So, the ballot for the World Fantasy Award arrived in my mailbox yesterday.
I have no idea what to nominate. If I can’t think of enough stuff to nominate, I’ll just toss the ballot. But first, I thought I’d ask you all for recommendations.
What novels were published in 2017 that you would like to see nominated for the WFA this year? (Besides mine. Those I remember quite well.)
Did you read any 2017 short fiction that you really liked and would like to see nominated? I can think of just a few novellas — Martha Well’s Murderbot, which I’m a bit uncomfortable with because it was SF and not fantasy; and Bujold’s latest Penric novella, which I liked a lot. What am I forgetting? I feel like there was at least one more novella I really liked.
What about short stories, anything I should check out quickly? Collections?
It looks like CJC still has not received a Life Achievement Award, so I’ll nominate her. It says here that nominees should be at least 62 years old, which I hadn’t realized, but according to Wikipedia, CJC is over that age, so that’s fine.Anybody else I should think of for that?
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A novella I liked–Snowspelled, by Stephanie Burgis
I read so little 2017 fantasy for adults I’m not much help, but I did like The Reluctant Queen, by Sarah Beth Durst, very much (and I bet you’d like this series too!)
I think Sherwood Smith would be a solid Lifetime Achievement choice…. I have never read any CJC books. Which one should I start with?
It’s always hard to pick a starting point (and her series vary in flavor a lot – I don’t actually care for many of them, though they are well written). Personally, I liked the Morgaine Cycle, the Faded Sun trilogy, the Ealdwood books, and her Russian fantasy books. The first two are science fiction and the second two are fantasy. I do not particularly like her Foreigner series, although that is probably what she is best known for and it is an extremely popular series.
Since it’s World Fantasy, to start with CJC I suppose it ought to be fantasy of which she has written some, but not as much as SF. So….
Celtic flavored would be Tree of Swords and Jewels, and Dreamstone (reverse the reading order). Last I looked there was an omnibus, which might have been titled “Arafel’s Saga”.
Also Celtic flavored would be Faery in Shadow, which the author reportedly considers a comedy, to the amazement of readers.
Russian/Slavic based is the Rusalka trilogy which was vastly improved in the e-book editions, available at her publishing site “closed circle press.” titles: Rusalka, Chernegov, Yvgenie. Many find them dreary or confusing. I like them. My Teen loves them.
Asian: The Paladin, which is a standalone vaguely Chinese or Japanese ( not knowledgeable enough about sources to tell) But I recall someone in the early days of the ‘net analysing the first page and saying that it matched the rhythm of Chinese writing in poetry. I like it, so does our Hostess.
Central European The Goblin Mirror which I rather like and again is a standalone.
And the doorstop, FORTRESS, beginning with Fortress in the Eye of Time, and continuing through three sequels all with Fortress in the titles (Eagles, Owls, Dragons) and a fourth that shouldn’t have been written. I really like this set. So do my Teen and my husband, and we rarely all three agree on books.
Sunfall is a collection of – IIRC – six short stories set at the end of the sun… in different cities – basically fantasy, for all the ‘future’ setting. No idea how available it is, but there’s a fair spread of style in it. I remember Paris and London stories, not which others were included.
The Morgaine quartet has futuristic trappings, but reads like portal hopping fantasy. Its first installment is Gate of Ivrel. It was CJC’s first published work.
Angel with a Sword is set on a future planet, settled and abandoned but humans are still there, living vaguely Renaissance level lives. My memory says the setting is sort of Venice. So basically fantasy in feel.
The two Rider books are also set on a planet settled by humans, but read like fantasy crossed with westerns. If you like westerns that might be where to start. Rider at the Gate is the first.
Charlotte, thanks, Sherwood Smith is definitely a good choice.
The thing about CJC is, *I* love her Foreigner series, which is up to something like 19 books, but I doubt very much that would be the place to start because 19 books!
Something to be prepared for is that a lot of CJC’s work starts slowly. The entire first Foreigner book is setup for the series, but when I re-read, I also often skip the first fifty pages or so of Cyteen and Fortress in the Eye of Time as well.
Some people like CJC’s SF better than her fantasy. I love both.
For you, I’d recommend Fortress in the Eye of Time — fantasy, and the series is great, but not the most recent book, which is a standalone that (I agree with Elaine here) is just not up to the quality of the earlier books in the series. I really think you’d like this world.
The Chanur series is really good space opera. There’s book one that more or less stands alone, then a very connected trilogy, then a standalone later book which in this case is excellent.
One of my absolute favorites is Cuckoo’s Egg, a short standalone that’s available used from Amazon.
I personally loved Paladin, set in an alternate China, and I feel like you would too. It’s slooow, but in a good way imo.
I detested the Russian dulogy and finally gave them away.
just dropping a note here to say Shadow Twin is on my Kindle.
Yay!