Favourite Authors

AchrisK said:
Michael Moorcock

I like his Elric books.
Click to expand...

I read the first book of the Elric Saga. It was interesting, but I wasn't too fond of the writing. What I enjoy most about Moorcock is his rejection of many traditions of modern high fantasy. He blended the pulp ideas of low fantasy with the epic and heroic ideas of high fantasy.

However, I think that in a lot of modern writers you can find the same thing done better. Some of my favorite fantasy writers do this:

George R.R. Martin
R. Scott Bakker (I'm only on his first book, but it's fantastic)
Steve Erikson

I really am not all that fond of Robert Jordan. His writing is far too simplistic and his characterization is terrible. Way too much braid-yanking and boys who can't talk to girls. It just gets annoying.

Zephyrus said:
Vergil
Cicero
Ovid
Lucretius
Caesar
Homer
Dante

Anything written after 1321 is shite.
Click to expand...

That's a bold claim. :Smug:

Vergil is awesome though. The Aeneid is my favorite epic poem. Dante is great too (I mean, he must be if he has Vergil leading him through hell).

But I'd also say that Geoffrey Chaucer, Edmund Spenser, John Milton, William Blake, William Wordsworth, Lord Byron, and James Joyce all deserve places on the list. They wrote some of the truly greatest works of English (and world) literature.
 
Dickens is better for people who don't automatically have a hard-on for anything that is referred to as epic.
 
Einherjar86 said:
I read the first book of the Elric Saga. It was interesting, but I wasn't too fond of the writing. What I enjoy most about Moorcock is his rejection of many traditions of modern high fantasy. He blended the pulp ideas of low fantasy with the epic and heroic ideas of high fantasy.

However, I think that in a lot of modern writers you can find the same thing done better. Some of my favorite fantasy writers do this:
Click to expand...

If you have the later Elric books laying around I suggest you check them out. I found the first one in the series quite bland compared to the rest. Still have to read 5 and 6 though.
 
H.P. Lovecraft (for some reason I read that as Hewlett Packard Lovecraft)
Robert E. Howard
Robert Jordan (RIP)
George R. R. Martin
Terry Goodkind
 
WeAreInFlames said:
H.P. Lovecraft (for some reason I read that as Hewlett Packard Lovecraft)
Robert E. Howard
Robert Jordan (RIP)
George R. R. Martin
Terry Goodkind
Click to expand...

Robert Jordan annoys me. His characterization is so terrible, I think. George R.R. Martin offers characterization subtley, through intimate thoughts and relationships with his characters; really a fantastic writer, and my favorite fantasy author. Jordan just writes so boring and so simply. My opinion, of course.

How is Goodkind? I've never gotten into his work.
 
my favorite author is probably tom robbins. he's so silly

another roadside attraction
Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates

are my favorites
 
Einherjar86 said:
Robert Jordan annoys me. His characterization is so terrible, I think. George R.R. Martin offers characterization subtley, through intimate thoughts and relationships with his characters; really a fantastic writer, and my favorite fantasy author. Jordan just writes so boring and so simply. My opinion, of course.

How is Goodkind? I've never gotten into his work.
Click to expand...

Jordan is a terrible writer, but very good at plotting. It is amusing how the same phrases pop up again and again, but the plot is very good.
Martin is incredible, of course.
Goodkind is different. He has a much more philosophical style. Characters often talk for upwards of 10 pages without anything really happening, just debating morality or whatever. The plots are not particularly complicated and there aren't all that many characters (compared with Martin, anyways :p). It's not typical fantasy - it's written in a much more adult style. Worth checking out. Get Wizard's First Rule and Stone Of Tears. If you don't like them, it's not for you. But I bet you'll dig it.
 
Einherjar86 said:
George R.R. Martin
Click to expand...

YES! One of the best fantasy authors there is. I got bored with Robert Jordan, there didn't seem to be much substance. Martin, on the other hand, makes his worlds so epic and politically complex that I can't stop reading his books. I don't find him very predictable either and the inclusion of sex, swearing and gore adds alot to a genre overpopulated with sugar.
 
*WARNING*

This game is not for the faint at heart, or liver. For seasoned alcoholics only, or at the _very_ least, alcoholics in training. Comments, additions welcome.

Directions: Get a group of RJ fans together. Assemble a large quantity of alcoholic beverages. Take turns reading passages (dealer's choice) from a book aloud. Note: beer or wine is recommended. Hard liquor should only be used in mixed drinks.
Shots will have you on the floor rather quickly.

Drink a sip if:

o Rand channels.
o Mat has a 'luck' episode.
o Perrin talks to wolves.
o Nynaeve tugs her braid.
o Nynaeve is an arrogant bitch.
o Rand laughs for no reason, causing Mat to wonder if he's going mad yet.
o Egwene thinks Rand is getting too big for his britches.
o Elayne acts like a spoiled princess.
o Min sees a vision.
o Aviendha talks/thinks about 'ji', 'toh', or dancing the spears.
o Moiraine manipulates someone.
o Lan's face appears to be 'carved from stone'
o Lan's face makes stone look soft.
o anyone's face/eyes make ice look warm
o Thom bows with flourishes of his cloak or "blows out his mustaches"
o Ishamael appears in a dream.
o Lanfear talks about power or glory.
o Fain giggles, froths, or otherwise demonstrates his ample madness.
o Faile is annoying.
o an Aes Sedai' face is described as having "the smooth, ageless look of one who has worked long with the power"
o Loial mentions a book
o Berelain appears in a skimpy outfit.
o Gawyn worries about Eg/El.
o Someone says that Galad is too good
o any male character thinks about how (other male character) is better with women.
o any male character acts chivalrous/macho towards a woman.
o any female character sniffs.
o any female character futzes with her skirt.
o any female character's neckline swoops in T'A'R.
o any female character "folds her arms beneath her breasts".
o any female character thinks about a man's nice 'shoulders'.
o Mat uses the Old Tongue.
o something about Seanchan culture is revealed.
 
oh man you just reminded me of all the annoyningness of reading those books. Sometimes it's so great but any time a women comes in she starts sniffing and bitching and it's insufferable.

I do know a really hot girl who likes Wheel of Times and LOTR o_O. I can't figure it out
 
Some of the women are tolerable. But you have to wonder if Robert Jordan ever met a real woman or just heard descriptions.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back