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Tanith Lee: Where to Start Reading
May. 29th, 2015 01:10 pmScience fiction, fantasy, horror, erotica, New Weird and queer fiction all lost a major luminary with the passing of writer Tanith Lee earlier this week. I never had the pleasure of meeting her, but greatly admired what I've read of her work. Given that other people have given her such elegant tributes elsewhere, I simply asked her fans on Twitter to recommend some of their favorite works. Check out the Tanith Lee page on Goodreads for in depth descriptions and reviews.
Here's what people came up with:
The Dragon Hoard - early novel, kidlit).
Volkhavaar - one of my personal favs. Interesting high fantasy with a complex female protagonist.
Red as Blood or Tales from the Sisters Grimmer - short story collection, dark fantasy fairy tale retellings
The Birthgrave - part 1 of a trilogy. Another high fantasy with a complex, tormented female protagonist.
Reigning Cats and Dogs - fantasy.
When the Lights Go Out - contemporary weird
"Northern Chess" (novelette) - sword and sorcery
Fatal Women - queer spec fic short story collection as Esther Garber
The Silver Metal Lover - science fiction, generally considered one of her classic works
Dreams of Dark and Light - dark fantasy/horror short story collection
Don't Bite the Sun and Drinking Sapphire Wine - science fiction
Black Unicorn, Red Unicorn, Gold Unicorn - YA series
Blake's 7 episodes "Sand" and "Sarcophogus" - sfnal tv series, rumored to be difficult to get in region 1DVDs
Vivia - vampires and demons and other fun stuff
Law of the Wolf, Wolf Star Rise, Queen of the Wolves, Wolf Wing (Claidi series) - fantasy quest series
Night's Master, Death's Master, Delusion's Master, Delirium's Mistress, Night's Sorceries - The Flat Earth high fantasy series.
Day by Night - standalone science fiction novel
The Gorgon and Other Beastly Tales - mixed genre collection of short fiction
Sabella - science fiction with vampire protagonist
Kill the Dead - dark fantasy
And this is only a portion of her oeuvre. From a topical standpoint, she wrote about death and sex and change and ghosts and werewolves and demons and vampires and other planets and complicated women and men and characters who changed or combined genders and all kinds of other things. Stylistically, I'd say that if you like one or more of the following, her style should appeal to you, too: Angela Carter, Michael Shea, Jack Vance, A.S. Byatt and/or Storm Constantine, you're likely to enjoy her style as well. In any case, give her works a try; she was an amazingly prolific author with tremendous range who deserves to be remembered.
Here's what people came up with:
The Dragon Hoard - early novel, kidlit).
Volkhavaar - one of my personal favs. Interesting high fantasy with a complex female protagonist.
Red as Blood or Tales from the Sisters Grimmer - short story collection, dark fantasy fairy tale retellings
The Birthgrave - part 1 of a trilogy. Another high fantasy with a complex, tormented female protagonist.
Reigning Cats and Dogs - fantasy.
When the Lights Go Out - contemporary weird
"Northern Chess" (novelette) - sword and sorcery
Fatal Women - queer spec fic short story collection as Esther Garber
The Silver Metal Lover - science fiction, generally considered one of her classic works
Dreams of Dark and Light - dark fantasy/horror short story collection
Don't Bite the Sun and Drinking Sapphire Wine - science fiction
Black Unicorn, Red Unicorn, Gold Unicorn - YA series
Blake's 7 episodes "Sand" and "Sarcophogus" - sfnal tv series, rumored to be difficult to get in region 1DVDs
Vivia - vampires and demons and other fun stuff
Law of the Wolf, Wolf Star Rise, Queen of the Wolves, Wolf Wing (Claidi series) - fantasy quest series
Night's Master, Death's Master, Delusion's Master, Delirium's Mistress, Night's Sorceries - The Flat Earth high fantasy series.
Day by Night - standalone science fiction novel
The Gorgon and Other Beastly Tales - mixed genre collection of short fiction
Sabella - science fiction with vampire protagonist
Kill the Dead - dark fantasy
And this is only a portion of her oeuvre. From a topical standpoint, she wrote about death and sex and change and ghosts and werewolves and demons and vampires and other planets and complicated women and men and characters who changed or combined genders and all kinds of other things. Stylistically, I'd say that if you like one or more of the following, her style should appeal to you, too: Angela Carter, Michael Shea, Jack Vance, A.S. Byatt and/or Storm Constantine, you're likely to enjoy her style as well. In any case, give her works a try; she was an amazingly prolific author with tremendous range who deserves to be remembered.
