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buirechain

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First off, thanks for the list. Now I have more things I need to read.

MoC, thanks for your suggestions. Do De Lint's Newford Stories have significantly different ideas from "The War for the Oaks," which is earlier and (to me, anyway) more well known?

I can only take a stab at this, since this isn't where I write, and I haven't read "The War for the Oaks" (and I only have a few brief summaries to go by)--so for me, the Newford stories are more well known :D . I'll agree that the two cover a lot of the same ground, though I get the impression that TWFTO focuses more on the impact that people have on faerie (feel free to tell me I'm wrong), where de Lint tends to write stories about the affect that faerie has on people. It's not a major difference, I admit, but it is why, despite my love for de Lint's Newford stories, TWFTO isn't going on the top of my reading list.

I think a more compelling reason to include de Lint is that, while TWFTO predates the Newford stories, before de Lint created Newford, he set similar stories in his native Ottawa instead, and those mostly predate TWFTO. That said, if I'm going to tell anyone to read de Lint , I will point them towards the Newford stories de Lint's ideas are more fully developed.

Now that I've said all that, I'm going to let you and anyone else weigh in and get back to actually writing.
 

Her Dark Star

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Wow, that a pretty good list and certainly a great idea to research the background to certain key themes. Read quite a lot of those, heard of most of the others but nice to have them broken down like that. Very interesting work, thank you.
 

Arcadia Divine

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Does anyone know any books that involve an omniverse? Here's a link just in case (it's wikipedia, but what the heck. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omniverse

BTW: I ask because my WIP is in an Omniverse. I haven't found anything that features an omniverse so I feel like I'm reinventing the wheel. Granted I don't mind reinventing the wheel, I just want something to go by.

based of that example, mine is just barely an omniverse.
 
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I think my WIP is in a sci-fi genre of its own: psychopunk. Basically, it's punk sci-fi with an emphasis on heavy psychological themes or otherwise involving psychology in some way relevant to the plot.
 

benbradley

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Does anyone know any books that involve an omniverse? Here's a link just in case (it's wikipedia, but what the heck. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omniverse

BTW: I ask because my WIP is in an Omniverse. I haven't found anything that features an omniverse so I feel like I'm reinventing the wheel. Granted I don't mind reinventing the wheel, I just want something to go by.

based of that example, mine is just barely an omniverse.
One of Larry Niven's stories is an an omniverse. It involves the transporter invention used in many of Niven's stories - the MC is the "guinea pig" in experiments involving transporting over long distances around Earth. The story really takes off (and to say how would give too much away) when he attempts to transport between the ground and low Earth orbit. I can't recall the story's name offhand.

And I think both novels by John G. Cramer might arguably be considered involving an omniverse.

But all three of these stories have unique features, and I'd be surprised if any random omniverse story were anything like any of them.
 

Rachel Udin

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What about George and the Dragon? Isn't that an old story about a Dragon... (Referring to Saint George).

How about Lost History Science Fiction/fantasy? Wherein the planet is well settled, but facts about how the place was settled was lost to time. Pern borrowed this trope heavily. Sometimes there is a quest to uncover what that history was or meant. Lends itself well to Science Fantasy heavily. (McCaffrey, Modesitt, MZ Bradley and Lackey all borrowed this trope--though not saying those are the quintessential ones.)
 

b1_

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Here are some more suggestions:

Cloning
** David Brin - Kiln People

Dragons
** Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickamn - Dragonlance Trilogy

Nanotechnology
** Neil Stephenson - The Diamond Age

Telepathy/Paranormal
** Juian May - Saga of Pliocene Exile Series and The Galactic Milieu Series
 

RichardFlea

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This post is probably well closed (2009 last posting) but I was wondering if it was still open to suggestions (of some well known, must read books);

'Left hand of Darkness', Ursula LeGuin is good for how humans evolve into a race that is both male & female and it is also good for how climate (ice age) changes society.

'Lord Fouls Bane', Stephen Donaldson is good for fantasy and on transport to a different world.

'Childrens and household tales', the Brothers Grimm. This is the original fairy tales and contains all the greats, such as Snow white and Cinderella, but not as we know them. Now that is how you tell a fantasy tale.

'The wonderful wizard of Oz', L Frank Baum, on how to write childrens fantasy, and also for talking animals.

'A Midsummers Nights Dream', Shakespeare: Fairies and were-donkey (a human with donkey's ears)

'Salems lot', Stephen King, would have to be in there for vampires in modern settings.

'Day of the Triffids', John Wyndham: post apocalyptic world or is it walking trees gone wrong?

'Shadow of the Torturer', Gene Wolf: how to blend magic and science fiction together on an Earth with a dying sun. Won a couple of awards.

I suppose you would have already considered these, but it was just a tought. :)
 
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Smiling Ted

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Closing Time

Barring some new post that makes me look like a complete idiot for overlooking an obvious Seminal Work, it looks like the list is fairly complete.

This doesn't mean that you should stop posting, or that I'm locking the thread. It just means that I probably won't be replying or modifying the Top Post unless some really obvious suggestion emerges.

There were a lot of terrific suggestions that didn't make it into the Top Post for one reason only: I was trying to compile a list of essentials, the stories an author must be aware of before writing on a particular topic...what they call "prior art" in patent law. I wanted to keep the list as small as I could, because writers should write more than they research...but they should also know the giants who have gone before.

Thanks to everyone for contributing, and I hope you all find this list helpful.
 

Wordwalker

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AI - Demon Seed

AI: Also, there's this film where a house keeps a woman captive and tries to impregnate her. It could be Colossus, but I can't really remember. (I can't check right now.)

Don't think this one was answered. It's *Demon Seed* starring Julie Christie, based on a Dean Koontz novel-- and he revised the book some years later, a real improvement on the original and the film.
 

Smiling Ted

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Well, it looks like I spoke too soon. There is one category we haven't really covered...and that is THE AFTERLIFE: HEAVEN, HELL, LIMBO, AND NEW JERSEY.

So, if anyone has suggestions for seminal works on the Afterlife, toss 'em in.
 

PEBKAC2

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Waiting for the Galactic Bus, To Reign in Hell, and What Dreams May Come are the first to mind for me.
 

greendrake

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Wonderful list!

I've read many of these titles, but not all of them. This would be a wonderful collection to build.
 

Rachel Udin

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Didn't see it: Brothers Grimm (though they did not author, per se, but they did edit the original folktales) especially since people are using them and the tales are becoming popular in the *what's hot* these days.

Mythic/Legendary Fantasy/based on folktales.

For example, Legends of King Arthur and so on. (Is an important work since Joseph Campbell heavily uses it as the model to study the heroic quest.) Geoffrey of Monmouth is given the most credit for the modern form.

Also, I think it's fair to put Gulliver's Travels as Utopian Satire... (It's definitely fantasy.)
 

senka

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Immortality/Longevity
The Immortals, James Gunn
“The Martyr,” Alan E. Nourse
Methusaleh’s Children, Robert Heinlein
The Instrumentality of Mankind, Cordwainer Smith

Virtual Reality/Cyberspace/Cyberpunk
Neuromancer, William Gibson
Snowcrash, Neal Stephenson
“True Names,” Vernor Vinge


I vote for Otherland (Tad Williams) to be included somewhere... like up there?
 

dafish

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Hi,
This is my first time posting on the forum and hope that I can contribute to the list. My main interest is fantasy as opposed to SF and I notice an overwhelming list of SF books.

If you're interested in Fantasy, David Edding's Belgariad series (as well as the sequel, the Mallorean) is well worth a read. I would say it would either fit into the magic category or a traditional "Quest" style story of the fantasy genre. More importantly, for beginner writers, he even published his notes, research and mini-stories he has written before compiling it into his series called The Rivan Codex.

Terry Goodkind's sword of truth series is also a good fit in the "magic" category.

also another pop culture phenomenon other than traditional epic fantasy novels that has inspired me to start writing my own story for the first time is video games such as final fantasy (has become more steam punk in recent years) as well as anime/manga/translated novels from Japan (Sword Art Online & Record of Lodoss Wars)

If your target audience young adult, these sources I believe are indispensable.
 
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Wordwalker

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Hi,
also another pop culture phenomenon other than traditional epic fantasy novels that has inspired me to start writing my own story for the first time is video games such as final fantasy (has become more steam punk in recent years) as well as anime/manga/translated novels from Japan (Sword Art Online & Record of Lodoss Wars)

If your target audience young adult, these sources I believe are indispensable.

Agreed, the Japanese-based stories and "role-playing" style video games are good ways to gain a sense of what works as YA adventure. (Maybe 60% of the greatest action stories on film are probably anime, simply because there's so much of it--but plenty of dreck amid the quality too.)

For bridging from gaming to writing, I'd recommend the game Dragon Age: Origins for really feeling like a grand novel.