satisfying magical fiction.

[linden]

hi everybody,
i have to confess that i am a bookworm. i love reading, and reading fiction, or biographical stories about magic is something i really enjoy. i like reading about magic and ritual in a human context, rather than as an abstract.
here is a list of some of the books i raelly love, and a request for any reccommendations...

Bell, Book and Murder (Bast) by Rosemary Edghill
"the characters are well drawn as seen through bast, our hero and narrator, and the magic woven into the stories is the real everyday enchantment of modern witches"

Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
"a beautifully written blend of real magic in everyday life, and family relationships."

The Lost Recipe for Happiness by Barbara O'Neal
"a haunting story about to seductive pleasures of food."

Earthly Delights: A Corinna Chapman Mystery (Corinna Chapman Mysteries) by Kerry Greenwood
"the first Corinna Chapman Mystery, our hero knows enough to leave the magic to her witch friend and get on with the investigating."

Age Of Misrule: World's End, Darkest Hour, Always Forever (Gollancz S.F.) by Mark Chadbourn
"brilliant. a realistic, violent, engaging trilogy about the return of the old gods."

[Duellist]

Gods:
American Gods, by Neil Gaiman (also, Anansi Boys by the same author is an interesting one)
Kraken, by China Mieville (the gods come back, a mixture of comedy and horror ensue, but it's not a 'black comedy')
The War of the Flowers, by Tad Williams (faeries are real, not played for laughs)

Magic:
The Dresden Files (series), by Jim Butcher (no attempt at linking it to real-world traditions, but he does obey most of the laws of physics)

[Serpentia]

Anything by Charles de Lint

[linden]

thanks guys,
i've read all of the dresdon files books, i enjoyed them. i also read a lot of tamara pierce as a teenager- fantasy, but with a strong goddess culture.
i haven't really read any charles de lint, i'll check him out on amazon.

[Bracken]

Phil Rickman would be my favourite.

[Erithe]

Anything by Patricia McKillip - she really emphasizes the power of words, meaning, and intention. Plus, her prose is like poetry. She's a bit of an acquired taste - according to the book club where I tried to introduce her - but I think she might appeal more broadly to druids. I hope so!

I also really like Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising Sequence for the way she uses mythology and her sense of atmosphere. I've read them several time, both as a child and as an adult, and they still ring true to me.

Pamela Dean wrote the books Tam Lin and Juniper, Gentian, and Rosemary - and there's a certain, slow-building sense of enchantment in those books that I highly recommend.

Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones is one I recommend, as well, because of the way she tells the story ... it's another version of Tam Lin.


I think most of the stories I really like are about transformation and story-telling. They're really very bardic in nature! I know several of my choices are generally considered Young Adult, but I think they overcome that category by being really good tales. Still, you could let a young person read almost all of those (except maybe Tam Lin by Pamela Dean ... it's a bit older in theme).

[linden]

i have invested in a book each by patricia mckillip and charles de lint and am looking forward to a good read.

[Erithe]

I really hope that you enjoy them!

[DarcArchona]

The Iron Druid Chronicles? 4 books out, kind of a crazy look at the world but fun at the same time.

[Gwion]

I’ve just finished reading the latest Alys Clare (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/c/alys-clare/) novel, The Way between the Worlds. Her first series of books, the Hawkenlye series was set mainly in 12th Century Kent and had a magical/shamanic thread running through it but her newer series of Aelf Fen novels, set in the Fens (UK eastern region) in the 11th Century, brings the shamanic much more to the fore.

I’m a fan of (early) mediaeval mysteries and these combine the mystery with a real sympathy for the shamanistic practices of the central character. Each novel in the series so far has centred around a murder mystery and features a heroine who is young healer/shaman just learning and discovering her powers.

Non-magical but with great insight into pre-Christian and Celtic Christian belief, I also recommend the Sister Fidlema series (http://www.sisterfidelma.com/tremayne.html) by Peter Tremayne (Peter Berrisford-Ellis, a respected Celtic scholar).

[Susanne]

The Iron Druid Chronicles? 4 books out, kind of a crazy look at the world but fun at the same time.

Oh yes! I just finished the latest book, of course after reading the previous 3 again
You're right, it is a bit crazy but there are some great views on the world & "lessons" intertwined in the story. And of course he's just totally hip & cool....did I just really say that?!

[Aynfean]

The Iron Druid Chronicles? 4 books out, kind of a crazy look at the world but fun at the same time.

Oh yes! I just finished the latest book, of course after reading the previous 3 again
You're right, it is a bit crazy but there are some great views on the world & "lessons" intertwined in the story. And of course he's just totally hip & cool....did I just really say that?!

I loved the heck outta those books!

[Susanne]

Along the same lines are The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher which are also a heck of a lot of fun as well as carrying some good messages.
I also like his Codex Alera series books which are more in the fantasy line rather than "magical".

[anigreenwood]

My long time favourite has been Wizard of the pigeons by Megan Lindholm (Robin Hobb)

Marion Zimmer Bradley Ghostlight, Witchlight, Heartlight, and the Inheritor

Diana Paxson's Woden's CHildren series and Serpent Tooth, White Raven and Brisingamen explore the worlds of Norse and Celtic myth; and her personal relationship with Odin adds a dimension to the Hallowed Isles series - her exploration of the Arthurian material organized around the Hallows, and touching on the experience of the Anglo-Saxon spiritual realities in a way I have not seen in earlier Arthurian fictions. Excellent.

[paikea]

I jut finished The ogham wood (or maybe just ogham wood?)(seruntine) and thought it a very satisfying read. I also just read the apple and the thorn (emma restall orr) but wasn't that impressed. the story was ok, easy reading but it didn't draw me in so much.
The Arkaelyon Chronicles (henderson) are a very good read as is the last druid (crompton)

[elementalheart]

Another vote for the Dresden Files here, but reading some of the older books recommended it's like being reminded of old friends - Megan Lindholm, Susan Cooper, all of those go way back And from that era have you tried The Way of Wyrd by Brian Bates?

These days I have a preference for "urban" over otherworld fantasy - partly because I want this world to be magical not have to escape to other worlds, but partly also because I like the darker edgier style. Hence Jim Butcher but also Ben Aaronovitch and Deborah Harkness, some of Kelley Armstrong..