Forgotten Classic Fantasy

Don't know if this quite qualifies as Forgotton Classic Fantasy in the sense that's been bandied about in this topic, but it gives me an excuse to ressurect a thread I really like...

Islandia by Austin Tappan Wright
This guy had notes for this world/novel but not until his death was the material published by his daughter and wife. From what I gather it is part Utopian tale, part Atlantis-like tale.

First published in the 40s I think, the book was just re-issued earlier this year, it comes in at a whopping 1,024 pages.

I think this recent edition was published by the same folks who recently put out the 3-in-1 of The Gormenghast Trilogy.
 
Let's not forget the kitch series John Carter of Mars by Burroughs...
 
Some of which were...
The Warlord of Mars
The Gods of Mars
The Chessman of Mars
A Fighting Man of Mars
Swords of Mars
Thuvia (Maid?) of Mars


42
 
Kane :

quote
I find it terribly sad that when talking about overlooked masters people are continuing to skim over the wonderful Fritz Leiber, capable of epic fantasy, heroic, horror, SF, and the gamut of simply great fiction. I heartily recommend it all.
unquote

And, not to forget, wit.
Isn't it the "Swords of Lankhmar" series which features the Grey Mouser and his companion Fafhrd ?
I once had them in my possession and hope to come by them again.
These were probably the most enjoyable fantasy books I have read.
 
Fritz Leiber: yet another writer who's damn near impossible to find. And unfortunately, I can't order these writers online, since I don't have a credit card...
 
>>I think this recent edition was published by the same folks who recently put out the 3-in-1 of The Gormenghast Trilogy.

Yeah, by Overlook Press.

Actually, they've also done us another favor by printing in one volume Evangeline Walton's reinterpretations of the Welsh Mabinogion as the MABINOGION TETRALOGY:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/A...3747012/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/102-4238673-5257763

A very nice hardcover edition, which I've recently bought. In the introduction Betty Ballantine discusses the difficulty she and Lin Carter had in tracking Walton down to get permission to republish the first book in the quartet for Carter's "Adult Fantasy" collection, as well as their delight in finding that she had three additional novels which until then had remained unpublished.
 
Qin,

quote
Fritz Leiber: yet another writer who's damn near impossible to find.
unquote

Which only attests to his quality.
In this world,
firstly, quantity always primes over quality, and
secondly, quality is always rare
 
Qin,

quote
Let's not forget the kitch series John Carter of Mars by Burroughs...
unquote

Kitsch ? I call it classic fantasy. As I said above, the "discerning" reader of today...
Isn't Thuvia, Maid of Mars, which I mentioned too, part of this series ?
And, I repeat, what about Tarzan of the Apes ?
That's fantasy too, or isn't it ?
 
>>>firstly, quantity always primes over quality, and secondly, quality is always rare.


Maybe, but I just found Heroes Die by Mat Stover. And on my birthday no less. Do you know how giddy I am?
 
Anyone have a list of the complete works of Dunsany?The only ones I can find at my local bookshop are The King Of Elfland's Daughter and a short stories collection, the name of which escapes me(think it was something about gods).Are his other works as good as Elfland's Daughter?
 
A COMPLETE list of the works of Dunsany? I'm sure there's one on the web somewhere, but I have to tell you it's likely to be quite long, as the man was extremely prolific, and most of the material on it will be out of print.

Also...not ALL of Dunsany is worth your while. Darrell Schweitzer wrote an interesting article for Studies in Weird Fiction a few years ago called "How Much of Dunsany Is Worth Reading?". Schweitzer's article is worth tracking down.

Del Rey currently has in print KING OF ELFLAND'S DAUGHTER and CHARWOMAN'S SHADOW. Both are excellent fantasy novels, well worth reading.

THE GODS OF PEGANA from Chaosium I'd skip unless you're a real Dunsany enthusiast. It's essentially the telling of an invented religious myth cycle and not the best intro to his work. The sort of thing that was probably a lot more fun to write that it is to read.

Now Wildside Press (a POD publisher in the US) is bringing a lot of Dunsany into print, but you have to buy if off their website or off Amazon. They have BOOK OF WONDER, which is a superb collection of short stories as well as FIFTY-ONE TALES, which is a collection of short-shorts, also very good.

Fantasy Masterworks in the UK has put out TIME AND THE GODS, an omnibus collecting a large number of Dunsany stories. if you can find it (you can probably order it from Amazon UK) you should definitely get it. Worth every penny.

I assume you're not interested in hunting out of print Dunsany, that would be material for yet another post.
 
Here's a link where you can find a reasonably thorough Dunsany bibliography:

www.owlcroft.com/sfandf

Since Dunsany wrote only a few "fantasy" novels and hundreds of short stories (there are also some plays), there is a large number of different anthologies containing his short stories. The King of Elfland's Daughter and The Charwoman's Shadow are thestandouts among that list, if you prefer novels.
 
I've also seen The Hashish Man floating around in a bookstore or two.

How is Schweitzer's fiction? The SFBC has The Shattered Goddess by him and it sounds a very remoteily similar to Vance's Dying Earth.
 
Schweitzer's fiction? Rather Dunsanian, actually. Not bad, but I wouldn't go out of my way to hunt it down. I think he is better known, appropriately, as an editor and a critic.
 
he is better known, appropriately, as an editor and a critic.
Click to expand...

Can the same be said for Damon Knight? I always see his thoughts and commentaries quoted but don't hear as much about his fiction.
 
Yes, I think Knight had some good stories, but will probably most be remembered as an Sf editor. His ORBIT series were very influential. RIP.

Of course, Knight is better known, both as an author, critic and editor, than Schweitzer.

Schweitzer's PATHWAYS TO ELFLAND, published by Owlswick, is a pretty good critical book on Dunsany. Some of his other critical collections, like DISCOVERING CLASSIC FANTASY, where he basically edited essays contributed by others, have been reprinted by Wildside.

It also serves as a good companion to three Dunsany short story collections Owlswick put out -- A DREAMER'S TALES, TALES OF THREE HEMISPHERES and GHOSTS OF THE HEAVISIDE LAYER. Although I think technically out of print, they can be found pretty easily on ebay or abebooks and are not very expensive.
 
Just thought I would mention Jack Vance again. My god can this guy write. I was lucky enough to find a copy of Lyonesse: Suldrun's Garden used last week. This is a classic High Fantasy at its best. There are faeries, castles, magicians, princesses, Kings, Ogres and many other creatures and features you'd expect in a High Fantasy.

Vance superbly puts everything together in the right ways in this novel. There are echoes of his Dying Earth here as well, similar characters and spells.
 
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