# Some obscure Fantasy Novels I think everyone should read. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 12, 2001, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-obscure-fantasy-novels-i-think-everyone-should-read/65243 "2001-05-12T19:00:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2001, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-obscure-fantasy-novels-i-think-everyone-should-read/65243/1 "2001-05-12T19:00:31Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2001, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-obscure-fantasy-novels-i-think-everyone-should-read/65243/2 "2001-05-12T20:16:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by furryman \* > \*\*Some obscure fantasy novels I think everyone should read. > > The Gormenghast Novels By Mervyn Peake > Immposible to describe, wonderful to read > 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… ---
**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:** [May 12, 2001, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-obscure-fantasy-novels-i-think-everyone-should-read/65243/3 "2001-05-12T20:30:58Z")
I don’t consider any of these remotely obscure, but for what it’s worth here are my 20 favorite fantasy novels: 1. Lewis Carroll _Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland_ and _Through the Looking Glass_ 2. J. R. R. Tolkien _The Hobbit_ and _The Lord of the Rings_ 3. Peter Beagle _The Last Unicorn_ 4. Mervyn Peake The Gormenghast Trilogy 5. C. S. Lewis _Till We Have Faces_ 6. Ursula K. LeGuin The Earthsea Books 7. G. K. Chesterton _The Man Who Was Thursday_ 8. Madeleine L’Engle The Time Quartet (_A Wrinkle in Time_, _The Wind in the Door_, _A Swiftly Tilting Planet_, _Many Waters_) 9. Ray Bradbury _Dandelion Wine_ 10. John Fowles _The Magus_ 11. T. H. White _The Once and Future King_ 12. Patricia McKillip _Stepping from the Shadows_ 13. C. S. Lewis The Ransom Trilogy (_Out of the Silent Planet_, _Perelandra_, and _That Hideous Strength_) 14. R. A. McAvoy _Tea with the Black Dragon_ 15. H. P. Lovecraft _The Dreamquest of Unknown Kadath_ 16. John Myers Myers _Silverlock_ 17. Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman _Good Omens_ 18. L. Frank Baum _The Wizard of Oz_ 19. Daniel Pinkwater _Borgel_ 20. Mark Twain _The Mysterious Stranger_ ---
**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:** [May 12, 2001, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-obscure-fantasy-novels-i-think-everyone-should-read/65243/4 "2001-05-12T20:51:29Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2001, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-obscure-fantasy-novels-i-think-everyone-should-read/65243/5 "2001-05-12T21:53:06Z")
**Darkangel Gathering of Gargoyles Pearl of the soul of the World** All by Meredith Anne Pierce. **Little Fuzzy Fuzzy Sapiens Fuzzies and Other People** All by H. Beam Piper The second trilogy is sci fi, but ahh well. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2001, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-obscure-fantasy-novels-i-think-everyone-should-read/65243/6 "2001-05-12T22:09:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Speaker for the Dead \* > **Little Fuzzy > Fuzzy Sapiens > Fuzzies and Other People** > > All by H. Beam Piper\*\* 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.) ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2001, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-obscure-fantasy-novels-i-think-everyone-should-read/65243/7 "2001-05-13T00:30:31Z")
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!” ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2001, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-obscure-fantasy-novels-i-think-everyone-should-read/65243/8 "2001-05-13T02:57:06Z")
William Tuning ::waves her copy of _Fuzzy Bones_ in the air:: My contributions: _Hunter’s Oath_ and _Hunter]s Death_ by Michelle West And, in the SF section: _Conflict of Honors_, _Agent of Change_, _Carpe Diem_ and _Plan B_ by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2001, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-obscure-fantasy-novels-i-think-everyone-should-read/65243/9 "2001-05-13T03:55:52Z")
> [@](#): > > 1. Patricia McKillip _Stepping from the Shadows_ 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. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![shell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/46a35a/32.png) [@shell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shell)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2001, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-obscure-fantasy-novels-i-think-everyone-should-read/65243/10 "2001-05-13T04:11:25Z")
Sheesh… and nobody even mentions Andre Norton or Tanith Lee. ---
**Author:** ![hazel-rah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/73ab20/32.png) [@hazel-rah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hazel-rah)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2001, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-obscure-fantasy-novels-i-think-everyone-should-read/65243/11 "2001-05-13T07:48:43Z")
**Mythago Wood** and **Lavondyss** by Robert Holdstock! -fh ---
**Author:** ![MrVisible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@MrVisible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrVisible)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2001, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-obscure-fantasy-novels-i-think-everyone-should-read/65243/12 "2001-05-13T07:58:43Z")
Seconds on Mythago Wood. I’ll look for the other Holdstock. Thanks, Hazel. Ahem… **[Lord Dunsany](http://www.interlog.com/~case/support/dunsany.html)** The most poetic fantasy ever composed, IMHO. Beautiful. Strange. Funny. Masterfully written. Try his [Book of Wonder](http://www.sff.net/people/doylemacdonald/l_wonder.htm) to start with. Lovecraft wrote a poem about the awe he felt at reading this book. Two more… James Branch Cabell John Crowley So many more… would you consider Robert W. Chambers to be fantasy? Thanks for the recommendations. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2001, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-obscure-fantasy-novels-i-think-everyone-should-read/65243/13 "2001-05-13T17:43:15Z")
**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.) ---
**Author:** ![Orual](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/779978/32.png) [@Orual](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orual)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2001, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-obscure-fantasy-novels-i-think-everyone-should-read/65243/14 "2001-05-13T18:23:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MrVisible \* > \*\*Ahem… > > **[Lord Dunsany](http://www.interlog.com/~case/support/dunsany.html)** > > The most poetic fantasy ever composed, IMHO. Beautiful. Strange. Funny. Masterfully written. > > Try his [Book of Wonder](http://www.sff.net/people/doylemacdonald/l_wonder.htm) to start with. Lovecraft wrote a poem about the awe he felt at reading this book.\*\* 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.) ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2001, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-obscure-fantasy-novels-i-think-everyone-should-read/65243/15 "2001-05-13T20:39:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by arisu \* > **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.** I agree, but even better than that, IMHO, is The Charwoman’s Shadow\*. Possibly my favorite of Dunsany’s works. Fenris ---
**Author:** ![Arden\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@Arden\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arden_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2001, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-obscure-fantasy-novels-i-think-everyone-should-read/65243/16 "2001-05-13T22:30:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tomndebb \* > \*\ ***The Forgotten Beasts of Eld** and the **Riddle Master** trilogy stand out, although I have enjoyed everything she has published. > \*\* 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. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2001, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-obscure-fantasy-novels-i-think-everyone-should-read/65243/17 "2001-05-14T01:35:05Z")
Without question, [**Little, Big**](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/185798711X/o/qid=989803918/sr=8-1/ref=aps_sr_b_1_1/107-3571159-0457358) by John Crowley. Truly the most remarkable book I have ever read. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2001, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-obscure-fantasy-novels-i-think-everyone-should-read/65243/18 "2001-05-14T02:58:03Z")
A few to search out: **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.” ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2001, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-obscure-fantasy-novels-i-think-everyone-should-read/65243/19 "2001-05-14T11:25:20Z")
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…) ---
**Author:** ![Dragon\_Phoenix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@Dragon\_Phoenix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragon_Phoenix)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2001, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-obscure-fantasy-novels-i-think-everyone-should-read/65243/20 "2001-05-14T11:49:22Z")
Obscure? Maybe. Neil Gayman’s Neverwhere is brilliant. IMHO. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-obscure-fantasy-novels-i-think-everyone-should-read/65243.md?page=2)