Badmike wrote:The porn reminds me of Norman's Gor novels...it's not even exciting to read about.
HexMapper wrote:Top of the list: Brooks and shannara (this should be the given rather than Lord of the Rings)
jasonw1239 wrote:I am curious if anybody else read the Neal Stephenson System of the World series.Quicksilver, Confusion and System of the World.Very nice late Baroque period piece with a host of characters from that era including Isaac Newton, Gottfried Leibniz and cameos appearances by by Ben Franklin.In some ways it could be considered a historical romance, but it is also a good old rip roaring adventure with elements of science and philosophy.I like his slightly angled look at human nature and intrigue.
jasonw1239 wrote:You are correct the plot is quite thin, but the action and characterization is quite good and fun.I had to keep reading to see what was going to happen to some of the major characters. Parts of the series are a thinly disguised travelogue from the middle east to India and then south-east Asia.This parallels his journey several years ago when he wrote a massive article for Wired magazine about how FLAG (Fiber-Optic Link Around the Globe) was planned and implemented.It started with the genesis of undersea cable laying in the 1800's with Professor William Thomson (Lord Kelvin).His article continued on into modern day fiber optic hardware installations in places as varied as northern Egypt to the jungles of Asia and the unique people who see these projects through from start to finish.I am sure that the size of his baroque cycle series ballooned in size in an attempt to make use of all of his research from that trip.
zander wrote:I'm with you on the Thomas Covenant novels. I just finished the brand new one (Runes of the Earth) and the final series looks to be as good as the first two series were.One of my personal favourites is Elizabeth Moon's Paksennarion trilogy (Deed of Paksenarrion is the trade paperback containing all three) and the two follow-ups. The second book in the trilogy has a lot in common with module T1. She also does the best characterization of a paladin that I've ever read.Sadly, you're right about many of the novels inspired by RPG's. With a few exceptions (TSR's Azure Bonds series comes to mind), most of them aren't worth the effort. I will say that some of WOTC's recent efforts (esp. "The Forsaken House") seem to be raising the bar.
Beyondthebreach wrote:What an interesting choice. You know, I decided to go out and buy this book after reading a review of it in a Dragon magazine. Usually, fantasy books that have a "humorous" theme turn me off, but this was quite a witty and enjoyable read. With A Single Spell was pretty good too. . If I remember correctly. . . it has probably been 15 years since I read either of them.
Badmike wrote:Speaking of ladies' porn, my wife used to love the vampire novels of Laurell Hamilton (who wrote a few TSR novels in her day) when they were hard boiled, violence filled stories with only sexual innuendo. My wife hasn't read them in the last few years because Hamilton made the jump to soft-core porn....each 1000 page book has the Mary-Sue heroine engaging in multi-partner sex with vampires, werewolves, whatevers, and the plot has been stripped down to maybe 50 pages that occurs between screwing (my wife's estimation, not mine). She gave up on her a few books ago, but apparantly Hamilton's stuff is pretty popular. I tried to skim through a few of her later novels (to see what my wife was bitching about) and I must say they are absolute crap of the highest order....you literally cannot last more than a few chapters before you are vomiting blood. The porn reminds me of Norman's Gor novels...it's not even exciting to read about. However, I read the first couple of her books a long time ago, and they were somewhat enjoyable. I can't remember another fantasy/sf/horror writer that has successfully made the switch from that genre to basically soft core porn/romance.Mike B.
Badmike wrote:Just out of curiousity, anyone else enjoy binges in the pulp fiction ocassionally? I myself am hooked on the noir/hard boiled novels of the 20s-50s, writers like Paul Cain, Raymond Chandler, Howard Browne, Cornell Woolrich, Charles Williams, Jim Thompson, David Goodis, Dashiell Hammett, and others. I've long noticed the many similarities between this sort of crime fiction and the fantasy fiction of the time...not surprising, since a lot of the stories share the same authors and same types of magazines (the pulps) during the same time of being created (early 20th century, post WWI). Both also generally deal with the same archetypes (A Quest, A Beautiful Girl In Trouble, A Powerful Villain, A Treasure at the End, etc etc) in the same sort of formulaic device, except like any great literature a master can blow you away with the beauty of the writing (think Howard for fantasy, Chandler for detective fiction). Nothing I like more than pouring a stiff drink or a bottle of beer and settling back to read about a down and out Private dick who operates out of a shabby office on the West or East Coast, a bottle of cheap booze in his bottom drawer, taking a case involving a beautiful woman, dark bad guys, rich scumbags with dark secrets, and who despite talking and acting tough has a stubborn moral code and a toughness that allows him to see a case to it's final conclusion no matter what the cost or body count. Mike B.
Keith the Thief wrote:Don't forget Fredric Brown's mystery stories. They're often overlooked, yet a lot of fun to read.Keith
HermitFromPluto wrote:I don't read much fantasy pulp fiction, but do enjoy old Scifi Magazines from the 50s and 60s.Hope I am not intruding on a conversation here, but I have a pulp related question. I may have mentioned this before, but I used to read a fair amount of fantasy, but found the genre extremely limited. It is the same story over and over. Ordinary person becomes herop, goes on adventure etc. I may try that Fantasy Masterworks series - that is certain to have some good titles I've missed. Anyway, back to the question:Has anyone read any of these dime a dozen, D&D fantasy novels? Are they any good? Or an easy way for bad writers to sell a lot of books? It seems to be the modern day fantasy-pulp? Have these boosted or harmed the genre?I tend to buy books based on positive critical reviews. And critical reviewers obviously don't even read those D&D novels.