# Short fantasy novels? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 13, 2016, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-fantasy-novels/762639 "2016-08-13T00:12:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2016, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-fantasy-novels/762639/21 "2016-08-13T15:18:59Z")
John Bellairs’ _The Face In the Frost_ is a great short fantasy novel. If you’re willing to consider kids’ books (that are still enjoyable by adults), that makes it easier, as we can recommend books like C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia and Lloyd Alexander’s Chronicles of Prydain. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2016, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-fantasy-novels/762639/22 "2016-08-13T15:24:26Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > I recommend the Kuttner and Moore collection _Two-Handed Engine_. Is it worth getting if I already have a copy of the 1970s BEST OF KUTTNER volume? ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2016, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-fantasy-novels/762639/23 "2016-08-13T16:12:07Z")
It seems to have 500 more pages and 20 more stories in it, so if it’s not too expensive it looks like it’s worth getting as well. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2016, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-fantasy-novels/762639/24 "2016-08-13T16:17:12Z")
Here’s the contents of each: [http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?270348](http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?270348) [http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?35798](http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?35798) I’d say so, since _Two-Handed Engine_ has 37 stories as opposed to the 17 stories in _The Best of Kuttner_. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2016, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-fantasy-novels/762639/25 "2016-08-13T17:05:04Z")
_Charlie and the Chocolate Factory_ by Roald Dahl. _The Amulet of Samarkand_ by Jonathan Stroud. This one’s obvious, but no one’s mentioned it: _The Hobbit_ by J. R. R. Tolkien. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2016, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-fantasy-novels/762639/26 "2016-08-13T17:55:48Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > I’d say so, since _Two-Handed Engine_ has 37 stories as opposed to the 17 stories in _The Best of Kuttner_. Oh. Well, then. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2016, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-fantasy-novels/762639/27 "2016-08-13T22:10:24Z")
There’s a great satirical fantasy novel that was written by the guy who wears my shoes and sits at my desk every day, [available here](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00U2L6SU8/), in paperback and ebook. Great for Game of Thrones fans! ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2016, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-fantasy-novels/762639/28 "2016-08-14T16:42:06Z")
> [@NAF1138](#): > > Hey, some of us might be interested in the list of sub 200 page fantasy novels. Also if you can do some high quality shorter novellas and short story collections I would be interested in those too. (I don’t have much time for reading these days. So I gotta stick to quick reads or I lose the thread.) I only have one off the top of my head, and it’s very good but not as good (IMO) as the others I recommended: it’s [Sorcerer of the Wildeeps](https://www.amazon.com/Sorcerer-Wildeeps-Kai-Ashante-Wilson/dp/0765385244/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1471192821&sr=8-1&keywords=sorcerer+of+the+wildeeps). It’s set in a place vaguely like northern Africa, definitely a fantasy kingdom kind of vibe with swords and caravans and such. Characters largely talk like gangsters from The Wire, and there’s some definite callback to Zelazny’s brand of world-crossing fantasy. It’s a cool mix, not like anything I’ve seen before. (Oh, and I just checked, it’s 224 pages, so it barely misses the arbitrary cutoff I set :)). ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2016, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-fantasy-novels/762639/29 "2016-08-14T16:45:40Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > I’d recommend a good Kuttner collection as a substitute for a novel, here. There are a couple of good ones, and yes, most of the stories are co-authored by CL Moore even if not so credited. One little-known fact. Kuttner wrote all the Gallagher robot stories by himself. Moore said so. ---
**Author:** ![Lok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Lok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lok)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2016, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-fantasy-novels/762639/30 "2016-08-14T16:51:18Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > Piers Anthony’s \*Xanth \*series are all pretty short, as I recall. Jack Vance has a collection of short novels and interrelated short stories that can be read together or stand-alone, collectively called _The Dying Earth_ stories. Xanth stuff is short, but can only be considered good if you are really into puns. Especially after the first 5 or 6. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2016, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-fantasy-novels/762639/31 "2016-08-14T16:51:37Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > One little-known fact. Kuttner wrote all the Gallagher robot stories by himself. Moore said so. I can’t imagine her writing stories about a gleeful drunk. 🙂 “Excuse me. I rage.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-fantasy-novels/762639.md?page=1)