Okay, this is under discussion in my swap thread, and I need some help making a list to help peeps out. I'm not good on the Science Fiction end, because I read mostly fantasy, and most of the Sci-Fi I have read, has been because my Fantasy Authors wrote some! ;) Let's Brain Storm!

Here are some authors I would consider Fantasy and Sci-Fi Relay/Swap killers, let me know if you agree or disagree, what authors/titles you think should be added, etc.

I put this in book talk so as not to clutter up the swap/relay threads, and we are talking about books, so...

Anyway

swap/relay killers: (keep in mind, these are great books, it's just they've been great for a long time, so everyone's likely to have had them already!) except for the very newest ones sometimes, depends on when they came out.
Anne McCaffrey
Mercedes Lackey
Piers Anthony
Katherine Kurtz (not sure here, she might be fine, don't know how well known her stuff is)
Marion Zimmer Bradley
Robert Jordan
David Eddings
Star Wars and Star Trek
Douglas Adams
Dungeons & Dragons Series (i.e. Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms, etc.)
Terry Brooks
Raymond Feist

On the flip side, some popular authors are:

Terry Pratchett
Jim Butcher
Harlequin's Luna line might be popular, not sure.
Rachel Caine (Weather Warden)
George RR Martin?
Neil Gaiman
Simon R. Green
Emma Bull


Some good teen Fantasy authors:
Diana Wynne Jones
Herbie Brennan
Angie Sage
Garth Nix
Holly Black
Cornelia Funke

By no means are you limited to these, there is a TON of great Fantasy and Sci-Fi out there, just waiting to be discovered!


Alright, there's some to get us started, as you post I'll add to it!

I would say that anything published in the last few years by Mercedes Lackey and Katherine Kurtz would be okay... they are still putting out new stuff and I, at least, am still reading it.

Of course, I'm generally buying copies for my PC, but still.

Their older stuff, however, is probably all been read.

Mercedes Lackey's Five Hundred Kingdom books, for example, would probably be all right, while her Valemar stuff, not so much.

Alternatively for Katherine Kurtz, while her older Deryni stuff is probably a no-no, I'm not sure about her non-Deryni stuff. :shrug:

I've had success with Luna books in the past. (And as a side note, the Five Hundred Kingdom books are actually Luna books)


I loathe George RR Martin, but that's probably just me.

Never heard of Iain Banks.

Shall we eventually combine this with the pinned Relay Killer thread in the Relays forum? So everything's in one place and doesn't get buried?

A lot of the teen/YA fantasy books are very popular and swapping well at the moment.

Some good authors for that might be:

Diana Wynne Jones
Herbie Brennan
Angie Sage
Garth Nix
Holly Black
Cornelia Funke

Other good authors:

Neil Gaiman
Simon R. Green
Emma Bull


As for more Relay Killer types:

As much as it pains me, 'cause I love him, probably David Eddings. The Dreamers books and possibly Redemption of Althalus might be okay, but you should probably avoid the Elenium/Tamuli/Belgariad/Mallorean
Raymond E. Feist
Terry Brooks


Again, I'd like to clarify that some of the Swap/Relay killer authors are still publishing and if it's a recent thing of theirs, it's likely great to use. There is a reason that we've all read most of their books.... we like the authors. Just don't use anything older than 2000, and I'd be more inclined to limit it to 2003 or 2004 personally.

This is kind of hard... I'd have put many of the authors listed as potential relay killers for their older stuff unless wish lists specifically said otherwise, assuming that fantasy readers with a habit of collecting way to many books :rolleyes: would likely already have them. (Except for Iain Banks -- I couldn't place him either!)

But then I've always had the best luck offering things very few people have heard of, regardless of publication dates. Going by wish lists (or by things that I jump on because I've already read them and can actually get them out quickly) tends to backfire for me, so maybe I'm not the best one to ask. :P

One big thing to watch out for would be big series. Sci-fi/fantasy has so many of them, and I'd say offering something from the middle of a series would be iffy. A very new release in a series you were sure people in the swap were following would be OK, but otherwise I'd say stick to book # 1.

Okay, I'm so confused by this sentence.

It's probably just me, but...

Are you saying that their older stuff is relay killers but their newer stuff is okay? Or... something else? I'm kinda getting the feeling that it's something else, but I can't figure out what. :blink:

What? Are you saying that not everyone else thinks in long winding sentences with add-on's like I do? That's so weird! :blink:

:P

Yeah, I'm guessing most of us have (or have read) all the big author's older books. Therefore big author's older books are probably relay killers (unless the book(s) is heavily wishlisted, in which case it's a great pick). Their new stuff may get snatched up like hotcakes.

The sneakiest thing to do if you want to offer older stuff is to go with something you can honestly recommend (and tell us why!), but that somehow got overlooked. We're all pretty willing to take recommendations, and that way you avoid the pitfalls that come with "millions of copies sold!"

as much as I love him, I'm going to nominate Douglas Adams as a possibly relay/swap killer too. And if you haven't listened to teh versions read by him, you really should, they're fun!

yes, we can, I just wanted to start it out over here as a separate subject for the moment... I do have hopes ofsome day becoming more organized... really, I do...

Maybe I need an opinion on an author in particular, what about Lloyd Alexander (ie The Kestrel). I haven't read it , but it's YA fantasy.

ETA:It's probably a good idea to put Star Wars/Star Trek as a dud, in general (Love star wars movies but hate the books). Also I am probably the only person who would love Dungeons and Dragons and related books.

I agree on Star Wars and Star Trek, and D&D except those probably are fine in the VBB's, but not as swap books, that is true.

ETA: forgot to talk about Lloyd A. My personal opinion, fine for VBB, probably not for swapping. Does that help?

Thanks!

Donna Jo Napoli seems to be pretty popular lately.

Also, what about Jane Lindskold? I've been enjoying her books but don't know what others think...?

Lain Banks:
http://www.iainbanks.net/sf.htm

Began writing in the 80's ??

Iain Banks.

I've read several of his books - some I liked much more than others. His Culture series is pretty good (my favorite is Player of Games - I'm not looking up the title right now so I hope I have it right!).

(His SF is with the name Iain M. Banks and other books, some I'd consider at least speculative fiction, are without the middle initial)

I'd probably still take out Piers Anthony books out of bookboxes since I only have a couple of books of his, methinks.

digging this post back up in case we want to add to it!

Okay, if we want to refer people to this, which I did recently, we need to agree on where it's going to be kept. Now without going back and looking it up, I had said the thread was in the Swaps forum, which obviously it isn't. But I see my request here about combining this with Shaunie's pinned "List of Relay Killers" thread in the Relays forum.

So Shaunie, can I assume you're keeping anything added here in sync with that one? If so, I'll go ahead and from the Swaps Forum, create a pinned topic with a link to the main list in the Relays forum.

I know I just replied to this, but it disappeared! :blink:

which actually just proves my point of I tried to say, which was *ahem* and I quote (from the post that disappeared into the void)

I'm not actually keeping anything in sync because I'm lucky to remember where my head is at most of the time (it being attached to my neck, at least I hope so), so no, the two lists aren't in sync and I only dug this up because I was posting the signup for the swappy.

*very deliberately hits "add reply" and watches suspiciously to see if it takes*

Okay, well the other list is pinned to top of the Relay thread, has been for awhile now. And I just linked to it from the Swaps thread.

Since you also started the original Relay Killers thread, and so that it's easier for people to find when they're looking for it on their own... you may just wanna copy and paste this whole list into there.

I could always do it too, but since they're both your posts, and it's the other that's pinned and pointed to more often, I just thought you might wanna. :shrug: But let me know if you want me to do anything. :grin:

I might consider that when I have more brainpower! LOL!

((I know there's something about wheter to move or combine the killer lists, but I just have one question..))

Yea or Nay: Fred Saberhagen

I read a few pages in to his Lost Swords book (#1) and I personally didn't like it, but I wanted to make sure if others thought this was a killer or not.

Aw, he passed away this year, I didn't know that! :cry:

Okay, here's my take on FS: I don't think he would probably make great swap material, because he's one of those that has series that go on and on and start back sometimes in the 60's, so even offering new ones, someone would have had to keep up with the series to probably be interested. Ummm... I don't think I would label him a relay killer, and this is maybe where we need to even start a new list of what swap killers would be... I think he would be probably not a great choice for a swap, maybe for a relay, but just fine for the VBB's. Does anyone else have a feeling? I've read a few of his, and have a lot more that I haven't gotten to yet, but I would hesitate to use him for a swap, just from the sheer sizes of his series and duration in publishing years.

A list of authors that I have on my AVL shelf and one tbr (non-bc); all of which I never heard before until I bought them. Most of them I've tried passing on via VBB or swaps with no luck so I'm not sure if everyone has read anything by a particular author or no one has read books by these authors.

Andrew J. Offutt -TBR
Eric Flint -TBR
Rachel Pollack
P.N. Elrod
Vivian Vande Velde -LOVE this author (even though she writes children's)
Gentry Lee -(wasn't too thrilled/intrested in Bright messangers after reading some)
Bill Baldwin
Robert Charles Wilson
Doranna Durgin -(the book I've read was based on Mage Knight the RPG)
Mike Moscoe
Robert Holdstock
Judith Tarr
Valerie Nieman Colander
Chris Claremont
Roger Zelany
Shane Lacy Hensley (The book I have was based on Shatterzone RPG)
Deborah Talmadge-Bickmore
Ursula K. Le Guin (I've seen her book, "The Left hand of Darkness" being picked up pretty quickly in VBBs)
Michael Ende (very good author!)
David Gemmel
Robert N. Charrette
Petru Popescu
Troy Denning (Books based on Dark Sun RPG)
Josepha Sherman (LOVE her)
John Morressy (found a home with Pepper)
Mike Shepperd
Kirk Mitchell
Patricia A. Mckillip (didn't like her, but others have been picking her up in VBBs)
Jonathan Stroud
David Dvorkin
Cecilia Dart-Thornton (LOVE her-highly recommend;found home w/ rebecca)
C.J. Cherryh (I love this author-reading The Paladin right now)
Pamela Dean (Love this author)

I also highly recommend the Heroes in Hell Series (Janet Morris, et all-most of the books were co-authored or anthologies). :wink:

Sorry that there's a lot of them, but I've been sitting here all this time and wondering wheter a lot of the authors were good or not..

:erm: Am I the only one interested in the "killers" lists? Should I stop trying so hard for an answer from anyone?

Am I the only disappointed in a lack of response?

The real trouble with saying, "Don't post these!" is that there ought to be an addendum for when there is new blood...or something. I have read precious little fantasy and sci-fi (though I am much more fond of terms coming into use like "urban fantasy" and "speculative fiction") in my time and am desperate to read more but haven't the foggiest clue of where to start. Old standbys and classics that are being ruled out in this thread would be the kind of stuff I'd be most interested to see!

And they're usually fine in a VBB, but in a swap you generally want to use something that will be stolen by a lot of people if possible, and that's what this list was mostly for was to try and let people know what would probably not get much action if it was used.

Zoe, I'm sorry about not repsonding, my problem is too much stuff to try and keep up with and not enough to do it all, so it isn't that I don't care, just that I can't keep track of it all. I sowwy... darn real life anyway... :rolleyes:

I've heard of and have things by most of those authors actually, I haven't read them all yet, so I can't offer an opinion on a lot of them.

And keep in mind, we weren't saying at all that the ones listed as killers were bad and not worth reading at all, usually it's quite the opposite. The only reason they're killers is because they were so popular at one point and there are so many copies of them floating around that there really isn't any demand for them anymore, which is what makes them okay for a VBB where you have a large selection to choose from, but not recommended for a swap or a relay where there's only one book you can end with.

I don't think I'd really call any of the authors you listed killers AEZ, with possibly the exception of Le Guin just because there was recently such an excitment about her with the movie they made, it kind of brought her back into the spotlight and flooded the market with Earth Sea series books. But other less well known of hers (and maybe even those) could be fine.

And keep in mind too, the lists we make are all subjective to our own experience a lot of the time. I think it may sometimes depend on the age of the person too, what's old hat to me, may be new to you if you're younger, or if you're new to the genre, etc.

I think I'm just babbling now... Did I say anything meaningful or helpful up there anywhere? :wacko:

It's ok. I know you're pretty busy, but I was counting on more people being interested in it besides me, and having some sort of opinion of the authors I've listed. But thanks for perusing the list!!!

AEZ, I love Vivian Vande Velde too... or at least the one (or was it two?) that I've read.

I also love Jonathan Stroud... and I'm looking forward to the Cecilia Dart-Thornton books on my Mount TBR.

I really enjoyed CJ Cherryh's fantasy series (The name had something to do with animals - Dragon/Eagle/something. :shrug:) I never got into her more heavy Sci-Fi stuff.

I've only read Eric Flint when he writes with Mercedes Lackey. I don't know how he is by himself.

I do not like LeGuin or McKililp, but that's just me. I'd venture that the two of them are both killers, however.

I think the problem with a lot of your list is not that they're killers, it's that they're obscure authors that no one has heard of and since you can very easily get BAD SciFi/Fantasy, some people aren't too anxious to try it... at least not if they don't have a friend's opinion.

However, the only ones on that list that I would pin as possible killers are LeGuin and McKillip. :shrug:

See I don't read very much SF/F so I have hardly heard of any of these and I am scared my swap offering is going to be a swap baddy :erm: Oh well, she who dares :lol:

I don't agree that Patricia McKillip is a relay killer. Granted, some like her, others don't, but that doesn't mean her books are relay killers. Unlike you and AEZ, I like her quite a lot and though I've read many books by her, I still have lots to read of hers. And not everyone has read her and I bet there would be interest.

LeGuin, on the other hand, I don't know. I couldn't get into her Earthsea series at all, but that's just me. I don't know how many people haven't read her yet but there may be some who are interested still. People like me who haven't had much access to Fantasy literature in their own countries because there is (or was) very little translated until they started getting involved in Bookcrossing/Bookobsessed. Many series/authors you'd consider Relay killers I haven't read yet.

See I just re-read Earthsea (first one) and LOVED it a lot, which is what made me want to come play the swap. Not that I am offering that, I know that's too old.

It's not necessarily too old, just too popular! :lol:

Do you have the following books in the series, Giz? I have books 2 and 3 and since I gave up on reading the first because I couldn't get into the story and kept drifting when I tried to read it, I don't plan on actually continuing the series.

I have them up on Bookmooch but I could RABCK them to you if you don't have them yet. I'm not sure I would offer them on the VBB so they're pretty much AVL right now. :)

:shrug:

I was under the impression that they were authors that people either didn't like or had read everything from.

However, that could just be around here. Or I could just not be paying much attention. :lol:

The Earthsea trilogy was all right. I didn't hate it or anything, I just didn't like it enough to make me want to pick up anything else of LeGuin's... and everyone else I know seems to have LOVED it and thought it it was brilliant and all that.

I haven't read Earthsea because I'm kind of tired of hearing about it! :lol: That happens to me a lot with really popular things, unfortunately makes me tired of hearing about things I actually wanted to read or go see movies for sometimes if the hype is too much, I'm weird that way I guess. Almost like I'm burned out on it before I've even had a chance to actually experience it!

The husband has read others of hers though and seems to like her I believe.

I haven't heard of most of those authors, no big surprise considering i read more of the paranormal romancy kind of stuff. The only one that jumped out at me is P. N. Elrod, I've been trying for months to get the whole vampire files series so i can start reading them.

Vivian Vande Velde is how I got a penpal of mine to be a BCer! (She's susiuni on BC) :giggle:

I'm also looking forward to more Dart-Thornton books.

K_kay, if I realised you were looking for Elrod books I'd not have released the one I had this morning! :blush: It was A chill in the blood...