Ahira's Hangar

Even tho Fantasy Finders seems 2 b associated w/Amazon.com--here r their readers/members votes 4 the current Top Ten Fantasies as of 6-6-02. Probably a little controversial---------------I thought it might lead 2 an interesting discussion:

1. J.R.R. Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings 1056
2. Robert Jordan: The Wheel of Time 834
3. Raymond E. Feist: The Riftwar Saga 406
4. Tad Williams: Memory, Sorrow and Thorn 290
5. David Eddings: The Belgariad 261
6. Terry Goodkind: The Sword of Truth 248
7. Robin Hobb: The Farseer Saga 201
8. Stephen Donaldson: The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant
9. George R.R. Martin: A Song of Ice and Fire 163
10. Terry Brooks: Shannara series 124
I say toss those Brooks books right out of here, right now!!!!!
11. Dragonlance: Chronicles 111
12. Roger Zelazny: Amber series 96
13. Anne McCaffrey: Pern series 87
14. Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman: The Death Gate Cycle 86
15. Janny Wurts & Raymond E. Feist: Empire series 85
16. Guy Gavriel Kay: The Fionavar Tapestry 81
17. J.R.R. Tolkien: The Hobbit 79
18. Katherine Kerr: Deverry series 77
19. Terry Pratchett: Discworld series 76
20. Guy Gavriel Kay: Tigana 75
21. C.S. Lewis: The Chronicles of Narnia 71
22. Ursula K. LeGuin: The Earthsea Trilogy 68
23. Melanie Rawn: Dragon Prince/Dragon Star 66
24. David Eddings: The Malloreon 63
25. J.V. Jones: The Book of Words 51
others:
26. R.A. Salvatore: The Dark Elf Trilogy
27. C.S. Friedman: The Coldfire Trilogy 45
28. David Eddings: The Elenium 42
29. Raymond E. Feist: The Serpentwar Saga
30. Stephen Donaldson: Mordant's Need 41
31. Jack Vance: Lyonesse series
32. Andrzej Sapkowski: Saga o Wiedzminie ("The Witcher Saga")
33. Mercedes Lackey: Last Herald-Mage Trilogy 40
34. Elizabeth Moon: The Deed of Paksenarrion
35. L.E. Modesitt, Jr: The Recluce series
36. Katherine Kurtz: Deryni series 35
37. Stephen Lawhead: The Pendragon Cycle
38. Stephen Lawhead: The Song of Albion
39. R.A. Salvatore: Icewind Dale Saga 33
40. David Gemmell: The Drenai Saga 32
41. Stephen King: The Dark Tower Series
42. Gene Wolfe: The Book of the New Sun 30
43. Michael Moorcock: The Elric Saga 29
44. Glen Cook: The Black Company 26
45. J.R.R. Tolkien: The Silmarillion
46. Mervyn Peake: The Gormenghast Novels
47. Fritz Leiber: Lankhmar series
48. Patricia McKillip: Hed series
49. Marion Zimmer Bradley: The Mists of Avalon
50. John Crowley: Little, Big

<i>Edited by: danlo60 at: 11/20/02 2:57:53 pm
</i>

Personally, I like Brooks. But I cannot stand Goodkind, he sux i think.

Martin should be in the top 5, easily.

Also should be in the top 15- The Silmarillion.

I don't like Eddings very much either, he kinna sux. What crazy person watches soccer at four in the mornin?<i></i>

These r just their member's votes, that's all: King Mudd by saying u don't like Brooks and Eddings u just passed the ultimate Pilot's test--u r now 1 of our most favored and honored Seeker of the Ineffable Flame! And all u have 2 do is tell us u can't stand Jordan either! WoT is <i> somewhat</i> good but his true Fantasy stuff stinks 2 high heaven! I've heard good things about Kay, Kerr and Pratchett, though (ps thanx 4 the warning about Goodkind!). Mathematics is a game. It's pieces are the axioms we create, and it's rules our logic. That mathematics is occasionally useful to mechanics and pilots is accidental -Mahavira Lal, third Lord Cantor<i>Edited by: danlo60 at: 7/14/02 8:52:52 pm
</i>

lol

In my room I have a bookcase. And I only let the best stay on my bookcase.

This is wuts on it:

ASOIAF
LOTR
The Sil
The Hobbit
Unfinished Tales
Ender's Game
Speaker for the Dead
The Natural by Bernard Malamud
Of Mice and Men
Catcher In The Rye
The Golden Compass
The Godfather
A couple SM Stirlin books
A couple Turtledv books
The Stand
Jack Whyte's stuff
and a couple Terry Brooks(soon to be offed)

Until two days ago, WOT was part of this entourage, but I had to make room. But they are so frigging big I had nowhere to put them. So I cleaned out my dresser and made m'self a drawer w/ nuthin in it. I put WOT and about 100 magazines in it.

Now I expect that I'll end up putting Donaldson and Erikson on there as well if they are as good as everyone insists. Feist too, and maybe I'll read the stuff to which this board is dedicatd. What crazy person watches soccer at four in the mornin?<i></i>

Oh I c that I missed that u do like Brooks! I agree but I also don't agree--The thing about Terry Brooks that drives me nuts is that he always starts w/a pretty good book--like The Sword of Shanarra, even if it was somewhat of a copy of LOTR, and Running With the Demon--both books left me hungry 4 more--then BOTH series went progressively downhill from there--when I read the last book in the Demon (or The Knight of the Realm) series, I LOVED Demon btw, it was SO, SO bad it made me wish I had never read anything of Brooks in the 1st place Mathematics is a game. It's pieces are the axioms we create, and it's rules our logic. That mathematics is occasionally useful to mechanics and pilots is accidental -Mahavira Lal, third Lord Cantor<i></i>

Discworld should be much higher up on that list.

~Foamy~ <i></i>

Donaldson and GRRM are way too low. And as for The Silmarillion and Erikson - what's wrong with these people.

King Mudd, I'm thinking of using my old WOT books as cavity wall insulation. Aure entuluva !<i></i>

I totally agree Beren!! Mathematics is a game. It's pieces are the axioms we create, and it's rules our logic. That mathematics is occasionally useful to mechanics and pilots is accidental -Mahavira Lal, third Lord Cantor<i></i>

Danlo -

Lets pray King Theoden doesn't land with the words "I like Eye of the World".

Mind you Cali's getting into the dreaded series. Despite many many warnings Aure entuluva !<i></i>

and then he'll say--oh Neverness and The Lightstone r to complicated! Ah, I'm not worried once he meets Bardo he'll b hooked (and that's w/in the 1st 50pages)! The power of ahimsa is not just the readiness to die. It is the willingness to live. To live utterly without fear - this is a fearsome thing. <i></i>

I keep my books under a cofee table I have:
Lord of the Rings
the Hobbit
the Silmarillion(havent even read it...)
the Chronicles of Narnia
Out of the Silent Planet
the Screwtape Letters
Ender's Game
the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant in paperback
a compilation of fantasy stories and a seperate compilation of sci/fi
soon to be....A Wizard of Earthsea The dead pay the debts of the living. <i></i>

In my comp room is, Lord Foul's Bane, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, 2 ASOIAF books, Prince Caspian, Sign of the Unicorn by Zelazny and James Stoddard's The High House.

On the bookshelf is The Donaldson Fantasy/Sci Fi collections, a bunch of Brin books, Hyperion, 4 Walter Jon Williams books, the Neverness Series, Snow Crash, The Essential Ellison, 2 P. K. Dick books, 2 Otherland books, The Lord of The Rings and The Stand.

In the garage, or my studio, is Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, Frank Herbert and Assimov stuff...

I now have these signed copies:
A Game of Thrones
The Illearth War
and A Medicine for the Melancoly by Bradbury

my next goal is 2 get a signed copy of either The Rift or Aristoi by my, sorta, NM neighbor, Walter Jon Williams...
If the brain were so simple we could understand it, we would be so simple we couldn't.
Lyall Watson
<i>Edited by: danlo60 at: 11/21/02 5:32:35 pm
</i>

More or less deserve to be there:
Tolkien*
Williams*
Hobb
Donaldson*
Martin (I haven't read him but he has a good reputation)
Zelazny*
Weis & Hickman (not great literature, but Deathgate was ok diverting fluff)[*]
Pratchett*
LeGuin*

More or less completely undeserving:
Jordan
Feist
Eddings (the worst of the lot)
Goodkind<*>
Brooks[*]
McCaffrey (based on the novella, Runner of Pern, in Legends)
Kay (IMHO, I know many won't agree)
Rawn (girly relationship soap opera fantasy - I hate that kind of stuff by default but I have read Dragon Prince)

Not classified:
Wurts & Feist (haven't read this, but Wurts is a better writer than Feist)
Kerr (not read)
Lewis (liked way back but fear the overt allegory would now make me puke as I found it a bit much even as a child)
Jones (have read but am divided about it, almost but not quite put it on the good list)

*in my bookshelf
[*] another book by same author is in my bookshelf
<*> in my bookshelf, of which I am duly ashamed <i></i>

Nerdanel, you ARE a very avid reader! Dont quite agree w/the whole Lewis thing though.... The dead pay the debts of the living. <i></i>

I lent my 4 Earthsea books 2 a co-worker 2 years ago and never saw them again, sniff...
If the brain were so simple we could understand it, we would be so simple we couldn't.
Lyall Watson
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