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Re: suggestions, please...
Nice to see quite a few fantasy-sf readers among you. Neil Gaiman fans even!
Nevermore was great. I'd also recommend his magnum opus graphic novel -
Sandman. It's a lot to read and quite expensive to buy because the only way
to get the WHOLE story is in 10 graphic novels at around 20 a pop but I'd
imagine it'd be in any good library. A bit of trivia: It's the only *comic
book* to have won the World Fantasy Award and will always be the only one
because there was such a stink about a *comic* winning they changed the rules
after it won and don't allow them anymore. Another great *grahic novel* is
Bone. Three little "Pogo" looking guys - one good, one simple, and one
crooked lost in a Tolkienesque land populated by humans, princesses, rat
creatures, dragons and the mysterious Lord of Locusts. Full of humor and
adventure.
I'll skip the obvious Christian authors like Percy, Buechner, Williams,
Lewis, etc. but I will mention one: Harold Fickett: The Holy Fool (A senior
editor of Image Magazine) Interesting story of a preacher who punchs out one
of his assistants, falls from grace, his descent and struggle upward to
regain his humanity.
As I'm mostly a sf-fan genre reader myself when it comes to fiction most of
my suggestions will be in that vein so they may not be quite what you're
looking for. I did try to pick ones that go beyond their genre's.
Jonathan Carroll books are always interesting. One I particularly liked is
Bones of the Moon. A surrealist story of a woman who is having serial dreams
of a fantasy land that starts to spill into her waking reality. Great stuff.
He blends a lot of genre's and comes up with some unique fiction. A
mainstream novelist that includes fantasy and horror elements in his stories.
John Crowley has some excellent books. Most consider Little, Big to be his
best and perhaps it is but I'm partial to a smaller tome called Engine Summer
myself. A magical wonder filled book about the quest of a kid named Rush
that Speaks (The blurb on the back is good so I'll quote that) "to find the
secrets of a lost age, and age of Saints and Angels, magic and miracles,
endless roads and floating cities, and found the truth he sought in a
sainthood stranger than he could ever have imagined"
Walter Wangerin's The Book of Dun Cow is a great allegory using animals as
characters. There is a sequel called Book of Sorrows that I haven't read yet.
Reminds me -- if you haven't read Richard Adams Watership Down...What are
you waiting for!
Ursula Leguin: Left Hand of Darkness (awesome!)
David Linsay: A Voyage to Arcturus
Joseph O'neil: Land Under England (an oldie but goodie and Tolkien fave)
Charles de Lint: Moonheart
Ray Bradbury: Dandelion Wine (such a powerful evocation of childhood and
summer I could almost taste mine while reading it)
I'll second Helprin's Winters Tale!
Not considered a great writer in some circles but I would heartily recommend
Stephen King's The Stand. King uses some very Christian imagery (if not
always orthodox) as good and evil duke it out. I see The Stand as an epic
quest story only rather than being set in a fantasy world like Tolkien's LOTR
it places its characters right smack dab in the real world, making it all the
more chilling.
If you don't mind some stark graphic stories that verge on horror quite often
Joe Lansdale writes some truly weird and excellent stuff. For short stories
try Writer of the Purple Rage or for longer fic try the Drive In novelettes -
now released in one nifty 2 in 1 paperback! Note -- His stuff is NOT for the
queasy! Wild metaphors and characters. One metaphor that sticks with me is
that of a cat's claws kneading the brain to describe a thought that is
driving him crazy. One of his favorite authors is Flannery O'conner. And
he's a Texan. Sometimes his stuff reads like the equivenant of a great old b
horror flic -To be enjoyed more for fun than anything.
Whew, I guess that's enough for now I suppose.
kevin
a Jonathan Carroll quote from Marriage of Sticks:
"People devour each other in the name of love, or family, or country. But
that's an excuse; they're just hungry and want to be fed. Read their faces,
the newspapers, read what it says of their T-shirts! ' I think you're
mistaking me for someone who gives a shit.' 'My parents went to London but
all they brought me back was this lousy T-shirt.' ' So many women, so little
time.' 'whoever dies with the most toys wins.' They're supposed to be funny,
witty, and postmodern, Miranda. But the truth is they're only stating a fact:
Me. I come first. Get out of my way."
"So vampires are everywhere?"
"Everywhere. They just don't have fangs or sleep in coffins."
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