Great Fantasy authors?
 

It's too easy to have a generalised idae that the fantasy genre is too stuck in cheap commercialism and pseudo-Tolkien imitation.

So I would like to devote this thread to nominating the [i]great[/i] fantasy authors, and also the reason for the nominations.

:)

Re:Great Fantasy authors?
 

Melanie Rawn - The Golden Key (collaboration with two other authors) This is a fascinating story of magic through art, secret societies, family loyalties and political plotting. The Dragon Prince - An interesting world in which greed, family loyalty, growing older and watching your children make their own choices and mistakes, magic, forensic discovery and innovation all compete to be the theme.

Robin Hobb - Begin with the Farseer trilogy, a story of how one person can give up his life to a cause, learn to live with it, learn to love it and then learn to regret it. Great insights, introduces The Fool, the interesting subject of political assasination and the vagaries of genetics.

Elizabeth Hayden - Rhapsody is a fully realized world with new and unusual races, the paths your life can take from small and seemingly insignificant choices...

Re:Great Fantasy authors?
 

I am obviously far too much the cultural recluse. I haven't heard of either of the female authors listed above. :(

Re:Great Fantasy authors?
 

This is what is fun about a bookstore or library..you can just wander around and find a million cool things to look at. I admit this makes it hard to make a decision in the end, but it sure makes for a fun hour or two in your own head.

Re:Great Fantasy authors?
 

Actually, going around the books physically is much more fun than virtually. Being able to hold and view the books from different angles, seeing the light reflect on the cover - being able to open any up and read a passage or two at choice - the opening sentence...checking out the POV style...

Definitely agree with you there. :)

Re:Great Fantasy authors?
 

Oh yeah, even the smell of a bookstore is great! My husband refuses to go with me anymore because he gets bored after an hour or so...

Re:Great Fantasy authors?
 

LOL! MY kids [i]love[/i] it though - a bit too much sometimes. :) Can't get that on Amazon.

Re:Great Fantasy authors?
 

If you're looking for a non-Tolkien fantasy author, I suggest you read C.S. Friedman's Coldfire Trilogy.

Re:Great Fantasy authors?
 

For my own part, I'll add the following to the list:

Ursula LeGuin
Gene Wolfe
George RR Martin

Re:Great Fantasy authors?
 

All fantasy is different. It's a wide wide genre with lots of little niches. It's not all Tolkien and that's just a part. Fantasy comes in all shapes and sizes and every reader demands something different. Those authors with most fame have captured more of the elements that a wider base prefers to read.

Re:Great Fantasy authors?
 

Brian - I've edited my earlier post about the female authors, just in case you decide to come out of your cultural 'reclusion' ;)

I've no idea why so many of the fantasies I've read in the past year are written by women. I've never picked a book by an author (unless I've already read the author and liked their stories) but lately everything I've read (ok, most everything) has been by females. I can't imagine it is really a female point of view. For the most part the protagonists are evenly split between women and men.

Re:Great Fantasy authors?
 

Tim Powers. He sets his fantasy very much in a real setting. I like that sort of combination. And he does his research. One of his books partially takes place in an area where I used to live, and as far as I can tell, he got the landscape just right, all the way down to street names. Very cool.

Re:Great Fantasy authors?
 

I bet no one writes a fantasy story set in Hull, Yorkshire, where I am. Even I won't write that! :)

And thanks for the warning about the edit. :)

George R R Martin hands down, though I'm not very well read.

The name of George R R Martin keeps coming up - I erally should get around to reading "Song of Ice and Fire" when I'm done with the current writing.