Bringing down fantasy from epic scope to a character-based level doesn't really start happening until the time of Cook, if not Cook himself. There are still really strong ties between his work and present works. As you pointed out, Erikson is Black Company 2.0.
I am not disputing this. What I said was that Cook's influence cannot be that great as he was not published outside of North America for many years (until just a few years ago, in fact), whilst what he did for American fantasy was mirrored by what David Gemmell was doing in Britain and arguably Andrzej Sapkowski in Europe at the same time (the late 1980s/early 1990s).
It's a bit like Matt Stover, whose own books have never been published in Europe. Having people going on about the Caine books and how influential/important they are results in a lot of bemusement from British SF&F fans, whose reaction is mainly, "Who, that STAR WARS guy? What?"
"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*
~Camilla
Ghavrel is Ghavrel is Ghavrel
*MySmiley*
Six best fantasy novels?
- 04/12/2009 05:54:54 AM
1978 Views
Best fantasy authors
- 04/12/2009 07:01:48 AM
1674 Views
Have you read Robin Hobb? *NM*
- 04/12/2009 04:01:23 PM
844 Views
I have, and wasn't really impressed
- 04/12/2009 10:08:25 PM
1491 Views
Only read two. Book of the New Sun definitely deserves that spot. Mieville, not so much.
- 04/12/2009 08:06:45 AM
1660 Views
Interesting.
- 04/12/2009 05:21:04 PM
1524 Views
Why Mieville, if I may ask? *NM*
- 04/12/2009 08:33:43 PM
851 Views
I didn't mean that to be a reply to you, but still
- 05/12/2009 03:15:36 AM
1648 Views
- 05/12/2009 03:15:36 AM
1648 Views
No worries.
- 05/12/2009 03:52:11 AM
1545 Views
- 05/12/2009 03:52:11 AM
1545 Views
But the list was for favorite books, not favorite or most important authors
- 05/12/2009 10:25:13 AM
1458 Views
- 05/12/2009 10:25:13 AM
1458 Views
It was for "best" books. I realize that has a lot of meanings, though. *NM*
- 05/12/2009 08:37:01 PM
688 Views
Glen Cook is radically overrated.
- 05/12/2009 04:09:07 PM
1605 Views
Well, he's at least part of the wave that humanized fantasy.
- 05/12/2009 08:36:29 PM
1391 Views
In the US, yes. Elsewhere, no, because they didn't know about him.
- 06/12/2009 04:36:31 PM
1475 Views
Interesting.
- 07/12/2009 02:15:37 AM
1421 Views
You know I directly added almost all of those Wolfe quotes there, right?
- 06/12/2009 05:26:40 AM
1495 Views
- 06/12/2009 05:26:40 AM
1495 Views
I just find Mieville's prose exceptionally standard.
- 06/12/2009 07:25:05 AM
1519 Views
Isn't that almost a contradiction of terms there?
- 06/12/2009 07:45:47 AM
1425 Views
- 06/12/2009 07:45:47 AM
1425 Views
It's remarkable for its normalcy because so many people praise it?
- 06/12/2009 09:11:18 AM
1345 Views
Who the heck are these people? *NM*
- 04/12/2009 12:46:48 PM
827 Views
Literati
- 06/12/2009 05:27:28 AM
1376 Views
Yeah you're so much better than us
*NM*
- 06/12/2009 12:00:27 PM
754 Views
*NM*
- 06/12/2009 12:00:27 PM
754 Views
Well, you can hardly expect a group to go around calling themselves "elitist snobs."
*NM*
- 07/12/2009 02:16:16 AM
727 Views
*NM*
- 07/12/2009 02:16:16 AM
727 Views
Is he trying to be cool by listing stuff that 90% of fantasy readers have never heard of?
- 04/12/2009 04:05:46 PM
1426 Views
Actually, several of those books have been bestsellers and/or won several genre awards
- 06/12/2009 05:28:18 AM
1420 Views
My Best Six best fantasy novels
- 04/12/2009 07:44:12 PM
1156 Views
Re: Six best fantasy novels?
- 04/12/2009 09:06:18 PM
1530 Views
I really need to get around to reading Mists of Avalon.
- 04/12/2009 09:50:54 PM
1329 Views
Calenture
- 05/12/2009 12:44:14 AM
1294 Views
That... sounds so cool. I'm going to check it out as soon as I get home.
- 05/12/2009 03:53:55 AM
1379 Views
I'll eventually get to those in the near future
- 06/12/2009 05:31:29 AM
1423 Views
Okay, I'll give it a shot
- 04/12/2009 10:12:47 PM
1516 Views
You might more mythopoeic material in your fantasies, don't you?
*NM*
- 04/12/2009 11:22:33 PM
770 Views
*NM*
- 04/12/2009 11:22:33 PM
770 Views
The Blogger Seems to Agree With You.
- 05/12/2009 10:10:07 PM
1459 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
1473 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
1304 Views
Have you tried any standalones recently?
- 06/12/2009 05:33:41 AM
1393 Views
I always end up wanting more
- 06/12/2009 05:53:11 AM
1388 Views
What if there were 50 more standalones that you could read that likely would be quite good?
- 06/12/2009 06:12:53 AM
1493 Views
The only one on his list I would think about agreeing with is Meiville.
- 05/12/2009 03:11:25 AM
1463 Views
No list is complete without Goodkind *NM*
- 05/12/2009 07:59:22 AM
783 Views
Sorry, I can't help it- no *porn* list is complete without Goodkind... *NM*
- 06/12/2009 02:21:22 AM
615 Views

*NM*