Talk:Fantasy literature

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Landlocked

One author not on the list who has written 26 novels based in the fantasy world of Valdemar -- Mercedes Lackey -- lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Author Steven Brust has written several novels based in the fantasy empire of Dragaera, and he lives in Minnesota.

I also emphatically agree that Anne McCaffery's Pern novels should be included in the list. She does live on the coast...but it's the coast of Ireland.

Jean E W 19:39, 21 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Anne McCaffery's first Pern novel was published as a serial in Analog. It's definitely SF. Goldfritha 19:57, 21 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I have to disagree. Pern has elements of both fantasy and SF, and her books appeal more to fantasy fans than to SF fans. It's standard fantasy fare barely dressed in SF clothing. Mermaid from the Baltic Sea 20:01, 21 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The SF clothing makes it SF. You can not have a fantasy when there is a scientific explanation for everything. Goldfritha 20:11, 21 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Template:COTW

Author's bio on publisher's web site (tor.com) says "Anne McCaffrey's Pern novels rank among the most popular series in either fantasy or science fiction -- and that's appropriate, since they fall along the blurry line that separates those two sister categories." Googling on "Pern" and "fantasy" gets almost 400,000 hits, which is actually more hits than one gets on "Pern" and "science fiction". Avt tor 23:01, 21 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Ladies and gentlemen

"In recent years, the ratio of female-to-male authors in a typically-stocked bookstore has skyrocketed, with female authors surpassing the volume of their male counterparts."

Is this not true to beyond a doubt? Simply walk into your nearest bookstore to see that this is the case. Of course one must remember how things were back in, say, 1995, for any conclusions to be safely drawn. Theavatar3 22:41, 8 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

For shame. Urging us to commit original research. Goldfritha 02:15, 9 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Rather random

This article does not seem distinct from "fantasy". It contains random facts -- some of which are inexplicable. Coastal? It requires more than finding people living on the coast to make a noteworthy contribution. Goldfritha 00:14, 13 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Cryptic statement

The article says,

"Preeminent authors in the fantasy genre after Tolkien are listed below. Note the coastal influence -- all but one of these authors can be found in coastal states."

That statement is interesting but rather mysterious without further explanation. Why would fantasy authors be more likely to come from coastal states, as that implies? Wmahan . 18:22, 14 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Hint: seafood is good brain food. Brain food is -- all! Chris 12:04, 30 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Rewrite

This article needs a re-write to focus on the elements of fantasy literature that do not occur in other media. The only ones I can think of offhand are Tolkien's discussion of why literary form is better for fantasy than drama, and the actual stylistic conventions, such as the (not always fortunate) influence of Lord Dunsany on the writing. Anyone got more? (Alternatively, we could always "merge" to fantasy -- if there's anything of value in this article). Goldfritha 23:03, 24 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Added a link to computer role-playing games and console role-playing games. Chris 19:01, 1 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Why? Goldfritha 20:33, 1 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Because every role-playing game I've ever played involves a great deal of reading, i.e. words, i.e. literature. Really, role-playing games are a subset of fantasy literature, albeit with additional features (music, games of skill, interactivity). Chris 16:16, 17 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Using words does not make it literature. Characters talk in movies; that does not make movies literature. And someone could play RPG without ever reading any of those words. Goldfritha 01:46, 18 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Literature is merely printed words. - jc37 00:06, 22 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

But RPG literature is not fantasy literature. It's not even fiction. Like the rules to chess or other games, the rule books are non-fiction. Goldfritha 00:49, 7 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I would argue that the subject of this article is noteworthy to the extent that it refers to fantasy in literature, as opposed to fantasy in other media (such as films, television, games, comic books, etc.). I'm sure there's sufficient material available; the question is whether there is sufficient information included in this article to warrant a separate article. Avt tor 23:12, 21 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Tolkien and MacDonald

All evidence I have seen, including all the biographies, indicate that MacDonald was a very minor influence, if one at all. Goldfritha 00:49, 7 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Christopher Paolini

To be quite honest, I don't believe that Christopher Paolini deserves a mention in this article. Many of the other authors mentioned have pioneered aspects of the genre and Paolini is a relatively new writer with only two books under his belt. Just because he has managed to publish his works, and subsequently managed to get the first book made into a film does not warrant listing him as a 'Preeminent author'. This is not an attempt to be disrespectful to his work, as I know how vehemently his fans can protest against such comments, however I do not believe he should be mentioned in this article -at least intill he has made a more significant contribution to fantasy literature.

If anyone has any objections - post them, other wise i will delete him from the list. (I am also open to the creation of a 'rising talents' field or something similar). magalo 18:38, 18 November 2006 (AUS)

Many people "spam" Wikipedia with links to their favorite author with varying degrees of appropriateness. Removing such non-noteworthy links is perfectly acceptable. Goldfritha 16:26, 18 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Christopher Paolini :The Inheritance Trilogy has been deleted, if you have any complaints, and or valid reasons for why the link should be returned just send me a message. --Magalo 05:07, 20 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Martin

The claim about George Martin seems rather non-neutral. Anyone want to defend it? Goldfritha 01:25, 15 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Indeed:

"many regard George R.R Martin (A Song of Ice and Fire) as the undisputed king of modern fantasy"

Many do not.

Personally, I don't think that there is a 'king of fantasy', and there never was one. I'm not going to delete the offending text though -- deleting is not really my thing. :) Vranak

I'll give a bit more time for response, before doing it myself. Goldfritha 04:09, 16 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

List of notable authors/series

I can't understand why two of the best selling modern fantasy series weren't on the list until I added them just now: Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling and Discworld by Terry Pratchett. The Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey probably also belongs on the list.-gadfium 19:13, 21 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Pern is SF. Heck, the first book got published in Analog.

Meanwhile, this is not "list of fantasy literature"; I will probably be purging the list just to keep it from taking over. Goldfritha 01:31, 1 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

List of Notable Authors

I'd have to say that Robin Hobb is a name that pops up quite often on must read lists, definitely more than some of the above listed authors, so I've added her. I've also added Philip Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy, which next to Harry Potter is far and away the most popular young-adult fantasy. Further more is Duncan the best of the latest authors? I would tend to say Steven Erikson should be on the list, minimally with Duncan. Furthermore, should Goodkind be on this list, which looks something like a "must read" ? Hodgetts 06:11, 23 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I agree with the changes you made. :) Vranak

A "must read" list? To me, it looks like a "stay away from" list (apart from Le Guin and Pratchett). It seems to list currently popular authors ... which is fine, I guess. But there's a wealth of really good fantasy, from the genre's old intersection with science fiction, and it's not on the list: Fritz Leiber, Michael Moorcock, Theodore Sturgeon, Peter Beagle H. P. Lovecraft ... And Tarzan and Conan, for influential but sucky literature. Actually, it's not clear to me why the list has to start post-Tolkien. JöG 22:48, 6 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hell, I forgot to mention Mervyn Peake, as another example of an extremely influential, non-Tolkien fantasy author. JöG 23:05, 6 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Probably a good idea. Perhaps we ought to figure out a source for notable fantasy works. I was thinking of a reprint series -- but that would be limited by copyright questions. hummm. hummm. Goldfritha 23:15, 6 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

For the related list of notable science fiction authors, I went to the Locus poll list. In my opinion a list of noteworthy fantasy authors and/or works is useful insofar as the list actually refers to significant authors; I would have to define significant as popular (best-selling), influential (cited by reliable sources as influencing other writers), and good (award-winning).

It should be noted that many science fiction authors have written important works of fantasy, including Robert Heinlein, Poul Anderson, Larry Niven, C. J. Cherryh, Lois McMaster Bujold, and others. I like the [User:Jgrahn|Jgrahn]'s names too. However, the list should not mushroom indefinitely; it should not grow to more than fifty entries, IMO.

Some people would argue that the list should be separated from the text relevant to the subject matter. A stub tag may be called for.Avt tor 23:23, 21 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Some thoughts on fantasy and fantastic literature

I arrived here via a link on Aloysius Bertrand, who seems to have little in common with the authors named here. This has happened before with other authors. I notice that the treatment of fantasy literature apparently is more geared toward the mass-market offspring of J.R.R. Tolkien (Zimmer Bradley, Auel, Weiss&Hickman, Goodkind) and does not seem to fully incorporate the fantastic strain in literature starting, well, where? Possibly before Gulliver's Travels, even. Not at the Illiad, by the way. If that is registered in the books as fantastic literature, then so should the epic of Gilgamesh, the Mahabharata, and the Bible. Which is incorrect, as it was certainly not intended as (a) fantasy. Anyway, I might also name people like E.T.A. Hoffmann, Edgar Allen Poe (a huge influence in the strain of fantasy epitomized by Lovecraft), Stevenson (Jeckyl & Hyde), Marquez even, etc. etc.