Hi!

I am really into fantasy genre books, bu i also read a lot of other things. Many people i know find fantasy books and science fiction as well, to be a sad and childish set of books to read.

Views please?

Science fction/fantasy on the whole is not really all that it could be. There have been many great and talented writers, but there have been even more bad ones. That particular genre recquires very little research, and writers are almost too free in their plots. Since there are o limitations things can get a bit foggy, and create bad writing. ( One need only take a look into the box of paperbacks at the next book sale to know what I mean). Some writers I would suggest are Douglas Adams( Hitch Hiker's Trilogy), J.R.R Tolkein( LoTR), Gail Carson Levine( Ella Enchanted)(don't judge it by the movie0, Robin McKinley, Nancy Farmer (House of the Scorpian), J.K. Rowling(Harry Potter), Patrcia McSomething ( the dragon chronicles)(I think that's what they are called anyway), and Ev Ibbatson(The Secret of Platform 13, Which Witch, Island of the Aunts).

Clpo I've read the entire series. Overall it's kind of dissappointing, the writing isn't very good and a lot of the times cheesy, on the other hand still entertaining action wise and there have been a few good ones. Traitor was great, the whole Jacen getting captured thing, Jaina going "crazy", and Sernpidal getting destroyed. Retarded things: Ithor getting destroyed; the Yevetha getting destroyed; the coolest character (Vergere) dying, but I guess it just makes it all the more tragic. Also Leia cutting open Viqi Shesh's back was cool. That ***** was getting annoying. I was mad Nen Yim died. That made any possible sympathy for Nom Anor I might have had go right down the drain.

The Integral Trees- Niven
On a Pale Horse- Anthony
Geis of the Gargoyle- Anthony
I heard Ringworld was ingenius. That's Niven, too.

Sci-fi series to avoid: Dune. I like em and all... there's just too many politics in them, though.

Um it depends on your personal preferences. I love fantasy and abhor science fiction (but I'm getting into Larry Niven). I like normal fiction and fictional books about real people. I do not like religous books or historical fiction, but that doesn't mean they're at all bad.

Good stuff: Larry Niven, Tracy Hickman, Piers Anthony, Terry Brooks... I'm sure I'm leaving many out.

Planet of Twilight? I might need to check that out. I've never heard of Genesis. I looked on the Internet, but I couldn't find anything about it. If you want a good Star Wars read, pick up The Unifying Force by James Luceno. It's the last book in the New Jedi Order series. Sure, it helps a little to read all the other books in the series, but Luceno does a good job of clueing you in on what's happened previously.

This was my 200th post! Go me.

-----"""There's quality....
.....then there's star wars."""


-----"""That is fan fiction...which should be destroyed."""

You morons. Don't be stupid please.


Clpo, have you read Planet of Twilight by Barbara Hambly? It is darker feeling, and so well written in a literary sense. It's pretty different for a Star Wars novel and takes a while to get going but it's still great. Also, Genesis by Paul Anderson is sooo good, it's about what happens to the human race waaaaaaaaay into the future. The Color Of Distance is a cool one too, especially if you like nature.

quote:

Originally posted by EarthGoddess:
Everyone should read Childhood's End. It's awesome.

This thread need more love for Clarke.

I read the short story Childhoos's End is based off of before I found the book. Man was I happy he made it into a full novel.

quote:

Originally posted by yogore:
Star wars is fanfiction? What?

Sad but true. Look at Borders sometime in the sci-fi section and there are a ton of them. My brothers use to read them.

have you guys heard of www.fanfiction.net?

Timothy Zahn and the Thrawn Trilogy fan fiction?! Surely you jest. I read sci-fi and fantasy of every kind. Don't let people bend your ear about what's good and what's not. For instance, Bradbury is a classic sci-fi novelist, but his books are really far out there. The same goes for Asimov, who started the whole genre. Greg Bear is an awesome sci-fi writer. Eon and Eternity are his best, but Moving Mars and The Forge of God are good as well. Currently, I'm reading the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. Excellent books all. In fantasy, Tolkien is king, but his books have grown outdated. People don't want to read about elves dancing and dwarves singing about gold. People want action. In that case, I recommend Terry Goodkind or David Eddings.

quote:

Originally posted by yogore:
Star wars is fanfiction? What?

yeah...after those movies...all that paraphanalia of books and short stories.

But if we dismissed Fantasy as a meaningless ganre, then we would not have the Athurian Tales. This is the greatest "glorious tragety" in history, where would we be today in our literature, without Listinios, Camalot, Avalon, The Waste Land, Authur, Uther, Guinevier, Lancelot, or Peleas?

Everyone should read Childhood's End. It's awesome.

Star wars is fanfiction? What?

quote:

Originally posted by bella123:
There's quality....

.....then there's star wars.

That is fan fiction...which should be destroyed.

There's quality....

.....then there's star wars.

Well written stuff, like Dorian Gray, The Lord of the Rings, The Time Machine, and War of the Worlds, are classics. It is the quality that counts

I think they can be really interesting things. I'm no Sci-fi/Fantasy book person, but I guess there's quite a large market for them.

I don't see them as childish, as long as, like anything, its not obsessive. Of course, the steryotype of the fat geek reading a Star Trek novel isnt going to go away any time soon, but more and more, geekiness is becoming popular (Good thing for me).

They're my favourite genres, I even joined a book club, fsf, so I could get information on newly released books. Through this club I've started reading lots of authors and I find most of their books to be funny and entertaining.
A list of my favourite authors include: JK Rowling(Harry Potter), Terry Pratchett(discworld), Robert Rankin(Suicidal Bunnies of the Apocalypse) and Jonathon Straud (Amulet of Samarkand).

They're not bad genres. You just have to know what to find, since so many of them are repeated ideas and nearly copies (example: Eragorn).