Re: Damn Harry Potter
Mists of Avalon is a great read … so is fall of atlantis. Both by MZB.
Re: Damn Harry Potter
Marion Zimmer is a bit over rated in my opinion. I've read some of her work and was not that impressed, particularly with Mists of Avalon. I guess I was expecting more out of the book and was left feeling disappointed.
Re: Damn Harry Potter
Wicked and Confessions are his best books. Mirror Mirror was not that great. Wicked had me mesmerized. I didn’t want the book to end. Now I want to see the broadway play to see how it is compared to the novel.
PCG, if you want fantasy combined with the paranormal and even some historical fiction thrown in there, then I recommend you read Barbara Erskine. I love her books. Not your typical fantasy, but I like how she involves the paranormal in all her books. Lady of Hay and On the Edge of Darkness are two of my favourite books by Erskine.
Re: Damn Harry Potter
critics’ comparison of j.k rowling to roald dahl drives me up the wall. he was a far better children’s author.
Re: Damn Harry Potter
Catty is fantasy? 
No wonder my msn always signs me out as soon as she leaves 
Re: Damn Harry Potter
Tolkien is more elaborative than Rowling but to me they both have different main target audience. I admire both of them. Plus I found 'The Hobbits' a lot more captivating than 'LOTR'
Re: Damn Harry Potter
i do enjoy the harry potter books, have all the hardcovers....telling myself that the "boys will enjoy them one day" lol!
Tolkein's books were awesome. also (forget the authors name) but the book Watership Down was great too.
Re: Damn Harry Potter
true, Rowlings target audience is below 15 and Tolkien is for above 15!
Hobbit is more easy going book, more alike for under 15 as it all surrounds dragons and treasure hunt. 
Re: Damn Harry Potter
Tolkien's all books are different in every way! The most complex book is of course The Silmarillion which is nothing but the ilustrative history of Tolkien world. LOTR tale is also part of that history which again he explained seprately as a novel. Hobbits of course gives the idea of living in shire and Hobbits. he history behind the creation of Hobbits is explained in The Silmarillion .
Re: Damn Harry Potter
Saby Jano… Wake Up… zor zor se Hilanay wala icon
Wake Up… * pani dalnay wala icon*
Offcourse She is Fantasy… warna tou Tumharay MSN pe kia karti 
Re: Damn Harry Potter
I saw the broadway musical of Wicked…it was real cool. Dunno how different the book is though. I’ll look into his books, thanks Mehnaz :k:
You know, I really don’t understand why other than Tolkien, no one has really tried to write up a real good fantasy novel.
Either the ones I see are:
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Modifications of the Arthur-Merlin story - soooooo many of these out there
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epic novels modeled on tolkien’s books. I realized this once I read Tolkien how many of the books I had read previously were model replicas.
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Erotic fantasy novels. These are most of the ones on the bookshelf in an adult fantasy book section. They have all the ingredients - magic animals, some epic mission, princes revolting, etc, but in it is mixed in a lot of raunchy sex scenes. These are OBVIOUS attempts at commercializing a fabulous genre of literature. I HATE books that do this!!!
Really, I can see that pretty much Tolkien was the only one who did it right. He was original. And he wrote well.
Very little fantasy lit out there these days is original. Only recently has it been picked up in the children’s fantasy literature, only because of damn harry potter books. I took my cousin to Barnes and Nobles to get her some books of her choice - and she took me to the fantasy section - there they were - a whole line of books modeled on the harry potter theme.
The only place that I see any good fantasy literature being written, sadly enough, is in the children’s section. C.S. Lewis came up with some good books, and a few others, which are now classics.
Now, why can’t adult fantasy writers write real literature, instead of the cheap commercial crap they try to sell off???
Re: Damn Harry Potter
PCG, if you really want to read the original fantasy literature, look into poems/stories translated into English that were written all over Europe in the middle ages. Those stories deal with Arthur, the Knights of the Round Table, Yvain, Gawain, etc. and these are the original stories written on these characters as far as I know. There are loads of other fantasy stories out there too. You can look into getting you hands on stories by Chretien de Troyes, Geoffrey of Monmouth, or even old sanskirt stories.
They can be a bit difficult to read, but well worth it once you get into it. One of my professors from University had a website where you could download free translations of such stories. I will look for his website and PM it to you.
As for Wicked, it is an amazing book. You should read it as well as Confessions of an Ugly Step Sister, written by the same author.
Re: Damn Harry Potter
:o
Their language is so difficult! :o
I should go write a fantasy novel. Not kiddy crap, but real stuff. 
Re: Damn Harry Potter
"his dark materials" by Phillip Pullman was originally written for children but has received huge acclaim from adults.
its about magical worlds, God, Organised religion(the Church) ....it was good enough to be considered the work of the devil and the The church of England wanted it banned.
Re: Damn Harry Potter
My new passion! reading Rachel Swift these days :D got hold of one her books! man now that is some fantasy !!!
Re: Damn Harry Potter
Okay you perv. I knew Rachel Swift is no fantasy author. She writes sex books.
Fantasy genre is not the same as sexual fantasy books.
Re: Damn Harry Potter
Great Fantasy Novelists:
George R. R. Martin - A Song of Fire and Ice Saga
Professor Tolkien - Silmarillion, Lord of the Rings et al
Steven Erickson - Malazan Book of the Fallen Saga
Neil Gaiman - American Gods, Coraline, Neverwhere
Tad Williams - Memory, Sorrow and Thorn Saga
Ursula Le Guin - Earthsea
Roger Zelazny - Amber Chronicles, A Night In A Lonesome October
China Mieville - Iron Council, King Rat, Perdido Street Station, The Scar
J. K. Rowling - Harry Potter
Gene Wolfe - Book of New Sun
Guy Gavriel Kay - Tigana, The Lions of Al-Rassan, A Song for Arabonne, The Last Light of the Sun
Stephen King - The Dark Tower saga
Richard Adams - Watership Down
Jake Vance - Lyonesse Trilogy
Enough?
Re: Damn Harry Potter
Isaac Asimov is arguably the most famous Science Fiction writer ever.
Gregory Maguire has written alternate takes on some of the world's best known fairy-stories.
Edit: Erotic fantasy is a subset of the main fantasy genre. It isn't totally deviod of merit either. One of the best fantasy series that I have ever read, and one which is particularly relevent to the global power tussle as well, could loosely be categorized into erotic fantasy.
The Kushiel books by Jacqueline Carey.
Other great/good fantasy authors
Garth Nix (Young-adult)
J. V. Jones (epic fantasy)
Robert Jordan (epic fantasy)
Patricia McKillip (faerie tales, epic fantasy)
Kate Elliot (epic fantasy)
Elizabeth Moon (epic fantasy)
C. S. Friedman (a futuristic tale of a society which is forced to live on a sentient planet)
Glen Cook (epic, gritty fantasy)
Fritz Leiber (sword'n'sorcery. without the big, hulking doods and the open-chested ballerinas)
Lian Hearn (Young-adult)
Ian R. MacLeod (great urban fantasy)
Robin Hobb (Epic fantasy. rich at character detail)
Marion Zimmer Bradley (arthurian legends)
Jonathan Carroll (the prince of urban fantasy)
Tim Powers (the KING of Urban Fantasy)
Joan Aiken (young-adult)
Jan Seigel (sort of a mishmash really)
Paula Volsky (Romantic Fantasy with gothic touches)
Juliet Marillier (Epic Fantasy, Celtic themed Irish Legends)
L'Engle Madeline (young-adult)
Philip Pullman (Urban Fantasy/anti-christian propegenda. Some might class it as young-adult)
Mary Stewart (Arthurian Legends)
Peter S. Beagle (Faerie Tales)
Lois Lowry (The Giver is an amazing young-adult tale of a dystopian society)
Robin McKinley (Young-adult with the exception of Sunshine)
Sean Russell (epic fantasy)
Steven R. Lawhead (Christian Themed celtic fantasy)
R. Scott Bakker (Epic Fantasy)
....
Among others....
Re: Damn Harry Potter
^ out of all that, what have u actually read yourself?
Re: Damn Harry Potter
All of them, except for Marrion Zimmer Bradley.
I wonder how much fantasy literature have you read, seeing as you are so fond of making sweeping generalizations encompassing the whole genre.