Fantasy Aficionados discussion

I have always liked fantasy...would watch it if it was on I guess (not a big TV fan) but after I SAW Lord of the Rings movies I became hooked. My hubby has been a huge fan of the books since he was a kid and when the movies came out...well there it began for me. I love fantasy worlds, characters (different races and such) and story lines. A friend introduced me to another favorite of mine...it is kind of a new one... it was well worth the read! :)

Wow, great thread!

I have never met my favorite author in person but I have consumed mass quantities of her books. I make no secret that my favorite is Mercedes Lackey. I first ran into Lackey in middle school I think...I was running through my library's anthology section like a plague when I happened to pass by a Lackey book. It was Winds of Change and I stayed up all night reading it. Wonderful!!! I'd only read some sci-fi and anthologies at that time (my main genre was mystery and YA) and I was IN LOVE. She started my love affair with fantasy and I haven't looked back since.

I really got into fantasy in high school. I was a huge Star Wars movie fan and noticed Heir to the Empire in the grocery store and picked it up by chance. Eventually I got a hold of a copy of Dragon Wing somewhere and started reading them. Then I had a study hall in school and traded for a copy of The Eye of the World. I devoured it and the next few. Also a high school friend of mine suggested some ones that he thought were good. I've been fascinated by fantasy ever since.

I have a rather boring story about my favorite author, but it could be considered fortuitous. I was in my university bookstore and I saw this book, Revelation Space, on the shelf, the back cover was interesting and I bought it. At this point I have read all but two of Alastair Reynolds books, so I think it was a good find.

I used to read science fiction, and since sci-fi and fantasy are lumped together in bookstores and libraries, I think I must have just stumbled across my first fantasy books by accident. The Hobbit came pretty early on but I can't say if it was first or something else. I do know one of the earliest was probably Night Mare by Piers Anthony. I've been a fan of Xanth ever since. My mom gave me Marion Zimmer Bradley's Hawkmistress! for Christmas one year (1982 according to the publication date). I remember thinking "What was my mother thinking when she bought this? Why do I want to read about some girl who trains hawks?" When I ran out of books to read, I finally picked up Hawkmistress, and couldn't believe I had waited so long to read it. lol My mom suddenly became a hero for giving me that book.

When I was a teen, to many years ago to count, my sister gave me a copy of "The White Dragon" by Anne McCaffery. I fell in love with the Dragon Riders of Pern and read whatever I could find. I collected most of them from a book of the month club. I tried a few of her other books but they weren't my thing. My older sister has given, lent or suggested many of the books that became favourites of mine.

Melissa wrote: "I used to read science fiction, and since sci-fi and fantasy are lumped together in bookstores and libraries, I think I must have just stumbled across my first fantasy books by accident. The Hobbi..."

I really enjoyed Hawkmistress! I think that Stormqueen! was my fav but it's been so long that I need to start a re-read...

Like Christine, I was introduced to fantasy by my sister with the Pern series. Loved them...then went on to the Deryni series by Katherine Kurtz. I have all the paperback of both series and reread from time to time.

How did I meet my favorite Author?

Well, you see... it was in the lightless and blustery hours opposite those of daytime, sheets of liquid precipitation fell from the sky -- when the arctic gale wasn't blowing like Dale Chihuly after inhaling a ton of pepper.

Outside my window, there came a tap, tap, tapping. I turned quickly, but my eyes beheld only the gloom and nothing more.

Then from my door came a rap, rap, rapping. Slow at first, then over a period of time the intervals and decibel level increased.

I crept forward, slowly, step by step. Inch by inch. Foot by foot.

In a single quick motion I threw open the door and looked out upon the visage of horror that had darkened my doorstep.

"God damnit, Butcher! Stop messing around and go write more Dresden, you bastard!"

Then I slammed the door and went back to reading.

Ala wrote: "How did I meet my favorite Author?

Well, you see... it was in the lightless and blustery hours opposite those of daytime, sheets of liquid precipitation fell from the sky -- when the arctic gale ..."

ROTFLMAO!!! I love it! You should email him that... (Sensei would appreciate it :-)

Well lol I'm not just a fantasy fan so bear with me as I relate some horror writers too here:

I met Stephen King's work via films like Creepshow and Pet Semetery which I saw as a kid. He seemed a very amiable and fun guy (in his film cameos) plus I loved the characters and scares in the films so I tried out the Tommyknockers one day when I sorted out R L Stine's books only took about three hours for my thirteen year old mind to eat up. He in turn introduced me to many, many other writers through his references to their work in books like Danse Macabre. Clive Barker was one of these. I have yet to find many other writers who offer the characterization and storytelling style King offered me in those early days when books like The Stand got me through so very much teen angst and depression, being an outsider I had a lot of that to escape from. I came to books like The Talisman and The Gunslinger much later than his horror novels but i soon realized that they were some of my favorite pieces from him.

I also met Anne Rice via the film version of Interview with the Vampire and the same was true of Peter S Beagle's The Last Unicorn.

I came to Tolkien because he was constantly recommended by other fantasy readers and eventually I gave in reading The Hobbit first. It wasn't until Bilbo came back to the shire at the end that I really got the sense of adventure and the joy of fantasy that I had experienced in films like Dark Crystal,Willow, Legend, and Labyrinth as a kid. I think that's when I fell in love with written fantasy.





I randomly saw the cover for Poppy Z Brite's Drawing Blood at my local library and after falling in love with the cover fell in love with her writing. Shortly thereafter I also found Caitlin R Kiernan's books Silk and had a similar moment of Squee lol.

Of course I was very wrapped up in goth culture at the time, only further encouraged by Neil Gaiman's Sandman graphic novels which I discovered while wandering through a comic books shop while waiting on my brothers to get finished. I'd intended to find James O'Barr's The Crow (that came later), instead I fell in love with Dream and his world. It was the first time I really understood and loved the world of comic books. I didn't get around to Gaiman's novels until much later with American Gods and fell in love with the broad spectrum of gods and deities he referenced as much as the humor and odd main characters the books presented. I was introduced to Terry Pratchett via Carpe Jugulum around the same time.

Shortly after that a friend of my brother's loaned him Jhonen Vasquez' Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, man did that blow our minds!! Hehe and thusly I sought out just about every gothy comic I could find.

I found Laurel K Hamilton's Anita Blake series and James Clemens' Wit'ch Fire by randomly buying the books from Sci-fi book club. I finally read them about a year later and proceeded to eat up both series until Clemens finished his and Laurel K's books went slutty and I started to read more out of duty to knowing the end than any true love :(

Jacqueline Carrey's Kushiel books looked like just my sort of book and they turned out to be just the sort of thing I loved.

Hmm...I'll agree with the hive mind and say this was a great idea for a thread, Tracey :) I loved your prologue and since I'm home sick, today, I'll jump into Chapter One :)

Hmm...how did I meet my favorite author/get into fantasy. Well I was practically born a reader. We moved so much when I was a kid that most of my schooling was done military bases or with private tutors. When I was in second grade my tutor set me a challenge to read a hundred books that year. I read somewhere around 200 or so but of course these were like Berenstein Bear books so nothing impressive there, lol. I'd gotten to the point where I was mightily bored and spent most of my free reading time perusing mythology books in my dad's library. He had these old cloth bound Huge illustrated mythology books that I devoured. When my tutor found out about my interest, he went and bought me a copy of The Hobbit. I was six or seven I guess but I just dived right in and fell madly, deeply in love. I've read fantasy nonstop ever since.

As for actually physically meeting an author, well I have high hopes of attending a Rothfuss tour someday and higher hopes of getting to share a drink with Butcher. I figure meeting Robin Hobb is a sad pipedream but I think the other two are totally achieveable :)

Oh that's super cool :) I've met a bunch of actors but only one author (Charlaine Harris). Though I did get to have supper with James Stewart in the early 90's at my Uncle Monte's house which was awesome. I was too young to fully appreciate him at the time but later in life I grew to really understand what an amazing actor he was. Harvey and Shenandoah are still some of my all time favs :)

A Wonderful Life and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and Mr Smith Goes To Washington and....the rest of them :)

You know Spielberg is supposed to be doing a remake of Harvey? *sigh* So wrong.

Grant wrote: "A Wonderful Life and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and Mr Smith Goes To Washington and....the rest of them :)

You know Spielberg is supposed to be doing a remake of Harvey? *sigh* So wrong."

I was surprised at how much I like The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

See there, Denae. You just shot up a few notches in my estimation ;)

Piers Anthony used to write me. :-) He also sent me a photo with his dog.

I'm not entirely sure if I should feel complimented or insulted ;)

@ Denae. Lol depends on where you ranked in the first place! ;). (hint. You shouldn't feel insulted)

@ MrsJ. That's really cool. Especially in this age of electronic communication!

All my favs came to me the same way. My family has been into fantasy since before I was born. My earliest memories include Star Wars, Diana Wynne Jones, Beagle, Alexander, and Asprin. They were wrapped into my world and helped form me.

Don't know how fast I can get through a hefty manuscript, but I'm always open to critiquing. Just might warn it can bog you down if you get comments before you finish your first draft.

Well, like I said I met George R.R. Martin when he came to town for a convention, and the tour for the Ice Dragon at a local Borders in St. Louis. On the side note, the only time he met Robert Jordan was at the same convention back in 2001.

I met Brian and Kevin J. Anderson, two years ago on their tours for The Winds of Dune at the Newark Liberty Airport when I went back to NJ where my parents lives for the summer. Nice guys.

I missed Jim Butcher back 3 years ago when he came to the Columbia Public Library, I did not read him yet, but met him last year at a Library half a hour away with a couple of my friends, but forgot to bring any of his books with me.

Nearly every author I've ever discovered has been the result of Wikipedia, truth be told. I just go to a page on a subgenre I like (often via another author I like) - low fantasy, fantasy of manners, New Weird, etc. - and read some book synopses and summaries until I find one I like. That's how I found out about well over half of the authors I've read anything from.

I think I've only met two authors who I liked and knew ahead of time, who were Holly Black and Naomi Novik. Every other author I've met was either one I actively disliked (R.A. Salvatore is the most recent in that category - me and my then-boyfriend [now fiance] went to get a good laugh) or didn't know at all. I've liked a couple of the latter category since then, since they often gave away copies of their books and I gave them a read, but as an aspiring author myself, I tend to just go meet any author I can, even if they write in another genre (or even if they write nonfiction).

I'm not sure I've ever read a book that wasn't recommended to me. First my my mum, then by fantasy-loving friends, and now from Goodreads (as well as still my mum and my friends! I haven't abandoned them...). I reckon if someone with similar tastes loves something, it must be worth a try.

I've run across several good ones just by browsing at the library or a used book store.

I picked You Kushiel's Dart because of the MMPB spine from a distance and then loved the quote and the plot idea. SOLD!

MrsJoseph wrote: "I picked You Kushiel's Dart because of the MMPB spine from a distance and then loved the quote and the plot idea. SOLD!"

I had the same reaction only at the library :)

:-D

I knew there was a great reason I like you.

My family (well, mum's side, dad was always a little too non-fiction for my tastes) were all big fantasy readers and so there were always plenty of books to pilfer (which is how I found The Chronicles of Narnia).

My first longtime favourite author though was Tolkien though, and some very well thumbed copies of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings books were some of the first books I read by myself (that didn't have popup animals, and cartoons anyhow, though I wish I'd kept some of them, I hear the Beebo and Mop books are worth a small fortune these days :).
(The House That Beebo Built, Beebo and the Fizzimen, Beebo and the Funny Machine)

Being a kid was great, there was so much time to read. I get annoyed with the kids I teach (highschoolers) who tell me they don't read :/

My highschool library (the one I went to school at, not the one I teach in) was the other big one. Coincidentally it was also nice and warm in the mornings :)

I think the first book I picked up by Gaiman was Neverwhere -- though I was introduced to him from his graphic novel series The Sandman.

While I could never get into The Sandman series too deeply (a bit too etherial for me), I loved Neverwhere, which lead me to read pretty much anything I could find by him.

The first time I read Neverwhere I didn't think all that much of it. It was good, but nothing great. Then about a year or so ago, my wife got the audio version and she lent it to me. I listened to it at work, didn't remember a damn thing about it and was totally blown away. LOL

Strange how ten years can make a difference.

When I was ten, I was digging through a hall closet for some reason and came upon a battered paperback copy of The Hobbit. TV spots for the re-release of the old Rankin-Bass animated movie were airing, providing my only frame of reference for the book. Out of curiosity over exactly what a hobbit was, I started reading. Then I kept reading--for two days.

Other than textbooks, I'd never read a book that size before. Immediately after finishing There and Back Again, I borrowed The Lord of the Rings from the library and devoured it. It didn't stop there. I read The Silmarillion when I was eleven, and it's still my favorite Tolkien book.

My thanks to Professor Tolkien can never be adequately expressed. He singlehandedly awakened me from the often stark, utilitarian present world to the liberating joy of speculative fiction.

As of now my favorite author is Brandon Sanderson. I got introduced to him a couple of years ago when i was looking through some books that were on sale on Barnes and Noble's website. I got the hardcover of the first book of the Mistborn trilogy for $5. At the time i just bought it and didn't even really look into it. About a month or so after i bought it i read it and i absolutely loved it. I then went back online and found the other books of the series. From there I continued to read Elantris,Warbreaker, and The Way of Kings. He's a great author and i love his books. Brandon Sanderson

I've never read any Brandon Sanderson...

I have an interesting story on how I was introduced to Brandon Sanderson's work. I was at the 2007 World Horror convention in Toronto. At one of the room parties, where people drink and try to strike deals, I was talking to a literary agent who was interested if I had anything. I didn't. Said sorry, he said it was okay and left.

I remembered seeing him speak earlier that day on a panel and thinking that I'd like to have him as an agent. So I kicked myself for not having the book that I was working on at that time prepared.

I saw the literary agent again the next day while browsing the World's Biggest Bookstore, just down the street from where the convention was being held. He was wandering around the fantasy, sci-fi, and horror sections, turning the books he represented face out on the shelves. He saw me and we chatted again, and he said he had a book recommendation for me. He took me to Elantris, by Brandon Sanderson, and said that out of his current cannon of authors he worked with, this is what he was most proud of.

So, I bought a copy. I read it. Loved it.

I later pitched my novel to him. It got to the second stage, where he rejected it. But he mailed me a letter, expressing interest in my either fixing the novel up or something else. I have yet to get back to him with something else, but his kind words proved to me that I could write, and that I wasn't just fooling myself.

That's awesome, I hope you get your book published some day!
Also to MrsJoseph, you should really read something by Sanderson, he is a really good author. I don't know your taste in books, but if you enjoy unique fantasy worlds and magic systems then you should at least try one of his books. Elantris and Warbreaker are stand alone books, so one of them might be a good place to start.

Here is how I was introduced to a couple of series. I was introduced to Redwall, by few of my friends, who were younger than me, than I picked up a full cast audio, pretty great. I was introduced to Robert Jordan about ten years ago when my english homework was to read book and do a response, one of my friend was writing Jordan's book at the time. Tolkien I discovered because all my friends were reading it because the first book came out, plus my english teacher at the time read aloud the Hobbit. For Shannara a year later, some other people in some of classes were reading his book, then I found a copy of Scions of Shannara a year later, then a year and half later I was writing the Sword of Shannara trilogy, my best friend like that I was reading then both him and his sister read all his books as I give him over the next year. I found out Dune, just because Frank looked like one of my teacher I had. I found out about Stephen Donaldson and David Eddings through the school library just because it was published by Del Rey. I discovered Terry Goodkind, while I was walking through a BN, saw Temple of the Wind for $3.99, then 50% off about 4 and half year ago, then one of my friend was reading him a year later, told me to read it, then I told him to read The Wheel of Time right afterwards. Then while I was reading Goodkind's first book, I was walking though a Borders, saw A Game of Throne for $3.99 right after A Feast for Crows came out, had $5 bought the book. Then about 3 years ago discovered Salvatore by finding the Crystal Shard in a local used bookstore, after a year ago saw my friend reading it, bought it after a couple of week walking back forth deciding if I should get it. Found out about Brandon Sanderson just because he was selected as the writer to finish up The Wheel of Time.

We used to have a children's programme in the UK called Jackanory: actors and authors would read a book, a little bit each day over a week. One summer, during the holidays, they had a special with a host of actors reading different characters. I loved it and I was hooked so I had to go out and get a copy to read for myself. The book was The Hobbit and I then went on to read everything else I could find by Tolkien. I think it was Derek Jacobi who read for Bilbo.

That is a fantastic anecdote, Jason. Everyone should be so lucky to find an agent who truly cares about fiction, both as a business and as an art.

For the sake of every struggling author who can't even find an agent, I urge you to send that gentleman another submission.

Thanks, guys! I'm currently working on something to send him. :) And I agree. He's very passionate about his job. His name is Joshua Bilmes, if you're interested. I think he's taking new people, but you'd better look it up first. His agency is called JAberwocky Literary Agency.

Jason wrote: "Thanks, guys! I'm currently working on something to send him. :) And I agree. He's very passionate about his job. His name is Joshua Bilmes, if you're interested. I think he's taking new people, bu..."

Outstanding. Thanks very much for the info. I vow to reflect well on you by not wasting Mr. Bilmes' time until I've confirmed he has openings and I've got something to show him.

Good luck everyone.

I colected comic books with fierceness and tenacity all through high school and college. But I mostly read the superhero genre. There wasn't much of quality in the mystical or horror genres that I read other than the Swamp Thing series by Allan Moore. Then I picked up a copy of Sandman #1 when it came out, and was immediately hooked. He totally redefined the genre of the modern mystical/occult comic books.

Then he started writing books. And I stayed hooked.

I met him at a comic book signing in Boston, MA, sometime in the early 1990's. He signed my comics, and he let me have my picture taken with him, and the brass whale that was my fraternity mascot. In fact, he had them take another picture with him waving the whale over his head.

It was Awesome.

That's an awesome story, Arshad!

My mother always read to me as a young kid (toddler) I remember she always fell asleep before the book was done. Do you know how aggravating it is for a four year old when you don't know if he ate the green eggs and ham? So I learned to read. Now I know.

Then as a kid I was allowed one hour of tv during the week. In the winters this resulted in mass intake of books. I started out with pretty much anything that came into my hands - mostly through my grammy's purchases.

I read anything and everything. Phantom Tollbooth and A Wrinkle In Time were some of my favorites. I remember being grounded for something and rather than take away my ability to hang out with friends or watch tv they took my books away. This my friends was the singularly most tragic event in my life. So I started smuggling books. Most of them were fantasy. I was a huge fan of King Arthur (went on to study early British History in college - nerd)

Then one Christmas I got the book. My grammy always picked the middle of a series - she purchased at used books stores and always seemed to find number four of xx or something like that. But this year she purchased Number 5 of The Death Gate Cycle. I was intrigued by the cover. Read two or three pages and well...

I reread that series every single summer. I have a signed book from Margaret Weis that an old boyfriend got me. I've read most of what they've published. Most are good some are so so...

But since that date - I have been hooked. Sure I travel away from the fantastical realms every now and then to pursue a horror or standard fiction but Fantasy is in my blood.

I met Tolkien when my older brother insisted that I read the Hobbit. I was in fifth grade and I loved the book. However, at that age, Tom Bombadil always bored me to death. I never made it past him until I was in seventh grade because I would always get distracted, put down my copy of The Felloship of the Ring until too much time had passed to start back where I let off and I had to resume the cycle again. In seventh grade, I read all of LoTR twice and now that I am a bit older, can understand more about Tom to appreciate him a bit more.
I met Sanderson going into my freshman year of highschool. Again, my brother pointed to books and told me to read only this time it was the Mistborn series, something I didn't own. They didn't have any book in the series except for the last at the bookstore but I did spot Warbreaker, by the same author, picked up the book and fifty pages later when realizing that my trip to the bookstore was less exploring than falling into one book, realized I was in love, so to speak. One year later, not that long ago, I met Brandon Sanderson literally. By this time, he was my favorite and I was elated to know that not only was this the first time my favorite author was still living, but he would also be coming to my region. I'm pretty sure I was the youngest fan of his adult books there and was probably pampered a bit because of it when he choose my Way of Kings book to read out of. Probably the best experience I've ever had.

Awesome story, Emily! You must have been so excited!

Agreed. Awesome, awesome experience!

I "met" my favorite fantasy author through a friend. Susan had told me over and over that I would love Michael Sullivan but it took me awhile to find the books and start. At the time she was on the third book (Nyphron Rising) and wanted me to catch up so we could talk about them. By the time I got to that book she was done with Wintertide (last one that is out). But I tore through the last ones really quickly.

We have all kinds of "theories" on the last book and I can't wait to see which one of us are right.

I met Stephen King through my older sister. She was always a fan of horror in general and him in particular. I started back in Junior High with Needful Things, which was probably not the best of his to start with, but I was amazed.

Jim Butcher I met my accident. I was looking to get back into reading and was doing a general search for a good series to start up with. I found a book called Blood Rites by Janrae Frank that sounded really interesting, but I couldn't find it at any store. All I kept finding was Blood Rites by Jim Butcher instead. So I decided to look into that one instead, found it sounded interesting enough, and gave Storm Front a shot. I was hooked from there.

A friend recommended the Hobbit to me when was 13 and i continued with the LOTR, i then stumbled on Robert Jordan by accident in the library when i was looking for something similar. Robin Hobb i found through recommendations here on GR.

My profile picture? It's the main character from an Anime sf movie called Akira. Really awesome.