08-22-2013, 04:55 AM
I'd really recommend just about anything by Neil Gaiman. I know he's not "traditional" fantasy, but all of his books are fantastic.
Also, there's a couple of masters of science fiction that should really be mentioned here: Robert Heinlein and Harlan Ellison. Everyone knows Heinlein, with novels like Starship Troopers (pretty much nothing like the movie), Stranger in a Strange Land, and Time Enough for Love. Ellison, on the other hand, is one of the most prolific living authors, having published literally thousands of short stories and novels over his career. I'd start with the short story "I Have No Mouth, But I Must Scream." There was a documentary about him that was pretty rad called "Dreams with Sharp Teeth" that everyone should check out.
For more traditional fantasy, I got interested in it through the Weis and Hickman books, mostly the Dragonlance, Darksword and Deathgate Cycle series. Those were the ones that opened me up authors like Tolkein and Doyle (Doyle wasn't really a fantasy author, but his Lost World books ought to count as some sort of scifi/fantasy hybrid).
Also, there's a couple of masters of science fiction that should really be mentioned here: Robert Heinlein and Harlan Ellison. Everyone knows Heinlein, with novels like Starship Troopers (pretty much nothing like the movie), Stranger in a Strange Land, and Time Enough for Love. Ellison, on the other hand, is one of the most prolific living authors, having published literally thousands of short stories and novels over his career. I'd start with the short story "I Have No Mouth, But I Must Scream." There was a documentary about him that was pretty rad called "Dreams with Sharp Teeth" that everyone should check out.
For more traditional fantasy, I got interested in it through the Weis and Hickman books, mostly the Dragonlance, Darksword and Deathgate Cycle series. Those were the ones that opened me up authors like Tolkein and Doyle (Doyle wasn't really a fantasy author, but his Lost World books ought to count as some sort of scifi/fantasy hybrid).
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