In my opinion the greatest Fantasy writer of all time is Jack Vance (Who? I hear you say). Vance is an American author who has been writing since the 1940s. Some of his fiction is marketed as SF and some as Fantasy (he's also written some Mysteries - which I haven't read). I tend to see nearly all of his ouevre as Fantasy because if you read the SF using 'SF protocols' (of the Niven type) it doesn't always work. Nevertheless, it works on its own terms because Vance appears to be able to create utterly compelling and convincing alternate realities. A lot of this seems to be related to his unique and (I find) addictive writing style and imagery.

What should you read? Well, all of it, of course!

Start with:

'The Dragon Masters'

'The Last Castle'

'Emphyrio'

'The Dying Earth' books: 'The Dying Earth', 'The Eyes of the Overworld', 'Cugel's Saga'

The 'Lyonesse' trilogy

Most of these are available on Kindle at very reasonable prices.


Another American SF author, Walter Jon Williams, has written an extraordinary and highly original fantasy novel called 'Metropolitan'. The setting is a planet-spanning city which is sealed off from the rest of the Universe. Beneath the accreted layers of civilisations, which cover the planet, there lurks a form of geomantic, magic energy called 'Plasm'. Aiah, the heroine of the novel, works for the 'Plasm Authority' and stumbles across a previously unknown source of Plasm. Instead of declaring this source to her employers she uses it to form an alliance with a dangerous revolutionary called Constantine. Complications ensue, of course.

There is a sequel called 'City on Fire'. A third volume has been promised for some years now but hasn't appeared yet.

The rest of Williams's oeuvre is SF - and is also highly recommended.