Cozy Fantasy?

[Clansman]

How about a really old classic:

The Thousand and One Arabian Nights

These are SUPER cozy.

 

[dwndrgn]

None of these are exactly cuddly, but they are all a very long way from your good ol' cliche-ridden sub-Tolkein Robert Jordanesque extruded fantasy product:

The Good Fairies of New York Martin Millar
The Goblin Reservation Clifford Simak
Little Big John Crowley
Flondrix and Astra Seamus Cullen
The Wallet of Kai Lung Ernest Bramah
Haroun and the Sea of Stories Salman Rushdie

Hitmouse - thanks for the suggestions. The Wallet of Kai Lung I'm familiar with and Little Big has been on my to read list for a while (the library doesn't have it so it has to wait until I find an inexpensive copy). But all the others are definitely new to me, I'll have to check them out!

Montero - our shelves must look a bit similar - I've read all of those as well

Allegra - I've read some Christopher Moore and he is hit or miss with me. Sometimes I just don't get his humor. Dirty Job and Demonkeeping were the two I did enjoy.

 

[Isabella Amaris]

'Cozy fantasy' is a very cool term Hmmmm, two which come to mind are 'Summers at Castle Auburn' by Sharon Shinn, and 'Sorcery and Cecilia/The Enchanted Chocolate Pot' by Patricia C Wrede & Caroline Stevermer. The latter I found to be witty, and humorous too. Fun reads, a bit of saving the world here and there, not too bloody. You might like them! Oh, they're pretty much YA btw.

 

[Isabella Amaris]

How about a really old classic:

The Thousand and One Arabian Nights

These are SUPER cozy.

Love this. One of those books that make one want to curl up and just read.

 

[Sekt]

Not sure if they've been mentioned, but Brian Jacques and Jack Vance may fit the bill.

 

[ratsy]

Oh, and I've also found that there are many older works that fit - the 80s seemed to have a trend for lighthearted and fun fantasies by writers such as DeChancie, Gordon R. Dickson, Christopher Stasheff, Lawrence Watt-Evans. Just in case you guys need some new suggestions as well ;-)

I have read a few of Lawrence Watt-Evans, like The Misenchanted Sword, and the Cyborg and the Socerer...very quick enjoyable reads.

 

[vanye]

How 'bout Alan Dean Foster's Spellsinger series?

or

Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos series?

Both are - well not inconsequential, but very little worldsaving going on there. And neither takes itself too seriously. Of the two, I especially liked the Spellsinger books. Maybe because there's all the right music in these books.

 

[Connavar]

To me when i think of cozy fantasy i think of classic,imaginative fantasy like the ones J.D mentioned. Where violence,heroics isnt the main focus but exploring characters,other issues. Writers who can be grim but still write wonderfully about other things.

I would mention Lord Dunsany for his writing about nature,myths,fable like stories and Jack Vance Dying Earth stories and Fritz Leiber Fafhred and Gray Mouser stories for their wit,great characters and their wonderful use of language.

Cozy fantasy is like those authors to me and not because they are soft,tame like Agatha Christie is cozy mysteries. Their worlds,stories of those authors can be grim but they care far more for other themes,issues.

 

[Gordian Knot]

Did a quick look through and didn't see these mentioned yet. Apologies if they have.

Zenna Henderson's The People books. Short stories for the most part. Very charming, and very cozy. Most stories revolve around outcasts who have strange powers and do not understand why they have these powers and why they are different from everyone else.

A good version to get is Ingathering, which combines all The People stories in one edition.

Islandia by Austin Tappan Wright. Mythical country located near southern Africa. Young man from industrialized America comes to bring technology to a very agrarian society. Finds out his way isn't necessarily the best way.

 

[Gaven]

I know exactly what you mean, and I do think this type of writing is sadly in the past, but Terry Brooks Magical Kingdom of Landover would fit the category in my mind.

Or Robert J Sawyer, but his work tips into SciFi, but I liken it as filled with fantasy elements.

I have to say that I also write what I have come to realize is cozy fantasy, but to follow the rules, I can't share my real name or work. Oh well, try Terry Brooks or Robert J Sawyer. I'll just hope the world starts to long for this blip on the spectrum of what can be a graphic genre.

 

[Extollager]

I think The Wind in the Willows is a book adults can enjoy in the right mood.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Welcome to chronicles, Gaven.

 

[Moggle]

Well most "cozy" I can think of involve saving the world still. Lots of coming of age stuff below. Can be read by YA and adults alike with enjoyment

David Eddings books

Piers Anthony (more humor...no world saving)

Kristin Britain - Green Rider books, good stories, clean fun

Jim Butcher - Codex Alera, big series, large scale with young characters..but very cozy, one of my favorite series of the past few years

Gail Z Martin - read these for some reason...YA'ish and a little "girly"

And just because I cannot help but recommend Brandon Sanderson any chance I get...read the Mistborn books! not what i would call cozy but great

The OP will love the big and long drawn battle scenes in Codex Alera book 1. It's a blood bath of death and mayhem. There is some gang rape going on as well.

 

[Randy M.]

Tamsin by Peter Beagle -- another contemporary fantasy that leans toward horror but in much the way some old 1940s movies do, flirting with it then swerving away; I found it charming.

Has anyone specifically mentioned The Man Who Was Thursday by G. K. Chesteron? Or suggested a collection of Saki's short stories? Or Fancies and Goodnights by John Collier? (For both Saki and Collier, a few stories, like Collier's "Evening Primrose" and "Bird of Prey" are fierce, but there's a great deal of humor and charm in the telling of most of them.)

I'd also second Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch. The initial paragraph in it's off-hand humor reminded me of the cozy mysteries I read as a kid, where Christie or Sayers somehow managed to make murder neat and puzzling rather than bloody and disturbing.


Randy M.