Classic fantasy?

[Arwena]

There was a book, Tales Before Tolkien," edited by Douglas A. Anderson, which came out in 2005. I can't say much about it, I only saw it, but didn't buy nor read it. However, it might be of interest.

 

[j d worthington]

Well, Teresa, a fair number of the books and writers you mention in your later posts are mentioned in the threads to which I included links -- and I did that to avoid repetition. The Gormenghast books, Excalibur, The Last Unicorn, The Charwoman's Shadow (and, for that matter, Don Rodriguez and The King of Elfland's Daughter) are all part of the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series as well. If I recall correctly, the Earthsea books are also brought up in one or the other of those threads. So they weren't forgotten...

F.E.: I think you'd find Blackwood quite interesting and, as Teresa says, he wrote all kinds of stories. Though long known as "the ghost man" because of some of his more famous tales and the radio programme where he read ghost stories, his works hinge more on the mystical and numinous than simply the scare. He has his flops, but he also has an enormous percentage of darned fine work. I'd highly recommend Incredible Adventures, for instance:

Incredible Adventures By Algernon Blackwood - Hippocampus Press

though, when it comes to his novels, Jimbo and The Centaur are also worth looking into. The latter is once again in print:

Amazon.com: The Centaur (9781557424624): Algernon Blackwood: Books

whilst Jimbo, sadly, is not (though, with some diligent searching, you can find copies of it around for a reasonable price).

Several collections of his stories are in print, however, including a very nice selection put out by Penguin, with annotations by S. T. Joshi.

I would also heartily second the recommendation of Tanith Lee, either before or after the date mentioned.

There is also, as I believe has been mentioned, Patricia McKillip, who has done some marvelous work:

Novels by McKillip

as well as R. A. MacAvoy (I am especially partial to Tea with the Black Dragon and The Book of Kells):

R. A. MacAvoy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

and Barry Hughart's work:

Barry Hughart - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(try Bridge of Birds, for a start)....

 

[murphy]

Just to add another name to the list, Evangeline Walton might be of interest.

Evangeline Walton - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Well, Teresa, a fair number of the books and writers you mention in your later posts are mentioned in the threads to which I included links -- and I did that to avoid repetition.

Links are a nice adjunct for those who read them, JD, but since not everyone follows them and/or reads them all of the way through, I don't consider them part of the conversation here.

In any case, several things have already been mentioned several times here, as well as in the places to which you kindly provided links, so I remain surprised that, with all this repetition, the books I mentioned did not come up here earlier.

though, when it comes to his novels, Jimbo and The Centaur are also worth looking into. The latter is once again in print:

I've read The Centaur within the last month, and while parts of it are truly wonderful and amply demonstrate Blackwood's particular skills and insights as a writer, much of it so endlessly repetitive (I felt ready to commit an act of violence if O'Malley kept belaboring some of his points much longer -- and yet he continued and I somehow restrained myself), I wouldn't really recommend it to anyone as an introduction to Blackwood. His short fiction gives a much better idea of his range. Among those of his novels that I have read, I most admired The Human Chord, but it was somewhat spoiled for me by a rather saccharine love story and a particularly drippy female character.

 

[j d worthington]

Links are a nice adjunct for those who read them, JD, but since not everyone follows them and/or reads them all of the way through, I don't consider them part of the conversation here.

Perhaps you're right on that; I may simply have been naïve in posting the link (and the ones within that thread). But, as it did provide an already existing answer -- or set of answers -- and, given the amount of instances where such is used to provide easily accessible answers, I tend to view it as very much a part of the conversation with the internet. (Nothing wrong with bringing the titles in, either; it is just that either one seems a viable response to me....)

I've read The Centaur within the last month, and while parts of it are truly wonderful and amply demonstrate Blackwood's particular skills and insights as a writer, much of it so endlessly repetitive (I felt ready to commit an act of violence if O'Malley kept belaboring some of his points much longer -- and yet he continued and I somehow restrained myself), I wouldn't really recommend it to anyone as an introduction to Blackwood. His short fiction gives a much better idea of his range. Among those of his novels that I have read, I most admired The Human Chord, but it was somewhat spoiled for me by a rather saccharine love story and a particularly drippy female character.

I'll admit that it has been quite a few years since I last read The Centaur, but I was quite taken with it at the time. Perhaps I'd come closer to your opinion now -- I should know within the next year or two, as it's scheduled for a reread about then, along with a lot of Blackwood's other work. However, I suppose I would agree that it wouldn't be the best introduction to Blackwood, but once someone has read some of his shorter works, I think, given the impression I've retained after all these years, I'd still recommend it....

 

[Connavar]

Blackwood,Peake and co are old news to me since i have read alot post about him in weird fiction thread,HPL essay on supernatural horror thread.

Plus isnt Peake worshipped by many fantasy greats ? I keep reading about him when i check out other authors.

I just havent worked my way to them. After i read my Dunsany book its time for Peake famous books,Blackwood collections by wordsworth.

 

[AE35Unit]

Yea I wouldn't mind trying Peake's Gormenghast books too. There was a Tv production based on them last year but I missed it.

 

[Fried Egg]

Several collections of his stories are in print, however, including a very nice selection put out by Penguin, with annotations by S. T. Joshi.

I just spotted this in our local Waterstones. They've got a three for two offer on all classics (in which they have many of the Penguin classic). I didn't get it though because I couldn't think of what other two to get.

 

[j d worthington]

Yea I wouldn't mind trying Peake's Gormenghast books too. There was a Tv production based on them last year but I missed it.

There's some disagreement about that production; some (such as myself) were quite pleased with the degree to which they attempted to remain faithful to Peake's tale and vision (even though they -- wisely, I think -- left out the third book, which takes a completely different direction and would have caused enormous confusion), while others were quite alienated by it. Either way, I'd say go for Peake's books first, as the prose there is absolutely stunning... and believe me, you'll have a true feeling for Gormenghast castle as a character and a force, once you've read his work....

 

[nomadman]

I just spotted this in our local Waterstones. They've got a three for two offer on all classics (in which they have many of the Penguin classic). I didn't get it though because I couldn't think of what other two to get.

If you can find them, try the two MR James collections, or alternatively American Supernatural Fiction and the Dunsany collection In the Land of Time. Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House is also in the Penguin Classics range, as are three volumes of Lovecraft. Well worth getting any of them, as they're all (with the exception of The Haunting...) annotated.

 

[Feybound]

I saw online today a best of Michael Moorcock. Certainly his Elric stuff is brilliant. Also, how about Piers Anthony?? Are they old enough to be considered classic?

 

[j d worthington]

I saw online today a best of Michael Moorcock. Certainly his Elric stuff is brilliant. Also, how about Piers Anthony?? Are they old enough to be considered classic?

Moorcock varies in quality, and I'd have to disagree that all of the Elric stuff is "brilliant"... though some of it undeniably is. (The rest rather run the gamut from enjoyable but seriously flawed to rather good... with perhaps one that could be considered "meh".) The "Best of" collection has little of that sort of thing, focusing more on his other types of fiction.

Piers? I'm not sure I'd count anything in his fantasy as "classic", no matter what the age... though I may be being a bit harsh there. But certainly the bulk of it is anything but.... (Enjoyable? That depends. "Classic"? I can't see it standing up against those that are.)

 

[Connavar]

Well his first Elric novel sure wasn't brilliant

It knocked me way out of the MM phase i was on heh.

 

[Feybound]

You may have a point there. I fear the rosy glow of time is clouding my judgement. Though That said, Piers Anthonys Incarnations series was grand fun However if I was to hold up anything of his as 'classic' it would be Tarot.

 

[Feybound]

Well his first Elric novel sure wasn't brilliant

It knocked me way out of the MM phase i was on heh.

I am now inspired to read Moorcock again to see if i have it all wrong

 

[j d worthington]

I'm not at all sure there's anything wrong with the "first" Elric novel (chronologically speaking), save that it isn't as strong as some of the later -- or perhaps the earlier, as I've not yet read the graphic novel Making of a Sorcerer -- tales featuring his famed albino, and therefore perhaps not the best place to begin. (The story which originally got me interested in Moorcock was "The Jade Man's Eyes", also an Elric story, written much later than the original tales, but which I still think is one of the moodiest and grimmest of the stories in the series... though that last is lessened somewhat by some of the revisions to it later on, for which see Weird of the White Wolf.) There are some very interesting things about that novel, and you certainly learn a good deal more about Melniboné, its place in the world, and the backstory concerning Elric, Yrkoon, and Cymoril, which sets the stage for the apocalyptic events which follow later.

Still, I can see where, after reading some of Moorcock's other s&s, this one would seem a bit tame....

Feybound: I don't know if you've seen it or not, but we have another member who is doing "a year of reading Moorcock" at the moment. You might want to take a look at what he has to say. I must admit that I'd welcome some good discussions of Moorcock's work on the boards....

 

[Fried Egg]

I've read only the "original" Elric saga and while it is a little variable in quality, I think that taken as a whole it is top notch.

I wonder though, Connavar, if you liked the first part so little whether you will enjoy the rest of the series any better.

 

[Connavar]

Since i thought the novel was too much of a "fix up" and the pacing ruined the quality writing i saw at times, i'm not staying away from trying Elric fantasy masterworks collection.

A library in stockholm has it, i will read it after i finish my current library books.

 

[j d worthington]

Since i thought the novel was too much of a "fix up" and the pacing ruined the quality writing i saw at times, i'm not staying away from trying Elric fantasy masterworks collection.

Eh? A "fix-up"? We are talking about the novel, Elric of Melniboné, yes? In which case that one was not a fix-up, but an original novel (though published in the U.S. under the confusing variant title, The Dreaming City, which was the title of the original Elric short story....). Some of the later books are, indeed, "fix-ups" if seen as novels rather than collections (The Sailor on the Seas of Fate, Weird of the White Wolf, Bane of the Black Sword, even The Sleeping Sorceress/The Vanishing Tower -- though that last is much tighter as a novel than the others; in fact, it is among my favorite of the "original" Elric saga; i.e., the six-volume set put out in the late 1970s), but not Elric of Melniboné. Though, as I say, it certainly has its weaknesses....

(Stormbringer! may be considered a "fix-up", as it was -- originally -- a revised version of four stories published after those contained in the original Stealer of Souls collection; but this is debatable, as -- iirc -- Moorcock viewed it as a novel which was serialized, but in the end it had to be somewhat revised and shortened for book publication... it has now been restored to its original length.)

The ones which came later than that (The Fortress of the Pearl, The Revenge of the Rose, and the like), were, again, original novels, and considerably different in tone and contain more polished prose....

 

[AE35Unit]

Would you class White Fang by Jack London,which I'm starting next, classic fantasy?