Fantasy Aficionados discussion

So I was trawling through the Epic Fantasy folder and saw that I was already into what a lot of people were talking about (With the exception of George R R Martin, who I'll get into one day, honest), and got to thinking about some of the seemingly never ending series that I read, but don't admit to (unlike, say Pratchett's Discworld which I'll quite happily cop to adoring).

Anyway, there are a couple of of series which I'll quite happily read, but might not really recommend, those being Piers Anthony's Xanth (although I really enjoyed his Incarnations of Immortality), and John Norman's Gor.

Xanth feels like a guilty pleasure because while it's easy to read and moderately entertaining, it's just filled with punny silliness (complete with thankyous at the end for people who sent in ideas for puns to use in future books).

Gor on the other hand, while it tends to be fairly standard adventure fantasy constantly revolves around this misogynistic view of women and servitude/slavery. Despite that, I still quite enjoy the books for the most part when I'm stuck in a reading gap and can't make up my mind what to start next.

So anyway, I figured I'd see if there were any other interesting guilty pleasure books or series out there that people will admit to :)

(Hrm, am I doing the right thing with the adding authors bit? I'm a bit new at this)
Piers Anthony
John Norman

I've never read Gor but I do enjoy Piers Anthony. I've read the Xanth series, too - and his auto-bio. I haven't read them in years, however. I've read the Incarnations series much more recently...but I haven't read the newest one released...

Terry Brooks - Landover Series...I love it!

I read some of the Gor books many, many years ago, but I didn't really like them. Way too much slavery and exploitation of women for my taste.

My guilty pleasure is probably the Sookie Stackhouse series...I am all about Eric I hate to admit

Maggie wrote: "My guilty pleasure is probably the Sookie Stackhouse series...I am all about Eric I hate to admit"

I love the Sookie Stackhouse books. Since I don't read Anne Rice any more I have to get my vampire porno somewhere :) I'll admit to it quite readily though.

I never really did get much into Piers Anthony - though I loved Night Mare long long ago. I went off him for some reason, enough that I got rid of what I had.

My guilty pleasure is probably Karen Marie Moning's time travel romances. The anachronisms pile up like leaves in the fall, the writing is at times embarrassing (in several different directions), and I can't read them in public with those covers ... but I like them.

Rob wrote: "Maggie wrote: "My guilty pleasure is probably the Sookie Stackhouse series...I am all about Eric I hate to admit"

I love the Sookie Stackhouse books. Since I don't read Anne Rice any more I have t..."

well the irony is I got all snotty about Anita Blake turning into porn, but I think Sookie is just fine...maybe its just because she is more monogamous? I dont know...

I've never read either one. My guilty pleasure is all the David Eddings I read. Can't always recommend it but I do read a lot of it...

...I've really got to get around to his trilogies...I haven't re-read those in ever.

Oh! And Mercedes Lackey. I'm a huge fan. HUGE. So big I'm like a dinosaur!

giggles...

Hmm...my guilty pleasure read is probably the original Dragonlance novels. Specifically the Chronicles Trilogy and the Legends Trilogy. They're definitely YA novels and I tend to flee YA but I read these as a teen and just adore them. I read them every couple of years but wouldn't necessarily brag about it! Lol

The Star Wars X-Wing series of books.

They're bad, and people tend to 'veer to port' an awful lot, but I still love 'em.

Ala wrote: "The Star Wars X-Wing series of books.

They're bad, and people tend to 'veer to port' an awful lot, but I still love 'em."

Stackpole wrote a bunch of those, didn't he? I like Stackpole.

John Norman is a big guilty pleasure of mine. His writing is pretty much the standard pulp, and his stories and characters come second to all of the Gorean slavery stuff, but I'll be damned if I don't like the books, anyway. I would also say Holly Black, though unlike Norman, I'll defend her work - at least her earlier stuff. To some extent, J.R.R. Tolkien, too. I can't stand his stories, his writing, his characters, or even his world that much, but The Silmarillion holds a place in my heart despite that. I consider him an odd one since I am more than willing to acknowledge his importance in the genre, and I gave most of his books 4 or 5 stars, but I just don't like anything he's written but the Silmarillion, and maybe The Hobbit on a good day.

Yeah, they're Stackpoles work. He did the first set and most of the others. Allston did the Wraith set.

I think for me any young adult fantasy is a guilty pleasure since I have long passed the "young adult" stage!!

You can be young minded.

At least, that's what I tell myself when others say I'm immature. Pfft, old people. Go figure.

What can I say? I'm a young heart in a mature body (you notice I didn't say "old"?). :)

I'm with you Cheryl...I enjoy the YA fantasy books and look forward to new authors here. Reading a trilogy that started with The 100 Cupboards. Loved Inkheart series and a set called Time Thief, I think. Let's hear it for young hearts...I know I'm not old enough to be 60+.

Cheryl wrote: "I think for me any young adult fantasy is a guilty pleasure since I have long passed the "young adult" stage!!"

I'm with you. I, too, am a 'woman of a certain age" and I love YA fantasy. My most guilty pleasure is Ranger's Apprentice. It's silly but so much fun.

I love the Fablehaven series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and a lovely little series I discovered called The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness. These are light, fun and enjoyable reads for me.

I still need to read Inkheart! I've heard really good things about it.

Totally agreed on the Percy Jackson series - if it had come out ten years ago it would've easily been one of my childhood favorites. It's just so fun to read...

My guilty pleasure would be... hm... I'm not sure, really! I was about to list Nalini Singh or Richelle Mead, but I barely read urban fantasy/paranormal romance as it is and think they do it particularly well. The Gemma Doyle trilogy by Libba Bray might qualify - it's obviously aimed for a teenage girl audience, most of the female characters are catty, but... I liked it. D:

Valerie wrote: "I still need to read Inkheart! I've heard really good things about it."

I loved the movie - thanks for reminding me about the book!

Libba Bray is my most recent one, I'd have to say. There are others from my youth, but not really in the fantasy arena, unless we're talking WoT.

I don't really believe in feeling guilty for what I read. I know others might look down on my reading choices though. I am happy to admit I am a big fan of Harlequin romances, which are widely reviled. But I have no shame about it.

As far as fantasy, I don't have any dirty secret authors that I know of. I am a big fan of YA fantasy, although I have learned which ones aren't to my taste after a few years of prolific YA reading.

When I first saw this thread I thought my answer would be I'm not ashamed by anything I read. I will freely admit to reading any form of fantasy including young adult and paranormal romance. But then I did think of an author I like that I would hesitate to read in public...Robert E Howard's Conan books. *shudder*. But they're really not as bad as you think they're going to be.

I no longer consider "guilty" in the phrase to imply actual guilt, although I do sometimes find myself overqualifying some of my reasons for reading certain things.

Originally my intention was to find those books that you enjoyed for no good quantifiable reason, so you'd be hard pressed to recommend them to anyone while still continuing to read them yourself.

I guess 'guilty' wasn't really the best choice of term, although the phrase 'guilty pleasure' still sort of conveys the meaning I was after :)

Lol...some folks are sticklers, Rob ;) Most of us aren't. Bear with us, we're well worth the aggravation ;) Incidentally, nice to see a new member so active.

@Rob-I did like Piers Anthony back in the day, but fell out of like enough to purge most of his books from my collection. @MrsJ-I recently re-read The Belgariad but don't really feel guilty about it. I'd still recommend it to people that like traditional high fantasy :)
Phule's Company and that series are sort of a guilty pleasure, in the sense I wouldn't really recommend them to most people. I feel a little silly re-reading The Year of the Griffin. I don't know why, such it's well written, clever and sweet.

I have right here the collected Icewind Dale Trilogy by R.A. Salvatore. Doesn't get much more deliriously nerdy than that.

And in response to those of you who brought up the Star Wars books and Game of Thrones, George R.R. Martin gets all kinds of praise for taking risks when it comes to main character deaths, but you've got to give Salvatore credit for similar boldness in Vector Prime.

And in response to those of you who brought up the Star Wars books and Ga..." When I bought my first Salvatore book the sales lady at the front got so mad. She barely touched the book & made sure I knew he was the jerk that killed...My take is nothing happens in the Star Wars universe without Lucas' approval.

Huh?

I googled: (view spoiler)[Salvatore killed off Chewbacca (hide spoiler)], the bastidge.

Mine have to be Star Wars and Star Trek books. About 5 years ago, I had collected all of the extant Star Wars books and I read them all back to back in order of internal chronology. It took about 6 months, but was a blast. Since I have kept up as new ones appeared. And, I feel compelled to re-read them all again.

Star Trek is another 'problem' all together. Of the 700+ books available, I've only read a dozen or so, but enjoyed them all. I would like to read them in internal chronology, but have not found a listing to guide me.

I've also read most of the Babylon 5 novels which I really liked and have Supernatural and various Stargate books...

All guilty pleasures for escaping from this universe into another.

I have to admit the Star Trek novels were my guilty pleasure for quite awhile, too. I haven't read many in the last few years, but I used to love them.

Tracey wrote: "I googled: [spoilers removed], the bastidge."

WHAT????!!!!

MrsJoseph wrote: "WHAT????!!!!"

I'm saying!!!

@Cheryl - I read every single Star Trek novel till well into the 90's, good, bad, or indifferent - till I realized there were a LOT more of the latter two. Still, I can't feel too ashamed, since that's how I discovered Barbara Hambly, Diane Duane, and Janet Kagan.

Hey now, don't go blaming Salvatore.

Word came down from Skywalker Ranch, from GL himself, as to who that could be done to.

Also, it was about damned time it happened, too. How many galaxy killing weapons of ultimate doom can they go up against without a damn scratch?

Grant wrote: "Hmm...my guilty pleasure read is probably the original Dragonlance novels. Specifically the Chronicles Trilogy and the Legends Trilogy. They're definitely YA novels and I tend to flee YA but I rea..."

Those have a special place in my heart. They were the very first fantasy novels I read. Loved them. Maybe I should re-read them. I was in high school last time I touched them.

I too love to read the Star trek books. I actually have quite a lot of them boxed up because I'm too embarrassed for people to see them on my shelves.

Admittedly, some of them are good. Many of them...not-so-much. And yet...my overall goal is to read them ALL.

All the series?! I stopped before TNG came out - it must be overwhelming now!

Yeah, but mostly the pocket books. Not the Bantam or the Ballentines, and not necessarily the comic series'

And if I haven't read them by the time I'm old and gray then I will probably skip the 'Corps of Engineers' series and most of the ones published for kids (I've read a few...so far they are terrible in an insulting to their intended audience sort of way. I can't abide that) i.e. Starfleet Academy and so on.

I'm not really sure how many books there are in total. I have an excel file at home that if memory serves has over 300 books listed.

I should get busy.

@ Leslie. Yup, there's an entire generation that was heavily influenced by Dragonlance. The late 80's/90's equivalent of the Harry Potter effect on fantasy

Maybe one day...

I've seen the Sookie Stackhouse books mentioned... guilty. Only one mention of Laurel K Hamilton though. I'm guilty of reading both the Anita and Merry series, despite them turning into poorly written porn. Sometimes, you just feel like reading fluff. Speaking of fluff... Kim Harrison's Hallows series is another among my somewhat guilty pleasures.

Kelley Armstrong is my main guilty pleasure -- Otherworld, Darkest Powers... I get way too caught up in her worlds. And Sookie as well, but that is like candy. You can't resist a little sweet but it's not a whole meal. :)

I just came from a church book sale, and couldn't resist picking up

I actually have an omnibus of the Chronicles already, but I'm a sucker for "annotated".

oooooooo Tracey! Me like

Jennifer wrote: "I've seen the Sookie Stackhouse books mentioned... guilty. Only one mention of Laurel K Hamilton though. I'm guilty of reading both the Anita and Merry series, despite them turning into poorly wr..."

Hallows isn't fluff if you ask me just fun Urban Fantasy. It's certainly not overrun by bs about who she's screwing like the paranormal romance books tend to be.

Lol yeah I read Hamilton's books too but I think its because I want to see how it all ends out rather than any love for the series these days. It's sad because Anita used to be awesome :(