Seeking Epic Fantasy Booklist

[Phoenix]

Hello,
I'm fairly new to the world of fantasy Fiction (as a dedicated reader) and so I'm having trouble finding "good" authors and series. Currently, I pick a "sample" book from a given author (usually the first in a series) and give it a go; if i like the book then I go throught the series; if I don't, then I move on. This is causing me problems because a. I'm wasting time and money on some less-than stellar material and b. I feel I'm missing some good authors by picking a bad sample from their work. My network of friends who could provide referrals in this area is non-existant. If anyone out there could provide a list of their 10 ALLTIME favorite EPIC Fantasy Series (or a link to a credible resource) I would be very much in your debt.
Thank you

[Gilliam]

Try http://www.sff.net/people/Amy.Sheldon/listcont.htm It is the best list I have come across and what I like is the large selection of authors.

[Lani]

Welcome to the boards, Phoenix.
I'd like to point out a few things on the board for you that might help you in your search for good books.
First of all take a good look at the Recommendation thread. It has a lot of links that could be helpful to you.
In addition we already have quite a few Top 10 lists like the one you are looking for
i.e.
Top 10 Fantasy Novels
Fantasy Epics (Ones to read, ones to steer clear of)
You can also find a lot more similar resourses if you do a search in the forum, but somehow I feel you can find a lot to read from these threads as it is.

[Phoenix]

Try http://www.sff.net/people/Amy.Sheldon/listcont.htm It is the best list I have come across and what I like is the large selection of authors.

Thank you Gilliam, more than enough to get me started.

[Phoenix]

Thank you Lani, your links were very interesting. I'm new to this type of medium and so am having trouble finding my way around. Your info with that of Gilliam's is most helpful.

[Papazak]

bump bump !!

[Werthead]

Erm, any particular reason for bumping this thread? If you do want to bring a thread back to attention, I think it's better to make some kind of new comment or contribution rather than just saying 'bump'. Not sure about the rule here, but on other forums I know that's actually not allowed.

[Papazak]

I bumped it because I thought it was useful information that was stuck on page 112!!! I didn't add comment because I don't know of any online fantasy book lists.

[owlcroft]

. . . I don't know of any online fantasy book lists.

Easily remedied. These are, very roughly, in order of significance or utility; the ones without parenthetical comments are included because they're out there, not as recommendations:

• List of fantasy novels (at Wikipedia; contains links to yet more lists)
• The Recommended Fantasy Author List (the well-known list moderated by Amy Sheldon)
• The Big-Ass Fantasy List (Jeff VanderMeer's famous list)
• Ten Overlooked Odd Speculative Fiction Classics (actually four sets of lists of 10 each)
• China Mieville's top 10 weird fiction books (self-explanatory)
• 100 Great Works of Science Fiction & Fantasy (disclaimer: my own list)
• The Internet Top 100 SF/Fantasy List (apparently not updated in over 5 years, but utile anyway)
• Best Fantasy Lists (a collection of lists from different sources)
• Twenty Epics
• Top 100 Fantasy Books
• The top 100 fantasy books of all time
• Top 10 Fantasy Books or Series That Everyone Should Read
• Top 10 Fantasy Books
• Best fantasy book series of all time
• Top 25 Fantasy Books
• 10 Best Epic/Fantasy Series of All Time

Another, a vote-poll that is evolving right now, is Which of the top 100 Fantasy Books list should be classified as Great Literature?

(Because some of those list other lists, there may be some duplication of content.)