GRRM: Similar authors

Finally finished Sunne in Splendour and can certainly see how the events could have inspired GRRM for ASoFaI - maybe even this book itself. :)

There's the familiar use of similar names, ie, Ned and Dickon. And towards the end, the whole Edward IV/Elizabeth/Richard III thing going on seems so totally Robert Baratheon/Cersei Lannister/Eddard Stark.

ADDED: And review up here:
http://www.sffchronicles.co.uk/2012/07/23/sunne-in-splendour-by-sharon-penman/
 
I said:
There's the familiar use of similar names, ie, Ned and Dickon. And towards the end, the whole Edward IV/Elizabeth/Richard III thing going on seems so totally Robert Baratheon/Cersei Lannister/Eddard Stark.
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Absolutely. Ned Stark is totally an ineffectual Richard III. Popular lord of the North declares the young heir to the throne a ******* and tries to prevent ambitious queen and her family from seizing power - only difference is, Richard III succeeded. Briefly.
 
Anne Lyle said:
Absolutely. Ned Stark is totally an ineffectual Richard III. Popular lord of the North declares the young heir to the throne a ******* and tries to prevent ambitious queen and her family from seizing power - only difference is, Richard III succeeded. Briefly.
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I loved the Sunne in Splendour, if anything the real life events of the war of the roses are even more complicated and full of double dealings and backstabbings than the Game of Thrones! It's fascinating to know that there are actual Frey's and Boltons out there - the Stanleys :mad: and Buckingham :mad:

FWIW, Sunne in Splendour made me also read some non-fiction around the subject and I am now a committed Yorkist! Richard did not kill the princes in the tower! The children of the brother he had loved and faithfully served all his adult life? Never! I won't believe it!

Thing is by Bosworth I don't think Richard wanted it anymore, he had lost his beloved wife and son in such a short period of time and then threw himself into a suicidal charge instead of regrouping when it became clear that he was betrayed...he'd had enough.

Still, without Tudor's victory at Bosworth we wouldn't have had Elizabeth, one of the best monarch's the country has ever seen. So swings and roundabouts!
 
Rolynd said:
Richard did not kill the princes in the tower! The children of the brother he had loved and faithfully served all his adult life? Never! I won't believe it!
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I disagree. I think Richard's main loyalty was to the house of York. Whilst his brother was alive, that meant he was loyal to the Crown. But Edward's early death put him into direct conflict with the Woodvilles for power over the new boy king. So, he took the throne, intending to pass it on to his own son (also named Edward), who sadly died only a year later.

There's absolutely no denying that he seized the throne from the rightful heir. Whether or not he subsequently ordered the deaths of his nephews (which he may not have done - it could have been a Tudor sympathiser's doing), his usurpation suggests he was not unfailingly loyal.
 
I tried a few odd bits of fantasy writing lately. Goodkind rubs me the wrong way. His characters seem a bit too perfect, and I have to say, predictable. GRRM shows life in all its splendor and ugliness, by contrast.

I then found Michael Moorcock. I think that he had some influence on GRRM, in terms of the Powers that Be, and I can see HP Lovecraft in Moorcock. Actually, Elric reminds me of a more effectual Viserys Targaryen.
 
I don't look for particular genres so much as "grey" characters. I can't stand good vs evil stories with cardboard good vs evil characters. Those of you who feel the same way may want to look at the following authors. Bernard cornwell is my favorite and he has a great deal of good material but I'd start with his Saxon series. Dewey Lambdin writes about a fictional naval captain during the napoleonic wars and he is great. I'd also recommend James Duffy for Sands of the Arena and the other books in that series. Scott Lynch has the Gentlemen Bastards and Ben Kane's Forgotten Legion series is pretty good and The Religion by Tim Willocks is a great novel though it's the only one of his I can find. In order after GRRM i'd recommend: Bernard Cornwell, Dewey Lambdin, Scott Lynch, Ben Kane, Tim Willocks, and James Duffy. Don't bother replying unless you can help me find more material, I only signed up for this thing because I assume you're going as crazy as I am over this wait between books
 
I'm going to have to add Colleen McCullough's Rome series here. It has a depth and cast of characters worthy of any GRRM reader. And, towards the second book, I'm simply left thinking OMG at some of the brutality.
 
I said:
I'm going to have to add Colleen McCullough's Rome series here. It has a depth and cast of characters worthy of any GRRM reader. And, towards the second book, I'm simply left thinking OMG at some of the brutality.
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I'm going to have to second my recommendation. If you love the detail and large cast in ASoFaI then Colleen McCullough's Rome series might appeal a lot. It's truly epic.

While characterisation isn't as strong as GRRM's, it doesn't fall into stereotypes. And though slow in parts, it's a truly faithful story to itself, and everything said is used and referenced later on.

Though GRRM does extremes much better, I think McCullough equals if not surpasses in breadth not least by the fact her story takes place over decades.
 
I like these recommendations. Seems a lot of people are turned off by magic though! I love me some good magic.
 
I read an article, recently, that ASOIAF was inspired by "Memory, Sorrow and Thorn" written by Tad Williams. I enjoyed that series very much and always felt that ASOIAF had some interesting parallels.
 
For historical fiction boks, I would also recommend Colleen McCullough's Rome series and Bernard Cromwell's works; both authors already pointed here.


But I am looking for a Science Fiction/Space Opera work? Any ideas? The only one that I know, and that approached the genre we are talking about is the Dune Series.
 
The twee nature of Fantasy written in the 1960s through the 1980s was long a bugbear (some of the 'perps' are on this site!!) Dashes of reality began to kick in by the 1990s but those decades were a long stretch, with only the likes of Roger Zelazny to bucks things up. Zelazny added a healthy dash of noir into his works. This is especially notable in Nine Princes in Amber a take on the Wars of the Roses, dressed up as Fantasy with sprinkles of Science.
When I first picked up A Game of Thrones, I thought to myself: almost as good as Zelazny. The rest is history though I must confess a preference for a gloss of chivalry. Some don't and that's what sells.
 
I've just finished Conn Iggulden's Wars of the Roses series. He did a really good job of breathing life into characters that history has always caste as straight up black and white (thanks Shakespeare!).

There's a great line in the second book where the Duke of York is talking to the Earl of Salisbury: "This is no game of thrones, this is real blood and real war!"
 
for grim darkness, r scott bakker comes to my mind. for multi pov approach, john gwynne. for martin's passionate descriptions of fantasy food... no one in particular yet :giggle:
 
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