[Asha'man]

Lets make this short and sweet. Would you rather read a decent 1100 page novel or a really good 250 page book? Why?? And anyone have anything to say about why alot of fantasy authors look like british pimps??

[Bardos]

I don't care about the size, except if the author writes nonesense to fill his/her book. If he/she has a story to tell, then... "size matters not" (Yoda http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/wink.gif )

[This message has been edited by Bardos (edited April 28, 2001).]

[Duke_Sandre]

Quality not quantity

P.S in your opinion what does a British pimp look like?

[Aleya]

Bigger the better as long as the quality is okay. Smaller novels don't have the same ability to build a whole world into them IMHO, which I quite like as long as it isn't in big 'datablasts'.

I don't think I'd pick up a paperback if it was less than an inch thick.

Aleya - http://silver-oak.com

[Zsinj16]

I would like my fantasy books to be at least 250 pages long. I like really long fantasy books, as long as the author doesn't fill up the pages with nonsense, such as Bardos pointed out, such as spending an entire chapter writing about what someone was wearing or eating for breakfast. I also agree with the statement Duke Sandre made about it being the quality of the fantasy book, not the quantity that matters.
And as to your question about fantasy authors looking like British pimps, Asha'man, well, what exactly do you mean? I suppose that a British pimp would look pretty much like any other plain Joe that you would see walking around.

[Asha'man]

British pimp!!!!!! Have any of you seen Ray Fiest, Even Jorden looks kinda goofy. Big hat, feathers, gold chains, come on people.

[FitzChivalry]

If you write a very long book, it has to be good. If you write it less long, it can be less good.

[Charles]

IMO, shorter books are good when I want to read multiple books at once, but longer books are better if I have just one or two books to read at a time. I think that shorter books are also good if they are to the point but still descriptive enough to keep the me enthralled in it. Longer books can skirt around stuff more as long as they don't stray too far away from the point and as long as they don't loose me. I have read many books ranging in size from less than 100 to over 2000 pages (being the Bible.. yes I have read the entire thing). As I have stated before, I will read anything at least once. If someone gives me a book, I will give it a chance. Anyway, If longer books don't keep my attention, then the size should have been shorter. When reading a shorter book, if I feel that it didn't have enough in it, then it should have been longer. I don't think that it really matters what the size is as long as I can read it and not be bored with it or feel rushed when reading it.

[Gooch]

"It's not the size of the hook that matters, but how you wiggle the worm."

Granted, I'll generally grabe the thicker books off the shelf to check out before the thinner ones, but there are a lot of 'thin' books that I loved.

[Asha'man]

I always thought that i wasnt size prejudiced, however, today i had the opportubity and money to buy either "The Order War" by Modesitt or the second belgarad book by Eddings, and i chose the order war because it was thicker, i know, im a hippocrit.