Xaxaxe wrote:Badmike wrote:Greenwood's stuff is always way too over the top to be taken seriously.Ed Greenwood gets the most consistently poor reviews of any author I've ever looked up over at Amazon. And that includes every genre I'm interested in: SF/F, history, sports, music, biography, etc. Even the Realms fanboys can't stand the way the guy writes, apparently ...
Badmike wrote:Greenwood's stuff is always way too over the top to be taken seriously.
Badmike wrote:I haven't read many of the later Forgotten Realms novels so I don't know if the tales got better, worse or whatever.Mike B.
I don't remember the name or collection, but I think Salvatore's most intriguing short story was one where Drizzt is hired to find a goblin that has escaped it's "owners" who are using it for slave labor.
bombadil wrote:As I said before "Red Blades of Black Cathay" is one of my all-time favorite Howard stories.
Xaxaxe wrote:bombadil wrote:As I said before "Red Blades of Black Cathay" is one of my all-time favorite Howard stories.Wow, am I glad I decided to skim back through this thread, as I missed this entry before. "Red Blades" is simply outstanding, and is easily my favorite REH story.Some stories just grab you — there's no other way to explain it. "Red Blades" has grabbed me about five times now, and each time I've read it in one sitting.Highly recommended, for those interested, and readily available in a number of anthologies.
Xaxaxe wrote:Comes out tomorrow in stores everywhere!Amazon just mailed me mine; due here Wednesday. And the new season debuts June 11. Life can be good.
Lewisexi wrote:No mention of Terry Pratchett? I know you wouldn't run a DnD adventure from one of his plots (well not a serious one one anyway!) but I still he's a wonderful writer. Perhaps you folks consider him a comedy author rather than fantasy? Fair enough if you do I see your point I've got 500+ fantasy novels and I enjoy most of the authors folks have mentioned here but would I would like to see more of is more fantasy based away from Western history, folklore and morality. All too often, for example, you'll read a novel and new race xxxx is introduced and you're left thinking "Here come the Vikings/Knights of King Arthur/etc" which is a shame when there's so many other cultures to borrow from that most readers would be hard placed to spot the references to. Perhaps fantasy as a genre needs these references in order to function as a story-telling medium or maybe what is considered a fantasy work are too established to permit too much deviation from a set of, if you'll forgive the pun, un-written rules. If you guys have some good suggestions of books I'm missing out on that aren't based on a psuedo-medieval Europe I'm all ears!
MShipley88 wrote:No, Badmike, I have not even heard of Misericorde. If it is outside of the five paperbacks I have not seen it. Darkness Weaves was the first fantasy book I bought after reading Tolkien. It was a jarring read...the gore shocked me...the ruthless and hideous evil...I tried hiding the book from my mom, it was so lurid to my 14 year-old eyes. But you gotta love "heroic" fantasy when the sidekick is named "Arlebas the Assassin" and he is horrifed by the book Kane is reading. I believe the Karl Edward Wagner Conan story was Road of Kings.(Just a ragged memory of a special edition paperback). Like a lot of the Conan pastiche material, it was not very good. One thing that interests me about those pastiche stories is how many of them fail to get Conan. The Cimmerian does not save the world. He does not travel to other worlds. He does not slip between dimensions or stumble about in search of magical solutions...unless he absolutely has to. There are no floating castles of ice or faery realms. IF you read the REH Conan stories you find that in most of them Conan has a logical, material world to rove about...and he is usually after money. Another thing they can't seem to get right is Conan's age. Robert Jordan has 18 year-old Conan acting like 40 year-old Conan. Anyway, Kane is a creation to rival Conan. Too bad there wasnt' more. Wagner makes us cheer for the badguy and he usually manages to jerk us by the emotional strings while he's doing it. Kane is also quite evil, but he always seems to be just a little bit less evil than his adversaries...especially the "good" ones. I think Undertow is the only Kane story where he is entirely unsympathetic...and the irony in that story is wrenching. Everyone go out and find Kane. He's totally worth your time:Darkness Weaves, Dark Crusade, Bloodstone, Death Angel's Shadow and Night Winds. If you can only afford one book, get Night Winds. One other thought...the Kane artwork, by Frazetta, was some of that artist's best.Mark