Brainstorming, Talking-Up, and Links

[tentaclesock]

What are your favorite SFF works? Do you want to talk about a book that warmed your heart as a child? Are you eager to discuss that forgotten gem that only you and ten other people have read? Want to gloat about that glorious out-of-print title you found at the used-book store the other day and desperately hope someone will offer?
Whatever the case, this is the right post for your comments on SFF books you want to see in the nominations list.


Some Links, to Get You Started
The Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series: Behold the inspiration for this exchange. Wikipedia has an article on this hallmark of the late 1960s and early 1970s. You might also find this short LiveJournal post illuminating.

The SF Site: SF Masterworks Review Archive

The SF Site: Fantasy Masterworks Review Archive

"Supernatural Horror in Literature": If you aren't sure whether or not the horror piece you want to nominate is eligible for this exchange, try looking for the title in this classic essay and seeing what Lovecraft has to say about it. The essay was last revised and updated in 1934, so obviously it may not cover your canon.

First fantasy love?: A LibraryThing thread about the books that started board members' love affairs with the fantasy genre.

Non-European/western (white) fantasy: Also on LibraryThing, this thread is short but a good starting place.

Books about the female Other: This list's third LibraryThing thread is dedicated to books about sympathetic nonhuman female characters.

What's the most unconventional setting you've ever seen?: Exactly what it says on the tin.

LGBT themes in speculative fiction: Wikipedia's not the most reliable resource, but this article should give you some material with which to work.

Queer Horror: Despite its dormancy, this site is a comprehensive database of horror literature (and movies) that contain gay, lesbian, bisexual, and/or transgender themes. Most of the works profiled have supernatural elements and are thus eligible for this exchange.




Freely Available Primary Sources
Andersen, Hans Christian. Fairy tales and other works.

Aesop. Fables.

Barrie, James. Peter Pan.

Baum, L. Frank. Oz books 1-14 and several other works.

Beckford, William. The History of Caliph Vathek.

Bramah, Ernest. The Wallet of Kai Lung.
—. Kai Lung’s Golden Hours.

Burroughs, Edgar Rice. The first five John Carter of Mars books, the first seven Tarzan books, and several others.

Carroll, Lewis. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There.

Eddison, E. R. The Worm Ouroboros. See also this article on it, if you've read it already or haven't read it but don't mind having the entire story spoiled.

Grahame, Kenneth. The Wind in the Willows.

Gruelle, Johnny. Friendly Fairies.

—. Raggedy Andy Stories.

—. Raggedy Ann Stories.

(The preceding three works were suggested by shamanicshaymin.)

Haggard, H. Rider. Fiction.

Kipling, Rudyard. The Jungle Book.

—. The Second Jungle Book.

—. Just So Stories.

—. Puck of Pook's Hill.

Lang, Arthur. Fairy Books, along with other stories.

Lovecraft, H. P. Complete fiction.

MacDonald, George. Complete fiction.

Morris, William. Fantasy novels, utopian writing, an epic poem, and translations of sagas.

Nesbit, Edith. Fiction.

Poe, Edgar Allan. Complete fiction. Poe wrote science fiction as well as Gothic horror.

Potter, Beatrix. The Great Big Treasury of Beatrix Potter.

Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein.

Shiel, M. P. The Purple Cloud.

Smith, Clark Ashton. Short stories. (Not all of these stories are eligible. You'll see which ones they are.)

Stoker, Bram. Dracula.

Swift, Jonathan. Gulliver's Travels.

Verne, Jules. Complete works, in French and English.

Wells, H. G. Fiction and some ineligible works.

Wilde, Oscar. Fiction and plays (the latter of which are also not eligible).

Comments

[shamanicshaymin]

So, I'm that one nerd who talks about Raggedy Ann books on my journal. While admittedly, Johnny Gruelle's works vary in quality (some may find him too treacly and syrupy for their tastes), there's some true gems that I believe are worth reading and sharing with your kids. Raggedy Ann & Andy & The Camel With the Wrinkled Knees is hands down my favorite Raggedy Ann book. There's so much fantasy elements to love about it, and it honestly reads like a Studio Ghibli adventure at times. I'm also fond of The Paper Dragon and Raggedy Ann's Lucky Pennies, and while Raggedy Ann in Cookie Land is rather episodic, it's quite imaginative and has foodporn to the max. Marcella: A Raggedy Ann Story is a sweet tribute to his daughter who passed away of a contaminated vaccination, but get ready to have a discussion with your kids about the "Beloved Belindy" character (she's a "Mammy" doll, and while she never talks with a dialect and is treated equally among the other toys, you can perfectly see why she'd make modern audiences uncomfortable). Johnny Gruelle has also written two books of his own original fairy tales, which you can find on Gutenberg.

I've reread The Phantom Tollbooth recently, and I'm blown away by what an amazing and fun book it is. I wonder what the animated movie is like, considering it's supposed to be full of nightmare fuel. I own a book of Victorian Supernatural & Horror tales written by women, and so far, I particularly love Elizabeth Gaskell's "The Old Nurse's Story." I love her writing enough that I bought an anthology of her "Tales of Mystery & the Macabre," and I'm looking forward to what I'll find. :D

[tentaclesock]

Ah, yes, the Raggedy Ann and Andy books! Thank you for mentioning that Gruelle had works on Gutenberg; I just added links to them.

And The Phantom Tollbooth was my favorite novel when I was eight years old. It really is one of the best children's fantasies ever, and it holds up for older readers as well.

[shamanicshaymin]

Gruelle also wrote a stand-alone book called The Magical Land of Noom, which is heavily inspired by The Wizard of Oz (Gruelle absolutely loved L. Frank Baum). I haven't read it yet, and it's pretty difficult to find. D: Gorgeous illustrations though.

There's so much wordplay to catch in Phantom Tollbooth when you're older! I think it's a treat for linguist and math nerds alike. Something which I'm sure even King Azaz the Unabridged and the Mathemagician would agree with. ;D

[snickfic]

I'm for sure planning to nominate China Mieville's Kraken, because I reeeeally want to know more about the Church of God Kraken. Honestly I could probably put together an entire request of only Mieville novels, though I probably won't.

I'm also going to look through some of my favorite short story collections to see if there's anything I want to nominate. I'm tempted to nominate "Solitude," by Le Guin, although I don't know if it's because there are stories I want from that planet or if it's just because I love the canon so much.

Other things I'm thinking about:
* Seraphina, by Rachel Hartman (although I haven't read the sequel yet)
* Cordwainer Smith?
* Enchanted Forest Chronicles (perhaps something circa Searching for Dragons, which is my favorite)

Man, there are so many things. I need to think more about my childhood favorites, because there's a lot of SFF in there that I never really considered for fic purposes before.

[taichara]

Are we looking at a specific publishing timeframe, and/or age bracket? Or is this a come-as-you-like sort of exchange as long as it falls under SFF?

[tentaclesock]

Would you believe I was originally planning for acceptable nominations to have a cutoff date of 1977? But no, there's no time frame or age limit for nominations. The answer to your second question is yes.

[taichara]

Thank ye kindly.

[tentaclesock]

You're welcome.

Happy brainstorming.

[snickfic]

Now I'm curious - were you planning to require stuff be newer or older than 1977?

[tentaclesock]

The nominations were going to have to predate 1977 for a couple of reasons, but I ultimately decided that that was too restrictive.

Bringing to the table...

[mctabby]

All these are fandoms that I keep on requesting/nominating/writing for Yuletide...

Childhood Fave
The Princess and the Goblin and its sequel, The Princess and Curdie, by George MacDonald (1824-1905). These books ate my brain from the age of seven or so. Much later, I realized they also win the award for The Most Goddess Imagery Used by a 19th-Century White Male Christian Author.

Desert Island Books
High on the list of books I'd never be without - Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea. Especially the original trilogy.

Epic Cast-of-Thousands Series FTW
Julian May's Saga of the Exiles and Galactic Milieu - a two-series ouroboros with psychic powers, aliens, politics, time-travel, family dramas, evil beings, murders, spaceships, French-Canadians and Scots! (What's not to like?)

Re: Bringing to the table...

[morbane]

I enjoyed other MacDonald books when I was younger - specifically, At the Back of the North Wind and Evenor. The Princess books are sitting on my shelf... maybe if someone requested them I'd have an extra excuse to read them...

Re: Bringing to the table...

[mctabby]

I'm the opposite - keep meaning to have another go at reading At the Back of the North Wind, which I've never managed to get into. Well, one day soon.

Hope you find that excuse. :)

Ever tried MacDonald's The Light Princess? Long story rather than a novel. Very tongue-in-cheek fairy tale that keeps doing meta on other fairy tales. Can't believe it dates from 1864.

Re: Bringing to the table...

[morbane]

I have read The Light Princess, years ago, and remember enjoying it.

[morbane]

This is an impressive list of sources.

[morbane]

I'm nominating Dragonriders of Pern, but I don't have strong ideas for characters. Is there any character that another participant would particularly like to see?