Fantasy? (novel, characters, classic, authors)

[krakenten]

I like fantasy-not too much of it, mind, but it does provide relief from a hard old world.

I'm finishing, "Johnathan Strange and Mr. Norrell" just now-I've read most of the fantasy classics, and could use some ideas as to what to start next.

I know I've missed some great ones, anybody else want to offer a few titles?

[Tricky D]

I would recommend Nancy A. Collins Sonja Blue
1 - Sunglasses After Dark

2 - In The Blood

3 - Paint It Black

4 - Dead Roses for a Blue Lady (a collection of stories from Sonja's world)

5 - A Dozen Black Roses (a Sonja Blue - World of Darkness crossover)

Sonja Blue. A soothing name; one that slides off the tongue like a miniature poem. It's also a name that conjures up images of bloody, visceral, provocative adventures in the realm of the Undead.

Who is Sonja Blue? She's the not-quite-vampire anti-heroine introduced in Nancy A. Collins' award-winning Sunglasses after Dark, and who appears in Collins' most recent novel Darkest Heart.

Source: Nancy A. Collins

[graceC]

What kind of fantasy?

For historical fantasy, I simply love Judith Tarr
For alternate reality fantasy, Harry Turtledove is good
For urban fantasy (werewolf, vampire, the their ilks), I recommend Kelley Armstrong.

[BlueWillowPlate]

Favorite fantasy authors:

Connie Willis - her Doomsday Book is especially good
(this book would actually fit well in my Time Travel thread--I might add it there)

Mary Stewart - her Arthurian (Merlin) series, with its vividly drawn characters, gives you a You Are There feeling

I have also enjoyed Anne McCaffrey's Pern series

[krakenten]

Not to forget the Preston/Childs stories-which are great fantasy but nowhere close to reality.

Agent Pendergast is an annoying prig, maybe Constance can soften him up a bit-I know he means well, and is so accomplished, but dammit, he's so supercillious.

[karibear]

I have a lot of favorite fantasy books/authors.

There's Laurell K hamilton's Vampire books, which aren't your ordianry Anne Rice-wannabe, they are mostly set in and around a very recognizable St Louis.

There's Elizabeth Scarborough who did a wonderful series starting with one called The Unicorn Creed - the heroine is a hearth witch, and the action takes place in an alternate version of Alaska. And the Godmother books, and a lot of single titles. They are all out of print and she now has the copyrights, so they'd only be vavailable from someplace like Amazon or Ebay. Plus she's done a series with Ann McCaffrey.

There are a couple series by Robin Hobb, the Farseer saga and another one.

There are Donna Ball's Devoncoix books. They are a totally different take on werewolves among us.

Last but not least is Charles de Lint - his urban fantasies, like Dreams Underfoot, are incredible.

There are a lot of others, those are just a few I can think of at the moment.