What about McKillip’s FORGOTTEN BEASTS OF ELD? I haven’t read it in years, but I believe it has a number of the fantasy tropes you’re looking for, along with questions of responsibility and personal cost. It’s in print, in mass market, and it’s a stand-alone (with the added bonus that students who are truly captured by the story have a lot more McKillip to read…)

And you know, it’s a children’s book, but for an easy read that is still enjoyable and gives you a clear look at the classic motifs, you could do worse than The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander.

Most people can grit their teeth and ignore something they don’t like if they know they’ll be doing other stuff after, if they get halfway through the class and realise that there’s nothing else left to cover other than this doorstop of a book that they don’t like or that they’re just struggling with, they’ll be gone for good.

It’s also very “accessible” because it’s deceptively simple writing, while sliding thoughtful themes in under your radar without making a fuss about it.

Pawn of Prophecy by Eddings is also a very accessible book to the non-fantasy (or non-anything!) reader.

For sci-fi I’d possibly suggest Pride of Chanur from CJ Cherryh, it’s standalone (but there’s sequels for your keener students), and while dealing with many sci-fi tropes it’s also from the alien viewpoint, which is a great way to show the potential of what sci-fi allows over “normal” fiction, or possibly Foreigner for much the same reasons.

If you’re looking for dramitised versions of Gormenghast, the BBC miniseries is an absolute must.

I’d also consider looking at short-stories for sci-fi, as a genre sci-fi seems to excel at producing short-stories, it gives you something small to ease people in with and if you don’t cover all the stories in a collection, the faster and keener readers will have some extras to look at as a bonus.

I recently enjoyed reading the Zima Blue short story collection from Alistair Reynolds, it covered a lot of different sorts of story with some nicely thought-provoking stories, but obviously there’s thousands of amazing anthologies out there.

Kelly: I’ll have a look at it.

Alma: agreed on Bane and you know, it’s been awhile since I read Mary Gentle. Need to put that on my remind to read list.

Liz: Thanks!

Anne: I like Deeds, but honestly I like the three books together and that’s just going to be too long. I did teach that for an advanced class a few years ago.

Kristi: that’s what I’d like to do–light a fire

Yanni: Dune is one I’m thinking about showing in movie form, though I’m not all that excited about my choices of movies. I’m going to have to watch them again (poor me, I know, hard life).

Lara: I haven’t read Ghosts in the Snow. I’ll have to go have a look. I love the title.

Dotan: I’ve thought about Wizards of Earthsea. My problem is that it was never a favorite of mine and I’d want to do all three. Okay, I know there are more now, but the three were the first.

Timmy Mac: I haven’t read that one in awhile. I’ll have to see if I can find it.

Karen: I thought about the Gormenghast books, but I think they would be very difficult for non-genre readers to engage with, especially this quickly. I did think of trying to find the movie they did.

Patrick: I like Green Rider. I hadn’t thought about it for this. I’ll have another look.

Keilexandra: Yeah, that’s why I’m leaning so heavily toward it.

Kes: Yeah, I read the beguilement the other day and it isn’t quite it. I’d forgotten about Chalion. I’ll have to see if I can find my copy.