[Malaclypse]

With the knowledge gained from my first abortive thread on this topic, I now present to you a new list, which I think is more or less comprehensive, given the limitations of the forum. Whoever pointed out that Jordan's WOT did not appear until the 90's, thanks for that, my bad .

Anyway, the new and improved poll:

edit: The intent is to refer to books you read in the 80's, not necessarily books that were published in the 80's.

[Malaclypse]

I've reconsidered my stance on this...and Conan has to be my favourite for the simple reason that the Conan books did one thing very well - they made me a lifelong enthusiast of fantasy fiction Karsa is what Conan should have been, IMO

[Zanth13]

Just weiss hickman again...Though Piers Anthony was a close second in my book... both had a huge impact on me getting into fantasy/ and reading in general...

Kept me out of trouble , helped in school blah blah blah...

[polishgenius]

Books we read in the eighties? I demand my Koziolek Matolek! And rue my lack of Polish keyboard to spell that properly.

[Mentalist]

LFMAO, polish....
I'd like my "Wizard of the Emerald city" (apparently, a very well-done novelizaton of "Wizard of OZ", with 5 follow up books), by Aleksandr Volkov!!!

http://en.wikipedia....he_Emerald_City

[Imperial Historian]

Well this is a tough one, being all of 3 when the eighties ended, but judging from books published in the 80's, of that list it's got to be David Gemmell, purely because he wrote Legend and Waylander in that period, two of the books responsible for hooking me on fantasy.

Pratchett, comes close, but my favourite pratchetts were written in the 90's, the empire series by feist and wurts is pretty good too. Roger Zelazny would win but he wrote the 2nd not as good half of the amber books in the 80's.

EDIT: Fixed a few poll options

[Zanth13]

Ohhh if its books we read IN the 80's im out... I was born in 85... didnt do much reading during the last 5 years... oh well:(

[paladin]

of fantasy books from the 80s: The Black Company series beat out the Riftwar books to me. I haven't read the Fionvar Tapestry, but if its anywhere near as good as The Lions of Al-Rassan, I'd have a hard time choosing between Kay and Cook.

of fantasy books I read in the 80s: Green Eggs and Ham, easily.. What 7 year old doesn't pick Green Eggs and Ham?

[Fiddler]

well, I lived all the way through the eighties and I'd like to say that Zelazny rocked up until his death. The unfinished Amber series (imo unfinished that is) really gave me an insight into the real kind of character that was larger than life and cooler than cool, yet still had human qualities. One glaring omission imho, Michael Moorcock, he wrote Elric at the End of Time during the eighties, and while not his greatest book, did introduce me to the concept of the anti-hero. Which SE uses quite extensively. Also, if you've never read the description of Elric sitting on his throne in the first book of the series, do so, right now. That way you can see beautiful use of prose in fantasy fiction, the rest of the series rocks too.

[Kurt Montandon]

Hmm, the 80s were something of a wasteland for fantasy, I'm afraid. Mostly, in any case. Mostly, there was a bunch of EFP being churned out by the likes of Weiss & Hickman, Drake, Eddings (*shudder*), and Feist.

However, we also got the Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. Regardless of your opinion of Covenant himself (yes, he's a whiny asshole), those were pretty good books. We also got Kay's first works, the Fionavar Tapestry. While not up to his later standards (especially Tigana), they were good enough.

Besides that ... well, Elfstones of Shannara was probably the high point of Brooks' writing, and while that's not saying much, it was a fairly decent book. And both Chronicles and Legends by Weiss & Hickman were head and shoulders above anything excreted for Dragonlance later on.

And I'm really blanking on anything else in fantasy from the 80s. Now sci-fi, well, the 80s were something of a second Silver Age there. I'm still getting caught up.

edit I wrote this thinking it was about books written in the 80s, before I read Malaclypse's initial post. But what I wrote still stands. Though I did read Lord of the Rings in about '89 or so, when I was 11.

[Shurque's biatch]

I voted Cook since I am pretty sure I read his stuff the first time right at the end of the 80s. Even though, at the time (being a fairly worthless prat) Brooks and Anthony made a bigger impact. I look back now and can reread the black company. Can't say that of most of the rest. Though Eddings I might try since my kids are old enough to read him now...

[Elan Morin Tedronai]

I wasn't into reading fantasy back then, but what I did read, and what still is a huge, huge favorite of mine is the Sage of the Pliocene Exile and the following Galactic Milieu saga bij Julian May.

The first is kindof a blend between fantasy and SF, the second is really pure SF. Both of them are amazingly written though, and as I said, even to this day one of my favorite series ever

[Vengeance]

Since I didn't Read Fiest till the 90's I have to go with Weis and Hickman. I didn't fully get into Fantasy till the early 90's. Before that I read James Michener, and Clavell. All though I did enjoy Brooks Elfstones. I did Read every single Conan book, But that was for another reason entirely.

[tickhill43]

Alot of Le Guin's best work was in the 80's wasn't it? Admittadely alot of it was classed as science fiction but it was very fantasyish sf (if that makes any sense at all)

[Vengeance]

tickhill43;223203 said:

Alot of Le Guin's best work was in the 80's wasn't it? Admittadely alot of it was classed as science fiction but it was very fantasyish sf (if that makes any sense at all)

Yes but did you read them in the 80's

[stone monkey]

Really? If we're talking classics like The Dispossed, The Word For World Is Forest, The Left Hand of Darkness, Planet of Illusions & The Lathe of Heaven then Le Guin's best work was in the 60s and early 70s. Fantasy-wise the first three Earthsea books date through the 70s iirc. I'm not particularly sure of her output during the 80s; inasmuch as I don't recall reading many new works by her back then. The only thing I can remember of hers, with any clarity, from that time is the worthy, but dull, utopian novel/multimedia project Always Coming Home

I'd forgotten about Guy Kay's appearance in the mid 80s - obviously he'd been helping Christopher Tolkien and something rubbed off. Also Robert Holdstock's [i]Mythago Wood[i] appeared around the late 80s iirc

[Pallol One Eye]

I agree that Moorcock and that Julian May's very fantasy 'ish Saga of the Pliocene exile should be on the list. I ended up with Gemmell as my top choice, but really it could be a tie between Gemmell, Donaldson or Kay. Love all three.

I would be tempted to add the Amtrak Wars Saga(at least the first 3 books) by Patrick Tilley. Cool Post Nuclear war technology versus "Magic" Wielding savages.

[polishgenius]

stone monkey;223243 said:

I'd forgotten about Guy Kay's appearance in the mid 80s - obviously he'd been helping Christopher Tolkien and something rubbed off.

The great thing about Kay is that his co-editor status on the Sil means he could easily have raked the money in by writing Tolkien knockoffs and sat on a title of his rightful heir, but he's tried something different with every book instead.

[Shurque's biatch]

Elan Morin Tedronai;222936 said:

I wasn't into reading fantasy back then, but what I did read, and what still is a huge, huge favorite of mine is the Sage of the Pliocene Exile and the following Galactic Milieu saga bij Julian May.

The first is kindof a blend between fantasy and SF, the second is really pure SF. Both of them are amazingly written though, and as I said, even to this day one of my favorite series ever

I just had this recommended to me and I am trying to get it from our local library.

Glad to hear a second nomination for it...

[Werthead]

From the 1980s, the fantasy author to emerge with the greatest impact on the genre was Pratchett, absolutely no question.