Brust is not the source of pseudodragons. They were in the first AD&D Player's Handbook as familiars, not to mention the Monster Manual, and clearly predates the Jhereg novels. Jhereg and the rest always struck me VERY hard as being a D&D adventure REALLY EXCELLENTLY translated into novel form. I *like* it.
Zelazny and Amber is *not* the source of AD&D magic system -- Jack Vance is. Read any bit of the stories from The Dying Earth and you'll find the Excellent Prismatic Sphere, along with being only able to hold certain spells in your head at a time, certain amounts of power, etc. Zelazny's Dilvish, however, *is* the source of Boots of Elvenkind, i.e. Boots of Springing and Striding and Boots of Walking on Anything, tho both owe a strong nod to Aragorn and all his elf-made gear.
I can't find my Thieves' World books, but I'm morally certain that they copyright well before the Kencyr novels. I suspect you have the order backwards, there. These books are on my 'love them long time' list.
Deryni novels also post-date AD&D, but since you specifically mentioned 'modern gaming' I'll take that to mean the last 5-10 years; since I've pretty much ignored AD&Drev2 (*spit*), RQ3+, and only lightly touched on the whole White Wolf variant branch, I'll leave it at that with one last quip: Where is Kosher Camber?
I am disappointed that you've read no Andre Norton, most especially anything prior to the eighties. I'd argue that the characters from the Jargoon Pard and its related novels are the source of Druids as Shapeshifters in AD&D. (I'm ignoring, for now, 3.0+) Serious canon fodder; start at Witch World and go onward, and beware of branches. They got lots better for decades, and then they got heart-tearingly worse as she suddenly seemed to age badly in her style.
The CS Friedman you listed is, IMO, her weakest. On the other hand, it's her only fantasy, and I'll get behind anything that sings her praises. Read this author!!!!1111!!!eleventyone!
My own recommendations, canon or no:
Bujold's Fantasy -- hte stories of Chalion. Two novels so far: The Curse of Chalion and The Paladin of Souls. Excellent books, wonderful take on a created religion and how it can really interact with people without being stupid.
Misty Lackey annoys the pants off of me (and not in a good way), but I give major props to her Vanyel series for putting an obviously gay male into situations of positive merit. If ONLY he would stop whining...
Lin Carter, Jack Vance, Leigh Brackett -- seriously seminal fantasy stuff, of the 'looks high fantasy but is really not' end of things. All this stuff still has its serial numbers, but you'll recognize the knock-offs as soon as you see them.
Zelazy -- not just Amber. Dilvish the Damned is the anti-hero, but his snark-tastic demon horse has all the best lines. Ignore the last one -- the one with a castle and dice on the cover. Ick Blech 'oooh, gamers buy this stuff, let's write something riffing off D&D, yeah!' I don't know enough to know if this one should be blamed on a contract or editor, but oh gods I want to.
Elizabeth Moon's "The Deed of Paksennarion" trilogy -- It *is* a D&D adventure, but *I* didn't figure it out till the second or maybe the third book. VERY VERY VERY well written, very intent. Altogether better than her ?Harris Seranon? series. (the one where the main char is a captain who's ship is the personal ship of a rich old lady who goes aroudn to various planets racing horses. No, really.)
Elizabeth Lynn: The Dancers of Arun trilogy. The Woman who Loved the Moon anthology. Read This Woman's Writing. Get copies of the original printing of the Dancers of Arun -- the recent reprint is mangling the covers in ways that people probably think is bowdlerizing, and it just makes me sad. After decades of not seeing her stuff around, she's got something out recently I think called The Dragon Winter or soemthing like that -- two books, so far. And she has a very powerful scary piece in the SF area...
I'm sure there's more. Did I go over the comment limit?
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How do you correct opinions?
Date: 2005-12-13 10:53 am (UTC)Zelazny and Amber is *not* the source of AD&D magic system -- Jack Vance is. Read any bit of the stories from The Dying Earth and you'll find the Excellent Prismatic Sphere, along with being only able to hold certain spells in your head at a time, certain amounts of power, etc. Zelazny's Dilvish, however, *is* the source of Boots of Elvenkind, i.e. Boots of Springing and Striding and Boots of Walking on Anything, tho both owe a strong nod to Aragorn and all his elf-made gear.
I can't find my Thieves' World books, but I'm morally certain that they copyright well before the Kencyr novels. I suspect you have the order backwards, there. These books are on my 'love them long time' list.
Deryni novels also post-date AD&D, but since you specifically mentioned 'modern gaming' I'll take that to mean the last 5-10 years; since I've pretty much ignored AD&Drev2 (*spit*), RQ3+, and only lightly touched on the whole White Wolf variant branch, I'll leave it at that with one last quip: Where is Kosher Camber?
I am disappointed that you've read no Andre Norton, most especially anything prior to the eighties. I'd argue that the characters from the Jargoon Pard and its related novels are the source of Druids as Shapeshifters in AD&D. (I'm ignoring, for now, 3.0+) Serious canon fodder; start at Witch World and go onward, and beware of branches. They got lots better for decades, and then they got heart-tearingly worse as she suddenly seemed to age badly in her style.
The CS Friedman you listed is, IMO, her weakest. On the other hand, it's her only fantasy, and I'll get behind anything that sings her praises. Read this author!!!!1111!!!eleventyone!
My own recommendations, canon or no:
Bujold's Fantasy -- hte stories of Chalion. Two novels so far: The Curse of Chalion and The Paladin of Souls. Excellent books, wonderful take on a created religion and how it can really interact with people without being stupid.
Misty Lackey annoys the pants off of me (and not in a good way), but I give major props to her Vanyel series for putting an obviously gay male into situations of positive merit. If ONLY he would stop whining...
Lin Carter, Jack Vance, Leigh Brackett -- seriously seminal fantasy stuff, of the 'looks high fantasy but is really not' end of things. All this stuff still has its serial numbers, but you'll recognize the knock-offs as soon as you see them.
Zelazy -- not just Amber. Dilvish the Damned is the anti-hero, but his snark-tastic demon horse has all the best lines. Ignore the last one -- the one with a castle and dice on the cover. Ick Blech 'oooh, gamers buy this stuff, let's write something riffing off D&D, yeah!' I don't know enough to know if this one should be blamed on a contract or editor, but oh gods I want to.
Elizabeth Moon's "The Deed of Paksennarion" trilogy -- It *is* a D&D adventure, but *I* didn't figure it out till the second or maybe the third book. VERY VERY VERY well written, very intent. Altogether better than her ?Harris Seranon? series. (the one where the main char is a captain who's ship is the personal ship of a rich old lady who goes aroudn to various planets racing horses. No, really.)
Elizabeth Lynn: The Dancers of Arun trilogy. The Woman who Loved the Moon anthology. Read This Woman's Writing. Get copies of the original printing of the Dancers of Arun -- the recent reprint is mangling the covers in ways that people probably think is bowdlerizing, and it just makes me sad. After decades of not seeing her stuff around, she's got something out recently I think called The Dragon Winter or soemthing like that -- two books, so far. And she has a very powerful scary piece in the SF area...
I'm sure there's more. Did I go over the comment limit?