WORLD WEAVER PRESS
  • Home
    • Start Something New
  • Books
    • All Books >
      • Beyond the Glass Slipper
      • Bite Somebody
      • Bite Somebody Else
      • Black Pearl Dreaming
      • Cassandra Complex
      • Causality Loop
      • Clockwork, Curses, and Coal
      • Continuum
      • Corvidae
      • Cursed: Wickedly Fun Stories
      • Dream Eater
      • Equus
      • Fae
      • Falling of the Moon
      • Far Orbit
      • Far Orbit Apogee
      • Fractured Days
      • Frozen Fairy Tales
      • Glass and Gardens: Solarpunk Summers
      • Glass and Gardens: Solarpunk Winters
      • Grandmother Paradox
      • Grimm, Grit, and Gasoline
      • Haunted Housewives
      • Heir to the Lamp
      • He Sees You When He's Creepin': Tales of Krampus
      • Into the Moonless Night
      • Jack Jetstark's Intergalactic Freakshow
      • King of Ash and Bones (ebook)
      • Krampusnacht
      • Last Dream of Her Mortal Soul
      • Meddlers of Moonshine
      • Mothers of Enchantment
      • Mrs Claus
      • Multispecies Cities
      • Murder in the Generative Kitchen
      • Recognize Fascism
      • Scarecrow
      • Sirens
      • Shards of History
      • Shattered Fates
      • Skull and Pestle
      • Solarpunk (Translation)
      • Solomon's Bell
      • SonofaWitch!
      • Speculative Story Bites
      • Trenchcoats, Towers, and Trolls
      • Weredog Whisperer
      • Wolves and Witches
    • Anthologies and Collections
    • Novels
    • Novellas
    • Fairy Tale
    • Fantasy
    • Romance
    • Science Fiction
    • Urban/Contemporary Fantasy
    • Young Adult SFF
  • Blog
  • About
    • Anthologists
    • Authors
    • Editors
    • FAQ
  • Contact
    • Submit: Anthologies
    • Free Review Copies
  • Press / Publicity
  • Newsletter Signup
  • Privacy Policy
  • Store

WORLD WEAVER PRESS

11 Classic Fantasy Novels for the Modern Fantasy Reader

3/21/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Guest Post by World Weaver Press Intern Rae Oestreich

I’ve been familiarizing myself with the library here at World Weaver Press, and have y’all seen how much incredible fantasy, urban fantasy, and fairy tales they have? Of course, after doing a write up on 11 Sci-Fi novels for the Modern Sci-Fi Reader, I figured: why not continue the trend? Keep reading for some fun facts about the genre of fantasy, and for a short list of some of my favorites

Fun fact: it’s actually really, really hard to trace the fantasy genre back to its origins. Fairy tales are a common example of magic and supernatural elements being used across cultures for generations; Shakespeare’s A Midsummer’s Night Dream is a well-known example from the late 1500s; and for all you Middle English fans, Sir Gawain and the Green Night is one of many examples of the fantastical in literature dating from the late 1400s. Want to go back even further? The epic poem Beowulf  is considered the oldest written English narrative (keep in mind: Homer’s The Odyssey was an oral folktale long before being written down). It dates back to the eighth century; the elements it uses, however, are even older, considering the tale is thought to have been compiled from multiple ancient Scandinavian folk tales (source; I promise y’all, I’m not making this up).

This all means that the fantasy genre as we know it today is older than, well, everything. And it’s broken into a number of sub-genres (urban fantasy, high fantasy, epic fantasy, etc.). Did you know there are even two categories of fiction based on the publication of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy? Not kidding: it’s Pre- and Post-Tolkien Fantasy.

Basically, if you’re looking for some classic fantasy…well, there’s a lot out there, and it’s definitely not hard to find. It also means that compiling a list of only eleven of my favorites is really, really hard. I’ll do what I can, but I’ll probably cheat by putting entire series of books. So sue me.
  1. The Iliad/Odyssey, Homer (~700)
  2. Beowulf, Unknown author (~900)
  3. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Unknown (1390)
  4. A Midsummer Night’s Dream, William Shakespeare (1596)
  5. Grimm’s Fairy Tales, the Brother’s Grimm (1812)
  6. The Princess and the Goblin, George MacDonald (1872)
  7. The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1943)
  8. A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L'Engle (1962)
  9. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien (1966)
  10. The Sword of Shannara Trilogy, Terry Brooks (1979)
  11. The Song of the Lioness Quartet, Tamora Pierce (1983)
Of course, there are so many other incredible fantasy novels out there besides what’s on this list. If you want more options (because our TBR piles are never big enough, right?) check out Buzzfeed’s 51 best Fantasy Series Ever Written, or this list of Best Fantasy on Goodreads.

What are your favorite fantasy reads? Leave us a comment below!
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Rae Oestreich has a B.A. in Creative Writing from New Mexico State University and a self-expressed love of all things literature. She’s addicted to drinking coffee, and she focuses her time on writing YA speculative fiction and reading anything she can get her hands on. An admitted grammar nerd, she edits for REUTS Publications and interns for World Weaver Press, and can normally be found talking about books and writing on her website or Twitter.



0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    World Weaver Press

    Publishing fantasy, paranormal, and science fiction.

    About WWP
    Books
    Authors
    Contact

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    March 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    March 2013
    January 2013
    October 2012
    July 2012
    May 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012

    Tweets by @WorldWeaver_wwp
World Weaver Press | Books | About | Contact | Blog | Press

© 2012-2022 World Weaver Press
  • Home
    • Start Something New
  • Books
    • All Books >
      • Beyond the Glass Slipper
      • Bite Somebody
      • Bite Somebody Else
      • Black Pearl Dreaming
      • Cassandra Complex
      • Causality Loop
      • Clockwork, Curses, and Coal
      • Continuum
      • Corvidae
      • Cursed: Wickedly Fun Stories
      • Dream Eater
      • Equus
      • Fae
      • Falling of the Moon
      • Far Orbit
      • Far Orbit Apogee
      • Fractured Days
      • Frozen Fairy Tales
      • Glass and Gardens: Solarpunk Summers
      • Glass and Gardens: Solarpunk Winters
      • Grandmother Paradox
      • Grimm, Grit, and Gasoline
      • Haunted Housewives
      • Heir to the Lamp
      • He Sees You When He's Creepin': Tales of Krampus
      • Into the Moonless Night
      • Jack Jetstark's Intergalactic Freakshow
      • King of Ash and Bones (ebook)
      • Krampusnacht
      • Last Dream of Her Mortal Soul
      • Meddlers of Moonshine
      • Mothers of Enchantment
      • Mrs Claus
      • Multispecies Cities
      • Murder in the Generative Kitchen
      • Recognize Fascism
      • Scarecrow
      • Sirens
      • Shards of History
      • Shattered Fates
      • Skull and Pestle
      • Solarpunk (Translation)
      • Solomon's Bell
      • SonofaWitch!
      • Speculative Story Bites
      • Trenchcoats, Towers, and Trolls
      • Weredog Whisperer
      • Wolves and Witches
    • Anthologies and Collections
    • Novels
    • Novellas
    • Fairy Tale
    • Fantasy
    • Romance
    • Science Fiction
    • Urban/Contemporary Fantasy
    • Young Adult SFF
  • Blog
  • About
    • Anthologists
    • Authors
    • Editors
    • FAQ
  • Contact
    • Submit: Anthologies
    • Free Review Copies
  • Press / Publicity
  • Newsletter Signup
  • Privacy Policy
  • Store