Oldfangled Fantasy: a much shorter list

  So, in contrast to Esquire's brief to catch the latest trends, here's a selection of the classics of the genre. It's what I consider the best of the best, the books I devoted a monthly installment of my old web-column Classics of Fantasy to. It's obviously incomplete; I'm currently working on a Recommended Reading list to cover books I wd have included if the column had run longer  (e.g., The Lord of the Rings). Obviously I don't expected anyone else to agree with every item --it's not that kind of list. But I hope these writers and works can be taken as books I'd recommend to anyone interested in modern fantasy, while also drawing attention to some lesser-read masters.

Enjoy.

--John R.

 

 I. The Well at the World's End (1896)  by William Morris  

 

 II. The Forgotten Beasts of Eld (1974)  by Patricia A. McKillip      

 

 III. Ghost Stories of an Antiquarian (1904ff)   by M. R. James

 

 IV. Swords Against Death (1970)   by Fritz Leiber  

 

 V. Silverlock (1949)   by John Myers Myers

 

 VI. A Voyage to Arcturus (1920)   by David Lindsay

 

 VII. The Bridge of Birds (1984)   by Barry Hughart

 

 VIII. The Worm Ouroboros (1922)   by E. R. Eddison

 

 IX. The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath (1926)  by H. P. Lovecraft

 

 X. A Wizard of Earthsea (1968)   by Ursula K. Le Guin

 

 XI. The Face in the Frost (1969)   by John Bellairs

 

 XII. The Night Land (1912)   by William Hope Hodgson

 

 XIII. Watership Down (1972)   by Richard Adams  

 

 XIV. The Book of Three Dragons (1930)   by Kenneth Morris

 

 XV. Tales of Averoigne (1929–1938) by Clark Ashton Smith

 

 XVI. The Books of Wonder (1910, 1912, 1916)  by Lord Dunsany

 

 XVII. The Hobbit (1937)   by J. R. R. Tolkien

 

 XVIII. Hobberty Dick (1955)   by Katharine Briggs            

 

 XIX.  Hour of the Dragon (1936)   by Robert E. Howard

 

 XX.  The Dying Earth (1950)   by Jack Vance

 

 XXI  Jurgen (1917)   by James Branch Cabell