Some obscure fantasy novels I think everyone should read.
The Gormenghast Novels By Mervyn Peake
Immposible to describe, wonderful to read
The Well at World’s End By William Morris
If J.R.R. Tolkien is the father of modern fantasy then William Morris is the grandfather.
At the Back of the North Wind By George McDonald
A fantasy classic by an unjustly forgotten fantasy master.
Phantastes By George McDonald.
A dream-like fantasy.
Rootabaga Stories By Carl Sandburg
Weird but neat. I especially liked the recent rerelease illustrated by Micheal Hague
Water Babies By Charles Kingsley
Another unjustly forgotten classic.
The Dream-Quest of the Unknown Kadath By H.P. Lovecraft
Not many people know H.P. wrote fantasies.
These are obscure? Gormenghast recently got a TV Miniseries (BBC and Space both aired it, I don’t know about anywhere in the US); The Water Babies is one of my favourite movies from childhood; I, personally are unfamiliar with Rootabaga Stories beyond knowing the title, but I know several peopl who’ve quoted it in various places (one of my housemates at school had a quote on her door, for instance); and I’m pretty sure ‘The Dream-Quest…’ is one of Lovecraft’s better known works…
Good list, and a hearty addition recommendation for Chesterton’s THE MAN WHO WAS THURSDAY. There’s a new annotated edition, out just two years ago from Ignatius Press.
Here’s one not too many have heard of…Sarban’s THE SOUND OF HIS HORN. What would life be like in a hundred years if the Nazis had won the war? Sarban doesn’t know about the world as a whole, but he shows you just one little corner of it, and does it spookily well.
There’s a few Fuzzy books written by other people after Piper, too, IIRC. (I have (well…had) a Fuzzy book, though I’m not sure if it’s a Piper one or a post-Piper one…it’s been years since I last saw it… I wanna read the rest.)
Far as I know there’s only one non-Piper Fuzzy book: “Fuzzy Bones” by William Turing (I believe that’s the correct name).
I’ve loved the Fuzzy books for years and I really wish they’d make a movie out of Little Fuzzy now that CGI is up to the task…after seeing the lemurs in “Dinosaur” my first thought was, “Cool! Now they can do Fuzzies!”
I liked this, but autobiography as fiction has some limits.
For McKillip, The Forgotten Beasts of Eld and the Riddle Master trilogy stand out, although I have enjoyed everything she has published.
No one has mentioned James Branch Cabell, of course.
shell? Note the OP: What is obscure about Norton or Lee? I enjoy them both, but I would not call either “obscure.”
(At least I have a second vote for Cabell. Sadly, Mr. Visible may be correct that Dunsany is now obscure, as well, although I always figure that he is such a towering figure that he could not be obscure.)
GAAHH!!! You beat me to him!!! Lord Dunsany is all that is fabulous and wonderful, and poetic and subtle and beautiful. The King of Elfland’s Daughter. Simply gorgeous.
(AND he influenced Neil Gaiman, which gives him immediate entry into the ranks of People of Pure Ungodly Coolness.)
Yes! The Forgotten Beasts of Eld! I couldn’t remember the name of it when I checked this thread before because it’s been awhile since I read it. I loved that book. Stole it from my high school English teacher.
Replay by Ken Grimwood World Fantasy Award winner, but not all that well known. What would you do if you could live your life over . . . and over . . .
Only Begotten Daughter by James Morrow Also search out his Towing Jehovah – great fantasy books about the nature of God, and very funny. There’s also his antiwar novel This Is The Way The World Ends.
Tim Powers has written some great fantasy novels. Try The Anubis Gates (mystical cults in Victorian London), The Stress of Her Regard (the romantic poets – Keats, Shelley, Byron – as vampire victims), and Last Call (cards and poker as magic systems).
Esther Friesner’s Druid’s Blood is a Sherlock Holmes fantasy pastiche, set in an England where magic exists.
Mark Frost also used a Holmes-like character in The List of Seven and The Six Messiahs, both occult mysteries (Frost is best known as the co-creator of Twin Peaks, BTW.
R. A. MacAvoy wrote several fine fantasies, most notably Tea with the Black Dragon (a delightful book). She also write a trilogy Damiano (“Damiano,” “Damiano’s Lute,” and “Raphael”) and the Irish fantasy, The Book of Kells
Jack Chalker’s “Dancing Gods” books are a hoot – good fantasy adventures that poke fun at the conventions of fantasy adventures. Each chapter has a quote from the Book of Rules – “Weather and climate permitting, all beautiful women shall be scantily clad.”
I haven’t yet seen a plug for David Lindsay (A Voyage to Arcturus), or E.R Eddison (The Worm Ouroboros, and subsequent Zimiamvian trilogy). So consider them plugged. (I suspect I’ve plugged the Lindsay book before, in a similar thread - but, what the heck, it deserves plugging…)
