Taken from the Dungeon Master's Guide, AD&D 1st Edition, by Gary Gygax:
[INDENT]Andarson, Poul. THREE HEARTS AND THREE LIONS; THE HIGH CRUSADE; THE BROKEN SWORD
Bellairs, John. THE FACE IN THE FROST
Brackett, Leigh.
Brown, Fredric.
Burroughs, Edgar Rice. "Pellucidar" Series; Mars Series; Venus Series
Carter, Lin. "World's End" Series
de Camp, L. Sprague. LEST DARKNESS FALL, FALLIBLE FIEND; et al.
de Camp & Pratt. 'Harold Shea" Series; CARNELIAN CUBE
Derleth, August.
Dunsany, Lord.
Farmer, P. J. "The World of the Tiers" Series; et al.
Fox, Gardner. "Kothar" Series; "Kyrik" Series; et al.
Howord, R. E. "Conan" Series
Lanier, Sterling. HIERO'S JOURNEY
Leiber, Fritz. "Fafhrd & Gray Mouser" Series; et al.
Lovecraft, H. P.
Merrit, A. CREEP, SHADOW, CREEP; MOON POOL; DWELLERS IN THE MIRAGE; et al.
Moorcock, Michael. STORMBRINGER; STEALER OF SOULS; "Hawkmoon" Series (esp. the first three books)
Norton, Andre.
Offutt, Andrew J., edilor SWORDS AGAINST DARKNESS III.
Pratt, Fletcher, BLUE STAR; et al.
Saberhagen, Fred. CHANGEING EARTH; et al.
St. Clair, Margaret. THE SHADOW PEOPLE; SIGN OF THE LABRYS
Tolkien, J. R. R. THE HOBBIT, "Ring Trilogy"
Vance, Jack. THE EYES OF THE OVERWORLD; THE DYING EARTH; et al.
Weinbaum, Stanley.
Wellman, Manly Wade.
Williamson, Jack.
Zelazny, Roger. JACK OF SHADOWS; "Amber" Series; et al.
The most immediate influences upon AD&D were probably de Camp & Pratt, REH, Fritz Leiber, Jack Vance, HPL, and A. Merritt; but all of the above authors, as well as many not listed, certainly helped to shape the form of the game. For this reason, and for the hours of reading enjoyment, I heartily recommend the works of these fine authors to you.[/INDENT]
I personally took Gary's words to heart and read most of the books he recommended. My gaming experience became even better afterwards. I would like to add several authors to this list. Here are some other authors, mostly more recent, that I would suggest to my fellow gamers...
Abbey, Lynn.
Anthony, Piers.
Asprin, Robert.
Bova, Ben.
Bradley, Marion Zimmer.
Brooks, Terry.
Donaldson, Stephen.
Eddings, David.
Feist, Raymond E.
Jordan, Robert.
Lackey, Mercedes.
Le Guin, Ursula K.
Lewis, C. S. (Read Narnia BEFORE the first movie comes out this Christmas)
McCaffrey, Anne.
Modesitt Jr., L. E.
Pratchett, Terry.
Wurts, Janny.
And of course, let's not forget Ed Greenwood, R. A. Salvatore, or Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman, all of whom have more than influenced the game. They have each reshaped it from within.
I have read books by all of these authors (my list & Gary's) and found them all to be fantastic. If you know of other books that are must reads for die-hard gamers, please let the rest of us know! It's time to expand the core gamer mythos.
It's good stuff :D
Steven Erickson (the Malazan Book of the Fallen series)
and
George R.R. Martin (Song of Ice and Fire series)
To add to the list:
Hobb, Robin: Farseer Trilogy (The Assassin Apprentice etc. 6 books)
Pratchett, Terry.
Gemmal, David.
All you need.
Moon, Elizabeth
Definitely a gaming-enhancer.
Farland, David. The Runelords Series
Wrede, Patricia C. The Enchanted Forest Chronicles (also very good for the younger readers in your life)
Awesome list! As a side note, Roger Zelazny's Amber series has 3 new books in it written by Betancourt. It's the story of how Amber came to be and of Oberon's beginnings. Very good read if you enjoy the multiverse that is Amber.
From what I have heard, the new books weren't of nearly the same quality as the originals were.
Oh, and Song of Ice and Fire is a great read.
Some of my favorites include Od Magic, The Forgotten Beasts of Eld and Alphabet of Thorn. Guaranteed to get you thinking outside the box about magic and fantasy.
Love this thread btw, nobody can ever read too much.
TERRY BROOKS wrote one of the best stories ever, with some of the most dynamic characters ever. Many of his ideas appear in my campaigns and are without a doubt wonderful. The name of the series is the Sword of Truth series, with the first book being, "The Wizard's First Rule."
Jordan, Robert.
Great idea, horrible execution. Leave out the needless formality and cut the list down to...
The WoT has great world, but the books get a bit tedious after some point (the number of the book is lost to me, I only have read the translated ones which use different numbers). I prefer Martin.
For setting and master/familiar relations I recommend Stephen Brust's Vlad Taltos series. Start with Jhereg.
Pierce, Tamora
Who wrote the Circle of Magic, Lioness Rampant, Immortals, Protector of the Small, and Trickster series (all of which, besides the Trickster books, are quintets).
Emma Bull (War for the Oaks)
Jim Butcher (Dresden Files)
Jacqueline Carey (very interesting political landscape and cosmology)
C.J. Cherryh (especially her Goblin's Mirror and any of her SF if you need help fleshing out non-human psychologies and politics)
Charles De Lint (it's more Urban Arcana, but still good, especially on how different cultures would interpret planes of existence)
Neil Gaiman (especially Neverwhere and Stardust)
Laurell K. Hamilton (it's more modern horror, but shows how a "normal" society would interact with critters and folk of the supernatural kind)
Sharon Shinn (if you're into celestial politics and bards)
Of the D&D writers, I like Jeff Grubb and Kate Novak's Azure Bond and the rest of the Finder's Stone series. The quests are personal and generally not "save the world-y."
However, we should not forget the classics: Beowulf, the Iliad, the Nibelungs, the tales of King Arthur...
For Psionics, K. Kurtz Deryni series is great.
Raymond Feist is great for generic fantasy.
The Black Company is great for dark fantasy.
Wolfram
Terry Brooks wrote the Shannara series, but,
TERRY BROOKS wrote one of the best stories ever, with some of the most dynamic characters ever. Many of his ideas appear in my campaigns and are without a doubt wonderful. The name of the series is the Sword of Truth series, with the first book being, "The Wizard's First Rule."
Actually, the Sword of Truth saga was written by TERRY GOODKIND.
Otherwise, I thoroughly agree with it being one of the best fantasy sagas ever written. Its ideas about magic and the storyline are very refreshing, in a literature genre (Sword & Fantasy) that too often repeats the same concepts and plots to the point of becoming boring at times. Plus, it features some of the strongest (in terms of personality) characters in fantasy literature.
I would surely recommend reading these books.
(1s- Across the Nightingale Floor, 2nd- Grass for His Pillow, 3rd- Brilliance of the Moon)
An epic story in a pseudo medieval Japan setting, where we learn that an assassin can be good.
Generally I feel that the more of old sword and sorcery (Conan, Elric and the like) and the less of modern Tolkien-ripoffs (like that awful Wheel of Time) the better.
For setting and master/familiar relations I recommend Stephen Brust's Vlad Taltos series. Start with Jhereg.
An excellent suggestion, I have read Jhereg several times and every time I intend to hunt up the other books but somehow forget.
However, we should not forget the classics: Beowulf, the Iliad, the Nibelungs, the tales of King Arthur...
You deserve a medal! To you list of classics may I add Gilgamesh?
For my own contribution I would like to suggest Angus Wells. I have read part of "The Kingdoms" trilogy and all of "The God Wars" trilogy and aside from being some of my favorite books (I relish the thought of reading them again.) there is much in terms of social and cultural dynamics as well as excellent description of classic types of settings, cultures, and sub-cultures to be found within them. All of that can be used to enhance how a DM molds his/her world and how a player has his/her character interact with it.
But then again anything you read will benefit you. And don't forget that history can be an excellent source of inspiration.
Definitely agree that the Silmarillion is required reading, if you still have an attention span; the Fritz Leiber stuff off the original list is fantastic too. A fun one I haven't seen mentioned is the Kushiel series by Jacqueline Carey, and the Dune books are a VERY fantasy tinged take on Sci-Fi.
Beowulf
The Illiad
Odyessy
Now that is some adventuring material!
Hearn, Lian. Tales of the Otori trilogy.
(1s- Across the Nightingale Floor, 2nd- Grass for His Pillow, 3rd- Brilliance of the Moon)
An epic story in a pseudo medieval Japan setting, where we learn that an assassin can be good.
I found the amount of description disturbing. Namely, there was practically none. Might have been the translation, though.
It fun trying to find a unifying theme among cosmologies invented by totally different people. The campaign is being loosely based on "The Goblin Mirror" by C.J. Cherryh. So it's faerie land intensive.
The Belgariad:
Pawn of Prophecy
Queen of Sorcery
Magician's Gambit
Castle of Wizardry
Enchanter's End Game
The Malloreon:
Guardians of the West
King of the Murgos
Demon Lord of Karanda
Sorceress of Darshiva
The Seeress of Kell
He has also written two trilogies, The Elenium and The Tamuli, but I haven't gotten around to reading them, so I don't have any knowledge of them.
Saberhagen's Books of Swords and Lost Swords books, maybe not the most developed setting, but who wouldn't want to be packing one of the Twelve?
Mickey Zucker Reichert "Legend of Nightfall" and "Return of Nightfall"
Mercedes Lackey just about anything, but mainly the Valdemar books and the Bardic Voices stuff
As for the two trilogies by Eddings, they are good reads, but pretty much follow the same kind of formula that the "Belgariad" and "Mallorean" do. That said, he still does some of the best characters I've ever read.
If you're looking for inspiration for a good fighter character, read Stephen Hunter's 'Hot Springs' and 'Pale Horse Coming'. Both novels are set in a contemporary setting and are all about honor, justice, military tactics, machine guns, and hard-as-nails USMC Marines. They're real page turners.
Having read both R.E.H. and Hunter, I'd love to see Conan face off against Earl Swagger -- either one could come out on top, and chances are they'd fight to some kind of draw.
Great thread.
I remain,
G-man
Is Tad William's Green Angel Tower series worth getting into?
If it is the one with the three swords, yes, probably.
It gives great inspiration to include interesting fey in the game. Excellent in that quality, at least.
I've also enjoyed the sidhe court politicking in the Merry Gentry series by Laurell K. Hamilton, but it has way too many kinks and not enough plot.
Lovecraft, H.P.
Who ever wrote the Golden Compass, Subtle Knife and Amber Spyglass
I am also thinking about adapting "Wonderland" into D&D. Some sort of parallel high magic world, with living spells as in Eberron and the weirdest set of NPCs ever to have their character sheets written.
With that out of the way, I can't believe nobody included Frank Herbert and the Dune series. It's sort of more of a sci-fi series than fantasy, but the Fremen are really cool and it can give some ideas for psionics or for "breeding programs" (like my roommate's blind psion/psychic warrior).
We also draw heavily on Terry Pratchett (especially from any of the books set mainly in Ankh-Morpork or the Death books). I'd recommend Reaperman, The Color of Magic, Soul Music, and Men at Arms.
We play mainly in the FR setting (mainly because we don't have material for anything else and we've got an overabundance of FR stuff, we'd LOVE to run Darksun, but we can't find the old 2e setting, so we don't have the basics of the world), so I draw a lot from Salvatore's books for world history and fleshing out the world.
I would also recommend Edgar Allen Poe, C.S. Lewis, Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare (The Tempest, Macbeth, etc.), and Jonathan Swift.
Truth in Comedy: A Manual of Improvisation - Charna Halpern, Del Close, Kim Johnson
Guns, Germs, and Steel - Jared Diamond
Some other authors that are good for the mind is Robert A. Heinlein, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and Stephen King. Though these are science fiction and horror, they are still excellent to add to your knowledge.
Of all the books on this list, the easiest reads will be any of Piers Anthony's Xanth serious. Seriously, reading a novel is a good thing. Come on, make the sacrifice.
A few more recommendations
Hughart, Barry - Bridge of Birds.
Kay, Guy Gavriel - The Summer Tree, The Wandering Fire, The Darkest Road; Tigana
Rohan, Michael Scott - The Anvil of Ice, The Forge in the Forest, THe Hammer of the Sun; The Singer and the Sea, The Castle of the Winds
"classics"
Mabinogion (I prefer the Jones & Jones translation)
Chretian de Troyes - Arthurian Romances
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. There's not much I can say about this work to do it justice. Even if you're not a Christian (I'm not), there's a lot of very profound messages in this work. It's a hard read, though it's one of the few literary pieces that I actually enjoyed researching and studying.
H.P. Lovecraft is the horror writer in my mind. The entire genre doesn't get any better than him. I've never really been into "supernatural horror" or what have you, but I nonetheless count this guy as one of my all-time favorite writers.
Edgar Allen Poe is also a very compelling writer and a great poet. I guess you could say that he wrote "horror", but that's not entirely accurate as "horror" didn't really exist as a genre when he was writing. At any rate, great stuff.
I've been really enjoying reading Neil Gaiman lately. His writing doesn't really suffer from the unsophistication (is that a word?) that I find many fantasy writings today do. I'd hazard to say that he's actually quite talented.
J.R.R. Tolkien opened the floodgates, but I can forgive him because he's the best in the entire genre.
Johann Wolfgang Goethe, specifically Faust. Another one of those "profound" works.
Franz Kafka. He's got some really surreal stuff.
Who ever wrote the Golden Compass, Subtle Knife and Amber Spyglass
That'd be Phillip Pullman, and I agree.
Also - Guanzhong, Luo - Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Good Stuff)
With that out of the way, I can't believe nobody included Frank Herbert and the Dune series. It's sort of more of a sci-fi series than fantasy, but the Fremen are really cool and it can give some ideas for psionics or for "breeding programs" (like my roommate's blind psion/psychic warrior).
I agree. He's definitely sci-fi but in terms of depth of description, and the unique nature of his cultures, it's really quite something.
Completely true, but by far my favorite author is Robert Jordan. I had to wait almost six months for his second to last release before I could get it from the library.
Having faithfully read all the Jordan books, on the whole I feel he's quite good. But some of the books (like no. 10) are just way too slow - fitting five or six storylines in one book gives too little time to each one, so you could skip the book and not miss much. The latest one (no. 11) has my full approval, though.
Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series is amazing for its character development. And the first one (Wizard's First Rule) in particular has an outstanding plotline - it'd make one heck of a campaign. I cannot help but feel like several elements of his world are ripped off from WoT, though (but I've not read the latest couple of books so I may be wrong).
Finally, as to the classics - for a good insight into the medieval chivalric ideal (which is part of archetypal fantasy, and a good insight into how "paladin" types should behave), try The Nibelungenlied, or better yet Le Chanson de Roland (The Song of Roland) and The Song of My Cid (El Cid).
Brom Stoker (Dracula)
Clive Barker (Books of Blood, Cabal)
H.P Lovecraft (pretty much anything)
Mary Shelly (Frankenstein)
Stephen King (Eyes of the Dragon, The Dark Tower Series)
Richard Matheson (Hell House, I Am Legend).
Lois McMaster Bujold's Curse of Chalion series (Holy Family of Father, Mother, Son, Daughter, and Bastard)
Looks like SmiloDan beat me to it, but I would further endorse Bujold's Chalion series (Curse of Chalion, Paladin of Souls, Hallowed Hunt) for its complex history, theology and magic systems in a world based off of medieval Spain (and later, England).
P.S. Show Lloyd Alexander's Iron Ring some love too!
She absolutely stole my heart with 'Night's Master' (caution: mature stuff), and all other books I could lay my hands on were great as well. The situations, characters and descriptions are brilliant; this is must-read material.
The 1st 4 are obvious choices for any fantasy/imaginative campaign. John Toland is an author that should be read for those who want to run a campaign that involves a war (he is a historian that penned some quite good books). I offer this for those who run war-oriented campaigns.
You can also conveniently read it online for free at http://www.threekingdoms.com
Along the same lines, "Outlaws of the Marsh / Tales of the Water Margin," by Shi Ai'Nan (same book, different titles) is another great tale, but this one is much more focused on the personal exploits of the heroes involved. There are a good number of interesting and memorable characters. If you have played any of the Suikoden games for the Playstation / PS2, those games are also loosely based after this book.
Sadly, I know of no place where you can read it like the previous book
Other good series are David Gemmell's works. Epic fantasy worlds based on Europe. Very well done. Robin Hobb's Farseer series is also good. Again, a good assassin. One of the best examples of an animal companion relationship I've ever read.
If you want some fun, try Simon Green's Hawk and Fisher series. Two fantasy cops in a very bad town. It's pulp, but oh so much fun. The Warhammer Gotrex and Felix novels are similarly pulp fun. nothing too serious, but you'll pick up a few ideas.
David Weber is better known for his science fiction, but his fantasy novels, starting with the Oath of Swords are fun. Good focus on being a God's chosen/Paladin and being a larger race (kind of like a goliath) among humans and dwarves, etc. Similar in tone and pacing to Eddings.
At the Baen books website, they've put up a number of their books in their entirety for free. Worth looking at.
No one has mentioned Neil Gaiman yet. Both his traditional and graphic novels were good, especially some of his villains.
actually:
Neil Gaiman (especially Neverwhere and Stardust)
but he deserves a second (and third!) mention.
On top of that, id also like to second:
My own humble contribution would be Lewis Carroll’s book "Alice in Wonderland," "Through the Looking Glass," and "Sylvie and Bruno.”
and
Who ever wrote the Golden Compass, Subtle Knife and Amber Spyglass
(Side note: that’s the 'His Dark Materials' trilogy.)
I’d also like to add the Neverending Story, by Michael Ende. Yes, the books the movies were based on. Incredible stuff.
The warlock series dragged towards the end, and the sequel series (Rogue Wizard) never caught my attention; but the adventures of Rodney d'Armand and Matthew Mantrell are excellent reads, and can provide ideas for gaming.
Mickey Zucker Reichert's Renshai Trilogy and Chronicles could be handy to anyone looking to run a Norse themed campaign. Or just if you want to read a good book.
And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention William Mark Simmons' "The Dreamland Chronicles". It is by far my favorite trilogy, and so few people have heard of it. It is a grand fantasy under the guise of sci-fi; and contains deep philosophical debates hidden under hilarious jokes, puns, and pop-culture references.
Players in MY forthcoming campaign will benefit greatly from having read:
Campbell, Joseph: Hero with a Thousand Faces
Machiavelli, Niccolo: The Prince
The warlock series dragged towards the end, and the sequel series (Rogue Wizard) never caught my attention; but the advantures of Rodney d'Armand and Matthew Mantrell are excellent reads, and can provide ideas for gaming.
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Mickey Zucker Reichert's Renshai Trilogy and Chronicles could be handy to anyone looking to run a Norse themed campain. Or just if you want to read a good book.
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And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention William Mark Simmons' "The Dreamland Chronicles". It is by far my favorite trilogy, and so few people have heard of it. It is a grand fantasy under the guise of sci-fi; and contains deep philsophical debates hidden under hilarious jokes, puns, and pop-culture references.
Can't forget any of the Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman collaborations. You want a good campaign? Read the Deathgate cycle.
These as well as the Sword of Truth series which has already been mentioned, the three books in the Myst book series, I can't remember the author but I have all three in that series somewhere.
No one has mentioned Neil Gaiman yet. Both his traditional and graphic novels were good, especially some of his villains.
I especially liked how he handled divine intervention in American Gods.
More recently I'd recommend K.J. Parker’s The Scavenger series and The Fencer Trilogy. Great for descriptive stuff about Blacksmithing, sword making, bows and armour. Also a fair bit about siege engines. I gather he likes to make things ; )
I keep trying to convince the party I play with to try the GOD riding in a cart routine from the scavenger series.
Peace, love and MACHINE empathy
Da'flibble
I was lucky enough to pick up the omnibus editions of his complete works ("Midnight Sun" and "Gods in Darkness") a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, the big chains didn't carry them, so they're currently out of print. They're both well-worth picking up, and often available on eBay.
Of the in-print authors, I'm most impressed by Greg Keyes (also billed as J. Gregory Keyes). His current "Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone" series is well-written: decent descriptions, interesting characters, and good stories to boot. I also enjoyed his "Children of the Changeling" series, and found a three-book trilogy to be a refreshing change compared to the seemingly-endless iterations offered by most contemporary fantasy authors.
[Regdar chuckles mightily at this post.]
No one has mentioned Neil Gaiman yet. Both his traditional and graphic novels were good, especially some of his villains.
I think you missed several endorsements for Gaiman's Neverwhere and other novels.
But there were a few authors missing:
Bernard Cornwell has a gift for describing battles. I recommend his "Sharpe's" series not just for the graphic descriptions, but his primary characters are so developed. Other books that might be of interest are The Winter King series, The Gallows Thief, and The Archer's Tale series.
Trudi Canavan's "Magician" series is impressive. I just finished the first book, The Magician's Guild and can't wait to grab hold of the next book.
Donald Westlake is best known for modern crime capers featuring his character John Dortmunder; but Don't Ask and Why Me? have the makings for an adventure for almost any setting. The books are fast reads and very funny. Others in the Dortmunder series with potential for D&D adventures are The Hot Rock and Nobody's Perfect.
Robert Asprin edited a series of short stories known as Thieve's World. The series featured quite a few authors and was set in a D&D-style world.
Lloyd Alexander is also a good pick. I believe he wrote The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen as well, did he not? That was a great read, with some excellent iconic Oriental characters. Even though it is written for the juvenile set, I enjoyed it quite a lot at the ripe old age of 22.
-Nineteen Eighty-Four (George Orwell for political)
-Brave New World (Aldous Huxley for political)
-Animal Farm (George Orwell yet again for political yet again)
-The Inferno (Dante for just plain inspiration)
Tad Williams and Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn are worth getting into.
Oh, yes, I totally agree with this! Tad Williams has written a number of very good novels, but I believe this trilogy really tops the list. When the third book in a trilogy has to be released in two books due to size (in softcover), it's a good hint there is a lot going on there. His Otherland series was great as well, about virtual reality and the people trapped within it. The fact the two main characters were black, with one being a Bushman named !Xabbu, made it stand out from the crowd.
I also agree on George R.R. Martin's Song of Fire and Ice nomination. Another good trilogy I will add here, while strictly scifi, would be Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars books- Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars. Great characters and plots/subplots. Also, his book The Years of Rice and Salt where the plague wiped out 99% of Europe’s population, and Christianity was but a footnote of history.
C.S. Friedman's Coldfire trilogy was good as well- Black Sun Rising, When True Night Falls, and Crown of Shadows, as was Stephen R. Donaldson's Mordant's Need- The Mirror of Her Dreams & A Man Rides Through as well as "The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever" and the Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. Though I will say the Thomas Covenant books were very depressing- the "hero" has leprosy, his family left him, he's shunned by his town, and he does not believe "The Land" is real.
I have read many of the books listed here, but not all. I thank those that posted before me for suggested reading, I'll have to search for these titles. On a side note, the Song of Fire and Ice series has spawned a d20 sourcebook that looks very good- A Game of Thrones Sourcebook that I plan to pick up soon. I might wait until the series is finished before attempting a campaign there, though.
The Kalevala (the Finnish national epic. A primer for e Bardic traditions.)
The Song of Roland (Charlemagne's Courts)
A Thousand and One Arabian Knights (seriously, who missed this?)
The Norse Mythology.
The Greek Mythology.
Don't forget you can steal a lot from other 'populist' games. Just reading the Legend of the Five Rings cards and all those competing extremist view points of the samurai characters is fun.
Magic the Gathering is always 'inventing' new monsters, and it was originally designed off a D&D campaign world (the Legends set is characters from the inventor's campaign).
Many modern comic book series have great storylines you can yoink, from Batman to the Justice League to Ultimate Avengers.
The book of Sun Tzu is all about stories that convey strategic viewpoints of situations. The guy who does Shi made a great comic dealing with some of them with more modern examples. Was it the March of the Five Thousand? Classic Roman fighting styles and diplomacy.
I'm sure the military folk out there can give some great reads.
Also, note that D&D included some last month on their website. Someone should reprint the selection.
As for "classics", check out the Icelandic sagas, the largest body of medieval vernacular prose in existence.
I especially recommend:
Egil's Saga
Harald Sigurdsson's Saga (King Harald's Saga)
Gisli Sursson's Saga (see what it's like to live as an outlaw for years)
The Saga of the Jomsvikings
The Saga of the Volsungs (the inspiration for the Niebelungenlied and Wagner's Ring Cycle)
And a perusal of the Prose Edda and the Poetic Edda couldn't hurt.
Second Moby Dick lots of cool stuff in there from characters to just the general feel of what it'd be like to be on a ship for years at a time.
I would like to say Dave Duncan is a great author as well. I have only read his King's Blades books but they are all I need to know he's pretty darn good.
Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.
Shakespeare.
Beowulf
Homer.
Virgil.
I also think for someone who's new to the game and wants a quick read to get the flavor of D&D fantasy, the series of short novels WotC put out starting with The Savage Caves that feature the D&D 3E iconic characters are a fun, fast read.
I am very, very disappointed not to see Tanith Lee in any of these suggestions.
She absolutely stole my heart with 'Night's Master' (caution: mature stuff), and all other books I could lay my hands on were great as well. The situations, characters and descriptions are brilliant; this is must-read material.
I must have missed this post the first time through the thread, otherwise I would have given you props for this earlier. "Tales of the Flat Earth" is the name of the series, and it scintillates. No, it is not meant for children. But there are such evocations of eternal truths in those books to make one shiver.
Tanith made me see Simmu and the Unicorns dance on the shores of that lake. I have never quite entirely returned. L Sprague de camp "Incomplete Enchanter"
Harry Turtledove "Videssos Cycle" and "Agent of Byzantium"
Paul o Williams "Northwall" series
Fritz Leiber
Xenophon
"Bodyguard of Lightning" (sorry, can't remember the author but Orcs are the good guys)
Conan - the books not the films
Jack Vance (I WANT to see Hussade played for real!!) Planet of Adventure
HP Lovecraft
Katherine Kerr, the Deverry series (the first 4). It's excellent but shows you how an epic, inventive and thought provoking story can be crapped on with a BBEG that is a right quilt. The last few books trail off badly.
Weis & Hickman - Rose of the Prophet series, very good.
Stories By - Hans Christian Anderson
- The Brothers Grimm
- CS Lewis
- Enid Blyton
- Tolstoi Arthurian Tales (details paladins very well)
I realise Shannara has been mentioned but if you can manage to get through the Sword of... then the Elfstones of.... is one of the greatest stories I think I have ever read. Even if you cannot get through the first rip off, the Elfstones is quality in its own right.
Also, as already mentioned, American Gods by Neil Gaiman is great for its presentation of the way pantheons and mythologies work, and how old gods lose power as new ones gain power.
Tad Williams is possibly my favorite author when it comes to imagery.
My own humble contribution would be Lewis Carroll’s book "Alice in Wonderland," "Through the Looking Glass," and "Sylvie and Bruno.” Not so much for similarities with D&D, but for the extraordinary imagination and absurdity of his books. Anyone looking for insane quirks or great quotes to use should read him.
I am also thinking about adapting "Wonderland" into D&D. Some sort of parallel high magic world, with living spells as in Eberron and the weirdest set of NPCs ever to have their character sheets written.
There is a free Wonderland supplement for JAGS (Just Another Gaming System; a free GURPS-like RPG). It might be worth a look. You can download it here , or buy as a hardback through RPGnow (IIRC).
I'd also like to second Glen Cook's Black Company series. A gritty, dirty feeling world. Especially valuable if you enjoy more military themes (at least for part of the books anyway). Great world.
I'll second the Icelandic Eddas - they are good for a lot of ideas.
Finally try some of the 19th century writers - Conan Doyle (of Sherlock Holmes fame) wrote the excellent "Whate Company."
Dumas managed a huge assortment of "Swashbuckler" as did Orczy (?) with Scarlet Pimpernel
Burton translated/collected the Arabian Nights, but a biography can be even more useful.
The trick is not to try and pull in a plot direct from a tale, but to grow accustomed to diverse pre-industrial cultures. Even Modern Romances set in historical periods can be a good source for details of dress and culture. (Distinguish Modern Romance from 19th century where Dumas' "Three Musketeers" was a "Romance Novel" because it presented a romanticized view of France under Louis XIII) In that I tend to shy from certain modern authors as sources; great stories, but the details are either lacking or inconsistent.