Re: Damn Harry Potter
Hehe,
Swordspoint is by Ellen Kushner, a noted feminist by the way. (Also won the World Fantasy Award, though the setting is pseudo-fantastic at best)
I tried reading it. The setting was interesting, the relationship between the narcotic junky and the flaming swordsman showed promise. But than the rather explicit homosexual scenes turned me off. Not to mention the story seemed to be stuck in a whirlpool - stagnating and meandering around without any apparant purpose.
I you are willing to trust my judgement, I can recommend to you a lot of very good (in a lot of people's opinions) fantasy books. Not all of them are necessarily explicit, without being young-adult in nature. Or alternatively I can link you to various fantasy forums around.
Here is the best one to start with,
So tell me, if you don't mind that is, your preferences in the genre.
Don Quixote, though fantastish in nature, is generally considered a part of classical fiction.
Personally, I never did like Arthurian legends too much. That is why I haven't read either of T. H. White and Marion Zimmer Bradley.
Cheers. Hope it helps.
(P.S: I was not offended. But you did make several unsavoury generalizations about the fantasy genre. I am just asking you to try and be non-judgemental till you have read a sizeable chunk of books which fantasy fans consider 'good')