Fantasy Conversion Kit

[kate_nepveu]

My entry in the genre conversion kits discussion is very belated, but here it is all the same (I came up with a list of titles back when the discussions were going around, and then didn't have time to add reasons to the list). Since I'm not up-to-date on science fiction these days, so I'm only doing a fantasy conversion kit. Here are ten books chosen to be introductions to different types of fantasy; they're meant to be picked among, based on the tastes of the person you're trying to convert. (I like all of these, else I wouldn't recommend them, but I don't expect everyone to.)

1. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. A great deal of the genre is the Big Fat Fantasy: long, sweeping, multi-character, otherworld fantasies about the fate of the entire world, frequently involving wars and political intrigue. If someone's wanting epic, I still can't come up with anything better than Tolkien in this category, for all that it's not perfect.
2. Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay. Historically-based or inspired fantasy; it's not an alternate history, but it's similar in enough ways that it could be a gateway into alternate history if one liked it. It's also on the literary end of genre fantasy.

   Tigana is set on an Italy-inspired peninsula and concerns, in part, a curse that has stripped the name of a province from outside memory. It has political and personal intrigue, heightened emotions, and a gripping plot; IMO it also has a somewhat unfortunate attitude toward sex, but that's a relatively small portion of the book. I gave it to an English professor who loved it.

3. Finder or War for the Oaks by Emma Bull. These are both urban fantasy, which is set in cities of our world or a close relative thereto, present-day or near-future, with magic or Faerie, and often featuring younger (teens and twenties) characters. As urban fantasy often is, these two books are more intimate than your Big Fat Fantasy, both in scale and plot components.

   I think Finder is a slightly better novel than War for the Oaks. However, War for the Oaks was one of the original urban fantasy novels and stands entirely alone. (I don't think that Finder's setting in the Bordertown shared universe renders it not a stand-alone, but I note it for those sensitive to such matters.)

4. Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny or Jhereg by Steven Brust: Short, snappy, first-person smartass narration, with high quantities of Cool Stuff and intriguing settings in worlds other than our own (mostly). Chad's hooked several of his students with Jhereg, and a set of the Vlad books up through Dragon now lives in his office.
5. Last Call by Tim Powers: A secret history of Las Vegas, poker, and the Fisher King. Besides being mythic up to your ears, it's got grit and tension, which might appeal to someone who likes mysteries or thrillers.
6. Spindle's End by Robin McKinley: For those looking for mythic through a fairy-tale format; also for those who like animals. Rich characters and rich prose in service of a fascinating retelling of "Sleeping Beauty." I have some extended quotes in a review.
7. Resurrection Man or Mockingbird (review) by Sean Stewart: Tight, intimate family tales with mysterious, non-mechanical magic. Resurrection Man is dark (it opens with the main character looking down at his own corpse), Mockingbird is funny (and, I think, slightly more accessible to mainstream readers), and they're both excellent.
8. Sorcery and Cecilia by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer (booklog) or The Element of Fire by Martha Wells (booklog entries one, two): Examples of Fantasy of Manners, with all the crackling wit and social negotiation that implies. Sorcery and Cecilia is an epistolary Regency-with-magic, and somewhat lighter than the more seventeenth-century The Element of Fire (which, alas, is also a much harder book to find). Sorcery and Cecilia in particular would be good for romance readers.
9. Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett: In which "Five billion people almost DIE, and it is FUNNY" (as Book-A-Minute has put it). Because it's also humane, and we could all use that sometimes.
10. Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton (booklog): Okay, I don't exactly know what else this would lead a new reader into besides Walton's other novels, but as a Trollope novel where all the characters are literal dragons and eat each other, well, I bet you could intrigue a lot of people who've read Trollope (willingly or otherwise) into reading it.

Not objective, not authoritative, open for discussion. Comments?

Comments

[larabeaton.livejournal.com]

When I saw the title "Fantasy conversion kit", I thought you meant instructions on how to change any book into a fantasy book.

Step 1 - change the main character's name to something you just made up. the more odd the name the better (i.e. Frodo, Rincewind, or Phedre). Repeat for all characters.

[kate_nepveu]

Heh. Perhaps I should edit that . . .

[larabeaton.livejournal.com]

I'm really liking that idea, though. Start with Wuthering Heights, and end with Kushiel's Dart.

Or, you could take the easy route, and start with The Four Musketeers and end with The Phoenix Guards.

[(Anonymous)]

I was surprised not to see _Bridge of Birds_ on your list. If I had to remove one book from your list to make room for it I'd lose _Sorcery and Cecilia_, not because I don't like it (though I don't like it as much as I do the others on your list) but because I think a lot of the fantasy-of-manners (as I understand the term) niche can also be filled by _Tooth and Claw_. Aside from _Bridge of Birds_ being one of my favorite novels ever, it gets the axis of fantasy based on non-European source myths into the mix.

[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

I'm intrigued that your list mostly includes fantasy that would be shelved in the (grown-up)fiction section of most libraries. Were I trying to convert someone (no matter what age) to fantasy, there are some "children" or "YA" books that would be right up next to Tolkien.

Examples: A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin; The Black Cauldron by Lloyd Alexander; A String in the Harp by Nancy Bond.

Unless your list is specifically directed to converting someone to sword-and-sorcery "grownup" fantasy....

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

But both Frodo and Phedre are real names.

Phedre's a bit more common, I admit.

[larabeaton.livejournal.com]

I know that my preference for the fantasy genre began with The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, so if I were to add YA books to the list, that one would be at the top.

[kgbooklog.livejournal.com]

I'm late to this discussion, so I'm a bit unsure of the goals. Are we looking for representatives of the major sub-genres, or most accessible books?

Here's my list (assuming we're trying to steal fans from other genres):

1. Non-readers - Harry Potter
Not a great work, but provably accessible.

2. Mystery: Police Procedural - Pratchett Guards! Guards!

3. Mystery: Hard-boiled PI - Butcher Grave Peril
Third book in the series, but better than the first two.

4. Mystery: Whodunit - Garrett Lord Darcy

5. Books With Cats - Duane Book of Night With Moon
Maybe not a genre, but definitely a large demographic. First Joe Grey book would work too (looking up title...) Cat on the Edge

6. Romance: Silly - Davidson Undead and Unwed

7. Romance: Serious - Harris Dead Until Dark

8. King Arthur - Walton The King's Peace

9. Historical - Stevermer College of Magics
Though Sorcery and Cecilia and Element of Fire work too. And Bridge of Birds for non-European history.

10. Science Fiction -
This shouldn't be hard, but everything I think of is stuff other people already call ScF. Is Pratchett's Strata sufficiently fantastic to count?

[montoya.livejournal.com]

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.

[cliosfolly.livejournal.com]

Thinking about Sean Stewart, would you consider Nobody's Son to meet your definition of fantasy of manners? Either Shielder's Mark or Gail seem to fit several of the aspects of your definition, and while I wouldn't necessarily qualify it primarily as fantasy of manners, it seems to mesh well enough, to me, to fit in a cousinly sort of way.

[corruptedjasper.livejournal.com]

The first book of the 5 in the Lloyd Alexander series is The Book Of Three, so you might want to recommend that rather than The Black Cauldron, which is number 2 (although it's entirely possible there are omnibus editions named the Black Cauldron, since that's what Disney named the dismal animated adaptation)

[kate_nepveu]

Except that you make the characters nicer.

I haven't read _Wuthering Heights_. Or _Kushiel's Dart_.

[kate_nepveu]

Hmmm, well, that's a possibility. I don't think _Tooth and Claw_ gets you the sheer *fun* of Fantasy of Manners; and I'm not entirely sure that _Bridge of Birds_ would lead into other non-European-sourced fantasies, but that's possibly just because it hasn't for me.

But it's true that I am somewhat lacking in non-European-sourced fantasies, both generally and here.

[kate_nepveu]

No, it's not aimed at sword & sorcery, since I'd say that even on a very loose definition of the term, only _Lord of the Rings_ and the First Person Smartass choices would fall under that category.

_Sorcery and Cecilia_ has been reprinted as a YA, but largely what I had in mind was converting adults, and as montoya says downthread, the perception that fantasy = child is not one that would be helpful.

[kate_nepveu]

But for adults? An awful lot of baggage there.

[kate_nepveu]

Yeah, I agree about YA (though not about calling them "kidbooks", thankyouverymuch.)

1. _Winter's Tale_--but it's *hard* *work*, possibly even harder than _Lord of the Rings_, with that middle section of "every 50 pages, we will jump to a different set of characters!"

2. No graphic novels. Only introducing people to one set of reading protocols at a time.

4. But I don't _like_ _Swordspoint_.

5. _Spindle's End_ gets you fantasy-with-animals, too, though. _One for the Morning Glory_ is weirder than I'd want for a conversion effort (I mean, the vocabulary?), and _The Princess Bride_ ditto in different directions.

As for Dunsany and Macdonald--well, it's been a while since I read the first, so I don't recall how accessible it is; and I had a bad experience with Macdonald and won't be reading any more, so I couldn't say. But I wanted both fairy tales and their _revision_, which I don't think those get me.

[kate_nepveu]

I'm looking for books that I might give a non-fantasy reader to convince them that fantasy doesn't suck. I set up my kit to span sub-genres in the theory that this would allow more tailoring for the tastes of the potential convertee.

I love _A College of Magics_, but I'm not sure that the plot is sufficiently foregrounded to work for a reader new to the genre. I'd say _When the King Comes Home_, but people seem to split sharply on Hail, the narrator (I have this reservation, to a lesser extent, regarding the Sulien books). _Scholar of Magics_ hasn't sunk into my brain well enough yet for me to really say.

I wonder if _Lord Darcy_ might not feel a little fussy and outdated to someone new to the genre?

Books with cats is a great subcategory!

I don't know either of your romance suggestions.

I was deliberately leaving science fiction off the list.

[kate_nepveu]

It's been so long since I read it that I'm afraid I couldn't say.

[montoya.livejournal.com]

1. Maybe, but surely at least one piece on your list ought to be of the dense sloggy variety, as there are clearly people who like dense sloggy stuff. (Besides, it's only sloggy at a certain point in the middle when things are not made clear.)

2. Fair 'nuff, guv'nor.

4. Not everyone's supposed to like every book on the list, eh?

5. What other fantasy with animals is there? Those mouse books that I always see at B&N? That one rabbit book? OftMG is, I grant, a bit on the odd side; I think The Princess Bride works, though, as it's grounded in cynical reality, so will allow the reader who thinks this fantasy stuff is all a bit twee to have a point of referent.

MacDonald is Jesusy on the inside, which is irritating, but Dunsany, I think, is very accessible. A bit old-fashioned, but in a fairy-tale sort of way.

[kate_nepveu]

1. You don't think _Lord of the Rings_ counts as dense sloggy?

4. It's my list, I have to like everything on it.

5. I should've said, gets you people who like animals.

[montoya.livejournal.com]

1. Not in the way that's going to please English professors.

4. Oh, FINE. (I haven't actually read the Wells, to be fair, and expect it'd be good.)

5. Ah.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

The problem is that The Black Cauldron is much better than The Book of Three.

[(Anonymous)]

I had a bad experience with Macdonald and won't be reading any more, so I couldn't say.

Really? Now I'm all curious, because Macdonald is one of my favorite fantasy writers (actually, I've used his Phantastes to convert people to this genre), and I don't find him too religious at all. In his realistic novels, sure (he *was* a preacher for his day job), but not in his fantasy, which I find for the most part deeply creative.

I'd be interested in knowing which of his books turned you off.

[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

I see someone beat me to it...but while I like The Book of Three, it's not nearly the best book in that series. I read The Black Cauldron first, myself, and it grabbed me by the heart and gut and refused to let go. I'd put it up in the top five books that cemented me into the fantasy genre as a reader.

[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

Sorry, that was me. Forgot to log in.