Ellen Kushner's first novel is extremely fanficcy in style, but in an original universe. I want to say there is at least one other Trek novel/series with the bumpy foreheads filed off, but I can't think of it.

Ellen Kushner's first novel

Swordspoint? Yeah, I call it a slash fairy tale.

Is Swordspoint good, or is it fanficcy in a derogatory way?

Mmm, Swordspoint. I didn't like the sequel so much. Too much magic, not enough interaction of people. I loved Swordspoint because it was a fantasy without any of the fantasy elements. Except for it being a different world, where anyone can love whoever they want, it could have been an historical novel.

I mean fanficcy in a purely descriptive way. When I read it, I felt like I was reading fanfic, except it was in a universe I'd never heard of.

...I suppose that could be taken derogatorily, but I don't especially mean it that way. I have some issues with the book, but not specifically related to its feeling like fanfic.

Swordspoint is marvelously-well written, but there is a certain element of... oh, I suppose, elevation of the characters-as-characters that you won't find in most fiction. Maybe a little indulgent.

Which is not to say it's not good, it's very good. But I didn't love Richard and wassname enough, and I really did have issues with the sequel.

Hmm. Nutty, I think I know what you mean, although I don't think I could describe that style very well. Anyway, sounds interesting; I'll look it up at the library.

I enjoy Swordspoint.

It is a somewhat odd book. There is a fairly intricate plot, but the plot is almost completely driven by what the characters think about each other.

I must confess, I skimmed through the sequel so I could find mention of the characters from Swordspoint. There are some very lovely vignettes about them.

You read Swordspoint for the people and the milieu. It's like reading Wilde or the early Lord Peter Wimsey novels: it's the trip that matters, not the destination.

For really excellent plotting in a fantasy thriller, I highly recommend Rachel Caine's Weather Warden series. First book is Ill Wind, second is Heat Stroke. Damn, but she can hook you; by ten pages in I had to find out what happened next. At the ending of the first book, I couldn't see how she could possibly write a sequel having fallen into (I thought) an LKH trap. ( The heroine winds up with superpowers. ) Boy, was I wrong; the second book has more at stake than the first.

The basic conceit is that there's yet another secret society of wizards, and they're working full-time to keep natural disasters from killing us. The heroine is a weather wizard.

And the reason I'm mentioning these in this context is that the author is really Roxanne Longstreet Conrad, of fanfic fame.