montoya.livejournal.com ([identity profile] montoya.livejournal.com) wrote in [personal profile] kate_nepveu 2005-07-19 01:24 am (UTC)

I'd stay away from kidbooks, just because there's already a widespread perception (thanks to Harry Potter) that fantasy is an appropriate thing for kidbooks, not for real adult books.

My changes to the list:

1. Replace something -- probably the Stewart, as I've never been a fan -- with Helprin's Winter's Tale. That'll really nail the literary end of things solidly, plus it's a great book. (Plus, it's not shelved in fantasy, which might make it easier to push.)

2. For urban fantasy, I'd replace Bull's serviceable-but-not-great novels with Gaiman's Sandman. This has the extra benefit of introducing someone to graphic novels (which, admittedly, could fail in that they'd not like one and then stay away from the other, but you've already explained about tailoring to the audience, so).

3. I really want to add something unconventional, like Vance's Dying Earth or Lem's Cyberiad, but those really skirt around the edges of fantasy, so probably not on such a short list.

4. I do agree with what Anonymous (Trent?) said about Bridge of Birds replacing Sorcery 'n' Cecilia. (Or at the very least, replace it with Swordspoint.)

5. I'd take Barnes' One For the Morning Glory or Goldman's Princess Bride as the "fairy tale" option. More straight up, I'd look at Dunsany's The King of Elfland's Daughter, or MacDonald's The Princess and the Goblin.


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