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A lot of those books aren't fantasy. Tom Send a noteboard - 06/12/2009 05:34:18 AM
One that I think is completely erroneously there is Venedikt Erofeev's ??????-???????, which is strangely translated as Moscow to the End of the Line. The train line doesn't stop at Petushki, though that is the final destination for that particular train.

It is the story of a drunk who wants to visit his son and ex-girlfriend in Petushki (he lives in Moscow). He reminisces on how he drinks, how much he drinks, sick cocktails that he makes using nail polish remover when he doesn't have access to good alcohol and all the jobs he's been fired from. The only reason it probably made it on the list was because he was drunk and hallucinating that he took the journey, when in fact he never left Moscow, something he realises only when young thugs chase him and knife him to death.

It's very funny at the beginning and very sad at the end, and there's nothing remotely "fantastic" about it. It's brutally realistic. It was banned due to blatant criticism of the Soviet system and only freely published since perestroika.
Political correctness is the pettiest form of casuistry.

ἡ δὲ κἀκ τριῶν τρυπημάτων ἐργαζομένη ἐνεκάλει τῇ φύσει, δυσφορουμένη, ὅτι δὴ μὴ καὶ τοὺς τιτθοὺς αὐτῇ εὐρύτερον ἢ νῦν εἰσι τρυπώη, ὅπως καὶ ἄλλην ἐνταῦθα μίξιν ἐπιτεχνᾶσθαι δυνατὴ εἴη. – Procopius

Ummaka qinnassa nīk!

*MySmiley*
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Since people are weighing in on that best fantasy list I posted, how many on this list have ya read? - 06/12/2009 05:22:40 AM 2284 Views
A lot of those books aren't fantasy. - 06/12/2009 05:34:18 AM 819 Views
Most of those depend upon how loosely one defines it - 06/12/2009 06:41:50 AM 796 Views
Up next, fantasy fans attempt to co-opt Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot. *NM* - 06/12/2009 07:20:03 AM 253 Views
Actually, considering who put that list together, I'd at least look into their rationales - 06/12/2009 07:42:11 AM 726 Views
Mmm... there's been a pronounced tendency among spec ficcers, from what I've seen, - 06/12/2009 09:09:26 AM 972 Views
I agree - 06/12/2009 09:35:32 AM 718 Views
I'm a bit different than that - 06/12/2009 09:20:09 PM 780 Views
Re: I'm a bit different than that - 07/12/2009 02:04:47 AM 828 Views
Then what should it be defined as? - 07/12/2009 02:28:55 AM 869 Views
What, didn't you major in Fixing Up Confusions and other Issues? - 07/12/2009 02:49:30 AM 560 Views
I majored in raising more questions and doubting absolutes - 07/12/2009 02:50:35 AM 686 Views
You majored in being a pain in the butt is what you majored in. - 07/12/2009 02:52:00 AM 733 Views
No, that was my second minor - 07/12/2009 02:54:53 AM 648 Views
In that case, I trust my definition more than theirs. - 07/12/2009 03:05:32 AM 713 Views
Re: I majored in raising more questions and doubting absolutes - 08/12/2009 10:59:03 PM 755 Views
Not really - 08/12/2009 11:19:46 PM 1058 Views
Fantasy has no easy definition. - 07/12/2009 02:46:33 AM 774 Views
That's true. - 07/12/2009 02:50:37 AM 733 Views
But the Song of Soloman is certainly akin to that *NM* - 07/12/2009 02:51:21 AM 246 Views
No, that's just porn. *NM* - 07/12/2009 02:52:24 AM 345 Views
If you redefine fatasy as fiction, the category loses its value - 06/12/2009 12:33:03 PM 756 Views
Remember what I studied for my grad degree - 06/12/2009 04:10:08 PM 768 Views
Re: Remember what I studied for my grad degree - 06/12/2009 04:33:58 PM 777 Views
Really? - 06/12/2009 09:22:21 PM 893 Views
Re: Really? - 06/12/2009 10:49:36 PM 850 Views
Literature does not exist in a vacuum - 06/12/2009 10:53:58 PM 557 Views
Obviously I know that - 06/12/2009 11:30:55 PM 716 Views
But it is a material artifact of a culture - 07/12/2009 12:47:45 AM 626 Views
But that is not all it is. - 07/12/2009 08:16:32 AM 821 Views
Indeed. A lot of them are science fiction. - 06/12/2009 04:32:26 PM 741 Views
Re: Indeed. A lot of them are science fiction. - 06/12/2009 05:01:55 PM 635 Views
Several dozen contributed to the suggestion list - 06/12/2009 09:23:21 PM 555 Views
I've read 34. - 06/12/2009 10:53:38 AM 617 Views
78 that I have finished, but that is really not the point. - 06/12/2009 11:55:16 AM 767 Views
Definitions of "fantasy" vary considerably - 06/12/2009 09:25:35 PM 713 Views
According to the one you just applied, my master's thesis was one... - 06/12/2009 10:47:25 PM 631 Views
It's just a state of mind, I suppose - 07/12/2009 12:50:22 AM 737 Views
Re: It's just a state of mind, I suppose - 07/12/2009 08:17:09 AM 767 Views
I've read 28. - 06/12/2009 03:42:40 PM 813 Views
89... but in general, that is many by the same author. - 06/12/2009 06:17:06 PM 625 Views
46. This is an idiotic list. A Confederacy of Dunces just IS NOT fantasy. - 06/12/2009 08:34:07 PM 844 Views
You say that, based on having read maybe 2% of the list? - 06/12/2009 09:27:32 PM 553 Views
Jane Eyre? - 07/12/2009 12:00:36 AM 696 Views
It plays upon the Gothic novel precepts - 07/12/2009 12:51:31 AM 584 Views
Larry...come on...if it's Fantasy I have a bridge in Brooklyn for you to buy - 07/12/2009 04:17:38 AM 751 Views
Devise a better? - 07/12/2009 04:34:46 AM 666 Views
It would be much shorter - 07/12/2009 02:20:05 PM 933 Views
It should be shorter than some of the ones you listed - 08/12/2009 11:26:35 PM 676 Views
Argh. Your quoting skills need work. *NM* - 09/12/2009 08:58:15 AM 354 Views
You seem to be misunderstanding Tom's post. - 09/12/2009 10:57:08 AM 689 Views
No,I was just just commenting on my likes/dislikes of that list - 09/12/2009 01:21:45 PM 819 Views
I think you are misunderstanding again... - 09/12/2009 01:46:49 PM 793 Views
Yes. What Jonte said. *NM* - 09/12/2009 02:41:41 PM 371 Views
Oh,that - 09/12/2009 06:07:11 PM 867 Views
Re: It should be shorter than some of the ones you listed - 21/12/2009 09:35:11 AM 1079 Views
I read it very recently. He masturbates to a dog. Fetishes != fantasy. - 07/12/2009 01:58:57 AM 599 Views
Like I said, it's been years for me - 07/12/2009 02:30:58 AM 802 Views
No worries. That one just got me a little testy. - 07/12/2009 02:48:01 AM 693 Views
I've read about 90 of them - 18/12/2009 03:37:49 PM 958 Views

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