Lotr

[skitty]

Zinn and Chomsky on Fellowship of the Ring!:)

http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/unused-audio-commentary-by-howard-zinn-and-noam-chomsky-recorded-summer-2002-for-the-fellowship-of-the-ring-platinum-series-extended-edition-dvd-part-one

[Red Commissar]

I never read this satire before. I did find it amusing though, I could see them running with the interpretation of Gandalf perpetuating a conspiracy, the Orcs being misunderstood, oppressed nationalists struggling against Elvish-Human imperialism, and pipe-weed being equivelant to the coke trade in Middle-Earth.

[Sasha]

There is an pretty good alternate version of LOTR with about that premise:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Ringbearer

[4MyNation]

Big fan of everything from the fantasy genre!

[skitty]

There is an pretty good alternate version of LOTR with about that premise:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Ringbearer I wonder if anyone's found something to equal LOTR? I enjoyed the Dune books; but that's about it.

[Rafiq]

George Martin blows it out of the water

[Decolonize The Left]

I wonder if anyone's found something to equal LOTR? I enjoyed the Dune books; but that's about it.

LeGuin's Earthsea trilogy is excellent. Pullman's His Dark Materials is up there as well. Scott Card's Ender's Game and the sequels to that are pretty darn good as well.

As for Martin and Game of Thrones, I hear the books are downright fantastic but the HBO series is laughable. Entertaining, but laughable.

[Popular Front of Judea]

There is an pretty good alternate version of LOTR with about that premise:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Ringbearer

Middle-earth according to Mordor | Salon (http://www.salon.com/2011/02/15/last_ringbearer/)

If I break down and buy an e-reader it will be for this.

[blake 3:17]

...minor or major drift here... What do people get out of this stuff? Or maybe I should start another thread... Took me forever to get into China Mievelle, but I just don't get on & on & on stuff.

There are reasons I'm into mini comix & noir fiction. I like brevity. -- apologies for any disruption -- I am curious though

[skitty]

...minor or major drift here... What do people get out of this stuff? Or maybe I should start another thread... Took me forever to get into China Mievelle, but I just don't get on & on & on stuff.

There are reasons I'm into mini comix & noir fiction. I like brevity. -- apologies for any disruption -- I am curious thoughLOTR became an addiction for me and several friends. Maybe the timing was just right, with the right medication:rolleyes:; but it is all so brilliant and complex(maps, languages) that you can be drawn into it. Some learned to speak and write the languages, one read the trilogy repeatedly for years, with headphones on(cranked), until he could quote chapter and verse. I got wrapped up in Dune and King's Dark Tower; but they weren't equal to LOTR. Beyond that, there's a lot to be said for brevity too!

[Red Commissar]

...minor or major drift here... What do people get out of this stuff? Or maybe I should start another thread... Took me forever to get into China Mievelle, but I just don't get on & on & on stuff.

There are reasons I'm into mini comix & noir fiction. I like brevity. -- apologies for any disruption -- I am curious though

Some people are really into the creative processes that go into worldbuilding (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worldbuilding). Unfortunately sometimes the focus is so heavy in some books that other parts of writing are ignored which I think sometimes ends up giving Sci-Fi and Fantasy a bad rap. As popular and interesting the world of LOTR has been in popular culture (and for the record, I do like LotR despite Tolkien's political mess), I've read criticisms of JRR Tolkien of otherwise being unremarkable as far as his writing talent went once you took away the world (in the more generous treatments of him at least). This was the Nobel Prize for Literature's reasoning as well when he ended up on the list for the 1961 prize (after being nominated by CS Lewis) but was ultimately rejected. That went to Ivo Andric (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivo_Andrić).

[Brandon's Impotent Rage]

I'm quite fond of Tolkien myself, than I'll openly admit that his prose was often wanting. I do appreciate him for the world he created and the stories he told within it, but in all honesty I think that are much better writers that have come after him (though they may not have the breadth of invention that he had).

Rafiq mentioned George R. R. Martin, and I would agree...in many ways he's a far superior author to Tolkien. I would also recommend Michael Moorcock and Janny Wurts.

I'd also reccomend the criminally underrated author and game designer M. A. R. Barker, who on top of being an incredible worldbuilder was also a pioneer of tapletop RPGs with his Empire of the Petal Throne. He also wrote five novels within its world and numerous short stories, and created many pieces of art from drawings to figurines based on his creation.

Oh, and Barker's world was based heavily on Indian and Meso-American culture, so not an elf in sight!

[Thirsty Crow]

This was the Nobel Prize for Literature's reasoning as well when he ended up on the list for the 1961 prize (after being nominated by CS Lewis) but was ultimately rejected. That went to Ivo Andric (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivo_Andrić).
Frankly, JRR and Lewis shouldn't even be mentioned in the same sentence as Ivo as the latter was a master craftsman in literary storytelling (apart from other concerns, also).

This is at least my perspective, informed by my failed attempt at reading the Silmarilion and LotR. His prose and composition is severely wanting.

[Sasha]

...minor or major drift here... What do people get out of this stuff? Or maybe I should start another thread... Took me forever to get into China Mievelle, but I just don't get on & on & on stuff.

There are reasons I'm into mini comix & noir fiction. I like brevity. -- apologies for any disruption -- I am curious though


if you read as fast as i can you want something chunky to keep you at it for a while, my record is the whole LOTR, in english, in 5 days (this was during a very boring holiday and i read the books before though)

[Brandon's Impotent Rage]

I forgot to recommend someone else....and I can't believe I left him out...

Clark Ashton Smith. He was one of the major writers for Weird Tales and was an enormous influence on both H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard (Lovecraft's "The Doom That Came to Sarnath" is almost pure Smith). Smith was originally a poet at the turn of the century whose literary star burned out before it really took off, so in the 1930s he began writing short fiction for the pulp magazines.

He just discovered that he really enjoyed the work, and became one of Weird Tales' most popular and prolific contributors.

Smith is a poet at heart, and his short stories have very lyrical and sensual quality to it. Extremely baroque, and also extremely dark.

The vast majority of his fiction falls into four distinct story cycles:

HYPERBOREAN CYCLE: Cosmic horror and sword n' sorcery tales that take place in the mythical continent of Hyperborea (now modern Antartica). Takes place in a mythical time before the first Ice Age.

AVEROIGNE CYCLE: Historical fantasy and horror stories, taking place in a fantastical counterpart to the real life Auvergne in 12th century France.

POSEIDONIS CYCLE: Stories that take place on a remnant of the lost continent of Atlantis.

ZOTHIQUE CYCLE: Stories that take place in the far-off future Earth, on the last inhabitable continent on the planet. Civilization has all but forgotten the science and technology of the past, and sorcery and superstition once again reign supreme.


He also wrote smaller cycles of tales that involved places like Lemuria and a fantastical Mars.


Smith was also a talented artist and sculptor, and continued writing poetry throughout his life (some of which involves his fantastical creations).

I highly recommend the book The Return of the Sorcerer, which offers a wonderful introduction to Smith's work.