Ahira's Hangar

*How* could I forget the His Dark Materials trilogy? :wak Wonderful, wonderful stuff.... And the Harry Potter books, too. Jeez, I'm slipping.... <i></i>

I'm currently in the middle of The Night Land and it rocks! I found it on the net and because it was rather long to read on the screen, I printed it and put it in a big map.

(I will have to think this top ten some time. This is not an easy question.) <i></i>

Well, I have some favorite fantasy novels.. I think I'll have to start with,

Ursula K. Leguin, the Earthsea Series,
Patricia A. McKillip, the Riddle Master of Hed,
Piers Anthony, the Apprentice Adept,
C.S. Lewis, the Cronicles of Narnia,
Melanie Rawn, Dragon Prince,
Stephen R. Lawhead, the Pendragon Cycle,
Michael Morcock, the Elric series,
Robert Jordan, the Wheel of Time,
Niel Hancock, Circle of Light,
Richard Ford, Quest for the Faradawn,
Susan Cooper, the Dark is Rising,

and those that stand alone,

Morgan Llywelyn, Bard, Druid, etc..
Richard Adams, Watership Down,
Peter S. Beagle, the Last Unicorn,
Madeleine L'Engle, A Wrincle in Time,
Robert C. O'Brien, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH,
Antoine de Saint Exupery, the Little Prince,

These are a few of the books I recommend. You can see more at my website users.psln.com/swm
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I view sci fi and fantasy as 1 genre...so you may see some science fiction in there.
1)Chronicles of Thomas Covenant
2)Chronicles of Amber
3)Lord of the Rings
4)A Wizard of Earthsea (not the rest of the the Earthsea Ive read!
5) the Chronicles of Narnia
6) the Hobbit
7) Ender's Game
Wild Cards (vol. 1 at least)
9) Space Trilogy (which is essentially fantasy imo)

Cant think of 10! Further up, and further in!<i></i>

I see this thread again and want to explain what I think caused the Night Land.

The story is set in the distant future where the Sun has long since gone out, but Earth's core is still molten, though cooling gradually. This is not in sync with modern astronomy, but back then they wouldn't know that. Earth's surface is now cold and airless, but there is a great and VERY deep rift valley which is still somewhat in touch with Earth's inner fires, though it is becoming gradually more like Earth's inhospitable surface. This is the Night Land. The walls of the rift valley explain (mostly) why there are no stars. There is another, deeper rift valley in the rift valley, and that valley is close enough to Earth's core that the temperature is comfortable and there are things like trees.

I think the Night Land is in the future of the Earth that was shown to the main character of The House on the Borderland also by Hodgson (a great book BTW). We saw only the surface of the Earth, but it is easy to believe the rift valley of Night Land is off there somewhere. Hodgson's short story The Hog on the other hand explains some things that seem to fit perfectly to the supernatural beings that prey on humans in the Night Land. There may be something else in Hodgson's other works, but I have not read them though I intend to. <i></i>

Alas, I am not as well-read as many of you. The list of what are generally considered to be great books that I haven't read is longer than the great ones that I have read. The not-reads include: Neverness; WOT; ASOIAF; Narnia; any Zalazney; the Startide series; any Gene Wolfe;........

But of what I have read, here's the best. Alphabetical by author. I know that you probably never heard of at least a couple, but I enjoyed them immensely.

Poul Anderson-Hrolf Kraki's Saga
Steven Barnes-The Kundalini Equation
Alice Borchardt-her 3 Werewolf books
Stephen R. Donaldson-The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant
Robert Heinlein-Stranger in a Strange Land
Frank Herbert-The Dune series (particularly the first)
Ursula K. Le Guin-The Earthsea series
Madeleine L'Engle-A Wrinkle in Time
J.R.R. Tolkein-Lord of the Rings and Silmarillion
T.H. White-The Once and Future King
Fist and Faith<i></i>

Still a good list, Fist! He whose desires have been throttled,
who is independent of root,
whose pasture is emptiness-
signless and free-
his path is as unknowable
as the of birds across the heavens.
Dhammapada (93)

Further up, and further in! <i></i>

No Particular order, because I love them ALL

1)The Fionavar Tapestry by GGK(along with every other book he wrote, actually.. I read them all)
2)The Warlord Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell (the BEST Arthurian books I have EVER read.. and I have read a FEW.You owe it to yourselves to check it out)
3)The Guardians of the Flame series by Joel Rosenberg(gotta love Walter Slovotsky and Ellegon)
4)A song of Fire and Ice by G.R.R. Martin... WRITE, George, WRITE!!!!
5)The Chronicles of Amber, although I am only on the second book, it is a new favorite FOR SURE.
6)The Belgariad by David Eddings - an old, comfortable favorite.
7)The Pendragon Cycle by Stephen Lawhead- another Arthurian set that I love dearly.. it connects Atlantis to the legend, which I dig.
The Mists of Avalon as well as Lady of Avalon
9)LOTR
10)Ten is pending deeper thought.




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Watership Down by Richard Adams (my favorite book period)
The Digging Leviathan by James P. Blaylock
The Stress of Her Regard by Tim Powers
Anno Dracula by Kim Newman (dark fantasy, at least)
The Last Coin by James P. Blaylock
The Elfin Ship by James P. Blaylock
On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers
The Iron Dragon's Daughter by Michael Swanwick
A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
When The World Shook by H. Rider Haggard

Is Burroughs pulp sci-fi or fantasy? Some books are just hard to categorize - Zelazny's Creatures of Light and Darkness; Lost Horizon by James Hilton; Frankenstien? ... I would have liked to include Walter Jon Williams' Metropolitan, or The Hollow Earth by Rudy Rucker, but they just feels so much like SF.

I'm also a big fan of Poe, Lovecraft, and Robert E. Howard, but most of their good work is in short fiction.

I've been meaning to hunt down some William Hope Hodgson and M. P. Shiel since they've both always sounded intriguing.

<i>Edited by: AlphSeeker at: 5/15/03 4:36:12 am
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There is a Robert E. Howard topic in the fantasy forum--U really need 2 visit Cthulhu's Corner--we discuss Hodgson and the others u've mentioned there...Burrough's Carter books have always been classified Sci-Fi, I think it's a ridiculous classification... And now Danlo looked in that direction, too. He remembered that snowy owls mate in the darkest part of deep winter, and so along with this beautiful white bird perched in a tree a hundred feet away, he turned to face the sea as he watched and waited.

Ahira, Ahira, he called out silently to the sky. Ahira, Ahira<i>Edited by: danlo60 at: 5/15/03 11:36:13 am
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There are so many very good books out there that really straddle the line between scince fiction, fantasy, and/or horror. I honestly can't figure out whether some of Zelazny is fantasy or science fiction -- some of Marion Zimmer Bradley's stuff, same deal. A lot of Dan Simmons stuff could be classified as either fantasy, science fiction, OR horror. Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
****Tavern Wench of DOGMA, the Defenders of George Martin's Art****<i></i>

Lists are always tough due to genre crossing etc (limited to 10, and trying to maintain as little as SF as possible):

1. Gormenghast - Mervyn Peake

2. Cornelius Quartet - Michael Moorcock

3. Jerusalem Quartet - Edward Whittmore

4. Viriconium sequence - M. John Harrison

5. The Master & Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov

6. Mother London - Michael Moorcock

7. The Chess Garden - Brooks Hansen

8. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

9. Invisible Cities - Italo Calvino

10. The Castle - Franz kafka Check out my Blog: The Bodhisattva

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My list (excepting the Master Tolkien)
1-Otherland by Tad Williams (It may be Science Fiction or Fantasy, as one seed it. The ultimate virtual reality saga.Orlando would be a God in Neverness' Universe)
2- Wraeththu by Storm Constantine Erotic and magical, it tells of hermaphrodite magical beings that evolve from post-apocalypse humanity. Cal, one of the protagonists, is somewhat similar to Hanuman. The protagonist of the sixth book, Darquiel, has some similarities with Danlo. Both are wild and special, and eager for knowledge)
3- Elric of Melnibonè saga of Michael Moorcock. I need not expand on this, I think
4-Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser's Nehwon saga by Fritz Leiber Magnificent fantasy duo!
5- The dancers at the End of Time by Michael Moorcock Another fantasy-SF overlap. Decidedly cosmic saga.Bardo would have loped The End of Time characters!
6- The Avalon saga by Marion Zimmer Bradley. The Mists of Avalon is a classic!
7- Imajica by Clive Barker. Very mystic, and full of imagination and zany ideas!
8- The BONE saga by Jeff Smith, Yes, It's an illustrated novel. so what? It's simply wonderful!
9- Those Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullmann. Way better than Harry Potter!
10- The Nightrunner Series by Lynn Fflewellyng. I love Alec and Seregil!

"Don't believe anything you hear, but don't disbelieve anything,either"<i></i>