Wilson & Alroy on High Fantasy Novels

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Anderson - Arthurian Legends - Bok - Cabell - Chant - Dunsany - Eddison - Heinlein - Howard - Le Guin - Lindsay - Merritt - Mirrlees - Moorcock - Moore - W. Morris - Peake - Pratt - C. A. Smith - Tolkien - Walton - Zelazny

Themes Now I'm going to lay some heavy stuff on you. Back from the dead Thought I got rid of you. Oh well. Anderson, Three Hearts And Three Lions (troll) Bok, The Sorceror's Ship (pile of carcasses) Moorcock, Stormbringer (bad guys) Moorcock, The Knight Of The Swords and later Corum books (assorted monsters) Tolkien, The Lord Of The Rings (Gandalf) Walton, The Island Of The Mighty (hero) Walton, The Children Of Llyr (annoying Irishmen) Zelazny, Jack Of Shadows (hero) Dragons Talk about bad breath. Heinlein, Glory Road Moorcock, Stormbringer Tolkien, Farmer Giles Of Ham Tolkien, The Hobbit Dwarves Cute little sidekicks or evil little vermin. Anderson, Three Hearts And Three Lions (sidekick) Heinlein, Glory Road (sidekick) W. Morris, The Wood Beyond The World (evil) Tolkien, The Hobbit (sidekicks) Tolkien, The Lord Of The Rings (sidekick) Faerie You know, where the elves live. You can also have elf-like creatures with their own little kingdom (e.g., Red Moon And Black Mountain), but that doesn't quite count. Anderson, Three Hearts And Three Lions Dunsany, The King Of Elfland's Daughter Mirrlees, Lud-In-The-Mist Tolkien, Smith Of Wootton Major Female heroes Girls can kick butt too. Honorable mentions: The Well At The World's End has two female heroes, but they're girlfriends of the main dude; Red Moon And Black Mountain has several heroic female characters. Gaskell, Atlan series Moore, Jirel Of Joiry Le Guin, The Tombs Of Atuan Immortals Can't get enough of a good thing. Anderson, Three Hearts And Three Lions (elves, I think) Dunsany, The King Of Elfland's Daughter (elves) Moorcock, Stormbringer (bad guy) W. Morris, The Well At The World's End (heroes; can't remember if the well grants immortality or longevity) Naval battles Batten down the hatches. Bok, The Sorceror's Ship Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros Zelazny, Nine Princes In Amber Shape changing Talk about an identity crisis. Anderson, Three Hearts And Three Lions (swan) Cabell, Jurgen (young man) Chant, Red Moon And Black Mountain (grownup) Dunsany, The Charwoman's Shadow (old woman) Walton, The Island Of The Mighty (minstrel, forest animals, fishermen, etc.) Transported children The C. S. Lewis paradigm. If you're going to do it right, send several siblings off to fantasy land. One would be boring. Chant, Red Moon And Black Mountain Garner, The Weirdstone Of Brisingamen; The Moon Of Gomrath; Elidor Transported heroes A modern bloke is magically transported to a fantasy land. Honorable mentions: The Lost Continent opens with a modern adventurer finding an ancient manuscript; the hero of The Worm Ouroboros is the alter ego of the studly modern guy in the prolog; in Jack Of Shadows, Jack travels to a pseudo-Earth on the same planet as the fantasy land; in the Amber series, the hero is from the fantasy land and travels to Earth. Anderson, Three Hearts And Three Lions Bok, The Sorceror's Ship Cabell, The Cream Of The Jest (time traveller) Heinlein, Glory Road Lindsay, A Voyage To Arcturus Zelazny, Nine Princes In Amber The underworld Just visiting. Cabell, Jurgen (heaven too) Lovecraft, The Dream-Quest Of Unknown Kadath Moorcock, The Knight Of The Swords and later Corum books (limbo) Unicorns Honorable mention: centaurs (The Weirwoods). Anderson, Three Hearts And Three Lions Beagle, The Last Unicorn (this book damn well better have a unicorn in it!) Dunsany, The King Of Elfland's Daughter