Jeffrey's comments (member since Jan 28, 2008)

Jeffrey's comments from the SciFi and Fantasy Book Club group.

I also nominate Master of the Five Magics by Lyndon Hardy. This old fantasy novel has a young apprentice who learns to do all five forms of magic including alchemy, magic, wizardry, thaumaturgy, which the young apprentice then uses and becomes a true master of all magics. This was really the first book that had a real magical system.

Another book to consider is Her Majesty's Wizard by Christopher Stasheff (in which again, a person is pulled from Earth into a magical kingdom where poetry and verse are used to make magic)

I also nominate the The Soprano Sorceress by LE Modisset (the magical power of singing is the key here, and Anna, a woman from Earth who is an opera singer has superior powers).

I nominate the following books all of which I think have unique perspectives on Magic:

Summon the Keeper by Tanya Huff ( a keeper is a person who uses magic to repair holes in the universe caused by hell and bad deeds) These books are light fun and witty a really good combination in urban fantasy and the magical system is unique.

Pawn of Prophecy by David eddings

This first fantasy novel in his five part Belgarion books is a fun novel as the young magician garion learns his craft from his Uncle Belgarath and aunt Polgara. The magical system of using your will through words is interesting and decently unique.

The Barbed Coil by JV Jones. A standalone novel in which the magic comes from writing images or copies of the barbed coil a ring of intricate details. The lord of one land uses his illuminator to draw and get foul monsters from the depths of the ring to conquer foreign lands and it is up to a woman drawn to the world by her smaller ring and her drawings to fight. Unique magic.

I will try to think of others after I make dinner

The moon is a harsh mistress is strictly science fiction

I second the Codex Alera.
I second The Thread the Binds the Bones by Nina Kiriki Hoffman
I second Flesh and Fire by Laura Gilman

I think Little Brother is almost for adults or at the very least teenagers.

The Young Wizard books by Diane Duane, are to me, fantasies.

I like Carolyn's suggestions they are really good and Peregrine's suggestion of Eoin Fowler books is a good one as well.

The best place to start SF and where many people started as a kid is with the juvenile Heinlein's. I also heartily agree with:

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeliene L'Engle b/c its just wonderful
Dragonsong and Dragonsinger by McCaffrey are also great suggestions
I loved the The Wonderful FLight to the Mushroom Planet as a kid.

I would add in the following that I read before I got to Heinlein:

The Borrower books by Mary Norton which is the kind of whimsical books that are a good intro.
The Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper
The Gift of Magic by Lois Duncan is probably too mature but maybe for later
The Sword in the Stone by TH White is a classic
The Fantastic Voyage by Isaac Asimov
The Secret Garden Francis Burnett



You get a sense of adventure too from:

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
The Other Side of the Mountain


I would think the Andre Norton books are great as well. I ate them up when I was that age.

Other books that are a little more mature are:

Elizabeth Scarborough wrote some cute fantasies -- Bronwyn's Bane is a nice neat fantasy

A Dragon on a Pedestal by Piers Anthony is a cute little fantasy

I like Carolyn's suggestions they are really good and Peregrine's suggestion of Eoin Fowler books is a good one as well.

The best place to start SF and where many people started as a kid is with the juvenile Heinlein's. I also heartily agree with:

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeliene L'Engle b/c its just wonderful
Dragonsong and Dragonsinger by McCaffrey are also great suggestions
I loved the The Wonderful FLight to the Mushroom Planet as a kid.

I would add in the following that I read before I got to Heinlein:

The Borrower books by Mary Norton which is the kind of whimsical books that are a good intro.
The Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper
The Gift of Magic by Lois Duncan is probably too mature but maybe for later
The Sword in the Stone by TH White is a classic
The Fantastic Voyage by Isaac Asimov
The Secret Garden Francis Burnett



You get a sense of adventure too from:

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
The Other Side of the Mountain


I would think the Andre Norton books are great as well. I ate them up when I was that age.

Other books that are a little more mature are:

Elizabeth Scarborough wrote some cute fantasies -- Bronwyn's Bane is a nice neat fantasy

A Dragon on a Pedestal by Piers Anthony is a cute little fantasy

I am reading Imager Challenge by Modisett after finishing Imager yesterday.

I plan to read The Gathering Storm by Jordan and Sanderson.

I may finally finish Best Served Cold but it is languishing.

Couple of non sf books -- True Blue by David Baldacci, the latest Vince Flynn and maybe the latest Pat Conroy.

Waiting for the new Jim Butcher book in the Fury series as well.

Cover art is a good way to discover a theme in a book. If it has spaceships on it -- you can bet there's gonna be some relationship to space.

Like with candy packaging (where the colors are to attract the kids eyes) I think the cool, really interesting cover art does get you to look at a book by a new author.

Many of you wrote that the cover art influenced you or just plain got you to pick up the book. I would suggest that getting someone to pick up a book is half the battle of a bookseller. I mean if you pick it up then you might look at a blurb and buy it.

1000's of books -- cover art is one way they get you to pick out some book to read at least that is what i think

I think cover art is a big seller in fantasy. Stick a dragon on a book or nowadays a vampire and its half way out the door even if the dragon is peripheral to the plot or not even involved in the story. Melanie Rawn a dozen years ago wrote a trilogy in which each book had a dragon on the cover and dragons were not material to the story at all but they sold well.

What do you think. Does cover art make you pick up a book. Buy it. Read it.

I think if you are a dedicated sf or fantasy reader you tend to accumulate books b/c in general what library has a big collection. I have somewhere over 1500 books in my house and possibly more. I would guess that over 90% are sf or fantasy. I have books from when I was a teen. I have re-read countless books more than once. Some 3 or 4 times. Others I have not picked up since I read them 15 or 20 years ago, yet I have not gotten rid of much. However, in the last few years I find myself really being much more selective about what to buy and in general I take most of the books out of the library. I am there at least 2 or 3 times a week, have 30 books out or so and just read whatever is due the following week. My to read pile is mostly composed of sf or fantasy that I have not gotten to because my library has so many books that I want to read. And I keep reading many new authors so I am always adding to the trove that I take out of the library or buy.

however, I have to say that the recent trend in fantasy toward the more vampire urban fantasy setting has not been one of my favorites so I have not been a big buyer.

I have a kindle but not commuting so not using it yet.

I think Martin's fame and other projects are getting in the way of his finishing the book.

Well I just finished the Princess of Landover and I have to say that although very light the book was easy and fun to read, so maybe it depends on the author.

Another book light Time Travel is "to Say nothing of the dog" by Connie Willis

Try Shards of Honor or the Warrior's Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold. Light entertaining.

Also look at early Allen Steele. He is a former journalist and his books usually are not long but have a good story.

Elizabeth Moon has a whole series of books about space traders who get into a war on trade. Female characters, good stories.

Andre Norton (an oldie but goodie) has a variety of sf books. Some favorite sf are The Beast Master, Star Man's Son 2250, Catseye

CJ Cherryh has books about an alien encounters with humans that starts with The Pride of Chanur. Very entertaining.

Lucifer's Hammer by Niven and Pournelle is probably the pinnacle of post appocalyptic disaster when a huge object from space hits the earth.

The Practice Effect by David Brin is an excellent fast paced fun read.

Alan Dean Foster's Tar Aiym Krang and his "Flinx" books are very fun to read. The first three are real winners. Another favorite of his is Icerigger

Check out Zodiac by Neal Stephenson

Some newer authors you can look at are Wen Spencer -- both Endless Blue and Tinker are good.

Look at Karl Schroeder -- Sun of Suns is the first in his Virga series. This is really fun stuff and not dense or heavy.

If you like military sf you can try Death's Head by David Gunn is a top read

Fool's War by Sarah Zettel is also a marvelous read

I am reading Best Served Cold by Joe Abercombie in which the main character/ hero is a woman who has gathered a gang together to assassinate the people who killed her brother and wounded her. Although not a technical villian, there is no question that what she is doing is not good.

So I will nominate the book:

Best Served Cold by Joe Abercombie
Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind (which contains a particularly nasty villian named I think Darken Ruhl)
Lord Foul's Bane by Stephen Donaldson (which main character Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever does not believe in the fantasy world he is in, and is a leper and is evil and good all at once)
The golden compass by Philip Pullman (which again has a great villian)

Dawn

That is funny.

I think that is so similar to when you want to find a book in your collection (which in my house is strewn over two rooms and 5 bookshelves, and you cannot find it so its lost in your own house. Then you go buy it or take it out of the library and a short time later while looking for some other book, you find the book.

Its definitely marketing. I think authors run out of new ideas. So their editor goes back to them and says hey you know that Landover series -- maybe you could write a new book in there and then we will re-package your old novels which were good hits for you and sell them to the new guys who might be interested in the back story.