Finally someone mentions McKillip? I love her stuff. In fact, whenever I wander into the F&SF section of a bookstore, I immediately go look to see whether Patricia A. McKillip, Robin McKinley, and R.A. MacAvoy have anything new out.
McKillip has somber works and whimsical works.
McKinley generally uses themes from fairy tales. (Not simple retellings, but mature stories based on the original concepts.)
In MacAvoy, Tolkien’s Faerie generally impinges on the mundane world (sometimes in 20th century USA, but also in Renaissance Italy, 19th century Ireland, future worlds of space exploration, and created-from-whole-cloth worlds of fantasy).
If you have not already read him, you must read Fritz Leiber (especially the many tales of Fahfrd and the Gray Mouser in Lankhmar, but also his tales of evil invading San Francisco and many others).
And for heaven’s sake, how did this thread get so long without anyone mentioning Peter S. Beagle? The Last Unicorn, A Fine and Private Place, Come Lady Death, The Folk of the Air, The Innkeeper’s Song? (He has a couple new ones that I haven’t been able to “review” yet.)
Well, Alessan, you have gotten some good replies (and I wrote some down for myself), and some not-so-good replies. Personally, I think many of the posters overlooked something in the OP:
My feeling is that you have grown tired of fantasy novels written for adolescents, and are ready to try some written for adults. If that is the case, I have a few suggestions (depending on your definition of new, of course.)
James Branch Cabell Anything, really, but Jurgen is the easiest to find (because it was banned in Boston. Nothing better for an author’s career!)
E R EddisonThe Worm Ouroboros This book cannot be compared to any other. It can be difficult, but it is well worth the effort. Ignore the initial character, Lessingham, and the setting, Mercury. The author does.
** Ludovico Ariosto** Orlando Furioso The crowning acheivment of Western Literature, it would be labeled Epic Fantasy if published today. Sex and violence and securing Europe for Christianity! I recommend a prose translation; the poetry feels leaden in English.
Lord Dunsany. I have only read a couple of the most popular, but I feel safe in recommending any of his books sight unseen.
By the way, these books are definitely for adults only. If you are still enjoying the characterization in Eddings latest, or think that Leiber is no better than Goodkind, don’t bother, you probably won’t enjoy them. If you have begun to wonder if there is anything better than Extruded Fantasy Book Product available, maybe it is time to look into these.
I enthusiastically second Reno’s suggestions with one exception: while Ouruborous is indeed one of the seminal an influential works of fantasy, I am afraid I do not think it has well stood the test of time.
Also, let me add John Crowley to the list. His older works may be hard to find, but they are well worth the hunt. I am not a big fan of his recent Aegypt series, but his older work in both SF and fantasy is superb. Engine Summer, in particular, is a gem. It is science fiction, but the structure and feel are closer to fantasy. The same might be said for Beasts, though it is solidly SF. The Deep is pure fantasy in a stark, allegorical setting. Little Big is a novel you will either love dearly or despise. I have seen it descirbed as “Faulkner does faeries” and “the book in which not a damn thing happens”.
Oh, and one more author: *Gene Wolfe. He writes more SF than fantasy, but his Book of the New Sun series is much more of a fantasy tetralogy. I do not recommend the follow up series, but the orignal four (Shadow of the Torturer, et al) are excellent. If you have any interest at all in ancient Greece, then Soldier of the Mist and Soldier of Arete are must-haves. Even if you don’t, they are fine books. Devil in teh Forest is a stand alone novel which is either historical or fantasy depending upon your interpretation of a couple events.