Building a SciFi/Fantasy Library discussion

Robert wrote elsewhere:
"Somewhere post-Tolkien, the fantasy world took a wrong turn and the idea of a single, really well written novel that stands alone disappeared. No more Red Moon, Black Mountain."

He has a point - the bulk of fantasy is geared towards sprawling muli-volume epics. However, there are individual books that are well done, and are fantasy. So, recommend any fantasy book that stands well on it's own. It can have sequels, as long it was originally intended as a single book and singe story that wraps up in that volume.

It should be remembered that Lord of the Rings was released as a trilogy because of the limitations of bookbinding, and that Tolkien was strongly against splitting his work up at all. ^_^

Right now, I'm just spitting out some titles, hopefully I'll go further into some of them later.
The Compleat Complete Enchanter
The Dragon and the George
Azure Bonds
Spellfire
Covenants
The Bridge of Birds
Transformation
The Golden Key
Between the Rivers
The Last Unicorn
Alamut

It's a bit of a challenge, honestly. The Dragon and the George of course starts an eternal series, but I agree that it originally was just a damn fine story. Interestingly, my late mother was an avid reader too, mostly of mystery stories, but somewhere in there I gave her this book to read at a moment when she was desperate for words on a page, and she adored it! I had to give her each new book as it cropped up.

If you include it, then one could probably include Stasheff's Warlock in Spite of Himself, which I think is very similar -- a book intended to stand alone that turned into an eternaseries, indeed, launched Stasheff on a career of writing little else.

To really do this, I'm going to have to go upstairs laptop in hand and parse through my shelves. There are some classics in there such as

Mention my Name in Atlantis (John Jakes)
Glory Road (Heinlein, arguably fantasy or SF)
The Broken Sword (Anderson, and simultaneously one of the best fantasy stories in existence and one of the most unsatisfying because he DIDN'T really finish it -- ever -- although he eventually did write the sequel it required to finish it, which sucked. It still annoys me.)
The Jewels of Aptor is very much in the same category -- it finishes but not really, and indeed is never really finished.

There are a slew of books about trolls and gridstones, misenchanted swords, and so on -- all readable, reasonably self-contained, sometimes leveraged into not exactly series but multiple stories arguably in the same fantasy world.

I'll think about it. As I said, remarkably difficult question, actually, because fantasy writers who write a successful story have SO MUCH incentive to write a second or third or (shades of Robert Jordan:-) a fifth or sixth or ad nauseum.

rgb

Might I suggest Guy Gavriel Kay's Lions of Al Rassan and one of my most favorite books of all time, Tigana?

My house is undergoing a huge renovation right now and most of my books are in storage, but I'm sure there are a couple more I could suggest if I had them close to hand. (It's going to take me DAYS to update my shelves when I get those books out of storage.)

Ah, yes, Tigana is very good. I really need to go hunt down more Kay.

As far as generating a series later, it's the same thing as Hollywood, once something is successful there is a lot of pressure from the publisher to follow it up with more of a 'sure thing.' And the fans don't exactly help with that. ^_^

Compleat Complete Enchanter is something of a ringer, it's a short story collection with a novel in the middle, but I find it hard not to recommend it every chance I get.

Both Transformation by Carol Berg and The Bridge of Birds by Barry Hugart generated series that I understand didn't nearly measure up to the originals, but the first books weren't meant to be part of a series, wrap things up, and are excellent.

Alamut by Judith Tarr is technically a prequel to another series, but is not actually dependent on it, and is the finest book she's written, historical fantasy or otherwise. Her A Wind In Cairo is also a stand alone (many of her books are, but I'm sticking with the fantasy ones) and a lot of fun, if not as good as Alamut.

Well, in the Chalion triple Lois McMaster Bujold at least finishes the books into autonomous stories, even if they use the same universe and even some of the same characters.

Ah, I'm with Evaine, 'Tigana' is a really good read. 'A Song for Arbonne' by the same writer are definitely a stand-alone and also very good.
I also want to promote 'Snare' by Katharine Kerr even if it have it's...ah...surprises.

A lot of Pratchett's books are separate even if they all of course are tied in to the discworld.

Guy Gavriel is excellent. But I also wanted to give a shout out for the work of Tim Powers - I've been busy reading all his work. Just brilliant stuff. It's categorized under the fantasy genre, but he's so individual it's hard to classify him with the usual stuff we think of as Fantasy because it's completely different - no quests thru the dark woods seeking the item of power against the evil. Almost alternative fiction. All his books are stand alones.

Why didn't I think of Powers? I love Tim Powers, and yeah, most of his stuff is stand alone, except for Earthquake Weather which is a sort of sequel to both Experation Date and Last Call both of which are awesome. I love Earthquake Weather too, but it's not quite as good, but subtly... anyway, in short; Read Tim Powers, he's awesome. I'd suggest almost anything by him but especially The Anubis Gates it's my favorite book of his.

Done in one? I had a harder time coming up with examples than I expected, but here are some:
Stone and Flute, by Hans Bemman (trans from German)
Til We Have Faces, CS Lewis
The Eyes of the Dragon, Stephen King (been ages since I've read it though)
Gene Wolfe's duology "The Wizard Knight" was supposed to be a single book originally, I hear, so maybe that counts? Well, maybe not.
I'm not sure if Stephen Lawhead's "Byzantium" counts-- reads a bit like a fantasy since that is what he was known for at the time, but it's a historical fiction (with Vikings, which are kinda fantasy-ish)
Kage Baker's The Anvil of the World, Neil Gaiman's Stardust, Peter Beagle's The Last Unicorn, and Lord Dunsany's The King of Elfland's Daughter are all books I've started and have enjoyed so far, but never finished because 1) my dissertation reading takes priority and 2) I have an awful habit of starting a new book every few weeks. But they are all "done in one", I believe.
Patricia McKillip's Forgotten Beasts of Eld was fun (her first, I think), and I believe she usually writes stand alones.
Guy Gavriel Kay does tend to write stand alones, from what I've seen, but I've only tried reading his pseudo-norse novel (The Last Light of the Sun) and haven't been able to get into it.
I have to admit, that's about all that comes to mind (or that I can find on my shelves)-- I've got a lot of stand alone Sci-Fi, but for Fantasy it's mostly two or more in a series.

Thanks, Carl, good list overall (and yeah, it is a bit harder than I thought at first).

Byzantium: If there's magic it's historical fantasy (like Alamut), otherwise, I'd call it a historical novel.

Also, I'd think we can count Cherryh's Gate of Ivrel as it is quite complete on it's own, even if it did generate direct sequels.

Heck, I don't think The Sword of Shannarra was intended to be a series, though it did much to perpetuate the 'thick tome' archetype.

I love this topic. I would love to see more "Done in One" fantasy novels. I'd also like to see more fantasy that doesn't involve medieval epic quests.

Right now, I'm loving the work of Charles de Lint. He may use the same locale for his books and they may share characters, but each book is a stand-alone work.

I really enjoyed China Mielville's "Perdido Street Station" too. It's very imaginative and doesn't even leave room for a sequel.

The Iron Dragon's Daughter by Michael Swanwick comes to mind as a solo book. although I think the author is in the process of publishing a sequel.

Dragondoom by McKieran

Dilvish the Damned by Zelazny

Legend of Nightfall by Reichert (which the author many years later did a sequel)


There are also books that are in a shared universe although not precisely sequels to the first, for instance

Death of the Necromancer by Martha Wells (although it was a kind of sequel to Element of Fire)

A College of Magiccs by Caroline Stevermer and its sort of sequel A Scholar of Magics, which doesnt really have the same characters at all.

Charles de Lint's urban fantasies are mostly set in the same locale (Newford, Canada), and have some recurring and interlocking characters, but one of his novels that's outside this framework is The Harp of the Grey Rose. It's a stand-alone, coming-of-age tale set in a Celtic-flavored fantasy world, with an engaging young hero and a heroine who's ...well, that would be telling too much! :-)

Listening to a Sci-Fi and Fantasy podcast (The Dragon Page) yesterday, they were talking about the publishing industry, and they were saying that it's pretty much impossible these days to get a stand-alone fantasy novel published, that publishers want at least three books in a series. It was either Michael Stackpole or Tracy Hickman (I *think* it was the latter) saying that he had a stand-alone that he wanted to publish and he was basically self-publishing it first as an audio book, which he was hoping would generate enough interest to show the viability of the book to get it published in print form. Whichever guy it was, we're talking about established authors--I would imagine it's even harder for authors who are just getting started. No wonder we're having a hard time finding things!

Steven Brust has a couple stand-alones. To Reign in Hell is a retelling of the story of The Fall from Satan's point of view, and it's quite good. Agyar is a vampire novel--they aren't usually my thing, but this is very well done. Brokedown Palace is technically set in and tied into Brust's Dragaera world, but its connection is so tenuous that it's in essence a complete stand-alone. He and Megan Lindholm co-wrote The Gypsy, which is a decent bit of urban fantasy.

Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay is a stand-alone, and it's great. Later, he went with the series stuff.

Actually, most of Kay is stand-alone (and magnificent). Off the top of my head: Tigana, Lions of Al-Rassan, Song for Arbonne, Last Light of the Sun, Ysabel... I'm missing some; I know I am. The only series work he's done is the Fionnavar Tapestry (trilogy) and the Sarantine Mosaic (duology).

(dedicated Kay enthusiast :) )

I'm with ya, Arian. I love Kay as well. I think The Lions of Al Rassan is my favorite of his single volumes.

I also highly recommend Charles de Lint, I just read one of his YA books - The Blue Girl - and it was wonderful. I hadn't read any of his stuff in a long time but I remember Moonheart being very good.

Pretty much the best Done-In-One fantasy book I've read is Elantris by Brandon Sanderson. He is the author who will be writing the final novel of the Wheel of Time series. I have mentioned him before on the boards. He is simply SUPERB, imho.

He also has a series called Mistborn. It will be a trilogy (only 2 out at the moment), but it's sort of stand-alone-ish in the fact that you could read the first book and be perfectly satisfied. It ties up all the action in that book at the end. The second book is what happened after, sure, but it doesn't give you the whole "wait 2 years for the next book so your questions will be answered, and they aren't, so wait another 2 years for the NEXT book" experience. :)

Elantris is book one of Mistborn. I do think it's definitely part of series, as there's the danger imparted by the Emperor guy that you know is spelling doom and needs to be resolved. Hooking you onto the next book. Haven't read bk 2 yet, waiting for it from the libes.

But yes, it's very good!

For some reason I thought Kay's Lions, Arbonne, and Last Light were all part of a series? Sheesh, maybe I skipped Arbonne and Last Light - that was right around the time baby was born so little if no reading was accomplished. That means I have more Kay to read!!! YAY! Tigana is one of my favorite fantasies.

Lori, I think perhaps you may have gotten that impression because there are certain hints that his novels all take place in the same universe. You can, if you want (and it's fascinating to do), trace the probable story arc from one to the other, though I forget the specifics at the moment.

But the books never directly reference one another, and you can read them in whatever order you like. Or only read one.

(The exception to this is one line in Lions that I adore, and becomes more potent if you've read his other work. Remember when looks at and says something to the effect of "perhaps we shall meet again in Fionavar, first of all worlds?")

I visit a website called Deep Genre where fantasy authors Kate Elliott, Carol Berg, Sarah Ash and more gather and discuss all sorts of things relating to fantasy etc. On a post not long ago Kate Elliott responded to a question about whether stand-alone novels or trilogies/series are better to write for getting published, by saying that publishers like series best because they ensure the sales of the following books better than a stand-alone novel does. Anyway I thought that might help explain one reason why series and trilogies are more common (aside from the length of time it takes to really get to know a new fantasy world).

My favourites to date include:
Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay
Alyzon Whitestarr by Isobelle Carmody
Summerland by Michael Chabon
Jonathon Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
The Witches by Roald Dahl
Threshold by Sara Douglass
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
West of January by Dave Duncan
The Neverending Story by Michael Ende
Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock (there is a sequel but I still count it as a stand-alone novel, because you don't need to read the other one)
The Scar by China Mieville (arguably fantasy)
Howl's Moving Castle bt Diana Wynne Jones

Seeing Brust's name just reminded me of another: The Phoenix Guards. It's set in the same world as his big series, and has a sequel, but is a stand-alone. And it's a very good and fun read, effectively being a tribute to The Three Musketeers.

Sorry to contridict you, but... Mistborn: The Final Empire is the first book of the Mistborn series, Elantris is it's own stand alone thing. There is a king who has a plan, but it's not the same as the Evil Emperor who was once known as the Great Hero. Also, the magic systems are TOTALLY different, one being based on metal and the other being too important to the story line for me to properly end this sentence.
While the two books do have something in common(Revolutions of the oppressed/downtrodden by a form of magic, corruption of magic, the society based on magic, etc) they are not connected and I can say that you can definetly start the Mistborn series without ever reading Elantris. Also, you can read Mistborn all by it's self and enjoy it for the great book that it is.
OK, /end geek rage.

Arian, as a fellow Kay fanatic, I do have to point out that Ysabel is also not strictly speaking a stand-alone novel. I don't want to say more to avoid spoiling...

Mm. Fair enough, and I did think about Ysabel. I think you lose some enjoyment if you haven't read his other work, but I don't think it's a requirement. So it *could* be a stand-alone novel, it's just perhaps not the one to start with?

I just ordered "The Lies of Locke Lamora" by Scott Lynch. It is classified as fantasy on Amazon and it looks like it's a done in one.

I loved "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell." It was very unique and didn't even come close to setting up a sequel.

I just read "Declare" by Tim Powers. It was good, but very complex. Check out my review.

I think what I'm seeing is that done-in-one fantasy leans more towards modern settings. They're not the epic quest stories with dungeons, dragons and royalty in a pseudo-medieval setting.

"I do have to point out that Ysabel is also not strictly speaking a stand-alone novel...."

I'd disagree here. Yes, there's one crossover character, but you need not know anything about them to understand/enjoy this book, so I'd call it standalone. I'd also call it one of Kay's weakest efforts; I was immensely disappointed in it. Very thin. Hope his next one is better.

For standalone fantasy though I think Patricia McKillip is great (all hers are standalone apart from the Riddle of Stars trilogy), also Sheri Tepper (again, all of hers are standalone, so far as I know). Just re-read Gibbon's Decline and Fall and was amazed again at how terrific a book it is.

BTW, people often "blame" Tolkien for the trilogy approach, but that was actually his publisher's fault. Tolkien wrote the thing as one epic book but his publisher didn't think people would buy something that big and made him split it up. (What would they have thought of Stephen King LOL?!?)

I think Michelerc has a point. There is a difference between a shared universe and a series. To me a series is a set of books that you have to read in a certain order and that leave plot lines open to carry into the next book. The frequently end in cliffhangers.

I would define a done-in-one fantasy as one that you don't have to read other books to understand or to get to the conclusion. For example, many of Charles de Lint's books are set in the town of Newford and and they do share characters. But, each individual book can be read without ever reading any of the others.

It is true that Ysabel is also not strictly speaking a series book, but I do think it would lose something if you had no previous association with the crossover characters. I agree with Michelerc that this was not Kay's strongest effort, and the best moment for me was when I figured out who the crossover characters were, so I think the book, while readable and understandable without having read the other series, would lose a great deal if read in isolation.

Does LE Modesitt's Recluce series count?

I know it's a series, but each book is standalone and tends to focus on a different set of characters and/or time period therefore you can read as many or as few books as you like, and you don't have to read the books in order.

Simone - just looked at your profile and every one of your favorite books is also a fave of mine (especially Pride and Prejudice). I am also just now starting Elantris. What good taste we have :)

Mike - I stand corrected! I read Elantris and Mistborn: The Final Empire back to back, and somehow they got completely fused into one book.

Now I'm off to check Simone's profile. :D

Re: Recluse

I'd say they were more-or-less done in ones. I'm a little iffy on it because while I have read several of them independently, and I 'got' the story easily enough, I always felt there were things I was missing because I didn't know the background enough.

Lori,
I realized that I kind of over-reacted when I wrote that, not a big surprise when I think of how I react to people in general sometimes. I know how it is to confuse books by the same author, I read about 20 of the Discworld books all together when I first read Discworld books and some of them ran together.
So, sorry I over-reacted, but my two settings seem to be "no reaction" and "over reaction". I've been meaning to get this fixed, but the internet isn't exactly the best place for it.

Have I just realized that no one has mentioned any of the Discworld books by Terry Pratchett?
Sure, they're all in a series technically, but you CAN read most of them all by themselves. And they ARE fantasy, technically.
I never really got into The Colour Of Magic, so I can't really suggest it, but I think any of the following would be good stand alone books from Discworld:
Wyrd Sisters
Guards! Guards!
Small Gods
Mort
Equal Rites
Reaper Man
Going Postal
Pyramids
The Truth
And I'd say that the best ones to start with would be either Guards! Guards! or Reaper Man, but I love both of those books, so of course I'd say that.

Yay, I haven't read any of the Discworld books, there are so many and haven't known where to start. Thanks for the advice!

And Mike, I wasn't the least offended by your post! When you're right you're right.

I havent read any of terry pratchett,but while at the video store saw a dvd of Hogfather.I have only watched half of it,but it looks good.I will have to put him on my tbr list.

Putting my two cents in:

Robin McKinley. Almost all of her books are stand alone like Sunshine, Deerskin, Rose's Daughter, Beauty, and Spindle's End.

The Blue Sword has a prequel The Hero and the Crown, but each book actually stands alone on it's own pretty well.

Also the Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia A. McKillip is a wonderful done in one fantasy.

If we are to speak of Pratchett, we can hardly forget Good Omens, a fine stand-alone novel he wrote with Gaiman.

The Land of Laughs by Janathan Carroll is probably my favorite stand-alone fantasy novel.

Worm Ouroboros by E. R. Eddison
S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure by William Goldman
A Year in the Linear City by Paul Di Filippo
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees
The Dragon Waiting: A Masque of History by John M. Ford
The People of Paper by Salvador Plascencia

The Lies of Locke Lamora is actually the first book in a series called the Gentleman Bastard Sequence, though the first book wraps itself up very well and can stand alone.