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Why Mieville, if I may ask? *NM* Ghavrel Send a noteboard - 04/12/2009 08:33:43 PM
A valid enough list, although I still need to read LITTLE, BIG.

My list of six key fantasy authors (not individual books, that's ridiculously limiting) would be:

J.R.R. Tolkien
Gene Wolfe
Jack Vance
China Mieville
George R.R. Martin
Terry Pratchett

Probably nothing too cutting-edge there. I'm also thinkin Mervyn Peake should be on there but am not too sure which of the rest I'd lose to make room for him. Robert Holdstock and Robert E. Howard would be bubbling under, Neil Gaiman as well (for SANDMAN).

My SF ranking would be:

Kim Stanley Robinson
David Brin
Alastair Reynolds
Peter F. Hamilton
Alfred Bester
Frank Herbert

That's a more a list of who is good rather than 'influential/important', in which case obviously Clarke, Asimov, Heinlein and the whole enchilada would be on there. Roger Zelazny and Ian McDonald are bubbling under on that list.

In the case of both lists, ask me tomorrow and I'll give a different answer.
"We feel safe when we read what we recognise, what does not challenge our way of thinking.... a steady acceptance of pre-arranged patterns leads to the inability to question what we are told."
~Camilla

Ghavrel is Ghavrel is Ghavrel

*MySmiley*

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Six best fantasy novels? - 04/12/2009 05:54:54 AM 1647 Views
Best fantasy authors - 04/12/2009 07:01:48 AM 1344 Views
Have you read Robin Hobb? *NM* - 04/12/2009 04:01:23 PM 664 Views
I have, and wasn't really impressed - 04/12/2009 10:08:25 PM 1155 Views
You definitely read the wrong stuff first - 05/12/2009 12:12:07 AM 1260 Views
Agreed. - 09/12/2009 09:55:12 PM 1160 Views
Only read two. Book of the New Sun definitely deserves that spot. Mieville, not so much. - 04/12/2009 08:06:45 AM 1330 Views
Interesting. - 04/12/2009 05:21:04 PM 1196 Views
Why Mieville, if I may ask? *NM* - 04/12/2009 08:33:43 PM 682 Views
I didn't mean that to be a reply to you, but still - 05/12/2009 03:15:36 AM 1310 Views
No worries. - 05/12/2009 03:52:11 AM 1218 Views
But the list was for favorite books, not favorite or most important authors - 05/12/2009 10:25:13 AM 1148 Views
It was for "best" books. I realize that has a lot of meanings, though. *NM* - 05/12/2009 08:37:01 PM 524 Views
Hm... good point - 06/12/2009 02:19:13 AM 945 Views
Glen Cook is radically overrated. - 05/12/2009 04:09:07 PM 1306 Views
Well, he's at least part of the wave that humanized fantasy. - 05/12/2009 08:36:29 PM 1039 Views
In the US, yes. Elsewhere, no, because they didn't know about him. - 06/12/2009 04:36:31 PM 1189 Views
Interesting. - 07/12/2009 02:15:37 AM 1120 Views
Two years? It was published in 2000... *NM* - 05/12/2009 09:03:33 PM 434 Views
Nine years is like two. *NM* - 06/12/2009 12:25:49 AM 609 Views
I've yet to read a Gene Wolfe. - 06/12/2009 02:26:54 AM 1094 Views
Yes, yes, yes. - 06/12/2009 02:35:45 AM 1032 Views
You know I directly added almost all of those Wolfe quotes there, right? - 06/12/2009 05:26:40 AM 1165 Views
I just find Mieville's prose exceptionally standard. - 06/12/2009 07:25:05 AM 1157 Views
Isn't that almost a contradiction of terms there? - 06/12/2009 07:45:47 AM 1091 Views
It's remarkable for its normalcy because so many people praise it? - 06/12/2009 09:11:18 AM 1046 Views
Who the heck are these people? *NM* - 04/12/2009 12:46:48 PM 659 Views
I've never heard of any of them either.... *NM* - 05/12/2009 02:58:11 AM 859 Views
Literati - 06/12/2009 05:27:28 AM 1013 Views
Yeah you're so much better than us *NM* - 06/12/2009 12:00:27 PM 595 Views
I'm very ambivalent about A Wizard of Earthsea - 04/12/2009 05:18:00 PM 1102 Views
Possibly has to do with the times in which it was written/read - 06/12/2009 05:29:27 AM 1059 Views
My Best Six best fantasy novels - 04/12/2009 07:44:12 PM 840 Views
Re: My Best Six best fantasy novels *NM* - 04/12/2009 07:45:25 PM 493 Views
oops! *NM* - 04/12/2009 07:46:34 PM 546 Views
Re: Six best fantasy novels? - 04/12/2009 09:06:18 PM 1205 Views
I really need to get around to reading Mists of Avalon. - 04/12/2009 09:50:54 PM 987 Views
Calenture - 05/12/2009 12:44:14 AM 954 Views
Ooh, I need to get my hands on Calenture. *NM* - 06/12/2009 02:27:34 AM 586 Views
And ha! I thought it might be you. *NM* - 06/12/2009 02:29:13 AM 552 Views
I'll eventually get to those in the near future - 06/12/2009 05:31:29 AM 1089 Views
I don't read or buy books anymore. - 06/12/2009 11:45:33 PM 1090 Views
I understand that - 07/12/2009 12:55:46 AM 1138 Views
Okay, I'll give it a shot - 04/12/2009 10:12:47 PM 1171 Views
You might more mythopoeic material in your fantasies, don't you? *NM* - 04/12/2009 11:22:33 PM 616 Views
Mythopoeic? Who...me? - 05/12/2009 02:19:03 AM 976 Views
Yes, you - 05/12/2009 03:51:25 AM 1112 Views
The Blogger Seems to Agree With You. - 05/12/2009 10:10:07 PM 1118 Views
Book of the New Sun is very early 80's and is almost inarguably a classic of the genre. - 06/12/2009 12:26:55 AM 1140 Views
Never Read It, But All Accounts Support That View. - 06/12/2009 02:44:17 PM 1263 Views
Bending the terms a bit... - 04/12/2009 11:21:33 PM 1212 Views
n/a *NM* - 05/12/2009 12:46:45 AM 518 Views
I like Grossman's list a lot more than Henry's. *NM* - 04/12/2009 11:41:36 PM 557 Views
Here are mine, but I probably haven't really read enough fantasy to have a top 5 - 05/12/2009 12:16:13 AM 1002 Views
Have you tried any standalones recently? - 06/12/2009 05:33:41 AM 1074 Views
I always end up wanting more - 06/12/2009 05:53:11 AM 1071 Views
The only one on his list I would think about agreeing with is Meiville. - 05/12/2009 03:11:25 AM 1098 Views
Have you tried Mark Danielewski's House of Leaves yet? - 06/12/2009 05:34:48 AM 1014 Views
No list is complete without Goodkind *NM* - 05/12/2009 07:59:22 AM 629 Views
Sorry, I can't help it- no *porn* list is complete without Goodkind... *NM* - 06/12/2009 02:21:22 AM 474 Views
For me....: - 05/12/2009 10:36:42 AM 1154 Views
He certainly has a specific kind of taste. - 06/12/2009 02:20:30 AM 1013 Views
Pfft! - 06/12/2009 06:54:24 AM 921 Views
Who are you asking?? - 07/12/2009 08:09:25 PM 1034 Views
Might give this a go myself... - 06/12/2009 02:24:52 AM 1067 Views

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