Ursula Kroeber Le Guin was born in California in 1929 and started writing as a teenager. Mostly during the 1960s and 1970s she has written many novels, most of them part of science-fiction or fantasy series, making her an influential author in these genres.
Especially by writing the popular Earthsee series, Ursula K. Le Guin has had a large influence on the development of the fantasy genre during the 20th century. A television mini-series, also called Earthsee, was even made in 2004.
Themes
Le Guin is known for including a number of themes in her stories. Her novels often center around social aspects such as anthropology and ecology. Persons and races are suppressed or discriminated, causing the protagonists (who are often colored people) of the stories to rise up against the establishment. Another theme is the disrespect of people for nature with all possible consequences.
Works
Within the fantasy community Ursula Le Guin is of course mainly know for her novels of the Earthsee series. But she has written many more books, most with science-fiction elements.
Below a listing of Le Guin’s most important works:
Earthsea
A Wizard of Earthsea, 1968
The Tombs of Atuan, 1971
The Farthest Shore, 1972
Tehanu: The Last Book of Earthsea, 1990
Tales from Earthsea, 2001
The Other Wind, 2001
Hainish Cycle
Rocannon’s World, 1966
Planet of Exile, 1966
City of Illusions, 1967
The Left Hand of Darkness, 1969
The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia, 1974
The Word for World is Forest, 1976
Four Ways to Forgiveness, 1995
The Telling, 2000
Other
The Wind’s Twelve Quarters, 1975
Orsinian Tales, 1976
The Eye of the Heron, 1978
The Beginning Place, 1980
Always Coming Home, 1985
Lavinia, 2008
Official website of Ursula K. Le Guin
Robin Hobb is the pen name of American author Margaret Astrid Lindholm Ogden. She is a great storyteller and has proven to be very good in developing strong and believable characters in her books, making her one of the best fantasy authors alive.
Hobb has written several series, often trilogies, over the years. Especially her Farseer and Liveship Traders series are highly recommendable.
Biography & Style
Margaret Astrid Lindholm Ogden was borne in California in 1952 but grew up in Alaska. She began writing for children’s magazines at the age of around eightteen. Since then, Ogden has written several series and novels under the pen name of Megan Lindholm but became well known as author Robin Hobb. She currently lives in Washington and has three grown children and a young daughter.
As for Hobb’s writing style, it is characterized by a lot of attention to character development, a very detailed fantasy world and carefully constructed story lines. It may be a prejudice but one could argue that when reading her books, you know they have been written by a woman.
Series & Novels
The Farseer Trilogy
* Assassin’s Apprentice (1995)
* Royal Assassin (1996)
* Assassin’s Quest (1997)
Read more about the Farseer Trilogy.
Liveship Traders Trilogy
* Ship of Magic (1998)
* The Mad Ship (1999)
* Ship of Destiny (2000)
The Tawny Man Trilogy
* Fool’s Errand (2002)
* Golden Fool (2003)
* Fool’s Fate (2003)
The Rain Wild Chronicles
* Dragon Keeper (2009)
* Dragon Haven (2010)
Soldier Son Trilogy
* Shaman’s Crossing (2005)
* Forest Mage (2006)
* Renegade’s Magic (2008)
Official website of Robin Hobb
An insight in the life and works of Stephen R. Donaldson, author of the fantasy series “The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant”.
His novels and series are in general not an easy read, containing dark themes and ethical questions, but they have definitely made a impact in the genre. Donaldson writes very intensely and, although set in an fantasy world, his stories have great depth and loads of morality, making him one of the major fantasy authors of our time.
Known for his Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (the unbeliever), Donaldson’s world and characters are even seen by many as rivaling those of Tolkien.
Biography
Stephen R. Donaldson was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1947 but lived in India (his father was a missionary) until 1963. He received his M.A. in English in 1971 but, when doing his Ph.D. afterwards, he decided to quit and start writing. He made his debute with the first novel in the now famous “Chronicles of Thomas Covenant” series in 1977.
Donaldson has kept on writing since, although he has not written that many novels. He now lives in New Mexico and is working on finishing “The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant”. Interesting to note is that Donaldson also has a Doctor of Literature degree and a black belt in Shotokan karate.
Style & Themes
The novels of Donaldson have a strong focus on the personality of the characters, especially the dark side of human nature. His stories involve many ethical choices and mistakes made by characters. Often psychological questions are addressed but not necessarily answered. A good example from the Covenant Chronicles is Thomas’ act of raping a girl in what he believes to be an imaginary world. Apart from being unsure wether or not the world is real, the question can be asked what this act says about Thomas and what the ethicial consequences are. Also, most of time the protagonist Thomas is unbalanced and moody to say the least. This results in him being quite an unlikeable person who is often difficult to relate to.
All together, this makes the books of Donaldson often difficult to read but at the same time also sets them apart and makes them all the more interesting. They are definitely not the standard high fantasy good versus evil stories we have grown used to.
Most important works
Stephen R. Donaldson made fame with his Thomas Covenant saga, describing the struggles of a leper who becomes an reluctant hero on alternate, fantasy world called The Land. Written in the seventies, the first two trilogies (The First and the Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever) of this series have become landmarks in the fantasy genre.
Currently, Donaldson is in the process of writing the Last Chronicles, which will finalize the story of Thomas Covenant.
As you will see below, Donaldson has also written several other novels over the years, most of them part of three other series he has created. These series also have fantasy or science-fiction settings.
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever
The First Chronicles
1. Lord Foul’s Bane (1977)
2. The Illearth War (1978)
3. The Power That Preserves (1979)
The Second Chronicles
1. The Wounded Land (1980)
2. The One Tree (1982)
3. White Gold Wielder (1983)
The Last Chronicles
1. The Runes of the Earth (2004)
2. Fatal Revenant (2007)
3. Against All Things Ending (2010)
4. The Last Dark (to be released: 2013)
The Gap Series
1. The Gap into Conflict: The Real Story (1991)
2. The Gap into Vision: Forbidden Knowledge (1991)
3. The Gap into Power: A Dark and Hungry God Arises (1993)
4. The Gap into Madness: Chaos and Order (1994)
5. The Gap into Ruin: This Day All Gods Die (1996)
Mordant’s Need
1. The Mirror of Her Dreams (1986)
2. A Man Rides Through (1987)
The Man Who… series
* The Man Who Killed His Brother (1980)
* The Man Who Risked His Partner (1984)
* The Man Who Tried to Get Away (1990)
* The Man Who Fought Alone (2001)
Official website of Stephen R. Donaldson
Robert Jordan was the pseudonym of James Oliver Rigney Jr., the author of the world famous Wheel of Time series. Sadly, he passed away 2007 and was unable to finish this series before his death.
Life and Death
Robert Jordan was born in South Carolina in 1948. He did two tours in the Vietnam was and, after getting his degree in physics, became a nuclear engineer. It took till 1977 before he started writing. Jordan married Harriet McDougal, who would also become his editor. Jordan was a Christian and a Freemason, which showed in the themes he used in his books.
Having announced being ill in 2006, Robert Jordan died of Cardiac amyloidosis (“stiff heart syndrome”) on September 16, 2007.
The Wheel of Time
Robert Jordan has written several other books (the Fallon series and Conan stories) but by writing the Wheel of Time series, he has created a landmark in the fantasy genre. The Wheel of Time is a great and influential series with the cliché story of a simple boy who turns out to be the great hero. The series is well written with original ideas and approaches, both when it comes to story telling and in relation to the use of magic.
I hope that Brandon Sanderson will honor him by writing a fitting end to the series through The Gathering Storm, Towers of Midnight, and A Memory of Light.
Official blog of Robert Jordan.
I would not go as far as qualifying him as a genius but Raymond E. Feist has written many, many fantasy books and most of his series are a must-read for fantasy fans. As his great books introduced me to the fantasy genre, Feist has definitely deserved his spot in the list of best fantasy authors.
About Raymond E. Feist
Raymond E. Feist is an American fantasy author born in Los Angelos and currently living in San Diego. After publishing Magician in 1982, he became a full time author, which resulted in a long list of novels taking place in his fantasy universe of Midkemia (and Kelewan).
His works & style
The books of Feist are high fantasy, with elements of heroic fantasy as the development a young hero, encountering dangerous situations all the time, is of the center of the story.
Feist has written many fantasy series so far, most of them taking place in one fantasy realm with one overarching theme. The fantasy series and books are known as the Riftwar Cycle.
The first series in this fantasy universe was The Riftwar Saga, which started out with the famous book Magician.
Another one of series that I really enjoyed is The Empire Trilogy, which Feist wrote together with Janny Wurts. The series is set on Kelewan, the world on the other side of the rift. Instead of focusing on battle, this series has more eye for political intrigues.
Several other well-known Riftwar series are The Serpent War, Krondor;s Sons, Conclave of Shadows, Darkwar Saga, Demonwar Saga and, still in progress, Chaoswar Saga.
Conclusion
You know what you will get when you start out with a novel of Feist; the stories are creative and well-written but don’t expect anything extraordinary or far-fetched.
As mentioned, Feist introduced me to the genre of fantasy and I thank him for that. He is not my favorite author but keeps writing great and easy to read fantasy books and by doing so he is a valuable asset for the genre.
Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author who has written novels mainly related to the horror and fantasy genre. King is known for novels like It, The Shining, The Stand and the series The Dark Tower and has been awarded many times and is seen as one of the greatest authors of our time. Several of his novels have also been made into movies.
Life
Stephen King started writing while still in school with already an interest in and focus on the horror genre. After the success of the novel Carrie and conquering his drinking problem in the seventies, King became more and more successful and well-known in the eighties. King has struggled with addictions in the late eighties but with help of family and friend overcame these and continued to write many great works. He was in a severe car incident in 1999. He recoverd but doesn’t write that much anymore these days.
Works
King has written too many important works to name all. Well known novels are Carrie, It, The Knowing, The Shining, The Storm and Misery. Many of his books have also been adapted for screen and made into movies so further establishing name. Although best-known among the general public as a horror author, King has also written several fantasy stories with the series The Dark Tower as his biggest and, in my opinion, best work.
The Dark Tower
The Dark Tower is a fantasy series consisting of seven novels, which King wrote over a period of 27 years. As it is written by King, the series is not at all typical fantasy. It is modern fantasy with dark, mysterious, and disturbing elements and therefore high in my list of best fantasy series. A new novel in the series has been announced by King.
Concluding: Stephen King is definitely not an author of high fantasy like many other authors that are discussed on this website but he simply is one of the greatest writers ever and most of his books have fantasy elements, with The Dark Tower as the best example.
We have established that the genre of fantasy originated long ago, has done well in the past and has thrived in the last decennium but what about its future?
Books, (TV) Series, Movies and Games
As stated in my post about the current state of fantasy, there are lots of good fantasy authors around, both old legends who are still writing and promising newcomers. For example, on the short run, I am really looking forward to the final part of The Malazan Book of the Fallen series by Steven Erikson. But also oldtimers like Martin, Pratchet and Feist are still alive and kicking, meaning that we can expected many more novels and series from them.
When talking about TV series and Movies two major events are expected for the foreseeable future. The first is the upcoming television series Game of Thrones, based on George R.R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire series, which will start airing in 2011. The second is the movie The Hobbit, based on the classic novel by J.R.R. Tolkien. It is still unclear if the movie will really be made but there definitely plans for making it.
Lastly there are the fantasy computer games. More and better looking fantasy games can be expected in the future. Also, the influence of games will keep increasing as gaming has become more and more accepted.
World of Warcraft will remain huge, Final Fantasy and Zelda having new games coming out and the genre of fantasy will always be a very popular source of inspiration for game producers.
Conclusion
So it looks like we fantasy fans do not have to worry for the near future. Plenty of great fantasy books, TV series, movies and games can be expected for the years to come.
An alltogether different point to make is hoe technological developments will change our way of reading fantasy novels. Of course movies and games will become even more impressive with better visuals and graphics but what about books? Ebooks are already around and selling well but personally I really like to hold a real book in my hands. In the near future I will look into this.
Sir Terence David John Pratchett, famous for wearing his black cowboy hat (and sometimes other strange hat-like creations), was born on April 28, 1948. He is extremely popular in Great Britain and also very successful around the world. Novels of his famous fantasy series Discworld have sold tens of millions of times.
Pratchett’s Discworld novels are by far the greatest example of humour in the fantasy genre. Stories by the hand of Pratchett are always brilliantly written with a lot of word puns and strange but fascinating characters, often resembling to other fictional of real persons.
Combined with well-thought-of storylines in a carefully created world, this makes for highly entertaining novels. Pratchett is not afraid to combine classic fantasy with lots of humour and modern-day political and social themes and issues.
Discworld
As mentioned above, the most famous work of Terry Pratchett is his Discworld series. Or better, the collections of novels with stories taking place in the Discworld. Over the last 25 or so years, Pratchett has written close to forty of these higly acclaimed Discworld novels with titles as Night Watch, Hogfather, Going Postal, Mort and Guards! Guards! among the most most popular and best known examples.
Allthough not being a fan of Hollywood, several of Terry Pratchett’s novels have also been made into television movies.
Sadly, Pratchett is suffering from a form of Alzheimer. We can only hope he will stay healthy and writing fit for a long time to come and will extend his Discworld empire even further.
Born on January 22, 1906 in Texax, Robert Ervin Howard became famous in the world of fantasy and literature as the the creator of Conan the Barbarian and the Sword & Sorcery fantasy genre.
Howard grew up in a booming oil town in Texas where he also spent most of his life. He was very interested in becoming a writer since he was young and starting writing when he was in his teens. Although he had a difficult start, Howard became a popular author and was able to live from his writing. Howard wrote stories and novels, mostly surrounding fantasy and western themes with his Conan stories as his pinnacle. He became friends with H.P. Lovecraft, another fantasy and science fiction author, best known for his novel The Call of Cthulhu.
After hearing that his mother had slipped into a coma and was about to die, Robert E. Howard committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. He was aged only 30.
Conan and other works
In his short life Howard has written quite a few stories and short novels. Most of these were horror and fantasy related but later on in his life he also started writing western stories.
By far the most famous character Howard created was Conan the Barbarian. After the stories of Kull were not received well, Howard changed the character into Conan and changed the stories to become more dark and brutal. They show the downsides of civilication like corruption and oppression. Conan, on the contrary, is honest, straightforward, speaks his mind and does what is right.
Over the years Howard wrote serveral Conan stories, with his main outlet for his writing being the magazine Weird tales. Howard also published several novels containing one or more Conan stories.
Conan was always depicted as the barbaric warrior who, depending on the story, saved a damsel in distress or fought an evil oppressor. Howard’s worlds are full of violence in which magic is used by Conan’s enemies.
This type of hero and storyline inspired many other authors and were the basis for what we now know as Sword & Sorcery. Throughout the twentieth century Howard’s work was more and more seen as important and influential literature, making him one to be considered as one of the best fantasy authors of all time. His influence and fame grew even more by the movies that were made based on his stories and characters, especially the cult movies Conan the Barbarian, Conan the Destroyer and Red Sonja, all starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.
By creating the character of Conan the Barbarian and Sword & Sorcery, Howard has had enormous effect on the fantasy genre, influencing many authors even to this day.
Steven Erikson is the pseudonym of Steve Rune Lundin, a Canadian author born on October 7, 1959. He has written some novels under his real name but became famous as the author of the Malazan Book of the Fallen series, one of the greatest fantasy series ever written.
By writing this critically acclaimed series he has received much appreciation and gained a large fanbase. To me Erikson is one of the finest authors of the moment and may likely become one of the greatest ever.
Erikson started writing quite late in his life and only wrote some short stories before starting on Gardens of the Moon, the first book in the Malazan series. The Malazan world he had created together with Ian Cameron Esslemont, author of several other novels in the Malazan universe with several of the main characters of Erikson’s books.
Erikson tried selling this Gardens of the Moon, at first even intended as a movie script, in the early nineties but was unable to so. Eventually, in 1999 publisher Transworld published the book and after its succes paid Erikson £675,000 to write 9 other novels to complete the series.
The Malazan Book of the Fallen
The Malazan Book of the Fallen is fantasy series consisting of 10 novels, telling the story about Gods and humans and the wars they fight and games they play. In the middle of all that, the Malazan empire, expanded over several continents, is slowly collapsing. As a reader you mainly follow a group oe Malazan soldiers and their battles against incredible powerful wizards, scary demons, ambitious ascendants and scheming Gods while at the same time you also look at the world and conflicts from the point of view of the enemies of the empire. Read more about The Malazan Book of the Fallen.
Steven Erikson writes like the devil himself is on his heels, producing a book almost every year. I also do not know another author who writes this intense on such an epic scale. Hopefully, he has something in mind after he finished his fantastic Malazan Book of the Fallen series.
After the genre became well-known and accepted/ respected during the second half of the twentieth century, the question was how fantasy would develop after the year 2000. Had it reached it’s top and would the genre settle down again or would it remain strong and continue to strenghten it’s position in literature and on the screen?
Authors
The authors that were big in the nineties, like George R.R. Martin, Robert Jordan (who regretably passed away in 2007), Raymond E. Feist and Robin Hobb, continued to write and dominate the world of fantasy literature. Most of them are still working on series that are far from finished.
However, new talents also have emerged. There have been quite a few newcomers, one more successful than the other, but for me the most notable are Steven Erikson (The Malazan Book of the Fallen) and Patrick Rothfuss (The Name of the Wind).
Old and new authors combined, I would say that the genre still is thriving and that we can be assured to have great new fantasy books and series for years to come!
Movies and television series
Many high profile fantasy movies have been made during the first decade of the new millennium. Of course there was the Lord of the Rings trilogy brought out between 2001 and 2003. Also the Harry Potter movies were released from 2001 onwards. Other fantasy movies worth mentioning aar The Chronicles of Narnia movies (2005 and 2008), The Golden Compass (2007) and Pan’s Labyrinth (2006).
Besides the successful movie releases, several new fantasy television series were produced between the year 2000 and 2010. Examples of these are Legend of the Seeker (cancelled after season 2), True Blood and BBC’s Merlin.
Not all movies and TV series have been of the utmost quality and/ or successful but from the perspective of movies and TV series, I think we can say the new millennium started out pretty good!
We have seen that fantasy remained a force to be reckoned with over the last ten years and managed to find the general audience better than ever but what is the current state of the fantasy genre and how will develop in the future?
