Brainstorming, Talking-Up, and Links
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whitedwarfrabbitholeWhat 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 byshamanicshaymin.)
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).
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).
Bringing to the table...
Date: 2015-05-04 06:53 am (UTC)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...
Date: 2015-05-08 06:40 am (UTC)Re: Bringing to the table...
Date: 2015-05-08 08:08 am (UTC)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...
Date: 2015-05-08 11:03 pm (UTC)