Legend of King Author

I am looking for a recommendation for a good first book on the legend of King Author. I am less interested in a true historical account (e.g., Geoffrey's History of the Kings of Britain), and more interested in fantasy books with some historical accuracy.

I liked the Stephen Lawhead series; Taliesin, Merlin, and Arthur. The ones that come after were not all that good by my reckoning though.

Everyone should read The Once and Future King by T. H. White

Parke Godwin's Firelord series makes Arthur a cut-off Roman cavalry officer (or something close to that; it's been a while). I think the best historical guess is that if there was anyone like Arthur he would have been someone like this.

After The Sword in the Stone, my favorites are the Mary Stewart series, starting with The Crystal Cave. They follow Monmouth fairly closely.

You might also try Gillian Bradshaw's Gawain series, starting with Hawk of May.

I've been making my way through Le Morte d'Arthur and have been enjoying it. I can't vouch if it's historically accurate. I think it was originally written in the 1400s though.

Considering there almost certainly never was anyone who resembled King Arthur (meaning no sword in an anvil/stone, no Uther, no Merlin, no knights, no round table, no Guinevere etc) except perhaps a war chief called something similar, I have to admit I don't understand at all what you mean by historical accuracy. Not slagging you here, I genuinely don't understand.

However, I second the recommendation to read Mary Stewart.

Bernard Cornwell's Warlord Chronicles - The Winter King; The Enemy of God and Excalibur is very good. Not much fantasy but very readable.

I second the suggestion to read Cornwell's Warlord chronicles. By far the best version of the Arthur-legend IMO and I've read quite a few. It's a darker and much more realistic take on the story that most of the other versions.

I liked your typo in naming the thread! I thought that was going to be a rather cool discussion on the nature of authorship...

the Author typo made me think of Here Lies Arthur where "creating the myth" is important - I recommend it, but nos a as a "first book" on Arther.

I'll third Cornwell's The Winter king . It's muddy and confused, rather than the troubadour version of history in Le morte d'Arthur. Taking a view of how real life might have been as changes swept the land after the Romans left is a fascinating time. If you liked the Cornwell, Stephen Baxter did a book from the same time period in his Time's Tapestry series.

Mary Stewart has a series based on Merlin:
The Crystal Cave
The Hollow Hills
The Last Enchantment

It's been many, many years since I read them but at the time I gobbled them up. More recently I read The Once and Future King which has already been mentioned and I really liked it.

I loved M. Z. Bradley's Mists of Avalon as a teen, retelling with the women in the tale as main point of view characters, not sure how it would fare re-reading now.

>13 I second that recommendation for Mists of Avalon. Brilliant book.

Helen Hollick has a trilogy called Pendragon's Banner that starts with The Kingmaking that puts a different spin on Arthur - she turns him into a bit of a cad which makes for an interesting read. Not your typical "hero" version.

I would also agree that the Mary Stewart series is wonderful; as is the Mists of Avalon.

I am looking for a recommendation for a good first book on the legend of King Author.

I know it is a typo, but now I want to know more about King Author.

16>

Me too!

Are there any scifi versions of the King Arthur myth?

18: A couple. H. Warner Munn's Merlin's Ring and Merlin's Godson have science fictional elements. There are some others. I'd have to dig through my library to figure out which versions are fantasy and which ones are science fiction.

Camelot 3000 was a 12 issue limited comic book series publich by DC that has been collected as a graphic novel.

16 & 17: I first heard of him on a bookstore sales receipt where I was informed that King Author of the Dead Zone was coming soon. However, I think it's been held up at the printers or something. That was over 20 years ago.

I remember one sci-fi adaptation by Patricia Kennealy-Morrison included The Hawk's Gray Feather, The Oak Above Kings, and The Hedge of Mist.