Here are 87 books that The Compleat Traveller in Black fans have personally recommended if you like
The Compleat Traveller in Black.
Book DNA is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.
I’ve loved fantasy and science fiction all my life. At its best, it has a numinous quality rarely seen in other books. I’ve read many of the classic fantasy novels written before fantasy was a genre. The beauty of those old books is that the writers received their inspiration from stories not influenced by The Lord of the Rings, so there’s a refreshing originality to their work. I love modern fantasy as well, especially those demonstrating new, inventive ideas.
I read this book at sixteen and fell in love with it.
A romance written in 1912, it’s a story of adventure, action, and love. The sun has died; humanity dwells in an enormous pyramid surrounded by Forces of Evil, awaiting its force field to die, so they can feed on both the inhabitants’ bodies and souls. The hero’s long-lost love has been reborn in another, dying pyramid across the Night Land. He must travel to rescue her.
One of the Great Books, it’s marred by the archaic language the writer chose to employ. But it’s beautiful, awesome, and magnificent.
I loved it so much, I rewrote it in more modern language years ago. Mine’s available, but if you can get through the original, I highly recommend it.
William Hope Hodgson's classic and genre-combining work of horror and science fiction. Set mainly in the far future after the sun has gone out, The Night Land explores a futuristic nightmare world in which the last humans have taken refuge inside an enormous metal pyramid, threatened by unknown monstrous creatures outside. H.P. Lovecraft called The Night Land "one of the most potent pieces of macabre imagination ever written". Hodgson introduces many concepts in what became the genre of dying Earth fiction. It's a tale of reincarnation, telepathy, alien monsters, and love. Written in faux-17th century prose as a framing device,…
A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.
German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…
I’ve loved fantasy and science fiction all my life. At its best, it has a numinous quality rarely seen in other books. I’ve read many of the classic fantasy novels written before fantasy was a genre. The beauty of those old books is that the writers received their inspiration from stories not influenced by The Lord of the Rings, so there’s a refreshing originality to their work. I love modern fantasy as well, especially those demonstrating new, inventive ideas.
The Earth has stopped spinning; magic rules on the night side, science on the light.
Not all of Zelany’s work holds up, but this one, a tale of Jack, a denizen of the dark side, is perhaps his best novel. I love the world Zelazny creates here.
It’s a slender book that drew me through from beginning to end.
In a world half of light, half of darkness, where science and magic strive for dominance, there dwells a magical being who is friendly with neither side. Jack, of the realm of shadows, is a thief who is unjustly punished. So he embarks on a vendetta. He wanders through strange realms, encountering witches, vampires, and, finally, his worst enemy: the Lord of Bats. He consults his friend Morningstar, a great dark angel. He is pursued by a monstrous creature called the Borshin. But to reveal any more would be to spoil some of the mindboggling surprises Jack of Shadows has…
I’ve loved fantasy and science fiction all my life. At its best, it has a numinous quality rarely seen in other books. I’ve read many of the classic fantasy novels written before fantasy was a genre. The beauty of those old books is that the writers received their inspiration from stories not influenced by The Lord of the Rings, so there’s a refreshing originality to their work. I love modern fantasy as well, especially those demonstrating new, inventive ideas.
This is one of the most delightful books on the planet.
Ostensibly written for children, it’s more fun for adults. A story of two wizards, Prospero and Roger Bacon (and not the ones you’re thinking of), and their quest to find the evil destroying the world.
It’s scary and funny, and I only wish Bellairs had written a couple more such books. The rest of his work, while well-done, can’t compare to this one.
A fantasy classic by the author of The House with a Clock in Its Walls—basis for the Jack Black movie—and “a writer who knows what wizardry is all about” (Ursula K. Le Guin).
A richly imaginative story of wizards stymied by a power beyond their control, A Face in the Frost combines the thrills of a horror novel with the inventiveness of fairy tale–inspired fantasy.
Prospero, a tall, skinny misfit of a wizard, lives in the South Kingdom—a patchwork of feuding duchies and small manors, all loosely loyal to one figurehead king. Along with his necromancer friend Roger Bacon,…
In 1913, a 15-year-old pregnant girl was found dead of apparent suicide. Dr. James Wilson, a new graduate and the first doctor ever to start a practice in this rural town, feels guilty over her death because of his delayed intervention.
I’ve loved fantasy and science fiction all my life. At its best, it has a numinous quality rarely seen in other books. I’ve read many of the classic fantasy novels written before fantasy was a genre. The beauty of those old books is that the writers received their inspiration from stories not influenced by The Lord of the Rings, so there’s a refreshing originality to their work. I love modern fantasy as well, especially those demonstrating new, inventive ideas.
If I died, went to the edge of Heaven, and then returned, how would I be different? That’s what happens to a young boy named Diamond.
I love the premise, which wasn’t obvious until I realized the Back of the North Wind represents death. This is supposedly a children’s book, but the original is 300 pages long.
I love the sophistication and insights of the dialogue, the gorgeous passages, and the depictions of the god-like North Wind as a tall, beautiful woman. As the book progressed, I was introduced to a little girl, Nanny, Diamond’s companion in adventure.
MacDonald’s works radiate a deep respect for life, and especially for women. This may well be his best book.
George MacDonald's best-known fantasy has enchanted generations of children and adults since it was first published in London over a century ago. Considered to be a landmark in the development of the children's novel, this enthralling fairy tale is just as endearing today.
Modern readers will thrill to the story of little Diamond and the tall, majestic North Wind-the lady whose dark eyes blazed and whose glistening black hair streamed around behind her. They and their fantastic tale are vividly portrayed in eight full-color paintings by Jessie Willcox Smith, one of America's most beloved illustrators.
I’ve been a sci-fi and fantasy fan ever since my childhood when I thought looking for spaceships and dragons in the night sky was just a normal kid nightly activity and not, you know, fiction. When seeking stories for my anthology City of Weird, I reached back into my childhood obsession with all things out of or beyond this world, but I found that I wanted tales that took my favorite themes and slanted them. Went to unexpected places, not only in time and space, but also in theme and approach. Like these five books, which I hope you will enjoy.
And speaking of, who better than Le Guin to inspire sci-fi and fantasy stories that are truly unexpected? Dispatches from Anarres, edited by Susan DeFreitas, is an anthology of stories by Northwest authors, all inspired by and in tribute to Le Guin, and the offerings are rich and unique. Like Michelle Ruiz Keil’s poetic war cry of ghost cats in “The Kingdom of the Belly,” Jason LaPier’s fascinating tale of the life of a bee colony—with some of the coolest names I’ve encountered in fantasy—in “Bee, Keeper,” and Stevan Allred’s clever Ib and Nib folk-story interludes. I read much of this book in an ER waiting room as my husband was being examined and then treated for a scary collapsed lung, and the uniqueness of these stories kept me beautifully distracted.
Named for the anarchist utopia in Ursula K. Le Guin's science fiction classic The Dispossessed, Dispatches from Anarres embodies the anarchic spirit of Le Guin's hometown of Portland, Oregon, while paying tribute to her enduring vision.
In stories that range from fantasy to sci fi to realism, some of Portland's most vital voices have come together to celebrate Le Guin's lasting legacy and influence on that most subversive of human faculties: the imagination. Fonda Lee's "Old Souls" explores the role of violence and redemption across time and space; Rachael K. Jones's "The Night Bazaar for Women Turning into Reptiles" touches…
I’ve been a hiker for a long time, but it wasn’t until COVID-19 that I began to pay attention to the forests I was hiking through. I started with field guides to edible plants, then used Seek and iNaturalist apps to identify more species, and started taking macro photography of what I found. The more I paid attention to the minutiae of the natural world, the more I fell in love with every part of it. I’m worried our current priorities for climate change (preserving our way of life) are misguided. I’m worried about the future of all species. Every insect and every plant I’ve looked at close up is breathtakingly beautiful and worth saving.
This collection contains, hands down, my favorite exploration of non-human consciousness: the story “The Author of the Acacia Seeds and Other Extracts from the Journal of the Association of Therolinguistics.” The title is a mouthful but I love how this story acknowledges we may never fully understand other species’ communications, that there will always be some matter of uncertainty or mistranslation.
At the same time, this story captures for me the intelligence and creativity of the non-human while making a persuasive argument that we need to at least try to understand forms of life that see and experience the world so differently from us.
Is it worth buying an entire collection for this one story? Totally. But there are a lot of other great gems in Real and the Unreal as well.
Outer Space, Inner Lands includes many of the best known Ursula K. Le Guin nonrealistic stories (such as "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas," "Semley’s Necklace," and "She Unnames Them") which have shaped the way many readers see the world. She gives voice to the voiceless, hope to the outsider, and speaks truth to powerall the time maintaining her independence and sense of humor.
Companion volume Where on Earth explores Le Guin's satirical, risky, political and experimental earthbound stories. Both volumes include new introductions by the author.
Voyager 1 was launched on September 5, 1977, and Voyager 2 was launched on August 20, 1977. Both began a historic journey with unique 'time capsules' on board intended to communicate a story of our world to extraterrestrials. The Voyager message is carried by a phonograph record 12-inch gold-plated disk…
I am a journalist, the author of 10 works of popular history, and, latterly, a playwright. For nearly 25 years, I have earned a living on the strength of my own writing. I have written one full-length play that was produced at an outdoor summer theatre in July 2023, and I have written three short plays for the Port Hope, Ontario Arts Festival. I now live in Peterborough, Ontario, about 90 miles northeast of Toronto, but have had a lifelong interest in the history of western North America by dint of having grown up in southeastern Saskatchewan and having worked as a journalist in Alberta in the early 1980s.
Paul Kane was a Toronto-born artist who travelled from Toronto all the way to present-day Portland, Oregon, between 1845 and 1848. As the title suggests, Paul Kane was keenly interested in the indigenous peoples of the North American West. His book, published in 1859 and re-issued in 1925 and again in 1968, provided 19th-century readers with fascinating portraits, in paint and words, of dozens of Indigenous peoples.
The book is no less compelling for contemporary readers who are interested in the loss of the world and the lives of 19th-century Indigenous nations.
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.
My passion is writing. I started writing when I was 10 years old and my passion was reignited by my 11-year-old son. Writing runs in my blood as my late father was a journalist and the first black editor of the Zambia Daily Mail and my late brother was a poet. To date, I have published 17 children's books. I love writing children’s books with a positive message and also to make them laugh and entertained.
This book has an excellent message and the illustrations are amazing! I believe children will love it and adults will too. An experience of self-discovery, from little beginnings, through the challenges of life, to getting to be something more noteworthy. Learning how to let go so you'll be able to develop. "I may be little in measure, but interior I feel unimaginably huge!"
I Am Sequoia, A Pinecone's Adventure, an adventure of self-discovery, from small beginnings, through the challenges of life, to becoming something greater. Follow along this little pinecone's journey and experience the seasons of growth together. "I may be small in size, but inside I feel incredibly large!" Full color illustrations with great attention to details will bring this story to life. E.P.Clanton lives in Portland, Oregon where he enjoys the beautiful Pacific Northwest outdoors. He has an entrepreneurial background as an artist, multi-media craftsman and author. He loves cooking, hiking, camping, traveling and spending time his family, including playing and…
I’m a history professor, but I’m also a reader. I love books—fiction and nonfiction—that reveal a world, a character, an idea, or a political movement in ways that I didn’t previously fully understand. That make me see more deeply and think more clearly. I teach and write about the history of the United States, especially its history of radical or extreme political groups. Where did this interest come from? Well, I first visited the U.S. in 1980, when I was eleven years old, and truth be told, my fascination with the country and its people has not abated since.
Harrowing, haunting, and utterly compelling, Langer’s superb investigation of the murder of an Ethiopian immigrant called Mulugeta Seraw by racist skinheads in Portland, Oregon, in 1988 always reminds me of the importance of good journalism, the demands of justice and the power of empathy.
It is a book of focused, local history with a much wider story to tell.
A riveting account of a skinhead killing and a chilling look at the world in which it happened
On November 12, 1988, a group of Portland, Oregon, skinheads known as East Side White Pride met for an evening of beer and racist banter. Later that night, they encountered three Ethiopians; a street fight broke out and Kenneth Mieske brutally beat Mulugeta Seraw with a bat. In the early-morning hours, Seraw died.
Drawing on more than ten years of original research, award-winning journalist Elinor Langer takes the Seraw case as the occasion for a thorough investigation of the Nazi-inspired racist movement…
Deputy Jenna Hart has only been working in her sleepy hometown of Pearl Springs for seven months when city officials begin to be targeted by a killer. Twenty years ago, the construction of a dam caused people to lose their land to eminent domain. That wound has not healed with…
I've been in love with ecological writing, the effort to communicate love for and grief over the destruction of the profound beauty of the natural world, since I wrote my first play about rainforest clear-cutting in fifth grade—if not before. In 2016, I started Reckoning, a nonprofit journal of creative writing about environmental justice, because I wanted to encourage others doing this work, to provide an independent platform for it in ways profit-driven traditional publishing wasn't, and to build a community where those writers could share and inspire each other. Seven years later, that community defines me; it's the most rewarding thing I've ever done.
A ridiculously fun and eerily prescient folktale, about the rise of a Robin Hood figure and the community that rallies around her in a droughted, post-warming Portland, Oregon, I can basically never not recommend this book. Like Brown Girl in the Ring, this is one of the books that made me want to read and write about speculative community-building and environmental justice. Parzybok's clever, inviting prose makes this substantial novel a deceptively fast and joyful read, and I'm never not sad when it's over.
"Parzybok does this thing where you think, 'this is fun!' and then you are charmed, saddened, and finally changed by what you have read. It's like jujitsu storytelling."—Maureen F. McHugh, author of After the Apocalypse
In drought-stricken Portland, Oregon, a Robin Hood-esque water thief is caught on camera redistributing an illegal truckload of water to those in need. Nicknamed Maid Marian—real name: Renee, a twenty-something barista and eternal part-time college student—she is an instant folk hero. Renee rides her swelling popularity and the public's disgust at how the city has abandoned its…
