Elric of Melnibone is definitely a good read. Mind you I've probably read more Moorcock than anyone here. He even sent me this copy of Mother London off his own bookshelf a few years ago. [ATTACH=CONFIG]904[/ATTACH]

That said, I'm not sure I'd include Moorcock in a top three list. His writing isn't exactly the easiest to read. Madprofessor might have a point that you should read Tolkien first, because I totally read the Elric Saga (the first six), Howard and Lovecraft before attempting Tolkien and I made it about halfway through the Rings Trilogy before I gave up. It felt monotonous to me. I might be more inclined to recommend Hawkmoon Jewel in the Skull first. Even though it has weird technology, it always felt more like a D&D world to me than the Young Kingdoms.

I'm having a real hard time thinking of three books in the genre because I was always a Science Fiction guy first. Not sure, maybe if you can find the first five Amber novels by Zelazny in one volume that would probably make for a good read. If I was going to pick a D&D novel... Maybe Azure Bonds. The whole Tuigan trilogy was a pretty good read.

One of the Conan collections.
Dreamquest of Unknown Kadath.
Changeling Earth.

Quote from: Spike;958443As I believe I was the first to mention Elric, I feel compelled to point out that I didn't put it up there because it was the very bestest fantasy out there, but because

A: it meets the criterion of being a fast intro to swords and sorcery

B: God damn if it ain't all D&D an' shit!  Magic swords and memory stealing mirrors, potions to do just about anything you need, ruined kingdoms and mysterious places dropped all over the landscape like sprinkles on a fucking cupcake!  For Fucks Sake, Elric is, for most of his literary career, a murder-hobo!

C:  Its actually pretty easy to get into.  A typical Elric book, at least according to my recent adult forays, was a short bit, maybe 180 pages at the top end, and actually contained a good half dozen loosely linked mini-stories.

Yeah, Elric is cool as shit!
However, when I recommend it (and I do), I feel compelled to tell people that it is not high literature.
Pretty much the same with Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser.

Fritz Lieber was a pretty good writer, though. Most of the collected F&GM stories are good; just stay away from Rime Isle and The Mouser Goes Below.

Quote from: Arminius;958469The Mouser Goes Below.

?

I think we've discovered the secret identity of Chuck Tingle!

If you just want to cover swords-and-sorcery fantasy, that seems more do-able - but fantasy as a whole is so much broader - and it seems to miss that to take three books to cover it. A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Faerie Queen, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, Dracula, The Lord of the Rings, A Wizard of Earthsea, etc.

Three books? Agreed on The Hobbit.

A good Conan anthology is necessary, let's go with Del Rey's The Complete Conan (now that's cheating!).

#3 for me would be a toss-up between the first Elric anthology (Elric of Melniboné) or the first Lankhmar anthology (Swords & Devilry).

Quote from: jhkim;958483If you just want to cover swords-and-sorcery fantasy, that seems more do-able - but fantasy as a whole is so much broader - and it seems to miss that to take three books to cover it. A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Faerie Queen, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, Dracula, The Lord of the Rings, A Wizard of Earthsea, etc.

I assumed by "the genera" he meant the genre ghetto rather than "Literature." But there are no three books that would encompass the scope as it spans from The Wizard of Oz to Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

JRR Tolkien, The Hobbit - because elves, dwarves, dragon, caves, treasure: it's the D&D adventure.

Ursula K. LeGuin, Earthsea (and here I'd cheat and go with the German omnibus edition... I didn't find an English one) - because magic and responsibility, non-European lands and peoples, and Harry Potter before Harry Potter.

Peter S. Beagle, The Last Unicorn - because it's as much a fantasy love story as it's a deconstruction and commentary on the fantasy genre, tropes, fairy tales, illusion and reality ("that's what heroes are for").

Runners-up:
As much as I adore Jack Vance: Lyonesse is not an easy read, even if it's "the better GoT".

I love love love Patricia McKillipp's prose in The Riddlemaster of Hed but it's maybe too slow to catch someone not yet interested in fantasy.

Rose Bailey, The Sugar House - dark fairy tales, "Robert E. Howard meets the Brothers Grimm - the heroine Sasha Witchblood is a mostly uncaring, reluctant witch in the body of an ogress, a Conan-like character trudging through the East-European forests fighting monsters and curses. (Great inspiration for Warhammer, LotFP, btw.)

For a reader that has to be "lured" into the genre I'd substitute the Last Unicorn with:
Stephen King, The Eyes of the Dragon - because, King. He's a well-known and liked writer, the book is a page turner, and before the reader knows it he is in a fantasy setting with scheming wizards (Flagg is the role model of the evil power behind a throne) and nobles. King's interpretation of the invisibility spell has been in my games ever since. (I like the book so much that I can even forgive that King reuses a plot twist from another one of his works.)

I had thought of Eyes of the Dragon but it had been so long since I read it that I couldn't remember the title.

The thing is, "Appendix N" isn't really a genre. And fantasy is almost too broad a term to summarize in three books.

However, if the goal was to list three books that in a very incomplete and condensed version summarize the most basic and famous elements of fantasy, it would probably have to be Lord of the Rings (or some part of it), Elric, and one of the Conan stories.

And before the Great Fantasy Boom of the mid 80s (tm) (c) (reg us pat off), especially before 1960 or so, a lot of what we would now think of as "fantasy" was often found under "horror."

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;960116And before the Great Fantasy Boom of the mid 80s (tm) (c) (reg us pat off), especially before 1960 or so, a lot of what we would now think of as "fantasy" was often found under "horror."

Or science-fiction.

Well, if you really want to go that route science fiction and fantasy are the same thing given different names just to make it clearer which subset a book or story might fall under for the convenience of the potential reader.

Quote from: Dirk Remmecke;958637JRR Tolkien, The Hobbit

Peter S. Beagle, The Last Unicorn - because it's as much a fantasy love story as it's a deconstruction and commentary on the fantasy genre, tropes, fairy tales, illusion and reality ("that's what heroes are for").

I love love love Patricia McKillipp's prose in The Riddlemaster of Hed but it's maybe too slow to catch someone not yet interested in fantasy.

The Last Unicorn is strange in that it's a loving satirical deconstruction of fantasy stories but it's also a deconstruction of deconstructionist cynicism.  The movie is good but there's so much great stuff that doesn't make it into the movie, like Captain Cully's defense of his band's methods and the untrue ballads he writes about them, or the town in the shadow of King Haggard's castle where there have been no children born for decade, or the princess Molly and Schmendrick run into on the way out of the story.

As for McKillipp, I usually suggest A Song For the Basilisk, Forgotten Beasts of Eld, or The Book of Atrix Wolfe rather than Quest of the Riddlemaster.  The first is about the problems endemic in trying to overthrow the evil king (I wish somebody had told us there was more to fighting than swinging a sword around and striking a pose), the second is about why dating a sorcerer's daughter is dangerous business (fear that physically crushes the body), and the third is about a spell book where all the spells are mis-titled and fantastic medieval  kitchen scenes of all things.

The Riddle Master is wonderful but it's hard reading and most people need to read it twice to put it all together.  Yes Morgon is the chosen one, that's clear from the beginning.  But nobody can even tell him what he's been chosen for and he is the Riddle Master learned in deep lore and with the balls to challenge an undefeated undead king in his tower before the story even starts.  It's the twists and turns that make it stand out.  But it also has that gentleness that J.R.R. Tolkien, Lloyd Alexander, and C.S. Lewis manage and is thematically closer to those than R.E. Howard, Fritz Leiber, or Michael Moorcock.