Reading favorites
Been mostly reading in my free time over the past couple of years, mainly because with film and games, my tastes are so particular, that the amount of new titles that are released in a given year that actually interest me is getting smaller and smaller.
With books, my tastes are still niche, but I have decades upon decades of books that are on my backlog and it's been super rewarding. I mainly stick to Sci-Fi and Fantasy, but would love to read more horror (which is more difficult, as it's completely dominated by Stephen King, who doesn't interest me much outside of a couple of titles). I'm very much open to suggestions, though primarily my focus has been on SFF written before the 2000s. My tastes lean toward writing styles that favor prose and language over that of excessive worldbuilding (a reason I absolutely LOATHED Steven Erikson's Gardens of the Moon/Malazan), though some of my favorites definitely reach a very fine balance.
With that said, here are a list of new favorites (so far) in addition to old favorites: Underlined Entries denote books included in my ten favorites of all time. SCIENCE FICTION: The Book of the New Sun (Gene Wolfe, 1980-1983)
Dune (Frank Herbert, 1965) Dune Messiah (Frank Herbert, 1969)
The Left Hand of Darkness (Ursula K. Le Guin, 1969)
The Lathe of Heaven (Ursula K. Le Guin, 1971)
The Deep (John Crowley, 1975)
The Fifth Head of Cerberus (Gene Wolfe, 1972) Behold the Man (Michael Moorcock, 1966) A Canticle for Leibowitz (Walter M. Miller Jr, 1959)
The Space Trilogy (C.S. Lewis, 1938-1945)
Hyperion Cantos (Dan Simmons, 1989-1990)
Fourth Mansions (R.A. Lafferty, 1969)
A Scanner Darkly (Philip K. Dick, 1977) Ice (Anna Kavan, 1967)
Borne (Jeff Vandermeer, 2017)
Roadside Picnic (Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, 1972)
The Urth of the New Sun (Gene Wolfe, 1987)
Sprawl Trilogy (William Gibson, 1984-1988)
Engine Summer (John Crowley, 1979)
FANTASY: Little, Big (John Crowley, 1981) Watership Down (Richard Adams, 1972)
Gormenghast Trilogy (Mervyn Peake, 1946-1959) Doctor Rat (William Kotzwinkle, 1976)
Mythago Wood (Robert Holdstock, 1984) The Pastel City (M. John Harrison, 1972)
Grendel (John Gardner, 1972) The Earthsea Trilogy (Ursula K. Le Guin, 1968-1972)
Elric of Melniboné (Michael Moorcock, 1972)
Nifft the Lean (Michael Shea, 1982)
The Book of Three (Lloyd Alexander, 1964)
The Worm Ouroboros (E.R. Eddison, 1922) The Dying Earth (Jack Vance, 1950)
Shardik (Richard Adams, 1974)
Bloodstone (Karl Edward Wagner, 1975)
The Black Company (Glen Cook, 1984)
Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser (Fritz Leiber, various)
HORROR: Peace (Gene Wolfe, 1975) Our Lady of Darkness (Fritz Leiber, 1977)
Black Easter (James Blish, 1968)
Frankenstein (Mary Shelley, 1818)
OTHER: Blood Meridian (Cormac McCarthy, 1985)
UPDATE+FUTURE PRESENCE
Hey all, Just wanted to give an update! I've been keeping very busy with freelance work, and in addition to teaching part-time and the current jobs/projects I'm working on, I haven't had much time to visit here. I just want to say thank you for all the support I've received for the 14 years I've been here- it really is where I got my start, and from the bottom of my heart, I really appreciate the community and friends I've made.
Now, I realize I haven't been very active on here as of late, and beyond the reasons above, Deviantart's new layout/UI is frankly, uh... bad, and I'm not surprised a lot of professionals are leaving the site. I won't completely abandon DA, and of course I'll still keep everything up but I'm starting to phase it out of the sites I regularly submit to and check on as a result... So, as a courtesy, if I haven't responded to comments, notes, etc...If you do want to keep up with my art, drop me a line or ask about commissions and all that jazz, I'm MUCH more active on Twitter and there's a lot of work I haven't posted here, despite the Hellscape that it is. I'm less active on Instagram, but I still use it fairly regularly when I have new pieces done.
https://twitter.com/deimosremus
https://www.instagram.com/nathanandersonart/
Cheers, Nathan
If you happen to suggest a character that IS on my list, I'll just tell you so. Currently I'm looking for a couple more female characters and 1 male character, preferably ones written in the 1990s and prior. (women authors are a plus and non-white characters are also preferred! I really want a good variety here) It's not that I'm opposed to newer characters, but I'd like for most of them to have established themselves as well-known or semi-well known, at least among fantasy enthusiasts.
1. Gene Wolfe (Book of the New Sun)
2. Lloyd Alexander (The Chronicles of Prydain)
3. Michael Ende (The Neverending Story)
4. Peter S. Beagle (The Last Unicorn)
5. Ursula K. Le Guin (The Earthsea Cycle)
6. C.S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia)
7. Marion Zimmer Bradley (The Mists of Avalon)
8. Mervyn Peake (The Gormenghast Trilogy)
9. C.S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia)
10. Michael Moorcock (The Elric Saga)
11. Catherine L. Moore (Jirel of Joiry)
12. Robert W. Chambers, et al. (Various)
13. Ursula K. Le Guin (The Earthsea Cycle)
14. Richard Adams (Shardik)
15. Edgar Rice Burroughs (Barsoom series)
16. Michael Shea (The Nifft Saga)
17. Anne McCaffrey (Dragonriders of Pern)
18. Anonymous (Various)
19. Glen Cook (The Black Company)
20. Kaoru Kurimoto (Guin Saga)
21. Patricia C. Wrede (Dealing with Dragons)
22. J.R.R. Tolkien (The Silmarillion)
23. Jack Vance (Cugel's Saga)
24. Karl Edward Wagner (Kane)
25. Garth Nix (The Old Kingdom series)
26. Lloyd Alexander (The Chronicles of Prydain)
27. Fritz Leiber (Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser)
28. ?
29. ?
30. ?
Characters I'm considering:
Female:
Mara of the Acoma (Daughter of the Empire, Raymond Feist and Janny Wurts)
Lirazel (The King of Elfland's Daughter, Lord Dunsany)
Yennefer (The Witcher, Andrzej Sapkowski)
Characters from Witchworld (Andre Norton)
Male:
Solomon Kane (Robert E. Howard)
Gorgik (Tales of Néverÿon, Samuel R. Delaney)
UPDATE: Been away for a while!
My apologies for being so absent here lately; I've been busy with freelance work, and I've been getting to ready to move, as well as securing a part-time teaching job at my Alma Mater! So, I've been quite busy, but I hope to start regularly submitting here again in the future, so in the mean time, thanks for all the support!
Cheers,
Nathan
New Patreon
With Tumblr's inevitable death on the horizon (and a lot of my biggest posts being hidden from public view, because they contain small amounts of nudity) I've finally buckled down and started a Patreon.
I hope to be more active on DA as well, but I'd like my Patreon to eventually become the one that I'd post the most often to. Any patrons well help me a LOT with bills and other expenses, and I hope to post exclusive content there as well.
www.patreon.com/deimosremus
Thanks so much,
Nathan