Hello Everyone!

[Galliana]

My name is Galliana and I am new to the Fantasy World...

My boyfriend has just had his first Fantasy Fiction published on Amazon and I read it prior to publication and absolutely loved it and am hooked...

Any recommendations for a new fantasy girl appreciated.. I need to start slowly!!!

Nice to meet you all!!

 

[Brian G Turner]

Welcome to chronicles.

I've moved this thread to the General Book Discussion board as it'll be easier to get recommendations.

However, first suggestion would be to raid your b/f's book collection, as I should imagine the authors that influenced his work will be in there to start with.

 

[Galliana]

Ahhhh, thank you, I wasn't sure if I was in the right place!

Unfortunately our book collection is in storage as we have recently moved and there was no room for the mountain of books etc....

But you are right, it is probably easier just to get him to recommend...

I thought this way would be more fun

 

[chrispenycate]

If you read your way through the list in http://www.sffchronicles.co.uk/forum/10103-fantasy-recommendations-for-the-unenlightened-2-a.html , you'll probably have a basis on which to request further elucidation. Unless, of course, you class all speculative fiction under fantasy, in which case you have a whole extra list to peruse.

Turns away. "Hey, this isn't in introductions. Should I welcome and warn anyway?"

"Can't see how it could do any harm."

Welcome into the most fantastic region in the already none-too-disbelief-suspending web wide wold. This particular site is addictive, time consuming and sanity ablative.

You have been duly warned.

 

[Kylara]

A good time to ask my important question methinks...

Do you like dragons?

If yes, then excellent, and I can give some good dragony stories, if not, I'll still give dragony stories, because everyone loves dragons, even if they don't know it yet :wink:

 

[kshRox]

What do you like?
Fantasy? Horror? Science Fiction?
Do you like plot driven stories or character driven?
Aliens? Demons? Fairies and Imps? Interdimensional Travellers?
Humor? Deadpan? Suspense? Whimsical? Erotic?

 

[Galliana]

Hello - thanks for the replies!

James' book has magic, fighting, weird monstery kind of beings.. It starts with 3 seemingly normal kids who are thrust into a world of magic and stuff..

I'm not describing it very well! lol I tried to post a link to it but I need to post more to be allowed to....

Re Dragons - I'm not sure, I think I would like something I can relate to in a small way with all the Fantasy surrounding it?

Sorry if that's not helpful!!

 

[Galliana]

Turns away. "Hey, this isn't in introductions. Should I welcome and warn anyway?"

"Can't see how it could do any harm."

Welcome into the most fantastic region in the already none-too-disbelief-suspending web wide wold. This particular site is addictive, time consuming and sanity ablative.

You have been duly warned.

 

[Galliana]

What do you like?
Fantasy? Horror? Science Fiction?
Do you like plot driven stories or character driven?
Aliens? Demons? Fairies and Imps? Interdimensional Travellers?
Humor? Deadpan? Suspense? Whimsical? Erotic?

I liked the Demon bits, suspense, a bit of humour, I do like to know my characters

 

[The Judge]

I'm not describing it very well! lol I tried to post a link to it but I need to post more to be allowed to....

There's a reason for that -- in order to make life difficult for spammers, no one may link to any outside site, no matter how reputable, until he/she has over 15 counted posts. However, linking -- or attempting to link -- to the site of a self-published author even thereafter is not allowed except to very well-established members. That's because we don't allow self-promotion, or promotion of friends/family/whoever, except to members who have been here a while and who properly contribute to the forums. (And that prohibition includes any promotional activity even short of attempting to link.)

While I'm here, you're not to know as you're so new, but we discourage consecutive posting. I know it's different on other forums, so it's undoubtedly confusing, but we prefer one long post rather than many small ones, even when responding to several others. There's a multi-quote button next to the ordinary one which allows you to quote from several posts at once.


Re demons and suspense and humour -- the Harry Dresden books by Jim Butcher are a good fit for all three. I enjoyed the first two books of the series but wasn't so keen on the third, and can't speak of the others as I haven't got round to them yet.

 

[Galliana]

Oooops - sorry!

I just posted a response and then noticed a couple of direct questions I wanted to quote from, I run my own Vbulletin board so do understand..

Not here to shamelessly plug James' book - just here to find out more from them that know!

Oh I noticed you are in Hampshire - UK?

Editing this post as I don't want to break the rules again..

I have just ordered
'A Song of Ice and Fire (1) - A Game of Thrones (Reissue)'



Any good?

 

[The Judge]

Oh I noticed you are in Hampshire - UK?

Yep. There are one or two of us around, and more still in neighbouring counties. We haven't yet formed the South Coast Mafia but it's in the works if we can ever get Mouse to stop chewing straw long enough to be our hit-rodent.

 

[Galliana]

I am in Hampshire too.... in a small village outside Andover....

Small Web World isn't it?

I am up for a mafia position when you are ready to form!!

 

[Kylara]

I'll just drop Anne McCaffrey and her PERN novels in here (dragons abound) but very characters driven, a nice entry to dragons I think...and I'll also drop some longer more "epic"ish fantasy in there, what with you jumping in with GRRM!

Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy,
Brent Weeks' Night Angel Trilogy,
and Peter V Brett's The Painted Man and The Desert Spear (there are more of them coming out soon! Yay!)

Brett is very demony, I enjoyed it very much, a nice introduction to multiple PoVs I think...Mistborn is original, extremely well written and with an excellent cast...and Weeks has one of my favourite character developments ever in it, and a nice load of fantasy magic styles...

Humour you say? Look no further than Pratchett...(A quick note: having a lot of Pratchett loving friends, we all agreed the best way to start with him is to buy a number of his books: namely the first Rincewind one, the first Witches one, the first proper Death one and the first Vimes one, and to get newbies to try them all without giving up...many people aren't fans of Rincewind, but he begins the entire Discworld set (there are numerous internal sets too) and that put a couple of friends off him till I showed them some of the others) Pratchett put a lot of references in his books, so the more you read, the more of the references you'll get...

I'll have another think and try and put some other good starters in, and send another couple of questions your way:
Are you looking for modern/classic/either/both?
How long are you thinking? (book length wise)
Do you have preference for stand alone or series?
What books (any type) have you liked?

Hope that helped


Oh and Hampshire is the greatest place to live...(especially places with old names in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by Downs) and I think the Mafia plan is most excellent, count me in!

 

[Galliana]

Hello - thanks for the info and welcome!

I am quite ecclectic in my tastes, although I was thinking in the shower this morning why I was always adverse to Fantasy - I think it was the boy in my class aged about 12 who bought in those figures you spend hours painting and then play with along with a dice...

Bless him - he was very sweet but to a 12 year old girl, it was very dull and a bit (whispers) weird....

I feel very mean now I have boy children of my own who also play with them (Warhammer?).

Anyway.. I will read most thngs - Kay Scarpettas were a favourite - but I am finding them more and more dull now.. I read Phillipa Gregory as a young Adult with the Wideacre books - I like Thrillers, True Crime, Psychology books, I read the 50 shades books in a week and yes *blush* loved them - I will give anything a go really but I do like strong characters and a good plot...

My middle son goes to school the other side of the Wiltshire Downs, there are some great names out there - I have a picture of one once I am allowed to post pictures/links!! hehe

Edited for book length - I will read anything really - but I must admit the LOTR books make me wilt with fear!!!

 

[Kylara]

If you read to/with your children, (depending on how old they are)I'd say grab some Eddings (start with the Belgariad series) and read a bit of that with them. It's pretty easy, fun, it has a good world and a nice central plot of characters, a very easy start to fantasy books. Sadly they are lacking in dragons I used it to get our family friend's cousin more into fantasy and away from that a terribly overdramatic series he was reading at the time (I was asked to find him something) and now he is a fantasy convert...good springboard fantasy series...

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, is excellent (I'm waiting on a paperback right size to appear on my birthday for the second one of these)

LOTR is well worth it...grab it as an e-book if you don't want the size of it staring at you :wink: although I just love my massive copy, wafer thin pages and tiny writing, and still immense! One of the greatest books ever written...
Try The Hobbit much shorter, but just as wonderful (and it has a dragon in it )

 

[Galliana]

Thank you, you have been very friendly and helpful

 

[Mouse]

Alrighters? Hit-rodent, eh? I'll fetch me pitch fork.

I recommend Neil Gaiman. Anything by Neil Gaiman.