JENN McKINLAY: On the eve of the release of my first fantasy novel -- WITCHES OF DUBIOUS ORIGIN drops tomorrow, in case you have inexplicably missed me talking about it for the past six months -- I’m thinking about the fantasy genre in general and, frankly, what books landed me here.
The earliest fantasy book I can remember reading is C. S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I still think it has the most perfect title ever and I know it was particularly compelling to me because it merged the real world with an alternate one. For me, having a fantasy novel that has one foot in the known world always makes it that much more compelling. The next most impactful fantasy of my childhood was A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle, yet another perfect title. After that I was ready to step into a fully realized high fantasy which I did with Anne McCaffrey’s series the Dragonriders of Pern. From there, fantasy joined my love of mysteries and romance, making me a fully realized genre reader.
How about you, Reds? What are your favorite fantasy novels or are you a hard pass?
RHYS BOWEN: when I first learned to read it was the Faraway Tree and the Wishing Chair. Then, like Jenn, the Narnia books, all leading up to the Lord of the Rings, my favorite book ever!!! As an adult I have enjoyed Anne McCaffrey and Ursula LeGuin but more recent fantasies have either been too dark or seem like pale copies. You know: Tom the fisher boy is the only one who can save the kingdom from the curse of Yurg!
LUCY BURDETTE: First let it be said that I’ve preordered Jenn’s book and can’t wait to read it! But…when I read the question, I thought, I don’t read fantasy. Then I read further…of course I read and loved THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE and A WRINKLE IN TIME. Plus, funnily enough Rhys, I’ve downloaded THE LORD OF THE RINGS and we are listening to it on our way south!
DEBORAH CROMBIE: Yes, so excited about Jenn’s book and I have it pre-ordered! I do read fantasy, and it sounds like we have most of the same fantasy lineage. I think my first foray was A WRINKLE IN TIME, then the Narnia books, then THE HOBBIT and THE LORD OF THE RINGS, then T.H. White’s THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING. I read McCaffrey and too many other fun things to name. I love Phillip Pullman’s AMBER SPYGLASS trilogy, and now there are more books continuing Lyra’s story. Apparently they are read by Michael Sheen so I think I’ll be going with the audio version of those! Lucy, I’ve been listening to THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING and have almost finished it–the narration is so good!
HALLIE EPHRON: I’ve been a huge fan of fantasy, starting with The Wizard of Oz which I read to myself when I was in fourth grade, along with the 15 or so sequels (The Marvelous Land of Oz, Ozma of Oz…) by L. Frank Baum (not so much the sequels by other writers.)
JENN: I remember reading The Wonderful Wizard of Oz to the hooligans when they were little and I was SHOCKED to discover the ruby slippers are...silver!!!
Later, The Once and Future King. The Golden Compass. The Golden Compass. All the fairy tales, especially the ones Disney adapted. Most of the works of Roald Dahl (The BFG! The Witches…). And of course, the Harry Potter books.
And me, too! I’ve pre-ordered and cannot wait to dig into Jenn’s Witches of Dubious Origin.
JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Jenn, I loved all those series you mentioned! Some others I’ve loved enough to read over and over: Lois McMaster Bujold’s Sharing Knife and World of the Five Gods series. She made her mark as a highly regarded SF writer and is just as gifted at fantasy.
I adore Sharon Shinn’s Twelve Houses series, and after umpteen years she has a new novel set in that world coming out, so it’s the perfect time to catch up! Suzanna Clarke knocked me and the rest of the reading world out with JONATHAN STRANGE & MR. NORRELL. Katherine Addison (pen name for Sarah Monette) has an amazing five book series that began with THE GOBLIN EMPEROR, which was shortlisted for all the major Fantasy/SF awards.
JENN: LOVED both Addison's and Clarke's books. SO good!
And finally, another of my fave SF writers, Martha Wells, has begun a new fantasy series that I loved almost as much as I love her Murderbot books. WITCH KING is the first novel, and its sequel, QUEEN DEMON, was just released this month!
Once and Future King–I bet I think of that every day. And of course, Narnia. And all the Phillip Pullman, I could not believe how incredible the The Golden Compass is. (NOT the movie!)
Recently, though. Hmm.
But of course Jenn’s is pre-ordered!
JENN: Hank, I loved The Diamond in the Window - I can still see the cover in my mind and remember finding it on the library shelves when I was a kid. So good!
Thank you all for the enthusiasm!!! It's very exciting to leap into a new genre.
How about you, Readers? Fantasy lover or no?
Yes to those wonderful afore-mentioned tales: Chronicles of Narnia, A Wrinkle in Time, the Ring Trilogy, The Wizard of Oz . . . add Blake Crouch's "Dark Matter" as one more recently-read. And add me to the list of those who've pre-ordered "Witches of Dubious Origin" . . . .
ReplyDeleteCongratulations, Jenn! I'm looking forward to reading your first fantasy.
ReplyDeleteI also started young with the genre, with the original Oz books and the Mushroom Planet books. I might be the only person alive who hasn't read the Narnia books, but maybe I'll read them to Ida Rose when she gets a little older. I didn't discover the Ring Trilogy or A Wrinkle in Time (although, isn't that science fiction?) until I was an adult, and loved them, plus all the Harry Potter books, of course.
Jenn, congratulations on the impending release of your new book!
ReplyDeleteI was 5 when my older brother, 8, had an operation for cancer and our mother read THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE to us three younger kids (8, 5, 3) while he recuperated after surgery. I adored it and later read all of the rest of the books. I loved A WRINKLE IN TIME but not enough to pursue Madeleine L' Engle's other fiction. Tolkien was huge among adults when I was nine or ten and I got a lot of attention from friends of my parents for reading all of his books. However I read them simply because I read everything around the house that wasn't "a Jesus book." (My parents were truly devoted Episcopalians and our bookshelves reflected this.) Anyway, as with many other titles, I read Tolkien too young and did not enjoy/understand the books well enough to ever wish to revisit them, nor have I ever watched the movies. I was a fearful child -- I left the room during the annual broadcast of THE WIZARD OF OZ, to the jeers of my siblings -- and Gollum made a dread impression. While I bought fantasy for my kids, who both love it, I've avoided it as an adult. (Selden)
Selden, since I came to L’Engle’s Wrinkle because she wrote “Jesus books”, your comment made me smile. Elisabeth
DeleteLike Lucy, an immediate “no fantasy here”… but two or three Christmases ago, I discovered
ReplyDelete“The Dark Is Rising” by Susan Cooper. BBC had a podcast of its radio play version, original broadcast was over the 12 Days of Christmas. Read the book, then read the earlier books and then the later books since. Read Madeline L’Engle’s books not as fiction, but as part of her philosophical faith writings, also as an adult. Elisabeth
Elisabeth, I too am a "no fantasy" kneejerk but am remembering other titles as people mention them. I read THE DARK IS RISING books in my early 20s (introduced by my future husband) and enjoyed them. (Selden)
DeleteAnd yay, Jenn, for Dubious Origins! Elisabeth
ReplyDeleteMy fantasy reading mostly consists of books with only some elements of fantasy like talking animals or little people. Charlotte’s Web, Stuart Little, Beverly Cleary’s Ralph Mouse books, The Borrowers.Peter Pan. I liked the Inkheart trilogy by Cornelia Funke where characters come out of books to the real world and people from the real world enter the books. I also really like the Airborn books by Kenneth Oppel…fantasy, a little historical, a little romance all wrapped in one. My fantasy reading is also mostly YA.
ReplyDeleteYou remind me that I also loved Stuart Little and all the Borrowers books.
Deleteyes yes adore Stuart Little and I just gave the first Borrowers to my granddaughter this summer.
DeleteOh, me, too, Brenda and Edith! (Selden)
DeleteCongratulations Jenn!
ReplyDeleteOh man! So many from my childhood. I still have George MacDonald's The Princess and Curdie and The Princess and the Goblin on my bookshelf. We also loved E.Nesbit--particularly The Phoenix and the Carpet. Narnia--all 8 books. Many of Madeleine L'Engle's (if you want a beautiful book about dying, read A Ring of Endless Light--although I didn't read it til I was grown up) One summer mom read us The Hobbit out loud in the backyard and then my twin and I read and reread The Lord of the Rings--every winter holiday for years. More recently, I really enjoyed the Martha Wells's The Murderbot Diaries and Connie Willis's Blackout and All Clear.
And of course mom had a collection of Oz books from her childhood. We read and reread those.
DeleteJenn, your book is on the way but I bet the audiobook is already here! I do love fantasy but haven't read that much of it. HALF MAGIC was my favorite book as a child. Most of the other books and series for kids I missed. I should go back and read all the books you've mentioned now. I read THE HOBBIT and TLOTR as an adult, then read them to Jonathan when he was five. That gave him a life-long love of fantasy. I also reread that series from time to time and I have listened to the original audiobooks.
ReplyDeleteJenn, congratulations on all of the kudos and notice you've been getting. I love the Museum of Literature series an hope to see some old friends on the page.
At the top of my list would have to be Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" ...my second most favorite book after "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. I'm veering off course a bit here but I always loved the 1939 film of Frank Baum's book "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" and faithfully watched it as a child in the 1950's when it was released annually on television. (I would love to see the newest version of it at Sphere in Las Vegas.)
ReplyDeleteOh, of course, Alice! How could we forget!
DeleteP.S. Jenn ~ I love the name of your FIRST fantasy novel..."Witches of Dubious Origin". Congratulations on its release tomorrow...how exciting!!!
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ReplyDeleteLoved many of the children's books mentioned - Tolkien, Pullman, Lewis.... and eagerly awaiting Jenn's from the library. Now it's Jodi Taylor's Chronicles of St. Mary's & Time Police books - fantasy-historicals (time travel but never call it that) or Ben Aaronvich's Rivers of London series for urban fantasy. But, for me, the grand master of fantasy was Terry Pratchett, who we lost way too soon. Dragons and witches sure, but underneath biting social satire and laugh out loud funny.
ReplyDelete(I made the mistake of posting before proofing. Let's see if I get this right this time.0
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to Jenn's latest.
I read LOTR in the original Ace paperbacks (before they were pulled in favor of the Ballantine editions), and it knocked my fairly young socks off. But then came the imitatators with their multi-volume tomes, poor imaginations, poorer plots, and even poorer writing. I have avoided most high fantasy since then. I did enjoy Narnia, but much preferred OZ. I also enjoyed Edward Eager's "Magic" books and E. Nesbit's stories about the Five Children. I'm still very partial to Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. A bit off topic (but not really, because it is at heart a fantasy series) are F. Paul Wilson's Repairman Jack books, which also fit comfortably into the suspense-thriller-horror categories. The Repairman Jack books are a subset of Wilson's Adversary Cylcle, which, in turn, is part of his Secret History of the World. No fairy princesses, magical kingdoms, elves, or dragons here -- which works well for me. Too much of modern fantasy is just too twee.
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ReplyDelete(Deleted comment above was from an accidental "send" with only a half a sentence written!)
ReplyDeleteI am very excited to read Jenn's first foray into fantasy. If you'll forgive a fangirl moment here, I just can't imagine Jenn writing anything that is NOT a fun ride!
I don't believe I encountered fantasy writing until I was in college, but once I did I loved THE LORD OF THE RINGS and THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA. For a while in my young adult years I got really into high fantasy and absolutely devoured THE CHRONICLES OF THOMAS COVENANT, THE UNBELIEVER and everything else written by Stephen R. Donaldson, as well as a few other fantasy authors. In more recent years I rarely read high fantasy, but enjoy series that merge reality with fantasy, such as Deborah Harkness' ALL SOULS TRILOGY and Ben Aaronovitch's RIVERS OF LONDON series. I am grateful that the HARRY POTTER series now ensures that most young readers get at least a nodding acquaintance with fantasy at a young age.
I always think I don’t read science fiction or fantasy because I don’t read books about space travel or things with dragons. Then I remember/realize that the books you all have mentioned are components of the genre. I love time travel books (Kathy G., why can’t we call it that?) such as Jodi Taylor’s Chronicles of St. Mary’s. My 5th grade teacher read us The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe which I loved. I, too, was a huge fan of the Edward Eager Half Magic series. As a librarian in an elementary school, I tried and tried to get kids to read them, but probably only succeeded with a handful of them.
ReplyDeleteEven as a mystery reader I find myself enjoying books with “friendly” ghosts (not Casper!) such as Leigh Perry’s Family Skeleton Mysteries. Though he’s kind of not a ghost but a “living”, talking skeleton. I like the ones where someone can communicate with a loved one who has passed on. Ooh, here’s a blast from the past: remember The Ghost and Mrs. Muir? Or have I entered into a whole other genre here?
I recently reread Jenn’s Museum of Literature series in anticipation of my pre-ordered copy of Witches of Dubious Origin’s arrival. Congratulations, Jenn, on your new book! — Pat S
The disater-prone historians of St Mary's are adamant they don't do traditional time travel. They "investigate major historical events in contemporary time".
DeleteAh, of course, Kathy! — Pat S
DeleteJENN: I preordered your WITCHES OF DUBIOUS ORIGINS and I look forward to reading it on Halloween Eve. I loved your mysteries and your rom-coms.
ReplyDeleteTrying to remember when I started reading Fantasy. I did not read WRINKLE IN TIME until recently when I saw a new edition at my local bookstore. I had been wanting to read the book for a while. When HARRY POTTER first came out, I tried to read the book and I could not get into it. My then nine year old relative raved about the books and encouraged me to give them another try. At that time I think Book Three just came out. I started reading the HP books and fell in love with the stories. Now I read them once a year. I read the Narnia books at Uni. Though I read WIZARD OF OZ as a child, I remember the movie more. I have not read LORD OF THE RINGS yet, though I plan to read LOTR books. I loved Deborah Harkness' ALL SOULS TRILOGY with Diana Bishop discovering that she is a witch.
Everyone, thank you for sharing the titles of fantasy books that you read and loved. I am adding many, many, many (new to me) fantasy books to my TBR list.
I thought I wasn't a big fantasy fan but then I started to think of the books I've liked such as the Wizard of Oz, Harry Potter series, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan. The one thing about fantasy is how real the personalities are, and often they have a wealth of wisdom to pass on, and the characters end up learning valuable lessons about life.
ReplyDeleteI vaguely remember reading The Wizard of Oz as a kid. I know that I read at least The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe from C.S. Lewis, though I can't remember if I read any of the other books.
ReplyDeleteFor me, the fantasy reading that dominated the early part of life, before the educational system destroyed my love of reading for entertainment purposes, was first lit by Lloyd Alexander's five book series The Chronicles of Prydain (The Book of Three, The Black Cauldron, The Castle of Llyr, Taran Wanderer and The High King). Please ignore the rather awful animated Disney movie The Black Cauldron because the books are nothing like that claptrap.
And we can't forget one of my all-time favorite fictional characters, Conan of Cimmeria. Whether in prose novels or comic books, by Crom, Conan the Barbarian rules!
I then moved on to the two main authors that came to embody my love of fantasy. First was David Eddings (though we later learned his wife Leigh was instrumental in his earliest works as well). He had the five book series The Belgariad (Pawn of Prophecy, Queen of Sorcery, Magician's Gambit, Castle of Wizardry and Enchanter's Endgame). The five book sequel series The Malloreon (Guardians of the West, King of the Murgos, Demon Lord of Karanda, Sorceress of Darshiva and The Seeress of Kell) was also great. Three associated books told stories to fill in backstories in Belgarath the Sorcerer, Polgara the Sorceress and The Rivan Codex.
Then came his two three book series featuring the knight Sparhawk. The first series The Elenium (The Diamond Throne, The Ruby Knight, The Sapphire Rose) was another great read. The Tamuli series that followed was less well liked but I still enjoyed it. Those books were Domes of Fire, The Shining Ones and The Hidden City.
The other author that built my fantasy novel foundation was Terry Brooks. He wrote the Shannara series. At first it took me three tries to get into the first book in the original trilogy. But that third try was the charm and the trilogy made up of The Sword of Shannara, The Elfstones of Shannara and The Wishsong of Shannara remain beloved books. However, the series ranged far and wide and Brooks wrote a huge amount in the world. I read a lot of the books but when I stopped reading fantasy (I'll get to that), I missed out on a LOT of the world Brooks wrote about. I did read the 3 series (10 books in all) that followed the original trilogy though. They were called The Heritage of Shannara, The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara and High Druid of Shannara.
You'll note that I haven't mentioned the Lord of the Rings books. Well, that's because I haven't read them. Just never got around to it and after seeing the movies, I don't want to read them so I don't have to compare and contrast.
DeleteI read the first six books in Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series but when the 7th book started off with three hundred pages where absolutely nothing happened, it marked the death of my focus on fantasy novels.
So why have I gone into such detail when I don't really read fantasy anymore? Because of that damned Youtube. lt recommended a book channel video and like a dumbass I watched it. Loved the video The Top 10 Forgotten Fantasy series by Brian Lee Durfee. It featured...ahem...26 series and I had read quite a few of them. So I guess it lit a fire under me to check out what's going on in fantasy and could modern fantasy match up with series I read and loved like: The Aurian series by Maggie Furey, the Dragon Prince and Dragon Star trilogies by Melanie Rawn, The Glasswright series by Mindy Klasky, The Chronicles of the Cheysuli and The Novels of Tiger & Del by Jennifer Roberson, The Godwars trilogy by Angus Wells, The Indigo series by Louise Cooper, The Deed of Paksenarrion trilogy by Elizabeth Moon or singular books I liked such as Kristen Britain's Green Rider, Barb & JC Hendee's Dhampir or multiple books in David Gemmell's Drenai saga like Legend, The King Beyond the Gate, Waylander and Waylander II: In The Realm of the Wolf. I've also read books by Mercedes Lackey, Andre Norton and Marion Zimmer Bradley.
With that fire lit, I visited the library and bought some fantasy (and some science fiction) books from the used book sale to see if there would be something I liked. I also took out some books from the library as well. Currently, I'm finishing The Sapphire Rose from David Eddings and about 100 pages into Richard Swan's The Justice of Kings. I don't know if this is a long term thing or just a passing fancy, but perhaps books like David Chandler's Den of Thieves, Book 1 of The Ancient Blades trilogy, A Confusion of Princes by Garth Nix, Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian, An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir and Acacia by David Anthony Durham will help me decide.
For someone who lost their love of reading by the entertainment industry you read a lot! What a great post btw!
DeleteI lost my love of reading for entertainment purposes due to the educational system forcing me to read garbage books I didn't want to read and calling them "classics" because they were 200 years old. I had to regain the love of reading which was due to Robert B. Parker, Sara Paretsky and Sue Grafton and my own hard work at overcoming the systematic torture that was "required reading" in the homework hellhouse known as high school.
DeleteMany of those mentioned were great - Wrinkle in Time, The Hobbit, LOTR, Harry Potter. They hold fond memories for me. I also found in high school the Deryni books by Katherine Kurtz, the Belegrad books by David Eddings and The Merlin books by Mary Stewart. There is something about getting lost in the world of fantasy.
ReplyDeleteTerri P, I read a few of the Dernyi books by Katherine Kurtz but never got into them like some of the other series I read at the time.
DeleteCongratulations, Jenn! I wish you big success with the new book, it sounds delectably tantalizing.
ReplyDeleteThe Once and Future King, and it's time-bending story with Merlin aging backwards, and astonishing events like Wart/Arthur turning into an ant just captures the imagination, doesn't it? It was so different from anything else. Lord of the Rings stopped being as interesting to me once I left the lighter world of The Hobbit, but another truly original world, complete with its own languages.
Has anyone mentioned the Outlander books? Long before Harry Potter, I was reading and rereading Outlander's next volume whenever a new one came out. There is such a cult following around the TV series, which does a fabulous job of bringing Diana Gabaldon's visions to the screen so vividly, too. I have never gotten into either the books or the TV shows of Game of Thrones, but they also fall firmly into the fantasy category, don't they?
Karen, yes the Game of Thrones books are fantasy. I never read books myself. The first book in George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire (aka Game of Thrones) was unreadable for me. But the TV show was fantastic. And given that not only will I become god before the notoriously slow writing Martin actually writes the final two books in the series, my guess is that much like Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series, Martin will die before finishing it.
DeleteWhy didn’t mention Harr Potter? The only fantasies I have devoured in recent years and do brilliant
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