The Best of Fantasy: TOP TEN Authors Who Create the SURREAL
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- Опубликовано: 28 май 2024
- In the seventh video in the series that is my attempt to introduce nuance into the top ten format and start conversations about what makes fantasy amazing, I explore the topic of the weird as I discuss authors who expertly create a sense of the surreal, an important territory within the greater realm of fantasy. All the videos in this series are located in the "Best of Fantasy" playlist on my channel.
Many thanks for the shout out. Some great books on that list!
It is absolutely my pleasure! Thank you for writing such fantastic and surreal stories. I can't wait for The Book That Broke The World!
See, I like him even better now, and I love ML books 🎉
You are going to adore China Mieville when you get to him. Perdido Street Station is one of the best books I've ever read.
I have a feeling you’re right, Coleton!
A hard to classify author is Jasper Fflorde. I would highly recommend Shades of Grey and Red Side Story. Plus his Thursday Next series with books being real in a parallel world. These are all weird, but funny as well.
Thank you for adding Fflorde to the mix here, Chuck - much appreciated!
For me, I've got a few in mind including the two you mentioned you've not read.
1. China Miéville
2. H.P. Lovecraft
3. Josiah Bancroft
4. Mervyn Peake
5. Umberto Eco
6. R. Scott Bakker
7. Stephen King
8. Neil Gaiman
9. David Mitchell
10. Gene Wolfe
HM. Jonathan Sims
Not quite in the same order but many of the same authors. Honorary mention goes to Jonathan Sims who wrote the Magnus Archive; it's not a book but he deserves to be on this list.
Great video concept by the way.
Thank you! This is exactly what I'm hoping for -- some cool recommendations. Much appreciated!
I love The Magnus Archives. Such a great pod series. Have you started on The Magnus protocol?
Ahh Gene Wolfe!! He's so organically surreal. The only time I feel someone else just nails a dreamlike vibe is when David Lynch is at work. Love it!
I like the term "organically surreal" so much that I'm going to steal it and engineer conversations just so I can use it. 😁Cheers, Marc!
@@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasyHaha, feel free ;) I don't really know how to better describe it. Often, even if it's done really well, weirdness in stories still feels a little manufactured. Wolfe and Lynch, for example, seem to be able to channel straight from the ether or the collective subconsciousness. At lost to me
I’m glad you included Neil Gaiman and Gene Wolfe on this list, they definitely deserve to be on it. One book you should put on your TBR is Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. Even though it’s not technically a fantasy, it’s in the western genre, it does have elements of gothic horror and an undercurrent of the supernatural.
This book evokes a creepy, disturbing, surreal atmosphere like nothing else I’ve read. Check it out when you get the chance.
Thank you! I’ve read The Road, but I’ve always meant to read more books by McCarthy. All the best!
Any list with Gaiman at number 1 is a great list in my book!
For some reason, Gaiman rarely comes up in our corner of BookTube, and he doesn't get the clicks. But he is, in my mind, one of the most talented authors in the genre. Cheers, John!
we will have to do our best to change that. He has made alot of the lists I have put out there. I put Sandman on my top fantasy series list for example. @@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy
The short stories and "disaster" novels of J.G. Ballard. Surreal.
Thank you for adding Ballard to the mix!
Another golden list! I can't wait to sink my teeth into New Sun.
Jeff VanderMeer is another author who can create that surreal atmosphere, he truly stretches the imagination to new heights. Annihilation is just a taste of his skill. The Ambergris Trilogy continues his ecologically-focused weirdness, but it's also meta, and very daring in terms of structure and format.
The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez is also a cinematic, musical, dreamlike experience and it blew me away. It's a masterpiece, even better than The Vanished Birds, and that's saying something.
Thank you for adding VanderMeer and Jimenez! The former has come up a few times in the comments, so I’d say he must fit the bill!
I just had a vision of you discussing Kafka on your channel, that would be sooooo awesome!!!!
I think it might happen! Cheers, Jacob!
Glad to see Mark Lawrence so high up! If you liked The Book That Wouldn’t Burn’s surreal and atmospheric aspects, you might also like the accompanying short stories Overdue and Returns, since they take the same world and bend it a little more towards magical realism.
Your reasons for Malazan being surreal in how it combines a wide variety of characters from different types of fantasy reminded me a lot of City of Last Chances and House of Open Wounds by Adrian Tchaikovsky, which also play host to many interesting characters who feel like they almost came from different books, yet still play off well against each other.
Lawrence definitely deserves to be part of the conversation on the surreal. I will definitely read Overdue and Returns at some point, though I'm likely to read The Book That Broke The World will likely come first. Thank you for the recommendation!
When I think of the surreal, I think of Clive Barker and his creations as well, even though it’s more toward horror, but Neil Gaiman is my number one as well or at least number two
I have Clive Barker‘s young adult trilogy, The Abarat which is set in an a cappella go of islands the represent an hour of the day so there are 24 I take that back Odom spire is the 25th hour. It’s very much a portal fancy to Wizard of Oz Alison Wonderland, or the Chronicles of Narnia, but twisted by Clive Barker as only he can
Although Weaveworld is a fever dream and the thief of always is pretty off the wall too
Thank you for adding Clive Barker to the conversation! Much appreciated, Jamie!
Barker is super charming in person, I'd just hate to spend much time in his head, lol. I'd definitely put Weaveworld on this list too.
My pick would be Catherine M. Valente. The premises of her stories are weird to begin with (the visitors to a sexually-trasmitted dream city, Koschei the Deathless and the Russian revolution, the garden of Eden as suburban horror), many of them have a fairy-tale quality where anything can change in a moment, and nothing quite makes sense. For me personally it's enhanced by the lyrical prose that feels otherworldly.
That definitely sounds weird (in the best way)! Thank you for adding Valente to the mix!
Great video! Dark Tower immediately came to mind, and I loved the other additions to your list. I’m looking forward to getting lost in Book of the New Sun sometime!
“Lost” is definitely the right word for how I felt much of the time while reading The Book of the New Sun, but I think that’s at least part of the point. I’m told Aspect Emperor gets more surreal than Prince of Nothing, so I guess we’ll soon find out! Cheers, Johanna!
Great video! I liked your inclusion of Mark Lawrence as I think people can sometimes miss how much bonkers stuff ends up in his stories. I need to get around to reading Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. I really enjoyed the adapted tv miniseries of it. It did a good job of contrasting the English cunning tradtion to the John Dee style grimiore magician of English magic.
Some of the authors that come to my mind when I think of fantasy with surreal elements would be those associated with the New Weird movement like China Miéville, Jeff Vandermeer, M. John Harrison, and Storm Constantine. Tanith Lee and Clive Barker styles also remind me of the New Weird fantasy subgenre.
Thank you for those additional authors, Andrew! “Bonkers” is a great word when you’re near the end of a Lawrence trilogy!
China Mieville and Clive Barker were the first two names that came to mind. Barker, similar to Stephen King, better known for horror, but both have written surreal fantasy.
Books of Babel is so underrated, I would love to see more people reading it.
Now that you mention it, Steven Erikson definitely deserves his place on this list. I need to read some Ian Esslemont soon.
Haha your description of Gene Wolfe's writing reminds me of how I read Grant Morrison comics - it's the reread where you really get it.
Thank you for the additional authors, Farhad! I hope you’ll enjoy Esslemont’s books when you get to them!
Clive Barker and Weaveworld, such a great book, definitely a touch of horror, and a stand alone !
R Scott Bakker sounds similar.
God Emperor would be high up for me too.
Love Neil Gaiman
For YA I would pick Patrick Ness, I loved When a Monster Calls and Burn, both short stand alones
Yes, Weaveworld too, Aberrat and the Everville books by Clive Barker are all wonderful examples, I'm glad someone else said it, even the Scarlet Gospel if you can get into horror/fantasy.
Recommendations: China Mieville, Jeff Vandermeer, M. John Harrison, B. Catling, Michael Cisco, David Lindsay, Scott Hawkins, Haruki Murakami, Jorge Luis Borges, R.A. Lafferty
Thank you, Jeroen! Those are all fantastic suggestions. Ultimately, it doesn't actually matter to me whether they are "literary fiction" or "magic realism" or fantasy. Though I decided for this video to focus on authors identified with fantasy, the authors you mention all create the surreal. I considered The Buried Giant by Ishiguro as well, but since he's usually categorized as "literary fiction" rather than fantasy, I didn't include him on my list.
Great list. Reading Thre Drawing of the Three and Deadhouse Gates in the same month has me a little weirded out at the moment 😅
Ha ha! I can imagine! Perhaps reading something boring and normal would help. Try the owner’s manual for your microwave. 😁 Cheers, Al!
@@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy 😆
I also love the surreal and in this list you’ve touched on some of my favorites. I’ve been haunted by Piranesi since I finished and I’m going to reread it. I’ve found it extremely difficult to describe in recommendations and reviews. The same feeling occurred when I read The Books of Babel by Bancroft. I love the level of immersion these authors create. Lawrence is phenomenal, I’ve been hooked since The Book of the Ancestor. Gaiman certainly defies explanation at times. Thanks for the recommendations of a few I hadn’t read yet.
I’m so glad you found some familiar favorites as well as some potential reads from this video, Janet! Cheers!
Great video Philip! I'm hoping to start Mark Lawrence soon with The Book of the Ancestor. I didn't realize he would show up on a list like this! It makes me more excited to see what's up 😊
You will see some of the surreal in The Book of the Ancestor, especially towards the end of the trilogy. Plus the whole premise of the world is incredible - very atmospheric. I hope you’ll love it!
Sheri Tepper is one of my favorite authors in this category, particularly her early works including the True Game series and the Marianne trilogy. Those books would sit on the shelf exactly between Clarke's Piranesi and Jemisin's Broken Earth. Unfortunately Tepper's earliest 15+ books have not made it to the digital format and are out of print, but if you spot them at a used book store you won't regret grabbing them.
Thank you for bringing Tepper to my attention!
I'm glad you mentioned Jemisin because I wondered where she fell in the fantasy spectrum. I saw one label as dystopian fantasy.
Great List. Susanna Clarke is obviously a great choice. Personally I'd put Le Guin on my list, mostly because of the Lathe of Heaven, which I know you haven't read yet, but there is a little bit in Earthsea too I think.
Also, given how much you've read I'm not surprised he's not on your list, but having read overall much less fantasy than you I can say that GRRM would probably be on my list. Brienne's last chapter in AFFC (I think?) is one of the most surreal (and disturbing) things I've ever read.
I’d entertain the idea of GRRM belonging here. The Lady Stoneheart stuff (which got erased from the HBO show) could qualify, for sure!
Interesting. Never heard of Dreams of the Dying. I have read quite a few of King but none of the Dark Tower (in my tbr). Clarke is wonderful - have read Piranesi (wonderfully read by Chiwetel Ejiofor) - and shall read Jonathan Strange in Sep. I tried Lawrence, dnfed in the sense I forgot to go back, but I think I was in the wrong head space. Shall try again. And I would never have thought of Gaiman... probably due to what I read of his, but yes. I guess there are different shades and nature of weird.
For me, Jeff Vandermeer is up there for the surreal. I read Annihilation and Authority, and although I’m not a fan of the surreal per se, I was completely mesmerised by his writing, and found it so thought-provoking.
Just seen some comments mentioning Mieville and yes. I’ve only read The City and The City and it has stayed with me. As always, need to read more of his 😊
Vandermeer, Barker, and Mieville are probably coming up the most in the comments, so I clearly have some weird reading to do. 😁 Cheers, Vero!
Dreams of the Dying was based/inspired by the videogame Enderal (a free mod based on Skyrim)… it’s fantastic, very sad & incredible reveal at the end…
Totally agree about the ending. I had an interview with Nicholas Lietzau on the channel - great fellow!
I have only read his Southern Reach Trilogy, but for that alone Jeff VanderMeer would be at the top of that list for me.
Thank you for adding VanderMeer to the conversation!
Oh man you have me so intrigued to try some Gaiman, Wolfe, and the Dark Tower! Right with you on Esslemont delivering on the weird, as Blood and Bone really felt like a jungle fever dream.
Yes! Esslemont is so great when it comes to atmosphere, and he leans on those horror elements so well. Cheers, Ben!
Dark Tower is a lot of fun.
I haven't read much surreal fantasy it seems! But definitely more in the literary fiction realm, led by Haruki Murakami, who I've always described as an author of Magical Surrealism, probably the poster child for that brand of Magical Realism! I loved seeing King on this list, but it's probably hard to not include him because of the Dark Tower.
I’ve only read Dark Tower, which is more than enough to launch King high on this list. Yes, if we dip into “literary fiction,” there are so many we could include. My candidate from that realm would be Ishiguro’s The Buried Giant. Cheers, Josh!
The Buried Giant has been on my physical TBR for quite some time - I hope to get to it soon!
Have been enjoying your top ___ lists and decided to subscribe.
Anna Kavan’s Ice is one of those that is difficult to categorize. As a reader of fantasy who appreciates the weird I believe you’d enjoy this short novel.
Thank you so much! I appreciate the sub and the recommendation too!
Piranesi remains one of the most hauntingly beautiful books I’ve ever read. 🙌
I feel the same way!
Love watching your videos👍
Thanks so much! I appreciate the support!
Great list of authors Philip! I had a feeling Neil would be number one haha.
I thought you would approve, Chas! Cheers!
Great video as usual Philip. Because you put Gaiman in first place I would highly recommend The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins. It's a weird urban/horror/fantasy standalone and you will know within the first chapter if it's for you or not. I'm planning a reread of it this spring.
Thank you for adding Hawkins to the conversation here! I’ve written down The Library at Mount Char.
Great list!
Thank you, Natalie!
"Then the clouds broke themselves apart and we were riding along a seashore. The waves splashed high and enormous gulls swept low above them. The rain had stopped and I killed the lights and the wipers. Now the road was of macadam, but I didn't recognize the place at all. In the rear-view mirror, there was no trace of the town we had just departed. My grip tightened on the wheel as we passed by a sudden gallows where a skeleton was suspended by the neck, pushed from side to side by the wind." - Roger Zelazny, Nine Princes in Amber.
Nice! More Zelazny added to the TBR. Cheers, Doug!
uncategorizable is super appropriate for Gene Wolfe. His short stories were super trope-bendy like Erikson and were arguable weirder than anything in BotNS 😂
I don’t know how anything could get weirder than Book of the New Sun, but I trust you that Wolfe somehow pulls it off!
@@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy If you ever have the time I’d highly recommend. Like you I also think about BotNS a ton since finishing. Did you read Urth?
@@Yungshamgod I haven’t read Urth yet, but I’ll get to it at some point. I look forward to it!
@@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy Bless, Philip and enjoy when you do :)
Thank you for this video and for all the other Top 10 ones, they give a great overview of the fantasy landscape! For me, a surreal specialist in fantasy is Erin Morgenstern - we see it already in the Night Circus, but it's exacerbated in the Starless Sea (some would say to the detriment of plot, but I don't mind it)
Thank you so much, and I appreciate your addition to the conversation in Morgenstern!
Gotta say Clive Barker's The Great & Secret Show is one of the most epic surreal stories I've read and Imagica will change how you look at Religon.
Thank you for adding Barker to the conversation!
What a fantastic list. I'm pleased Bakker and Wolfe made it on your list as these were the two authors that came to mind. I would add a special mention of H.P. Lovecraft and, weirdly, Cormac McCarthy for his absolutely mad _The Outer Dark_ and _Blood Meridian_ , two hauntingly surreal American fantasies. I'm pleased with the recommendation for some of the others on your list and once my too be read queue has diminished to reasonable size, I'll hit up the book shop.
One quick compliment, thank you for taking the time to note the beauty of varying author's writing.
Thank you, Jason! I appreciate your additional recommendations. Of McCarthy’s books, I’ve read only The Road but will be reading more someday. Happy reading to you!
Blood Meridian is the greatest horror story ever written
Two authors that I thought of that you don't have on your list are Tamsin Muir and something Dyachenko. Muir wrote like Nona the Ninth. I didn't like her books, but they're super surreal. Dyachenko wrote Vita Nostra, which is a book translated from Russian. Probably the most surreal book I've ever read.
Cool! I heard about Vita Nostra, and from what I heard, you’re probably right. Cheers, Amanda!
@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy you should read it just for the experience. I read it while on vacation in Key West a few years ago, and I still remember everything!
I really enjoy your top ten vids! ❤
Thanks so much, Kat! I appreciate you watching and commenting!
RJ Barker is an author I'd put up there for this topic. I don't think you've tried him yet? His Bone Ships series and his new series starting with Gods of the Wyrdwood are full of weird stuff.
Thank you, Peter! You are correct that I have not yet tried Barker's books. I appreciate you bringing them to my attention in light of the surreal!
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, it's good to see some more love for R. Scott Bakker! Without spoilers, I'm guessing the Synthese is a not-trivial part of your ranking? (Nightmare fuel. Pure nightmare fuel).
Also, glad you mentioned having an interest in Miéville! I think if you read Perdido Street Station, you'll want to redo this video (as great as your list is!) and put him in it. I read that book many, *many* years ago (maybe 13-14?), but I still remember it being fantastically weird.
Yes, I expect Mieville to crash this list in a big way once I’ve read his books. Cheers, Michael!
I appreciate this video so much. For me, the more of an "experience" a book is, the better. You've highlighted some wonderful books I've read, and also some I haven't! So, I'm excited to add them to my TBR. I dreamt about Piranesi for 3 days after reading it.
I believe you in regard to Piranesi! No wonder you have it facing outward on your bookshelf. Cheers, Brian!
Roberto Bolaños 2666 really messed me up. It was weird, moving and trippy
Cool! Thank you for the additional author!
Great video Philip! I agree with a lot of these, especially piranesi and gene wolfe. I just finished book 2 of the dark tower and am excited to read more given the surreal meta aspect you mentioned. Thanks for sharing the list!
Thank you! My best wishes to you for the rest of The Dark Tower, a series I loved.
Maybe it hurts your algorithm, I don't know, but I'd love to see your channel discuss "literary" fantasy, sci-fi, etc., like you alluded to with _The Metamorphosis_ and Rushdie-of course, only if you enjoy talking about it! But I make no distinction, and I don't like to see those distinctions get perpetuated. It's all just fiction with a "speculative" or fantastical element.
I think a Kafka discussion might just happen someday, perhaps even this year. I make videos like this, which "perform" pretty well usually and keep the channel alive (with the benefit of great recommendations and feedback in the comments), so that I can also make videos like a deep dive discussion into a story by Kafka, which almost certainly won't get many videos. But I like discussions the most!
All must serve the algorithm, citizen!
Literary fiction? What’s the difference?
Bakker is incredible. I was on book 5 in his Second Apocalypse series, but this was over a year ago and I forgot a lot of the story. As of the other day I decided to reread the entire series starting from The Darkness That Comes Before and MAN, still hits just as hard it it did years ago. The language is simultaneously beautiful and grotesque. Such a talented writer
Bakker has major talent, for sure!
Fantastic video, so many books I own but need to get round to. Curious about Susanna clarke. Thanks.
Thank you, Matthew! I hope you’ll enjoy them all!
Kelly Link is primarily short story writer that, along with several others, has been adopted by the mainstream and labeled "magical realism" but she's definitely one of us. Her stories always weird me out - they sometimes verge into horror. Her first collection is available for free digitally.
Nice! Thank you for bringing up Link here- much appreciated!
Good to see Dreams of the Dying on your list. That book needs more exposure. It’s so good.
I would recommend Alex Pheby’s series Cities of the Weft (Mordew and Malarkoi being the first two books with a third one coming out soon). I think you would enjoy his work. Certainly falls into the weird category.
Thank you for the recommendation! I’ve heard that Lietzau will soon publish the sequel to Dreams of the Dying. Cheers!
Your praise of Mark Lawrence makes me very eager to try and read something by him. About the surreal, City of Saints and Madmen by Jeff Vandermeer is one of the trippiest pieces I've read!
VanderMeer keeps coming up in the comments, so I reckon he’s one to check out. Cheers!
The meta parts of The Dark Tower allowed for the best parts of SoS - a book I personally largely disliked aside from that plotline - and made the Title-Book (Book 7) even better, and my favorite.
The Dark Tower is so good. I'm very glad I made it practically the first of my reading projects after finishing Lord of the Rings.
I actually loved the meta elements, which you can see as early as Wolves of the Calla but really get going in Song of Susannah. I totally agree with you about the brilliance of Dark Tower. Cheers, KC!
I had a bad medical scare in 2022. It really effected my ability to concentrate and i have had trouble with longer Fantasy books. I have found myself drawn to surreal weird body horror. Currently reading Hailey Piper's Queen of Teeth and listening Hiron Ennes' Leech when i go out walking. Both are about people dealing with sci fi diseases that twist the body. I am totally not trying to work through a catharsis using fiction. Lol.
Ha ha! That is definitely one of the most important functions of fiction, I think. I’m so glad you made it through that medical scare!
@@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy ya, I am actually getting ready to go back to work after an extended medical leave. Fingers crossed
@@cmmosher8035 My very best wishes for the return to work!
Black Leopard Red Wolf would make the list for me. Once a character gets graped by Were-Hyenas there really is no coming back lol.
*INDEX/CONTENTS:*
02:27 10. Josiah Bancroft (The Books of Babel series)
04:21 9. Nicolas Lietzau (Dreams of the Dying)
05:28 8. Steven Erikson (Malazan series, Bauchelain and Korbal Broach)
06:55 7. Ian C. Esslemont (Malazan series)
08:09 6. R. Scott Bakker (The Second Apocalypse series)
09:56 5. Steven King (The Dark Tower series)
11:41 4. Susanna Clarke (Piranesi)
13:40 3. Mark Lawrence (The Book That Wouldn't Burn, The Red Queen's War series)
16:56 2. Gene Wolfe (The Book of the New Sun)
19:06 1. Neil Gaiman (Sandman series, American Gods, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, etc.)
Cheers!
Love these videos. One of my favorite weird reading experiences was "Tainaron. Mail From Another City" by Leen Krohn. Somebody recommended it to me because I was in desperate need of something with a similar atmosphere to "Piranesi". I got her translated "Collected Fiction" and I keep re-reading "Tainaron". I also loved her "Doña Quixote and Other Citizens".
Thank you for adding to the conversation, Maria!
You know, I thought we'd finally see a list without any Erikson/Malazan entry, but I guess I was wrong haha. I don't know why, but from everything I'd heard of the series, I wasn't expecting the more surreal elements. Makes me wonder if I maybe just have the completely wrong assumptions about the story... only one way to find out!
And gosh, I almost thought you wouldn't mention Neil Gaiman and I was about to rebel hahah. Very well deserved first place, his level of mystery, intrigue, surrealism, and eccentricity is truly unmatched; I adore it!
Great list 🤩 I'd personally also add Erin Morgenstern, Maggie Stiefvater, and, most recently, Adrian M. Gibson to the mix!
Thank you for those additions to the conversation, Esmay! Malazan has just about everything. I was tempted to put Erikson and Esslemont even higher on the list, but I think the surreal is core to the authors who ended up ranked higher for me - especially Gaiman! Cheers!
Great video! I love surreal fantasy, Neil Gaiman and Susanna Clarke are my two favourite authors. I always get so excited to see Jonathan Strange and Mister Norrell getting love on Booktube, I feel it goes so unappreciated. She's a YA author but Laini Taylor does an amazing job of taking you on a surreal dream journey. Her prose is so lush and the world she builds is so unique. I will always recommend the Strange the Dreamer duology.
Thank you for adding Laini Taylor to the conversation! I’m glad you enjoyed the video!
That's a good list. Glad to see Clark on there because I love her writing. If you're looking for someone who does weird urban fantasy/horror I'd recommend Daniel Jose Older, especially his Bone Street Rumba books. Hell make you wish you never set foot in Brooklyn.
Thank you for the recommendation, Beth!
Frank Herbert’s Dune doesn’t start too weird but progressively gets weirder as the series goes on.
Good call!
Mervyn Peak's Gormenghast is something I read as a teen as well, my teenage years, 1970s, were when I developed a lifelong love for fantasy. I only recently ran across Malazan and, as a consequence, yourself. I subscribed because you have suggested so many books and series I should be reading, but as yet, have not. I am looking forward to correcting the oversight on my part, with your help. Thank you. Just thinking that Kafka can be a bit surreal too. I'm going to get a hold of Blood and Bone as it sounds great! Being considerably older than you, I was a total fan of William Burroughs and if you have read Naked Lunch, its difficult to get on a par with the surrealism in that and other books, writings of his. I would suggest The Great and Secret show and Everville by Clive Barker because this series was hugely captivating to me, also other of his books which, although supposedly 'horror' have such a fantasy element that you can't really overlook them in a list of authors who deal with fantasy and the surreal. The characters are wonderful and even in the Aberrat series, which is almost like a fairy story, the whole surreal archipelago and characters who dwell on it are just wonderful and the story can't really be characterised as anything other than surreal fantasy.
I too have so many gaps in my fantasy reading that I’m trying to fill. It’s a good problem to have, I think. If you do read Esslemont’s Malazan books, I recommend reading them in publication order, so Night of Knives would come first - very atmospheric. Cheers, Anne!
Thanks!
Well, thank you for your generosity! Much appreciated!
@@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy 🙌🏼😘
The Surreal -- now this is totally my list! I'm getting quite fond of this format. Not so much because of the ranking, I personally do not care so much about that, but it's fascinating to see which authors you group together. Lots of writers I love on this list. And of course no argument with your number one. But when you get around to reading Miéville, Lawrence will loose his spot. Just saying. The book I'm currently (re)reading, "This is how you loose the time war" by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone, would also fit this category. An enemies to lovers story that is partly an epistolary novel, only the letters are anything but letters in our sense. The inventiveness is through the roof and it has that dreamlike quality you mention. If you don't know it, then I would highly recommend. Also, it's super short. Nice that Kafka gets a mention. I know you teach him. If you haven't yet, then check out his contemporary Alfred Kubin, more a painter, but his novel The Other Side is worth reading. Saw a couple of comments suggesting that you discuss Kafka. If you're interested we could discuss Kafka together. You know how to contact the Public Relations Unicorn.
Thank you, for giving us another marvellous list, Philip!
I had a feeling you would have some great insights here, Angela, and I'm happy to see I was right! I am looking forward to reading Mieville. Kafka is brilliant and might even be my number one for this list if I opened it up to authors in general. I regularly teach "The Metamorphosis" and "A Hunger Artist" and so would feel reasonably competent to discuss one or both of them with you sometime. Cheers!
@@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy Ah, you know me so well.😊 You'll love Miéville. And the books read much faster than their bulky appearance might suggest. I'm looking forward to Books of Babel, especially after seeing it on this list. Those two Kafka texts will work fine for me. And I'm sure you'll have a lot of great insights into Kafka. You're just too modest.
Interesting.Many authors I never heard of ! :)
For me it's:
Rothfuss - King killer chronicles
Gemmel - Drenai Tales
Tolkien - The Middle Earth
Martin - ASOIAF
Jordan - Wheel of Time
Abercrombie - First Law Universe
John Gwynne - The Banished Land's and Vigrid Tales
Sanderson - The Cosmere
Great picks! We can a bit of the weird in most fantasy, which is one of the great things about the genre.
@@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy Thank you.I haven't read much Fantasy yet !🙏
@@noname3609 So much to look forward to!
I don't want to add onto the China Mieville train, but yes I would say that he creates a surreal vibe in his work. Bas-Lag isn't too difficult to understand, it's just weird.
Brian Catling is one that I would say without a doubt has surreal elements to his work. The Vorrh and Hollow are some of the strangest fantasy novels I've read in some time, one of those rare fantasies where I've never seen anything like it before.
Also Marlon James' Black Leopard, Red Wolf was feverish in its intensity, and often felt like one of those weird dreams you have when you're sick. I keep telling people to read it, and I would be curious to hear your thoughts when/if you read it.
A great video nonetheless.
Thank you for the recommendations, Britton! They are always welcome!
I had no doubt Gaiman was going to be at the top of this list! I think Robert E. Howard has quite a few surreal situations that he put Conan through.
I’d like to read more Conan stories at some point. Cheers, Jarrod!
Yeah, Howard and Burroughs are both somehow oddly surreal and yet grounded with their writing.
Barker, Ligotti, and Harlan Ellison fit this well, though the latter two are/were authors of short work, primarily.
Thank you for adding those authors, James!
Having just finished book of the new Sun, Gene Wolfe counts for both fantasy and sci-fi as that quartet is definetly one of the most surreal and hard to fathom of the authors I’ve read.
I agree with you 100%!
Could you do a top 10 books of the era? So top reads published in the 70’s top reads published in the 80’s and 90’s and so on?
That’s an excellent idea for a series! I’ll keep that one in mind. Thank you!
Thank you!! Because I am a young reader I see heaps of either really well known or popular current books but not many older books for example The dragonbone chair by Tad Williams publish in the 80’s Absolutely amazing trilogy only found out about it from my dad. 😃😊
Good video, Philip. Hopefully this kind of video will get those that read epic or high fantasy to explore the other side of the genre. There is a whole other world of fantasy that should be read by fantasy fans. I will add my recommendations for the surreal:
Jonathan Carroll: The Land of Laughs, The Wooden Sea, the duology of White Apples & Glass Soup.
Carroll has been more popular in Europe than America. But his surreal fiction is a treat to read.
John Crowley: Little Big, Engine Summer, and Beasts
Crowley writes beautiful, dreamlike prose and his stories are definitely surreal. Little Big is considered a fantasy classic.
Graham Joyce: The Silent Land, The Ghost in the Electric Blue Suit, & Tooth Fairy
Joyce’s work is surreal but has a darker edge to it as well. Tooth Fairy is his most well known work.
Jeffrey Ford: The Portrait of Mrs Charbuque, The Girl in the Glass, & The Shadow Year
Ford is my last recommendation and another writer that has surreal aspects to his work.
Thanks for doing this video, Philip!
Many thanks for adding to the conversation with your thoughtful suggestions, Marion. I appreciate that very much, and I'm taking notes!
You are welcome, Philip. Fantasy literature encompasses a wide range of storytelling and hopefully a video like this one can bring a little spotlight to lesser known books of the genre.
Well, I just gained some books for my TBR!
Neil Gaiman is my favorite dreamweaver of all time ❤
Dreamweaver is right! I think his fascination with dream is related to his love of myth, dreams being the individual's myth, and myth being a culture's dreams.
I'm reading The Book of the New Sun right now and I am in love! Gene Wolfe is certainly my number one author when it comes to the surreal. Just pure insanity that can weirdly enough actually make sense when you put pieces together. Or maybe I'm completely naive, because I'm only finishing Shadow of the Torturer just now.
I have to give a shout out to some mangaka and anime directors too. A lot of Japanese art in these two mediums is incredibly surreal and dreamy.
Before reading Wolfe, my number one author and who is still a very close second has to be Araki, the author of Jojo's Bizzare Adventure. It is in the name. We have a power that can manipulate weather and can make poisonus frogs rain. The same power can make magical rainbows that induce halucinations turning everyone into snails. Yes, snails. We have a guy that can fold anything like one would fold a piece of paper. Just tons and tons and tons of such batshit insane powers and abilities. Lots of weird things and ideas are thematically rich and philosophical. Past part 4, the stories are centred around certain big philosophical themes that develop around our protagonists and antagonists naturally. The surreal writing enriches all of this, kind of how Wolfe writes, only in a different style and for completely different concepts .
Another one worth mentioning and deserving a watch for every single sci-fi fan out there, is the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion, which is mainly the work of Hideaki Anno. It is not the most enjoyable watch ever, nor does it follow Cambpell's story archetype (as one could be falsly led to believe in the first few episodes). The narrative is full of christian themes and symbllism, often going for extreme imagery that paints a truly surreal picture! But that, often beautiful and angelic imagery, is in STARK contrast to the actual core themes, arguably the main one exploring the Schoppenhauer's Porcupine dilemma. Honestly, Wolfe's work reminds me of Neon Genesis Evangelion in so many ways. They are different works and tackle different themes, but both have this dreamy surreal sci-fi narrative full of christian themes at their cores.
Thank you for those additions from manga! I’m glad you’re loving Wolfe’s writing so much - it’s like nothing else I’ve seen!
Cassandra Khaw and K-Ming Chang are the two authors I can trust blind to creep me out with weird stuff (and beautiful writing :D).
From the ones mentioned, I love Mark Lawrence's and Susanna Clark's work as well. The book of the New Sun I still haven't finished unfortunately, there really is a special sort of mindset required to read it :'D
Thank you for the additional authors! I agree that Book of the New Sun requires a certain mindset to read - in my case, I just had to be comfortable being uncomfortable.
@@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy more for the reading list, I like to return the favour :'D I really hope the right mindset for Book of the New Sun will revisit me some day soon, your video got me curious again!
China Mieville is more like sci-fi author. So we are going to that space. Philip K. Dick has some crazy dreams. Also Altered Carbon’s books are turning to a realm of crazy. But of course, the main character is a sociopath. 😁 Commonwealth Saga has some surreal parts. It has everything why would he leave that out? Hyperion Cantos has too. Especially the full story.
Excellent! Yes, science fiction is no doubt full of great examples of the weird. Cheers, Nazim!
Great Video!! Beside books by China Miéville, the Narrator by Michael Cisco and Nifft the Lean by Michael Shea deserve to be high on the list.
Thank you for those additional authors - much appreciated!
Teatro Grotesco by Thomas Ligotti is a surrealist, disorienting nightmare collection of bizarre and unsettling events. I'd call it dark fantasy. Fascinating.
Thank you for adding Ligotti to the mix, Curt! Much appreciated!
I have read all of Wolfe’s stuff and I probably will never understand half of what he was doing, but he’s still my favorite. I wish Piranessi was the size of Jonathan Strange with all the footnotes and a huge page count. I felt it wasn’t long enough at all. Jonathan Strange was way too long and started to get annoying. That story should have been short and whimsical like Piranessi.
I'm pretty sure that I would be like you if I read everything by Wolfe -- still lost much of the time but fascinated by the experience. Cheers!
Marvyn Peake gormenghast is the most unique ,surreal beautifuly written I ever read
Piranesi is fantastic. I have had Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell on my tbr for years, so reading it this Winter (mid year.)
G. R. R. M has a wonderful and strange imagination, and his short stories are fabulous. Love that George wrote the world history for Elden Ring, and you can see his influence when playing the game!
Really looking forward to reading Wolfe for the first time. And Malazan! Was going to try Bakker's The Prince of Nothing, and it sounds good, but heard there's ALOT of gratuitous sexual violence which really put me off. I love Berserk, which I highly recommend, and that is an incredibly dark story and can be hard to read, but it never feels gratuitous imo.
Alan Campbell's Scar Night series was really imaginative when I read it back in the day. A city hanging down, suspended by chains over an abyss where a God dwells?! Yes please!
Imagination is really important to me when finding new authors to love.
I hope you’ll adore Johnathan Strange and Mr. Norrell!
A little late to the party but that's an excellent list, and since both King and Gaiman are on it, you might want to give Clive Barker a chance if you haven't already. I'm not alone in thinking that CORALINE is practically the same story as Barker's (superior, IMO), THE THIEF OF ALWAYS. If you're looking for dark though, delve into Barker's WEAVEWORLD, IMAJICA, THE GREAT AND SECRET SHOW and EVERVILLE. I love King and Gaiman but I honestly think Barker is darker and more imaginative than both of them. King is better with characters, but Barker's stories are wilder and his prose is more beautiful.
Barker has come up a lot in the comments, so clearly he’s an author to check out. Many thanks!
Books of Blood is superb and brilliant, but his other books are a letdown.
@@MrSyntheticSmile Disagree 100% about his other books but to each their own.
@@ObscureImages I tried to read THE GREAT AND SECRET SHOW but it was struggle and had to give up halfway. Not in the same class his Books of Blood.
Generally considered more sf than fantasy, but the Strugatsky’s have a novel that deals with magic in Soviet Russia - Monday Starts on Sunday. It’s pretty weird.
Thank you for the recommendation!
I'm not sure how to define surreal fantasy, I think magic realism tends to end up there sometimes too. I'm going to make suggestions for anyone looking for something different:
James Morrow, 'Towing Jehovah'
Tim Powers, 'The Anubis Gates', 'Last Call'
Sergei Lukyanenko, 'The Night Watch'
Robert Holdstock, 'Mythago Wood', 'The Fetch'
James Blaylock, 'The Last Coin'
Philip Jose Farmer, 'The Fabulous Riverboat'
Christopher Moore, 'A Dirty Job'
KW Jeter, 'Infernal Devices'
Thank you for all those, Paul - that’s exactly what I’m hoping to see!
@@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy I think the blurring of the genre lines was much more common in the work in the 60's through the 80's, its more common now to write yourself into a niche, good for marketing but a bit of a shame for creativity.
@@Paul_van_Doleweerd I tend to think you’re correct on that point, Paul.
Oh, and Moorcock. Goes without saying really, but I should have said it anyway. 😝
Will Wight on The House of Blades alone 🤪
Huh. I guess I don’t read too much strange fantasy, excepting Clarke and Wolfe. Clearly something to remedy. At ICFA I picked up a book, The Silverberg Business, solely because Crowley is blurbed on the back as saying it’s the strangest book he’s ever read.
Only because it’s relevant, I’ll once again mention Galveston by Sean Stewart (a truly carnivalesque novel) and the first two of Robert Holdstock’s Mythago Cycle. The books are built out of Jungian ideas and that leads to some wild places. (My first article was a narratological analysis of the series.)
I’ve also heard that Trash, Sex, Magic by Jennifer Stevenson is all sorts of wild and weird, and the writing is supposedly sublime (both Crowley and Wolfe blurbed it).
Thank you for all those additions, Paul! I knew I could rely on you for some good ones!
@@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy a faculty member in my department surprised me when he described Piranesi as Kafkaesque. His point was that he felt the House was particularly sinister (I’m divided on that point), which I admit is fair. I someday want to see if I can do a comparison of Piranesi’s House with the forest in Mythago Wood, which I would say is definitely sinister (though not necessarily evil). Both are repositories of myth and manage to get all sorts of surreal.
@@paulwilliams6913 Sounds very cool!
Mark Lawrence and ANYTHING written by Simon R. Green and Neil Gaiman!
Great picks!
China Miéville is one of my favorite world builders, but he's very similar to Lovecraft, in that I don't really like his dialogue or the stories. But I'd give money to just sit there and listen to him talk about the world. Not saying he's bad, just that I don't connect with the stories. Only the world.
I’m looking forward to getting a glimpse of his world building when I read Perdido Street Station later this year!
I kinda feel that way about Mervyn Peake. At least after Titus Groan. I liked the setting enough to buy Gormenghast though so maybe that will change.
SAMUEL R. DELANY!!!! Unless you’re not into some of the more explicit kinds of stuff (I tried Hogg for instance…. Eeeesh 😮💨)
One of my favorite novels of his is Dhalgren. He gets there re: explicit stuff but that’s not really the point of it. That one is REAL WEIRD (and beautifully written frankly)
An excellent addition! Thank you, Billy!
I thought the first Book of babel was satirical but that feeling dropped with the rest of the books.
The tone definitely got more serious as the series progressed. Cheers!
The lack of beer merry go rounds in the other books helped. @@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy
@@Montie-Adkins It was a lack we all felt keenly. 😁
Piers Anthony's Xanth series... nothing like it.
Thanks!
I can't wait to hear your thoughts on China Meiville.
Gaiman definitely the top 🙌🏼
Michael R. Fletcher blows my mind.
Rob J. Hayes
Christopher Buhelman has a bizarre imagination. Necromancer's House is one of my favorite stand alone novels. BETWEEN TWO FIRES reads like a deathbed fever dream realized.
Books of babel officially bumped up the list 🙌🏼
Thank you for adding to the conversation!
@@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy No thank you! Weird books are my favorites. This is why I love Shakespeare 🤪😉
@@ithrahmunchswallow468 Shakespeare could do weird with the best of them!
Damn ! You look so similar to Dr. Glaucomflecken
He’s a distant cousin.
Sai King would definitely be up there for me - you just have to consider Blaine! Gaiman would also have been up the top too. I am wondering though if I’m not quite sure I completely understand the definition of surreal. I keep wanting to say Terry Pratchett! He doesn’t genre bend or give me any feelings of discomfort, but my goodness is his world odd. The label freely given is ‘absurd’ - do surrealism and absurdism have crossovers? Surely a world resting on 4 elephants who stand on a giant turtle is a bit surreal?!
And of course for sci-fi, look no further than Philip K Dick.
I think you could make a legitimate argument for Sir Terry belonging on this sort of list. I'm sure there is indeed some crossover from the absurd to the surreal too. Cheers, Sam!
Great List, Mr. Chase - I haven't read a few of these, but the authors/works I've read that are on your list, absolutely surreal!
My own top 10 fantasy authors who create the surreal: (my surreal experience plus enjoyment were the two factors I used for this list)
10. Michael Swanwick, for The Iron Dragon's Daughter - I read this in middle school . I was too young to be reading it and I wasn't ready for how weird it was. A book with a Fantasy sticker on it in my local library as a kid, so I read it.
9. Lewis Carroll, for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - A classic portal fantasy that defines surreal and leans hard into it.
8. J.K. Rowling, for her Harry Potter series - She brought back fantasy for an entire generation of millennial nerds, with a fresh take on the magic school trope, and she deserves some cred for all the clever little details and ideas she tossed into those books. Reading these as an adult made me actually feel like a little schoolboy all over again, and that's a surreal experience that hasn't been duplicated since.
7. Gene Wolfe for The Shadow of the Torturer (The Book of the New Sun). Def surreal, and would be higher on this list, but I didn't enjoy the story/narrative elements at all. Story took a backseat to exploring the weird, and that didn't work for me, so I didn't continue on with the series. For a series you need to read through once to even understand, I'm left in limbo. Maybe I'll come back to this, one day.
6. Jen Williams, for The Ninth Rain (The Winnowing Flame trilogy). A mashup of random fantasy elements that feel like they shouldn't work together, but she expertly weaves them together into a wonderful and enjoyable first book.
5. Steven Erikson, for Gardens of the Moon (Malazan) - I'm reading Book 2, Deadhouse Gates, now. This series may likely move up on my surreal list as I get further in, as this is my big epic series I'm reading for all of this year. Loved the first book.
4. China Mieville, for Perdido Street Station - I need to read more of this author, maybe this or next year. Perdido is one of the weirdest, okaaaayyyy reads and I loved it.
3. Neil Gaiman, for everything - He writes in so many different types of fantasy and stories, while usually sticking with current day and his spins on it.
2. Clive Barker, for Weaveworld - Not my favorite, but the most surreal and strange work I've ever read.
1. Steven King, for Gunslinger series - This has been my most enjoyable surreal reading experience. The number of fantasy subgenres and tropes stuffed into this series is a masterclass for any aspiring fantasy writer. Myth, Western, Portal fantasy, Urban fantasy, Steampunk and Cyberpunk, Fairy Tale, Romantasy, Action, Adventure, Chosen One, Coming of Age, Betrayal, Redemption, Found Family, framed narrative, Time Travel, Dimension Travel - I mean, it has almost every single fantasy thing there is. Except, maybe, dragons.
Fantastic list, Ronald, and I love your reasons for including each author! Many thanks!
Weird is good :) (ok, usually :D )
Agreed! Cheers, Gryftkin!
If u want something neilg gaiman esque but turned up to eleven, please look into jerusalem by alan moore. Moore is gaimans fav author and mentor and Jerusalem will shatter your perception of reality
Thank you for the recommendation!
@@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy oh my gosh he commented!! Huge fan!! But if u like erikson’s prose and gaiman’s style of fairy tale mixed with a nightmare u should try Jerusalem. Some would say its pretentious or indulgent and im not smart enough to understand all of its themes but i def think it coincides with your reading tastes. Its kinda sad to me that moore’s prose work is relatively unheard of especially considering his comics like watchmen and swamp thing (huge sandman inspiration btw) and v for vendetta are huge household names. I had some trepidation about reading a novel from a man ive only read comics from but i think its his best work. At first it will feel more literary and historical but after the first third it goes full fantasy fever dream with devils and a gang of ghost children and weird angels or “angles” as they prefer because they can see all the different angles of fourth dimension.
@@zacharyshaye6111 Sounds really intriguing! I appreciate you taking the time to tell me about it, Zachary. I’m writing it down on my very long list of books to check out!
@@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasyits an honor just to make your recommendation list 😅 and hey if u dont get to it anytime soon that just means u will prob recommend more amazing books that I in turn will read. Your channel got me into dreams of the dying, Malazan, and Janny Wurts. And seeing as i have a tattoo of fiddler on my neck id say your channel has had a huge impact on my reading and my happiness overall. On Blood and Bone rn and its amazing. So thank you sir! Its amazing to see someone as passionate about this genre as you are. Keep up the amazing work!!!!!
@@zacharyshaye6111 Thank you for the kind words - they mean a lot!
Fantasy doesn't get much weirder than Walter Moers! A bear living inside the decapitated head of a giant, pulling on bits of brain to create dreams? More likely than you think! Those books are written for a younger audience, sure, but the imagination man, the imagination.
Okay, that does sound . . . very surreal. Moers is probably the most recommended author from my European friends, and I will get to his books someday. I might even try to tackle one in German if I'm feeling brave. Cheers, Kalle!
Ever heard of granblue fantasy
In that world islands float in the sky and ships fly in the sky it is incredible it was originally a game and then turned into an anime and manga. Asians especially japan always make great shit man
Sounds wild! Thanks for mentioning granblue fantasy!
China Mieville
I was waiting for him. I've read almost 8 of his novels and he is amazing in all of them. Writers still remember him, but youtube writers and readers don't talk about him much.😊
@@ministersormonsters I actually mentioned him at the beginning of the video -- I'm certain Mieville belongs here, but I haven't read his books yet. As I say in the video, I have Perdido Street Station on my shelf, waiting to be read later this year. Cheers!
I also came here to stay this!
Perdido St Station took me a lil while to adapt to but once I did... Wow! Finished the final 60-70% in one sitting.
Sure you'll love it!
You might want to check in with your eye doctor, no hurry, just saying... 👀
I recently had to get reading glasses.
@@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy So the glasses do the reading while you are out playing tennis?
@@Paul_van_Doleweerd Exactly! Saves a lot of time. 😁
@@PhilipChaseTheBestofFantasy Hah. I feel your pain, I can read without glasses but I need reading glasses for the computer and regular ones for distance. Ironically my computer glasses are "reading glasses" but close up is blurry with them.
@@Paul_van_Doleweerd I actually got progressive lenses, which enable me to read and see far. It’s a bit of an adjustment so far, and they’re useless for tennis.
I’m predicting Stephen King to be #1. Now let’s see. Haha
Never mind. 😮
King would definitely have to be on this list somewhere. I imagine plenty of folks would have him even higher, and even at #1. It’s a tough list to make, especially at the top. Cheers, Matt!
I’ve only read a few of these authors but King’s Dark Tower definitely gets weird. I’m needing to move on to Song of Susannah.
@@geauxreadbooks It doesn’t get less weird there! Happy reading, Matt!