about much more and great storytelling ability.

I second Tim Powers. Check out The Drawing of The Dark. A very special historical fantasy.

 

[Lobolover]

also,you can read most of Dunsany's early work,including his "Gods of Pegana" and "Time and Gods" on the computer or print it out,via wikisource.

 

[GOLLUM]

To add to my leanred colleague Mr Worthington's suggestion may I suggest Victor Gollancz's Masterwork series for Fantasy and SF. Excellent rerprsentative series covering development of the modern Genre.. Not sure on availabiltiy in the US though..

 

[j d worthington]

To add to my leanred colleague Mr Worthington's suggestion may I suggest Victor Gollancz's Masterwork series for Fantasy and SF. Excellent rerprsentative series covering development of the modern Genre.. Not sure on availabiltiy in the US though..

Ah, yes... I should take to posting that, as well. I won't say they're always easy to find, but they're much more accessible than they used to be, and I'm finding them much more frequently now... sometimes multiple copies in the second-hand bookshops, often in very good condition (remaindered, perhaps?)....

So, to make it somewhat easier:

Fantasy Masterworks from Gollancz: complete series listing

http://www.sfsite.com/lists/orion06.htm

Fantasy Masterworks - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[ratsy]

Well, I recently read "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss and it was great!
Also, like everyone else in the world I would recommend George RR Martins "A song of ice and fire".... Robin Hobbs books the Farseer Trilogy and The Tawny Man Trilogy are spectacular....and best of all these are all completely original ideas and stories with none of the rehashed Feist and Jordan, young man from the village sets out with friends to stop the "devil" form escaping and wreaking havoc crap that we have all read so many times.