A Nice Condensed List of Essential Modern Fantasy

[Obtuse]

Published almost 400 years too early for this list. Otherwise...

[CodanOfCanada]

The problem with this list is the lack of Robert E. Howard's other works. I guess them mostly being short stories impedes their inclusion. Nonethless where's the Bran Mak Morn and Kull?

Seriously, how could this list be missing The Once and Future King? Mindboggling.

Otherwise a pretty damn good list.

[kissmequick]

I just kind of idly checked a few books, some of which qualify (and some of which miss by 0.01 or 10 ratings! )

Sandman Slim, Richard Kardrey

There’s already a Brent Weeks, but Way of Shadows also qualifies

The Devil You Know, Mike Carey, 2006

The Many Coloured Land, Julian May, 1981

Lord Valentine’s Castle, Robert Silverberg, 1980

I'm sure I could come up with more.

[mjolnir]

Operating within these criteria, some stuff I think should be here:

-- Susanna Clarke, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell [for sure; huge]
-- Catherynne Valente, The Orphan's Tales: In the Night Garden [I'm a self-acknowledged fan, but this is fairly unlike most other stuff, has the Goodreads rating, just, and should probably be represented]
-- N. K. Jemisin, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms [If we're going this new, up to the Abercrombies and Lawrences and Sullivans -- which I think is great, this should absolutely be here too.]
-- Emma Bull, War for the Oaks [foundational urban fantasy]
-- Charles DeLint, Moonheart [likewise -- though I've not read it]

[AmethystOrator]

Cast in Shadow (Chronicles of Elantra, #1) by Michelle Sagara West
3.83 avg rating — 4,183 ratings — published 2005 — 9 editions

and I heartily second

The Devil You Know (Felix Castor, #1) by Mike Carey
3.84 avg rating — 3,560 ratings — published 2006 — 25 editions

[Seli]

As any such list utterly wrong , but a nice effort.

As could be expected almost completely Anglo, heroic / secondary world fantasy focussed. [/curmudgeon]

[Ochos]

excellent list, i'll start reading my way through it

[ArtNJ]

Interesting. I found Goodreads very user-unfriendly so I only use this forum and Amazon for recommendations. I know I need to spend the 10 minutes to figure Goodreads out, lol, since others dont seem to have this problem.

I assume the value of Goodreads rating numbers would be somewhere between the value of polls on this forum (high value) and Amazon ratings (low value). The "hit rate" of the posted list seems pretty good, since there are a lot of titles on it that I in fact liked.

[Randy M.]

Some titles that I think should be included,
Charles Finney: The Circus of Dr. Lao (1935)
Robert Heinlein: The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag (1942)
Peter Beagle: A Fine and Private Place (1960) and/or The Last Unicorn (1968) and/or The Innkeeper's Song (1993)
Fritz Leiber: Conjure Wife (1943) & Our Lady of Darkness (1977)
M. John Harrison: The Course of the Heart (1992)
Alice Hoffman: Practical Magic (1995)
Susannah Clarke: Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell (2004)
Jonathan Barnes: The Somnambulist (2007)


Some titles I'd add, using the compiler's inclusion of the Machen and Lovecraft titles as basis for that inclusion:
Bram Stoker: Dracula (1897)
Guy Endore: The Werewolf of Paris (1933)
Cornell Woolrich: Night Has a Thousand Eyes (1945)


Also considering that the Machen is a novella and the Lovecraft barely resides in short novel territory, and both are most often published in conjunction with at least one other story of similar length (this applies to the Heinlein I mention above, too), the creator of the list already broke his "No compilation" criteria by his second choice. Which is good since a list of fantasy that doesn't include short work is severely limited in scope (at this point I give up on the dates, already):
Arthur Machen: The Three Imposters & Tales of Horror and the Supernatural
Clark Ashton Smith: Zothique
Fredric Brown: Nightmares & Geezenstacks
Anthony Boucher: The Compleat Werewolf
L. Sprague de Camp & Fletcher Pratt: The Compleat Enchanter
Fritz Leiber: Night's Black Agents
Ray Bradbury: The October Country
Zenna Henderson: The Anything Box
Edgar Pangborn: Good Neighbors and Other strangers
Ursula K. Le Guin: The Wind's TWelve Quarters


Titles I'd expect to find, even though I haven't read them yet:
Manly Wade Wellman: Who Fears the Devil?
Michael Shea: Nifft the Lean
Karl Edward Wagner: one of the Kane novels


Randy M.