The Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes is my favorite fantasy novel. What’s Yours?
This week we are taking nominations to add to our list of all things best in science-fiction and fantasy. Yesterday we asked you to nominate your favorite science-fiction novels. Today we are looking for nominations for the top fantasy novels.
What’s the difference between science-fiction and fantasy? Our quick definitions are:
Sci-fi: Future/space/technology as primary theme.
Fantasy: Supernatural/magic/mythical as primary theme.
That’s not to say that sci-fi can’t have magic or fantasy have technology, but we ask you to look at the primary themes. If you disagree with someone else’s classification during the nomination period, we invite you to comment. One thing I forgot to mention yesterday, we are looking for single novels, not series. You can nominate an entire series, but please list each novel individually.
To get the ball rolling, here is my paltry list of ten fantasy novels that have been the most significant to me. I know you will have your own, so add them in the comments for this post, and we’ll include them for next weeks voting.
- The Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes — I could have included any of the story arcs from The Sandman series in this list, but I chose this one because it sets the stage for everything that was to come.
- Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland — A story that, I’m convinced, changes people’s brain chemistry when they read it.
- The Fellowship of the Ring — It’s hard to split up the Lord of the Rings series, but of the three parts the first part is my favorite.
- The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul — Although better known for his science-fiction, Douglas Adams wrote what is to me one of the great fantasy novels.
- American Gods — Neil Gamain’s gift is to make the fantastic feel real and he does this no better than in American Gods.
- Watership Down — Often mistaken as a kids book, Watership Down anthropomorphizes rabbits but not in the cute and fuzzy way.
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s/Philosopher’s Stone —This is the book that brought the fantasy genre to millions of new readers, young and old.
- Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell — An epic story that weaves real history into a fantasy world.
- The Once and Future King — This is the book that taught me Arthurian legend.
- The Colour of Magic — The first Discworld novel has a special place in my heart.
Nominations for this category will close a 6 days from now (19 December 2012).
Nominations are still open for best sci-fi TV Show, best fantasy TV show, and best science-fiction novel.
