Whats on your TBR list? ie what are you NOT reading, but WANT to

[S.E., Gray Mouser (Emeritus)]

To help me populate polls for the group reads, I propose this thread. It is like an anti-matter version to "What Are You Currently Reading."

The topic is this: What Sword & Sorcery books are on your your To-Be-Read list...but for some reason you never get to them? Perhaps a group read will get you there!

[S.wagenaar]

The Death Dealer series by Frank Frazetta and James Silke. I have the first two books, but for some reason I have not yet read them. And I have had them since the early 90's...

[Richard]

S.wagenaar wrote: "The Death Dealer series by Frank Frazetta and James Silke. I have the first two books, but for some reason I have not yet read them. And I have had them since the early 90's..."

They're not earth shattering, but enjoyable. Pretty hard to come across nowadays.

[Richard]

Imaro trilogy by Charles Saunders and John Norman's Gor series. I have both series in the DAW editions and just never picked them up.

[S.wagenaar]

Imaro rocks! But I have only read the first 2 books..

[Peter]

On my to-read list there's quite some S&S and weird fiction.

I really need to get the novels of Raphael Ordoñez as I loved his weird fiction stories in Beneath Ceaseless Skies. (Please go read his stories, they're great!)

Some other genre books I'm eager to get are:
The Fortuitous Meeting of Gerard van Oost and Oludara by Christopher Kastensmidt
Griots: A Sword and Soul Anthology
The Scroll of Years by Chris Willrich

[Jason]

Not certain if they qualify as S&S, but I've had Heather Gladney's Teot's War and Blood Storm staring me in the face from atop my TBR pile for forever, it seems, as well as the last Berserker book, The Horned Warrior.

[Richard]

I've read Heather Gladney's books and I remember not liking them very much. I may need to re-read them one day. Now on the other hand, I really enjoyed Chris Carlsen's Berserker trilogy. Although, they were pretty graphic.

[S.wagenaar]

Yes, Gemmell! I have several of his books, including Legend. And I have not opened one (hangs head in shame).

[Richard]

I have several series by Robert E Vardeman: The Jade Demons Quartet, The Demon Crown Trilogy and The Keys To Paradise. Also Ian C. Esslemont's Night of Knives, Return of the Crimson Guard, and Stonewielder. All are dusty on the shelves.

[Martin]

S.wagenaar wrote: "Yes, Gemmell! I have several of his books, including Legend. And I have not opened one (hangs head in shame)."

And there are so many Gemmell books! My favourite is Waylander followed by Morningstar. I would caution against reading too many back-to-back as the plot similarities show up. He was a great influence on my own writing.

[T.C.]

David Gemmell---a great fantasy writer. I was both honored and humbled to have my Gonji series fill the hole in German publisher Bastei Lubbe's list after his untimely passing.

[S.wagenaar]

Gonna give Legend a go. Gemmell was/is a giant in the heroic fantasy field, and deserves my attention. Besides, at 52 I am starting to feel a little Druss-like and should easily identify with the main character...;)

[Darren]

Gardens of the Moon. So many people love that series, but I keep putting it down. I feel it's like one of those hidden pictures that everyone sees but me.

[S.wagenaar]

I guess my biggest issue is too many books, reading too slow. I accumulate books far faster than I can read them. And with an embarrassment of riches to choose from numbering 200+ unread books (even more on my Kindle) I strangely find myself unable to choose a book or finish it due to the temptation of all those other cool books calling my name. Anyone else suffer this strange malady?

[Richard]

S.wagenaar wrote: "I guess my biggest issue is too many books, reading too slow. I accumulate books far faster than I can read them. And with an embarrassment of riches to choose from numbering 200+ unread books (eve..."

Every single time I begin a book I have this problem. This has become more of a problem since I've joined Goodreads. Seeing what others are reading exasperates this issue. Usually I'll be reading several books at one time because my attention will wander. I also 'suffer' from an enormous TBR pile. My poor wife cannot understand why I have so many books that I havent read. It really drives her crazy that I keep acquiring more books. I built a bookcase in our den that is approx. 12 ft long and 8 ft tall to house my hoard. They are double and triple stacked. Lemony Snicket put it best, " It is likely I will die next to a pile of things I was meaning to read."

[S.wagenaar]

Preach it brother!

[Frank]

Oh, I have the same problem, perhaps even worse. I have been accumulating at such a break neck pace for over 20 years, last count in my house is around 8,000 volumes, impossible to get to. Keep telling myself I'll read them all when I retire.
Oh, well doubt that, thank god for books on tape when I'm driving has helped get more under my belt.
Yes and Goodreads while I love it, has opened up more titles to me, to purchase.
What a vicious cycle, that I wouldn't have any other way.

[S.E., Gray Mouser (Emeritus)]

Just to help everyone's addiction, recall there is a Book Haul folder too!
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...

It is therapeutic to share your book hoarding!

[S.E., Gray Mouser (Emeritus)]

Thanks! We had enough to populate the poll! You can keep posting here and I'll lurk to get possible items for the group reads.

March-April 2017 Topic Poll =
https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/1...

[Richard]

Such a clever way to get info for the group read S.E.! I cannot believe I didn't see it coming. Bravo, sir!

[S.E., Gray Mouser (Emeritus)]

Richard wrote: "Such a clever way to get info for the group read S.E.! I cannot believe I didn't see it coming. Bravo, sir!"

Thanks RIchard, Lol.

[Richard]

Lol, I don't know how I missed your first comment in the thread. It's all so much clearer now. *facepalm*

[Derek]

I've got a bunch of the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series groaning on the shelf: some Dunsany, one or two James Branch Cabell, Golden Cities, Far, and maybe more. I need a kick to get going on the lot of them.

[Rich]

Wow, there's a lot on my s&s TBR list...
Bloodstone and Dark Crusade by Wagner, The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane, Legend, The Broken Sword, Swords Against Darkness, and so many others...

[Joseph, Master Ultan]

My TBR list is every book ever written that looks interesting, whether I've read them before or not ...

But to focus in a bit, I have one more of the Del Rey Robert E. Howard books to read (Sword Woman and Other Historical Adventures), several Bison Harold Lamb collections (Swords of the Steppes: The Complete Cossack Adventures, Volume Four is up next), and I also need to revisit all of the Kane books sooner rather than later.

[Damien]

At some point I'd love to re-read Elric of Melnibone, Stormbringer and Wyrd of the White Wolf... My favourite Elric novels... Don't know when I'll get the time though alas...

[S.E., Gray Mouser (Emeritus)]

Timely to chime in, Damien. I'm about to set up another poll for May-June groupreads. I'll add Elric.

Anymore TBRs lurking/deserving to be read?

[Joseph, Master Ultan]

Have we done Leiber yet?

[S.E., Gray Mouser (Emeritus)]

A longtime ago we did Leiber... would be good to revisit :)

[Ulff]

Sword Woman by Howard. I've read & enjoyed DelRey's Conan collections and Solomon Kane, and once I'm done researching for my next novel, Sword Woman will provide the stories to read.

[Joseph, Master Ultan]

Ulff wrote: "Sword Woman by Howard. I've read & enjoyed DelRey's Conan collections and Solomon Kane, and once I'm done researching for my next novel, Sword Woman will provide the stories to read."

I read Sword Woman and Other Historical Adventures last month, and it was definitely one of the strongest Del Rey collections (even if my own personal tastes run a bit more in the Conan/Kull/Solomon Kane direction).

[Damien]

I have a big old compilation of Gray Mouser/Fritz Leiber stories that I've only ever skimmed... One thing I'm wondering is what is generally held to be Leiber's best period of writing? He started in the 30s and was still at it several decades later, no?

And did the war have any discernible impact on his evocation of those tales? That's just an obscure question out of left-field that occurred to me...

[A.L.]

Last look was about 600 books....

[Periklis, Fafhrd (Emeritus)]

I'm trying to cover the classics. I've put on hold Leiber's Lankhmar for way too long. These past few weeks, I've been listening LeGuin's Earthsea and probably "Nine princes in Amber" (Book 1/Chronicles of Amber/ Roger Zelazny) is next, also in audiobook.

[Dean]

Damien wrote: "I have a big old compilation of Gray Mouser/Fritz Leiber stories that I've only ever skimmed... One thing I'm wondering is what is generally held to be Leiber's best period of writing? He started i..."

I'd say the first three Lankhmar collections have the best stories in them, especially "Ill met in Lankhmar," "lean times..", the quarmall story, adept's gambit, some of the smaller ones. The later tales are somewhat weird/disapointing, but I can't put my finger on what exactly turns me off. Conjure wife, Our lady of darkness are great horror novels by him, one early--30's or 40's--the other from the 70's. And one of his early s-f, "gather, darkness" I remember fondly. He seems to have always been hit and miss, a little bit.

[Dean]

Periklis wrote: "I'm trying to cover the classics. I've put on hold Leiber's Lankhmar for way too long. These past few weeks, I've been listening LeGuin's Earthsea and probably "Nine princes in Amber" (Book 1/Chron..."

Amber is great, a lot more enjoyable then Earthsea. The first six books, the others are meh.

[Joseph, Master Ultan]

As far as Zelazny goes, I also recommend some of his shorter/standalone works -- Jack of Shadows and Dilvish, the Damned in particular.

[Dean]

Joseph wrote: "As far as Zelazny goes, I also recommend some of his shorter/standalone works -- Jack of Shadows and Dilvish, the Damned in particular."

Yes, especially the changing land! Great s&s novel

[Periklis, Fafhrd (Emeritus)]

Joseph wrote: "As far as Zelazny goes, I also recommend some of his shorter/standalone works -- Jack of Shadows and Dilvish, the Damned in particular."

I enjoyed "Jack of Shadows" and have both Changing land books to read. From a quick look at my S&S shelf, it seems there're a couple of Viriconium books, a few KE Wagners, a LOT of Moorcock, many anthologies, a few Howards, the fourth Imaro book, books by the new generation (last decade or so) of S&S authors (chief among them two beautiful, signed copies of SE's Dyscrasia fiction, obscure or little known books from the seventies or eighties, and books 2 & 3 from the Witcher saga...

Also trying to read as many titles I can grab a copy of from Gygax's Appendix N and the updated D&D 5e list, Appendix E (Appendixes N & E shelf), most of them Sword-and-Sorcery.

[Joseph, Master Ultan]

Not quite sure what's in my queue, but after I finish The Witchwood Crown (should be sometime in the next couple of days), I'll be ready for something a lot shorter.