Recently in Heroic Fantasy Category

Inspired by my friend Larry Nolen, I decided to make a list of authors that I read for the first time in 2008 that I found to have written good works. Following his example, I'll highlight those who moved me the most (Larry highlight the writers whose debut efforts came out in the U.S. this year, but since I live in Brazil, I thought I should do things a little bit differently):

Ekaterina Sedia

Jeff VanderMeer

Jacques Barcia (Brazilian author, not available in English translation)

Adam Roberts

Jeffrey Thomas

Ken McLeod

John Scalzi

Chris Roberson

Joe Abercrombie

Brandon Sanderson

David Louis Edelman

Forrest Aguirre

Jeff Carlson

Maurice Dantec

Christie Lasaitis (Brazilian author, not available in English translation)

Tobias Buckell

Robert T. Jeschonek

Jay Lake

Hal Duncan

Rhys Hughes

Ted Chiang

Stepan Chapman

Thomas Ligotti

Jeffrey Ford

Leena Krohn

Hannu Rajaniemi

Steph Swainston

Daniel Abraham

Eric Brown

Antônio Xerxenesky (Brazilian author, not available in English translation)

Otis Adelbert Kline

Naomi Novik

Joe Hill

Tibor Moricz (Brazilian author, not available in English translation)

Elizabeth Bear

Mark Newton

Sarah Monette

Sergei Lukyanenko

David Thorpe

M. J. Rose

Roberto Bolaño

Kelly Barnhill

Conrad Williams

Katherine Sparrow

Ludimila Hashimoto (Brazilian author, not available in English translation)

Kelly Link

Tony Ballantyne

Neal Asher

Karl Schroeder

Alan Pauls

Felix Gilman

Matthew Pearl

Patrick Ness

(via OF Blog of the Fallen)

Nice video where Brandon Sanderson talks about the final volume of his Mistborn trilogy, Hero of Ages. I've picked Anderson's books SEVERAL times in my local bookstore, but I've always put them back, for no real reason. They seem to have everything I like: good magic system, non-obvious plot, asian-like setting and Kung Fu. Now that the series is coming to an end, I guess I'll finally pick the three books.

In the video, Sanderson also talks a little bit about the 12th and final volume of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time, which he was comissioned to write.

This is goood!

Heroic Fantasy has an award of its own. The David Gemmell Legend Award for Fantasy will choose among the best heroic fantasy titles of 2008. The first winner will be known somewhen next year.

As Cheryl Morgan said, that's great news for fans and writers alike. Heroic Fantasy hardly hits the big awards' radar.

We'll definitely keep an eye on this one.