Welcome to Fantasy Forum

I may be a little late in joining the party but I was a little engaged in other affairs, but now I welcome you all, who have chosen to be a part of this group and join in for discussions.

In case you're wondering why this new group has been created when there are already some big groups out here, then it is because in this group you're conversating with friends and not strangers(unconventionally ofcourse). Your opinion and recommendations will be seen and responded appropriately and it'll be hoped that we could maintain a different, more interactive (not necessarily a large community) of fantasy admirers. I'll not waste time on asking you all to introduce yourself at the forum but in turn I'll assume that you've atleast browsed once through each other's profiles and already know a little about each other. But still, if anyone wants to properly introduce himself/herself, you can do it by adding to this thread.

I welcome you all to join in or start any new conversations regarding fantasy books that you'd want to discuss here without hesitation. Whether it is about book resources, books, characters, authors, or somthing related, share it here in your special group.

Warm Regards,
Fanderik

PS: Any troubles, ideas, suggestions, you can message me.

I like smaller groups. Thank you for the invite.

Thanks for the invitation.

yeah, thanks for the invite

I'm here too - and also appreciative.

And me!

*waves and goes back to book*

Hi guys!

I thought I would say *Hello*

I recognise some familiar names in this group (but not fanderik who invited me to join) will see if this is a good place to be:)

Hello, nice to meet you all.:)

Thanks for the invite and hello!

I'm new to Library Thing, as well as this group. Would it be polite to say who I am & what I read, or do you just do that through looking at profiles?

I will join everybody else in saying thank you and hello :)

Message 12: jimmaclachlan
Ofcourse you can introduce yourself. I never said that members can't or members shouldn't do it. This is a free community with no special rules or restrictions, apart from members be friendly, value each other's opinions, discuss about fantasy books and the topics related.

To all members:
I appreciate your openness and willingness to build this new group into a friendly and an interactive community.

Alright. I'm Jim, 50 years old & live in Kentucky on a small farm with 3 horses, an old pony & 5 dogs - mostly Jack Russells. The keeper of the animals is my wife, Marg. Two boys in the mid to late 20's are on their own & my baby girl is in her 2d year of college, living at home between times.

I've been reading fantasy since I was little. I saw the Frazetta covers of a couple of Conan books & began sneaking peaks at them ASAP, but Mom didn't think it was appropriate reading material. Of course, I HAD to read them then & did. Lord of the Rings was another favorite. My wife & kids also love Fantasy & SF, so we have a pretty big collection.

Now, we read L.E. Modesitt, Brust, Kelley Armstrong, Laurell K. Hamilton (no longer), Patricia Briggs, Bray & Bujold. I'm a real fan of Roger Zelazny & I'm reading the ARC's for Michael Sullivan's series, which is a blast.

So how about you (everyone else)? Who are you & who are your favorite authors?

Hi all! I'm also noticing some familiar names from other groups :-)

In introduction here (although I've probably done this on other groups) I'm a 39 year old legal assistant in Massachusetts and have been reading fantasy since my aunt and my grade school introduced me to the Narnia and Prydain books. I live with my husband, who hates to read, and my two sons ages 18 and 9 who have followed in my footsteps for my love of fantasy books.

My favorite authors/books change frequently, although I have listed a few on the other post. My most recent favorite discovery (books read in the last six months) is the Smoke trilogy by Tanya Huff.

I'm very excited right now because today over on another group I just learned that the authors of Havemercy recently came out with a sequel, Shadow Magic. I have already ordered it with the Christmas money my mom gave me waaay in advance to order my presents with (there are reasons for the early part, but it is a long story).

Me too! I'm Shanra, mid-twenties - though I still can't believe I'm out of my teens - and I'm Dutch. I still live at home where we have four cats, one dog and a garden full of wildlife. I'm currently studying English which, like fantasy, I've loved since a very young age. And, woe be me, I think I want to turn teaching it to teens/kids into my day job.

I learned English by reading LotR (amongst other activities). I'm playing catch-up on Pratchett's Discworld series. Aside from him I enjoy anything from Diana Wynne Jones to Jane Yolen to Elizabeth Bear to Anna Elliott to Caitlín R Kiernan to Guy Gavriel Kay. I'm a bit fuzzy, usually, on what makes a favourite but The Last Unicorn is one of the books I always mention, Elizabeth Bear and Guy Gavriel Kay are two of the authors I'm tracking down all published works of.

Aaand, that's me. (Oh, and in my free time I write, tear my friends' works to hopefully constructive bits, read or review books. Or write essays. Or tutor. In fact I'm fast losing all the free time I take for granted...)

ETA: I'm also, as you can see, a little bit of a scatterbrained ditz who forgets her manners. Hi, everyone! ^-^

I'm Mary Lou, just turned 60, retired k-12 school librarian, widow, mother to an almost-30 year old daughter, gramma to the two most wonderful kids on the planet. I live in the middle of the Nebraska Sandhills, and am allowed to share this house with the Mistress of All She Surveys - KittyMonster.

I'm a huge Robin McKinley fan, with a special weakness for The Blue Sword. As a high school librarian, I became fond of Patricia Wrede, David Eddings, and T.A. Barron.

David Lena a.k.a. Fanderik. 26, architect by profession. I originally belong to New Zealand, and these days working on projects abroad. I am fond of fantasy novels and mostly enjoy reading works of different authors and rarely follow a series.
I enjoy observing various literary styles of different authors. I don't have any hardcore favourites, but if I tend to like their style or story, I add them to my list.

Pasted here for Mark Hockely-

"Hi,

Just thought I'd introduce myself. My name is Mark Hockley and I'm the author of the fantasy novel The Magic Lands. Somebody kindly invited me to join this new group and I hope I'll get a chance to make some friends here and talk about fantasy in all its guises!"

I'm Jim, 47, married, son in college, currently a systems engineer, formerly a physicist, living in central Maryland. Wow, that was probably the most efficient intro sentence I've ever come up with. Although it's got some grammar issues...8^}

My book choices tend to be all over the map, but fantasy is a big part of the library. If anybody's interested in what I'm reading, here's my thread from the 75 Book Challenge group:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/72845

Cat, 44, and on my own for the first time. Daughter married and on her own and son 18 still at home. No grandkids...yet. Someday. I too live in Maryland.

I teach reading interventions in middle school and direct an after school program for teens.

I have always been drawn to fantasy..but find that now I am being drawn to historical fiction/romance. I am always looking for a good escape.

Jessi, 17, live in the great state of TN(Can't spell it to save my life:) and I loved books eversince I ccould read, except for horrors.:| Trying to survive high school at the moment:).

Lisa, 50, and I live in SF. I have eclectic taste in books but my first love is fantasy/science fiction. I work with the homeless/mentally ill/substance abusing population so believe me when I say, there is nothing like a good book to end a bad day.

I'm Natalie, 18, from Seattle. Been a reader for as long as I can remember and I've always had a soft spot for fantasy. At the moment I am mostly occupied with trying to figure out college apps while surviving honors classes and Physics so I unfortunately don't get as much reading time as I would like. When I do have some free time I'll grab a book and a cup of tea and curl up with my Irish Wolfhound.

Some of my favorites are Robin McKinley, Garth Nix, Terry Pratchett, and Diana Wynne Jones. Favorite fantasy read in the last 6 months is probably The Forgotten Beasts of Eld.

Hello there, and many thanks for the invitation. I'm Unorna, 50, am a working artist, live in the U.K and have been into fantasy since my Mum introduced me to the works of C.S Lewis when I was 7.
Some of my favourite authors : Tanith Lee, Diana Wynne- Jones, Sharon Green, Lord Dunsany, Jane Yolen and H.P Lovecraft and am awaiting the sequel to Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss with bated breath.

Hello Everyone. I'm Calyn, 22, the married daughter of MDLady (message 22). I've been married for 4 years and I do not want kids at the present time. :)

I do Data Governance for Aerotek, inc. It's not as fancy as it sounds trust me.

When I first started reading for recreation I thought I would like to read murder mysteries because those were the movies I liked best but I find myself drawn more to fantasy/scifi books.

I love writing and one of my goals in life is to have at least one of my writings published.

....at the present time.

I can live with that...for now.
;)

*waves at BooGirl* Hello! Pleased to meet you. ^-^

I'm a little curious, though, do/did you find that murder mysteries as books don't draw you at all or is it just that they draw you, but fantasy/scifi draws you more?

(Mostly because it should be quite possible, if not easy, to find a combination of the two.)

And what kind of things do you like writing? I love writing too, and most (read 'all') my stuff has a speculative fiction edge to it. Tried writing a short straight-up historical fiction piece, but... It crept towards magical realism all the same. I seem to have stopped caring about getting published so much, though. Still not sure whether that leaves me sad or happy. (I know my writing is in no way good enough to start trying, though, so maybe it's more that that bothers me.) *rambles*

*waves back at Shanra*

For the most part I just can't seem to get into murder mysteries by themselves. But if there is a combination of fantasy/scifi then its a win/win.

I'm currently writing a paranormal/scifi fiction story. I'm having some insecurities about the plot but I have the outline all drawn out, now i'm just putting it all together in a way that makes since. (my mom's my proof reader lol)

If you don't think your writing is good enough, have you thought about taking a writing course at your local community college? Best $300 I've ever spent. (Even though I needed the class for my degree.) I have been writing little things since middle school but I was so insecure of my stuff I never let anyone see it and it wound up going in the garbage. I started my first English class Spring of this year and when I got A's on all my term papers it really boasted my ego. Not to mention that my teacher told me she looked forward to reading my papers. I was shocked.

I also read a lot of authors advice and take it into consideration as well. Honest to god, the best advice I've gotten so far is from Chuck Palahniuk's website. He may write about the foulest content imaginable, but his advice is top notch. You have to pay for a membership to get his advice but if you want good free advice google Diana Gabledon and she has a whole section on her website dedicated to advice about writing. I like her a lot as well.

If you can't tell I tend to ramble on and on...just virtually slap me if I ramble too much. ^_~

I'm sure you'll be all right! Insecurities are fairly normal, from what I've seen, but it always works out in the end. ^-^

Also, you have a lovely mum. ^-^ Good chance she'll read this herself, but feel free to tell her I said so. ^-~

*shakes head* I appreciate the help, but to be honest probably half the issues I have are a combination of low self-esteem and a perfectionist streak. You're never done learning, but I know what's bothering me in most of my current writing as well as how to fix it. I just need to do that fixing. After that, I'm sure I'll find something else that needs work. ^-~

I like Limyaael's comments myself. She's still unpublished as a writer, as far as I'm aware, but don't let that make you think she doesn't know what she's talking about! (Sure, one can disagree with her on stuff, but a lot of what she says is just common sense if you think about it for a moment.)

Shanra, I'm currently reading a novel that was the author's first published book (I think). I keep thinking it would have been improved if she had taken the time to read it out loud to herself. Some of the vocabulary is jarringly wrong, some descriptions don't make sense, that sort of thing. If she'd read it aloud, I think some infelicities could have been avoided.

*so bemused to be getting advice from everyone, but isn't entirely sure how to continue the conversation without coming off as defensive*

*ruffles hair* Er... So... At the risk of still being taken the wrong way... While I wasn't asking for advice, I appreciate you taking the time to offer it. ^-^ 'tis most kind of you. ^-^

(Also, maybe we should make a thread on discussing the craft of writing instead of hijacking the welcome thread? Does that strike people as a good idea?)

:) sounds good to me.

I don't understand how anyone older than me can get on with computers, give me a good book any day of the week instead.
That said I am Jessica, currently employed as a library assistant in a local high school (it's only maternity leave so I am trying to persuade the actual job holder that she want to stay home and be a mom). I got into fantasy via sciencefiction, My high school librarian threw a book at me one day to keep me quiet (sorry miss but I've already read that one (think of the readit frog)and that one too) that turned out to be issac asmov. I have alway read books, even from a small child.
The one good think about moving to a small place was that I got a big house that I could have all my books out. My new husband bought me 3 book cases and said that if there was any room left he had a couple of book that might go on them. two days later he ordered more bookcases. After some hard filtering I managed to fit the collection on just those cases, have rearranged the room to fit in some more bookcases, there are piles of books all over the house now with nowhere to go! I only keep the good ones honnest!

*waves* 'ello! Nice meeting you, Jessica! ^-^

Hey I'm Cara, you can call me Ara or Car (like me three and four yr old cousins).

HI Car
Nice to meet you

Nice 2 meet ya 2.

Hello all. Dave here. Over the years, depending on work situations(military, OTR trucker, etc.), I've been an on again/off again reader. Started out with westerns, mostly Louis L'Amour, and 'graduated' to Fantasy/Sci-Fi later. But had always seemed to squeeze a fantasy in there amongst the westerns. After a while, Mr. L'Amour got to be, oh, predictable I guess, and I felt it was time to stick more with the fantasy. I delve in a Classic, or Non-fiction once in a while, but my bread-and-butter is always Fantasy. I am 50 years young, finally stable in life, and able to read on a regular basis now(Thank God!). Hope to 'meet' some great people here who share some of the same passions of the printed word. :)