From: aef 
Date: Tue, 29 Jul 1997 02:35:54 -0600
Subject: Books Worth Reading

First off I would just like to start off by saying, WOW. I had always
considered myself to be well read until I found your site. Now I realize just
how much is out there that I haven't even heard of.

As this is the purpose of your site I will get on with my list of
recomendations.

----
Robert Jordan:

The Wheel of Time series:

The Eye of the World
The Great Hunt
The Dragon Reborn
The Shadow Rising
The Fires of Heaven
The Lord of Chaos
A Crown of Swords

I find it hard to believe that someone as well read as yourself
hasn't read these books. I'm sure you have at least heard of him. As to
Jordan I must say: Read them, and read them now.

# People don't believe me when I say I get at least one "You must
# read Robert Jordan" letter per month, so I thought I'd print a
# couple of messages this time around the likes of which I would
# normally delete due to their repetitive nature.

This is a series of staggering proportions. It currently has 7 books in the
series with predictions that it may end somewhere near 11 or 12, furthermore
each book is anywhere from 600 to 1000 pages long.

As can be expected with a series so large, the author is able to go into a
great amount of detail as to what the characters are like, the history of the
world, and the motives that drive the story.

The only complaints I can find about this series is that there is a wait of
1 to 2 years between each book, and that with a series this large I find it
easy to forget the names, and importance of the minor characters that show up
from time-to-time.

----
C.S. Friedman

Black Sun Rising
When True Night Falls
Crown of Shadows

The Coldfire Trilogy remains among my favorite books. This takes place on a
world that was colonized by Earthlings, but after they had started settling in
their worst nightmares(literally!) started coming to life(Vampires, Werewolves,
Demons, etc..)

The cause was discovered to be a source of power that native to that world
called the Fey. The Fey changes the world to suit what the life on the planet
thinks. Before the humans came the world was populated only by native beings
who were used to the Fey. Then, it didn't cause horrors, but changed the
weather to be more suitable to the life-forms, and other beneficiary feats.

The main characters are a priest and the founder of the priest's church. It
isn't quite that simple, though. The founder of the church is over a millenia
old. He had gotten that old by forsaking the church he started and selling his
soul to what I guess cold only be called evil(The evil in people manifested
itself into a creature who was the very embodiment of evil.).

This is a very dark fantasy filled with all sorts of horrors. Well worth
the read.

One problem with this series is that Black Sun Rising isn't very easy to find.
I bought my copy 3 years ago(the only copy they had), and haven't seen a
copy in a bookstore since. You should probably be able to get it from
Amazon.com, but I don't know for sure. The other two books in the series
are fairly easy to come across.

----
Raymond E. Feist
Fairie Tale

If there was ever a book that should be made into a horror movie, this is
it. Had I not known who the author was I would have expected it to
be Stephen King.

This book tells the story of an author who moves with his family to a
house out into the country bordering a large forest. This forest is, but one
of the many forests across the world that was set apart for the Faeries to
inhabit when they were defeated by humans in a war that lasted long Before
written history. Worst of all is the fact that the Faeries are tired of their
imprisonment and want revenge upon the human race.

The Serpent War Saga

Shadow of a Dark Queen
Rise of a Merchant Prince
Rage of a Demon King

I have to start out by saying that this series pales in comparison to
Magician(one of my favorite books.) While it shouldn't be put at the top

of your reading list it is still worth reading, especially if you want to know
some of the great mysteries, like who is Macros the Black(All that stuff
he said in Darkness at Sethanon was a lie.)

----
Robin Hobb

The Farseer Trilogy

Assasin's Apprentice
Royal Assasin
Assasin's Quest

These are books that aren't as well known as I would with they were.
They tell the story of FitzChivalry Farseer the bastard son of Chivalry
Farseer the King-in-Waiting. Because bastards are not able to become King,
or even hold any high positions the Kind decides to secretly train him to
become an assasin, and by the time he is 15 he has already killed dozens of
people for his King.

The series is written completely in the first perspective, which can be highly
misleading. Being written that way you are brought to believe what Fitz does,
just to learn later that what you believe is completely wrong. This I think
is a big improvement over many of the books out there where you can
virtually judge exactly what is going to happen later in the series.

As I haven't read Assasin's Quest yet(Just ordered it 30 minutes ago from
Amazon.com) i can't give you a complete summary.

I must warn you of one thing that annoyed me until I actually got into
Apprentice, and found out the reason for this. All of the nobility have names
like Chivalry, Regal, Verrity, Patience, King Shrewd, King Wisdom, and other
such names. At first when I read the review for the book I thought it to be
lack of imagination on the author's part. I couldn't have been farther
from the truth.

The reason the nobility have names like this is that the people believe that
if someone is given a name like Wisdom at birth that they will grow to possess
the attribute that their name signifies.

----
Peter Maas

Sammy the Bull Gravano's Story of Life in the Mafia

I know that this one doesn't exactly fit in with the books I wrote about
above. I mention this one, because I truly liked this book. It offers a
startling insight into the acts of the Mafia.

If you like Mafia stories you must get this book.
---------------
While I could keep going on, I am going to cut my list short here (mostly
because it's 2 a.m. and I'm getting tired.)

Now I would just like to address some of what I consider to be rating
injustices on your own list. Hope you don't mind.

----
Douglas Adams

All of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books should be at least 9,
but in my opinion 10. These are just too damn funny to rank anything less.

Who couldn't help but laugh at the hijinks of Ford Prefect, and the way he
drug poor Arther Dent all over the universe?

I'll be the first to admit that this series is by no means a literary master-
piece, but any book where I laugh the whole way through (several times) has to
be a 10 on my list.

----
Orson Scott Card

Spreaker for the Dead, and Xenocide should be lowered to 5. I say this
mostly because Ender's Game was so great(easily deserved the 10 you gave it.)
that when I went out and bought Speaker for the Dead hoping for something
similar, my expectations were dashed when instead it turned out to be more
about religion, and philosophy then about War like Ender's game was.

----
David Eddings

Pawn of Prophecy was ranked too high. I didn't feel that all that much actually
happened in that book. All that really happened was that Garion traveled north
and ran around a castle spying on people. Need I sat dull?

I probably would have thought better of Eddings had I not read his other series
(The Tamuli, and The Elenium? I think those are the names.) After reading
all his books it struck me that I had just read the same series four times.

----
Raymond Feist

Magician: Apprentice should be given an 8 and Magician: Master a 7.
You should also make an entry just for Magician (as the other two are just
this one book in hardcover.) with a ranking of 8.

----
Stephen King

The Stand should be ranked a 10. Hands down his best work, and one of
my favorite books. This is one of those books where I can't exactly put my
finger on why I liked it so much. Instead, after reading it I just say to
myself: "Damn, that was good."

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From armenon@top.cis.syr.edu Thu May 30 11:53:28 1996
Subject:  U'r great page
 
Hi Doug:
 
GREAT page! Wish I had thought of it.  I read through quite
a few of u'r reviews.  Agreed with most of them, but have the following
comments.
 
Regarding Ursula LeGuin: U'r review of the Earthsea was a little "tepid".
After the innumerable tedious "questing" stories that I have forced
myself to read, this story was a joy! For the first time, I read a
world I could believe in. And the ideas! The first three books were also
carefully laid out; roughly, IMHO the first dealt with ignorance, the second
with knowing and the third wth wisdom.
 
And Dispossed is *not* about a "completely communist" society. Even in
the "true sense"! Anarchy is not communism. And some of the physics
was absolutely riveting.
 
May I also recommend her short stories: "A quiver full of arrows" for
instance. Her short story "Semley's necklace" is almost ideal for
a ballet production.
 
And I am a little surprised u left out Kim Stanley Robinson. His
"Icehenge", and "Memory of Whitness" are really good.
 
Dan Simmons: I found him really disappointing. His Hyperion, set like a
modern Canterbury tales is a great idea, but ultimately it ends like
a slasher movie. I know u really liked it, but I felt a little let down
at the end. So the shrike is some kind of AI creation. So?
 
Orson Card: I also Ender's game and Speaker for the Dead were/are
classics (or should be). But some of his later novels have this
thread of bizarre and really horrible deaths that make them
vaguely disturbing. For example, in one of his post-apocalpypse
collection of short stories, there is this guy running from a dark
past. The story trudges along, and then we learn that as a child
he locks his step-brother and sister in a small room for days on end
(on the orders of his vicious mother, or some such thing). They go
crazy (Card gives stomach turning descriptions). This is not
an isolated incident. He seems to like disposing of his characters in
really horrible ways. I have a hard time taking very religious people
seriously (how can they *believe* all that childish stuff?), so it could
just be simple bias.
 
Piers Anthony: I agree with u'r review completely. The man could
have a really good writer. From his long tirades at the end of his
books, I gather that unfavorable reviews did him in.
 
And Doug. I almost forgot. U just got to read Gregory Benford's
Timescape. That is a GREAT book. U know how hard it is to write
time related SF. Benford does it beautifully. It is really
satisfying and very thought provoking.
 
Well, I didn't intend this email to be this long. In sum, I loved u'r
page. Keep up the great work. Will visit it every now and then.
 
Regards,
 
Anil Menon

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: blang@VNET.IBM.COM
Date: Thu, 21 Dec 95 16:20:58 EST
Subject: Recommendations

Doug,

First of all, like so many others who've sent letters to you,
I'd like to thank you for putting together such a wonderful
set of reviews.  I'd also like to thank you for pointing out
the personality test;  I, too, am an INFJ, and I found myself
agreeing with you on several of your reviews.  Of course, human
nature being what it is, when I disagreed with you, it was a
doozie.  While I liked Donaldson's Mordant's Need, I couldn't
even finish the first of the Covenant books.  I thought Connie
Willis' Doomsday Book was very good, especially because it
paints a more realistic picture of the middle ages than does
other books (i.e. historical fiction genre).  Thirdly, and maybe this is
because I took a Chaucer class in college, I found Hyperion good
but overall nothing but The Canterbury Tales in Space.
I'm still debating whether to read The Fall of Hyperion.

On the other hand, Guy Gavriel Kay is my favorite author, and I
whole-heartedly recommend Lions of Al-Rassan to you.  It's more in
line with Song for Arbonne than Tigana (Tigana having elements
of magic in it that Song and Lions do not contain).  I also agree
with you on Greg Bear;  The Infinity Concerto and The Serpent Mage
were the first two books of his I had read and I believe they
are extremely powerful.  I'm currently finishing Anvil of Stars and I
think this duology (The Forge of God is the first book) is also
well-written and a superb story.  Thanks for the review of Ken
Grimwood's Replay; one of the best books I've ever read, with some
imaginative ideas and a surprising ending.

Just to let you know this isn't all chaff, here's some other recommendations:

Charles DeLint -- Of all his works, I think The Little Country stands out.
Others will argue that Moonheart and Spiritwalk are better, but something
about those two rang false.  The Little Country makes you believe in magic.

Peter Beagle -- The Last Unicorn is delightful in the same way that
Disney movies are delightful.  Also, Beagle is one of the best at
handling the English language; his analogies brighten the story and open
the mind.

CJ Cherryh -- Fortress in the Eye of Time.  This probably isn't out in
paperback yet, and it is the first book by Cherryh that I've read.  It
is a fantasy along the lines of Crowley's The Deep, in which an unknown
entity is thrust into the gap between two warring nations.  Very
well constructed and a tense read.  I'll be picking up more of
Cherryh's writings because of this one.

John Crowley -- Little, Big and Aegypt.  Crowley can be difficult
to read at times, but his manipulation of everyday life into an
alternate reality full of elves and such works on your mind as you read.
These books are not fast reads;  they are almost like literature in
their structure.  I haven't read Love & Sleep yet, the sequel to
Aegypt, but it's on the list.

Stephen Lawhead - His Arthurian series was a breath of fresh air
from all the rehashes of the Arthurian legends.  Lawhead, who
lives in England, has apparently paid a lot of attention to the
histories written by Norma Goodrich.  Many of her ideas regarding the
true nature of King Arthur, the round table, of who Gwenhyfar truly
was are reflected here.  And he throws in some truly remarkable
fantasy ideas regarding Atlantis and the Fisher King.  Unfortunately, I
found the latest installment, Pendragon, a far cry from the
original trilogy.  Also, his other Celtic series (The Paradise War,
The Silver Hand, and The Endless Knot) are recommended.  Lawhead has
a deft way of bringing Celtic life to the fore without
any of the trappings of medieval thought.

Jane Yolen -- Briar Rose.  My wife convinced me to read this short novel,
one of the Fairy Tale books.  This tells the story of Sleeping Beauty,
combining the traditional tale with the tragedy of the
Holocaust.  I wasn't too sure
I'd like it, but I found myself entranced from the beginning.  Yolen takes
a wonderful angle at the story and her writing makes me want to search
out her other books.  This one is highly recommended.

Paula Volsky -- Illusion.  A tense political fantasy describing a
French/Russian type of revolution, the rise of a
despotic ruler who uses magic to subvert
the populace, and the love story between a proletarian and a former
rich bitch (pardon the French).  The book moves swiftly, the action is
tense and meaningful, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  The magic is described
very well, and the characters (and their emotions) are real.  You're a
part of the revolution, caught up in the events along with the characters.
Again, highly recommended.

Hope you get a chance to check some of these out. If you respond to this,
please e-mail me at Raenar @ aol.com.  I'm only sending this from
here 'cause I'm bored today.

Thanks,
Brian

P.S. A couple books I recommend avoiding: Tepper's A Plague of Angels
(Grass was great, but this was too odd), John Barnes' Mother of Storms (too
unbelievable), and Hans Bemman's The Sword and the Flute (DULL!).

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: snake@CHEMVAX.PRINCETON.EDU
Date: Thu, 14 Sep 1995 23:09:43 EDT
 
Doug:
 
        My friend rpl@chemvax.princeton.edu showed me your home page when
he wanted to upload some of my Wolfenstein levels, and I very much enjoyed your
science fiction and fantasy book reviews.  It looks like a highly reliable
source for modern science fiction and fantasy.  It does seem, however, that
you've missed a lot of great pre-1980 novels, and to some extent you've judged
a lot of authors by their more recent works which are clearly inferior to
their earlier, reputation-making efforts.  I thought that maybe you were just
relying on other web sites to provide such reviews, but when I checked "The
Good Reading Guide" that you recommend, I was shocked by the omission of so
many really famous authors, and the earlier, perhaps better works of others.
The same is true, but to a lesser extent, for "The Internet Top 100 SF/Fantasy
List".  Perhaps I'm not well enough read in the most recent SF, but I have read
65 of the current Top 100, and about 1200-1500 SF books overall.
 
        The omissions are probably just a reflection of the extreme youth of the
people who write for the web, but it's still amazing to someone who's only
41 (but a child at heart).  Anyway, I'm often asked to recommend science
fiction or fantasy novels to people who've read little or none, and for the
last ten years I've been giving versions of the following list for science
fiction.  (There's also a fantasy list, but let's forget it today.)  Of
course, now I can just send them to the Top 100 list!
 
 
                A SAMPLER OF SCIENCE FICTION
 
        Titles Recommended by Robert Pascal and Brent Koplitz
 
Author                          Title           Last revised:  5/27/95
Isaac Asimov            ***     Nine Tomorrows (short  stories)
David Brin              ***     Startide Rising
Orson Scott Card        **      Ender's Game
Jack L. Chalker         **      Midnight at the Well of Souls
Arthur C. Clarke        **      Childhood's End
Samuel R. Delaney       * W     Babel-17
Philip Jose Farmer      *       To Your Scattered Bodies Go
Robert Forward          ***     Dragon's Egg
William Gibson          **      Neuromancer
Joe Haldeman            **      The Forever War
Harry Harrison          **      The Stainless Steel Rat
Robert Heinlein         *       Starship Troopers
Frank Herbert           ***     Dune
Fred Hoyle              *       The Black Cloud
Keith Laumer            * W     A Plague of Demons
Larry Niven             ***     Neutron Star (short stories)
Larry Niven             ***     The Mote in God's Eye
   & Jerry Pournelle
Frederick Pohl          **      Gateway
Spider Robinson         *       Callahan's Crosstime Saloon (short stories)
Christopher Rowley      **      Starhammer
Fred Saberhagen         **      Berserker (short stories)
Charles Sheffield       **      The Web Between the Worlds
Robert Silverberg       *       Dying Inside
E. E. "Doc" Smith       *       The Skylark of Space and Skylark Three
Norman Spinrad          * W     The Iron Dream
Olaf Stapledon          *       Sirius
John Steakley           **      Armor
Theodore Sturgeon       *       More Than Human
John Varley             **      Titan
Roger Zelazny           *       Jack of Shadows
 
Pending:   *** Snow Crash
 
        This list was first compiled in 1983 and it has been revised every
couple of years.  No author may have more than one book on the list (except
Larry Niven who gets 1.5 entries by special dispensation), and the total
number of books may not exceed 30.  With the exception of the Doc Smith entry,
all books were written after 1950; Brent and I feel that everyone should have
read the classics of Verne, Wells, etc.  To be fair, our coverage of the '80's
and beyond has not been the best (due to professional obligations), although
there are a few recent entries.  The rating system is obvious, but the
symbol "W" denotes a book which is wierd even by science fiction standards.
 
        Just for comparison, neither you nor The Good Reading Guide have any
books by Hoyle, Robinson, Sheffield, Stapledon, or Sturgeon, and, as far as
I'm concerned, you and they have completely missed the best work of Clarke,
Delaney, Haldeman, Rowley, Silverberg, and Spinrad!  I know that most are not
out of print!  At the risk of boring you, here are a few comments and
suggestions:
 
        Isaac Asimov wrote wonderful short stories, much better than his
novels. _Nine_Tomorrows_ and _Nightfall_and_Other_Stories_ are classic
collections of his stories from the '50's and '60's; a lot of modern
stories will seem far less original after you've read them!
 
        Jack Chalker churns out all sorts of cookie-cutter series these days,
but you really ought the read the first book of his first series,
_Midnight_at_the_Well_of_Souls_, which was just as much a genre-generator as
_Neuromancer_ was later.  (I thought _Neuromancer_ was great, but I have not
been able to get past page 30 of any other William Gibson novel.)
 
        Arthur C. Clarke has been writing so long that the Rama books seem
like the good old days, but he was already repeating himself by that time.
Go back, WAY back to _Childhood's_End_ (T100 #73) for true classic Clarke in
one of the greatest first contact novels.
 
        The same is true for Delaney; even though I don't really care for most
of his work.  But _Babel-17_ (#87) was one of his first, when he still could
write SHORT books, and it deals with a topic (if I recall correctly; it's been a
long time) -- the relationship of language to patterns of thought and sense
of identity -- that is rarely touched by science fiction, although
_Snow_Crash_ is a recent example that takes a stab at it.
 
        You quite correctly note the link between _Starship_Troopers_ and
_Armor_, and _Armor_ is undoubtedly the best of its type, BUT it derived a LOT
from Joe Haldeman's book _The_Forever_War_ (T100 #34 -- surprisingly high).
Haldeman rose to prominence on that book and soon faded; all his subsequent
books had the same theme; sort of an earlier Gibson.  By the way, it appears
that you didn't get as far as _The_Stainless_Steel_Rat_Saves_the_Universe_, in
which the villains are a wonderful parody of Heinlein's ideal society in
_Starship_Troopers_!
 
        Keith Laumer's _A_Plague_of_Demons_ is complete trash but wonderful
fun; it's sort of the ultimate paranoid science fiction novel, even more so
than Colin Wilson's _The_Mind_Parasites_ or _The_Space_Vampires_ (the last
of which was made into a pretty good movie -- but I can't remember the name.)
 
        READ THE EARLY NIVEN (all the Known Space stuff).  It's much better
than the things you've reviewed (except for _The_Mote_in_God's_Eye_, which
has, however, a very disappointing sequel).  You might even learn to
appreciate the Kzinti.
 
        Read some Pohl, Robinson, Rowley; they're all good fun.  _Starhammer_ is
my favorite science fiction novel, even though it's by no means the best.  It's
an adolescent power fantasy which nevertheless sweeps you along so smoothly
that you never notice the ponderous improbabilities.  It's the way Star Wars
should have been, and in my mind it's akin to "Casablanca" for movie buffs --
it's trite but somehow everything is right.  In the same universe, Rowley's
_The_Vang:_The_Military_Form_ is probably the best, and certainly the most
amusing, of all the literary children of Heinlein's _The_Puppet_Masters_ (#53
-- incredibly high! It's not THAT good; it must be fallout from the movie.)
 
        How can you guys have missed Charles Sheffield?!?  His first half dozen
novels are very good, but there's been a recent decline.  Try
_The_Web_Between_the_Worlds_ (exactly contemporary with Clarke's
_The_Fountains_of_Paradise_, both of which are about the construction of a
skyhook) or _Sight_of_Proteus_ and _Proteus_Unbound_ (but I haven't yet read
the more recent Proteus novels).
 
        _Dying_Inside_ is much better than Silverberg's much later fantasy
novels.  It's about a telepath who is slowly losing his power; it's very
moving.  He wrote a lot of excellent science fiction when he was younger.
 
        Since this has been going in alphabetical order, more or less, I should
note here that I can't believe that someone of such obvious good taste would
like Simmons' _Hyperion_ et al.!  Episodic, derivative, interminable, and
weakly-ended are only some of the adjectives I'd apply; but I concede that
I hold a minority view on this.
 
        From the '20's and '30's, the first two books of the Doc Smith's
Skylark series are just amazing:  an inorganic bench chemist becomes lord of
the galaxy in a total of about 300 pages.  And it's wonderfully non-PC.  At
one point the hero has the bad guys on the ropes; he's warned them to surrender,
but they've refused.  He's about to obliterate their home planet with the
push of a button (a la the Death Star), when he has second thoughts about
genocide, even for a thoroughly evil race.  No matter, the number 2 hero says
he has no such inhibitions, and zaps them into oblivion!  (This scene is more
or less repeated in Rowley's _Starhammer_, but its non-PC purity is tainted
by the fact that the hero is in more immediate danger and has little choice.)
 
        Spinrad's _The_Iron_Dream_ is presented (in an alternate history frame)
as Adolf Hitler's last and greatest science fiction novel.  Need I say more to
any Wolfenstein afficionado?
 
        It's probably best that I don't.
 
                                        Bob Pascal
                                        a.k.a. Snake
                                        a.k.a. Heinrich von Zen

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: snake@CHEMVAX.PRINCETON.EDU
Date: Fri, 15 Sep 1995 11:31:34 EDT
 
Doug:
 
        Just a short comment on fantasy to follow up on my letter of yesterday.
Since the vast bulk of fantasy, as it is currently recognized, was written
after 1970, almost all the good stuff is covered in yours and related reviews.
Just for calibration, almost all of the series I usually recommend you've
already reviewed:  The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Earthsea, The Swords
Trilogy, Anne Rice's vampire books, The Lord of the Rings, The Lords of Dus,
The Book of the New Sun, and the Amber series.  But I do have a few other
recommendations which I'm certain you'll enjoy.
 
        First and foremost, Barry Hughart's fantasy trilogy _Bridge_of_Birds_
(T100 #64), _The_Story_of_the_Stone_, and _Eight_Skilled_Gentlemen_, which are
sort of detective fantasies in "a China that never was", are simply wonderful.
When I'm reading them, I always think they're the best fantasy ever written,
and they drop only slightly when viewed from a more distant perspective.
 
        Second, in my view the single most astonishing omission from the Top
100 list is the lack of any book by Robert E. Howard (author of the original
Conan stories).  I only found one Howard even in the gigantic supplemental
lists to the Top 100.  I'm amazed.  Howard was the best storyteller ever to
write fantasy, but he was 50 years ahead of his time, a tormented soul, and
ended up committing suicide in his thirties.  There are five or so collections
of the original Conan stories, and they're best read in chronological order
(of Conan's life), culminating in the one Conan novel, _Conan_the_Conqueror_.
It's important to note that the literary Conan is not at all like the
revenge-motivated moron in the movie "Conan the Barbarian".  This was John
Milius' fault, not Schwarzenegger's; the second movie, "Conan the Destroyer",
is much closer in spirit to the stories, but irreparable damage had already
been done.  Howard wrote lots of other fantasy, all of it good to excellent.
 
        Among other "early" SF/fantasists, you ought to try the first five or
so Tarzan novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs (really!) and the first ten or so
Doc Savage novels (of ca. 200!!!) by Kenneth Robeson.  They are terribly
addictive, and provide an important basis for a lot of the more modern
speculative fiction.  Again, both are totally missing from the Top 100 lists
and supplement.  If you like these, it's even more fun to read Philip Jose
Farmer's _A_Feast_Unknown_ and its sequel, which chronicle the present day
exploits of thinly disguised (for copywrite reasons) Tarzan and Doc Savage,
who turn out to be half brothers, and are just fine, thank you, since they've
been taking the immortality serum provided by The Nine, an oligarchy of
of multi-thousand-year-old immortals who are the true rulers of the earth!
 
        Also very much in the style of Burroughs, but highly controversial,
are the Gor books of John Norman.  There are about 25 of these, but here one
must be very selective: books 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, and 9 ONLY constitute in
my view a single extended novel in which the character of the protagonist is
carefully developed, from neurotic earthman to ultra macho Gorean.
[Specifically, these are _Tarnsman_of_Gor_, _Outlaw_of_Gor_, Priest-Kings...,
Nomads..., Assasin..., Raiders..., Hunters..., and Marauders...]  Norman took
a lot of heat for these books, which are incredibly sexist -- virtually
all of the women on Gor are slaves, or secretly want to be -- and this has
obscured the merits of the series.  On the other hand, Norman did more damage
with books 7 and 10 through infinity, which are unspeakably awful, the clearest
examples of word-processed, repetitive text with 15 pages of plot packed into
300 pages of book.  But he obviously made a lot of money!
 
        Finally, you might pick up _Too_Many_Magicians_ by Randall Garrett.
This is one of the Lord Darcy detective fantasies, in an alternate history
where the laws of magic, not science, have been used to create a modern
technological society.  There's a lot of more recent fantasy which clearly
derives from Garrett's ideas, although I suppose that he himself is
the literary progeny of _The_Incompleat_Enchanter_, which I liked a lot more
than you.
 
                                All the best,
                                Bob Pascal

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: Wu 
Date: Mon, 09 Mar 1998 16:08:01 -0500
Subject: A self-indulgent book rant.

Hello -

Following in the footsteps of some of the other letters you've posted on
your page, I thought I'd deluge you with some of my opinions, and hope
you find them somewhat interesting... (there is no particular order
here)

1. I've just started the first Covenant trilogy, and am just about done
with the second book.  Frankly, I don't see why people have so many
problems with it.  I'm enjoying it a whole lot; sure, Covenant is a
bastard at times, but I actually can identify with him in some
circumstances (which might make me a similarly dislikable person, but
I'd rather not think so).  Being depressed doesn't decrease my enjoyment
of a book, so as a result I'm finding the Covenant trilogy one of the
best fantasies I've read.

2. Have you read the followup Foundation books?  Prelude to Foundation I
found fascinating; haven't gotten around to the others.  I also haven't
gotten around to the Robots series, which I hear recommended highly all
over the place.

3. Your rating of Card's Speaker for the Dead is something most readers
would agree with, but not me... I thought SftD was the best of the
bunch, personally.  Your rating of Clarke's Rendezvous With Rama also
surprised me... that's one of my favorite SF books ever... just be sure
to avoid the sequels.  Also avoid 2061 and 3001, and anything with
Gentry Lee's name on it.

5. About Feist... Riftwar started off well and got predictable, but the
two followup books are decent... the second, The King's Buccaneer, I
really enjoyed.  Also, the "Empire" trilogy (Daughter/Servant/Mistress
of the Empire) is much better than Riftwar.  Haven't read his new
Serpentwar Saga, but I've heard it's pretty good.

6. I believe I actually mentioned this a long time ago in a short note,
but Christopher Hinz does a good job with his sequels to Liege-Killer.
LK is pretty much a typical action SF novel, but the followups add some
pretty interesting twists.  The series ends with quite a bang.

7. Like you said, everyone has an author they rave about... mine is
George R.R. Martin.  You won't be getting into his "Song of Ice and
Fire" anytime soon since there are a planned four books, only one of
which (A Game of Thrones) is out; but I couldn't resist mentioning it.
Great characters, surprising originality given the state of the fantasy
genre these days.  Good stuff.  Also his short stories are good - check
out the collections "Tuf Voyaging" and "Sandkings".

8. Another author I really love who I think is underrated is Charles
Sheffield.  I think he's one of the best hard sci-fi authors out there;
his early stuff in particular is good.  Between the Strokes of Night is
one of my favorite SF books, though most people seem lukewarm about it.
I've heard his early stuff is really good as well.

9. The Lord of the Rings... loved it, but I disagree with you on the
Silmarillion.  I think you just have to get used to the sort of
historical point of view.  Especially if you plan to read the 12-volume
History of Middle-earth.  I haven't read much of it but what I have is
fascinating.

10. Final disagreement.  I really like Varley's Gaean trilogy, except
for the fact that I can't find Demon anywhere (I'm ordering a used copy
ASAP).  It depressed you?  I just found it very interesting, and though
Wizard was a little slow I really enjoyed it.

And the obligatory Robert Jordan note (no, don't stop reading this
e-mail just yet).  I don't think you'd enjoy it a whole lot, judging
from the rest of your reviews.  It starts off very strongly - books 1,
2, and 4 I thought were very good - but quickly degenerates into bloated
(though fun to read, for me and obviously a whole lot of other people)
fluff.  I enjoy it but it's starting to get pretty bad.  The characters
have never been believable; the plot and extremely detailed setting
until about book 6 are pretty engaging, but things have slowed down
big-time.  I still count myself a Wheel of Time fan, but it's got
obvious flaws.

Ok, I'm almost done.  Other recommended books:
Larry Niven - The Integral Trees - very unique setting makes up for weak
plot and characters
Charles Sheffield - Cold As Ice - give your brain a rest and try this
sci-fi mystery novel
Arthur C. Clarke - More Than One Universe - a pretty good selection of
Clarke's short stories
George R.R. Martin - Fevre Dream - a classic no one's heard of; about
vampires
Timothy Zahn - Spinneret - a really great First Contact type yarn
Ben Bova and A.J. Austin - To Save The Sun - I picked it up expecting a
hard sci-fi novel; what it really is is political intrigue; very well
done but avoid the sequel
David Drake - anything (Surface Action, the Northworld trilogy, the
Hammer's Slammers series) - if your brain *really* needs a rest this is
some pretty fun military sci-fi; readable at warp speed :)

Hope I didn't just rehash what others have said... if I've forgotten
anything I'll probably write again.  In any case, I've got a reading
list at http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Studio/2064/rlist.html if
you're interested.

Great site -
Brandon Wu

PS. I plan on starting an SF&F amateur magazine, _Intrepid_, later this
year; if you would be interested in seeing some of your reviews
published, I'd be glad to - just e-mail me.  _Intrepid_ is sort of
planned as an expansion of my current zine, _The Sledgehammer_, which
covers a much narrower slice of the genre - the miniatures game
Warhammer 40,000.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: Chris Pearce

I can't say that I've
read any fantasy/science fiction for years. Primarily, I read contract
bridge books and whatever non-fiction is around.

Strangely, though, I have read seven of the books you reviewed. Since I
read them so many moons ago, perhaps there's some insight to be gained
by looking at what stands out in my mind after all these years.

I was surprised at how much of _Earth_ I remembered. There seems to be
some compelling imagery in the book. From the direct neural interfaces
to the global network weasels (not unlike an Internet search engine) to
the magnetic beams acting in coordination to wreak vast destruction, the
book seems to have tickled my fancy enough that the impression of the
whole still remains with me.

I read the first book of Glen Cook's _Black Company_, but very little
remains. I do retain some vestige of the strange shamanistic magic, but
that's all. After seeing how many books the series ran to and feeling
somewhat cheated by the dangling ending of the first book, I didn't pick
up any of the sequels.

_Chronicles of Thomas Convenant_ I read back in high school. As I
recall, you were positively foaming at the mouth about this series. Some
of the dramatic imagery of the second series really remains, as well as
an impression of the main characters, but that's all.

I wonder if I was the friend who lent you _Replay._ I was thinking about
that book a few days ago, strangely. I agree it was an interesting book.

Jennifer Roberson's _Chronicles of the Cheysuli_ I found a waste. If I
recall, its the series that contains various types of werecreatures and
contains the kind of typical theme of mysterious species unjustly put
upon that seems to typify the ossified structure that the fantasy genre
seems to suffer from. I read several of these many years ago and
remember practically nothing now.

Joel Rosenberg's _Guardians of the Flame_ series sticks out dramatically
in my mind. I read the first five books, and it is interesting to see
that two more have come out. Most fantasy novels have settings that
don't really ring true; rather, they often seem to fall into cliched
versions of your typical swords and sorcery roleplaying game. Good
writers like Tolkien, Le Guin, and Lieber have a way of vividly
depicting a world that you feel like you could touch without letting
description get in the way of the story. For all that Rosenberg's story
takes place in a roleplaying game world, the world feels incredibly
real.

Lawrence Watt-Evans _With a Single Spell_ I don't remember much of. His
world seems the typify the plague of default fantasy worldism and,
what's more, I believe his coming-of-age theme represents default
fantasy themism.

Now come the section where I've described books I've read that you
haven't reviewed:

Robert Jordan's _Wheel of Time_ series. I read the first of these, and I
read it in a strange way. I was bored one day, so I picked it up and
started reading the first book in the middle. When I finished, I turned
to the beginning and read to the middle. I understand people rave about
these, but they just seemed to me to be typical fantasy stuff and
expressed the setting and theme faults that typify the genre.

Ursula K Le Guin, _Earthsea_. I see you have reviewed these in the past
from one of your mailbag letters, and I gather the review was somewhat
critical. I, on the other hand, consider these some of the best fantasy
books of all time. The world is very vivid and rings true to me, the
character actually has faults,  makes mistakes, and grows thereby, and
the conflict is compelling. Excellent.

George MacDonald Fraser, _Flashman_. You won't find this series in the
fantasy/science fiction category. Rather, it is shelved in the fiction
category. This nine-book series chronicles the life of one
ne'er-do-well, Harry Flashman, in his exploits in the late 19th century.
Despite (or because of) Flashman's despicable character, he always seems
to come up smelling of roses through any of the amazing ordeals he lives
through--and these ordeals are only some of the most amazing historical
events of the 19th century. Knowing the way that you like the anti-hero,
I feel pretty certain you'll enjoy this series, even though I don't
recall our having the same taste in books. (Eddings? Bleah.)  I know
that after reading the first book of the series, I  had to buy them all.
I'm about midway through the fifth now.
--
Chris Pearce
cpearce@incite.com

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: David Kennedy 
Date: Fri, 12 May 95 12:37:30 0100
Subject: Book reviews
 
Hi, I was reading over your booklist and had a few suggestions.
 
These are all off the top of my head and as such haphazard and oddly
and arbitarily organised: :-)
 
Better Side of SF
-----------------
Robert Silverberg - Add 'Hot Sky At Midnight'
Mary Gentle - Golden Witchbreed, An Ancient Light (Better than
'Rats&Gargoyles')
Peter F. Hamilton - Mindstar Rising, A Quantum Murder, Nanoflower
Gregory Benford - Find his other books and read them.
Donaldson's Gap Series - Buy it now, its nearly all out...buy buy buy!
Storm Constantine - Surreal dreamy Sf/fantasy/magical realism. Great.
C.J. Cherryh - Heavy time, Rimrunners, Cyteen, Downbelow Station etc.
Greg Egan - Up and coming ideas man. Permutation City is very good.
John Barnes - A million open doors
John Varley - Add 'Steel Beach' for a great laugh.
Ian Watson - British ideas man. Also did some 'games' stuff. Those have WH40K
plastered all over them, butarequitegoodandyoudidn'thearmesaythat...
J.G. Ballard - Older, genteel british SF, wonderful short stories.
Pat Cadigan - Cyberpunk - hit and miss, try some of her books and see.
Michael Swanwick - Best *before* 'Iron Dragons Daughter'. Stations of the Tide
is wonderful.
David Zindell - Odd, see if youlike him. People either love or hate him.
Philip K. Dick - A MUST READ. Try and read all his short stories.
Tom Holt - Humerous writer, not a patch on PTerry, but not bad. Doesn't belong
in this category either, usually writes myth pisstakes. Faust, Beowulf etc.
Paul J. MacAuley - Great offbeat sci-fi, space opera-ish at times but very
good.
Ian McDonald - Gentler side of dreamy 'ideas with people' sci-fi.
 
 
Silly Fantasy for when your brian is tired and you
want a great read and a packet of crisps.
--------------------------------------------------
Dave Duncan's 'Seventh Swordsman' Series.
Peter Morwood's 'Old Russia' or 'Horse/demon/etc Lord'
 
Horror - Usually hate it, here are some more decent suggestions.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Tanith Lee
Clive Barker
 
 
Better Fantasy
--------------
Tim Powers                      Ignore his early books. Suddenly he got better.
Kathryn Kristine Rusch          New and worth a quick read.
Michael Scott Rohan             Dunno why but I love his books. He can write
                                well even if his stories are weak.
 
I should have taken the time to write better notes and maybe give a few
titles, but I'm in a rush! Hope you enjoy some of the suggestions anyway.
Perhaps some of the books are ones you mightn't have seen on USA shelves,
I usually find WWW booklists give a different spectrum of books due to the
predominantly American influence.
--
 
David Kennedy, Queen's University Belfast
E-mail: D.Kennedy@Queens-Belfast.ac.uk
#include 

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: "David L. Morris" <73151.2071@CompuServe.COM>
Date: 10 Oct 96 17:48:52 EDT

I wanted to write you a quick note after finding your homepage.  First and
foremost, congratulations!  You've put together a terrific page and are the
best-read person in terms of 'speculative fiction' I have encountered in quite
some time.  You have read books no-one else I know has even heard of.  Barring,
of course, those people who trust my opinion and therefore allow me to buy books
for them.

I am writing this from the office (oops) and therefore don't have my shelves in
front of me, but I do have some comments.

Guy Gavriel Kay
I actually felt that the Fionavar Tapestry was his best work.  In Tigana he made
the mistake of having humans, in all their complexity, fighting each other.  I
found it impossible to really sympathize with anyone and found that any ending
at all would be (and was) disappointing.  Song for Arbonne and Lions of
Al'Rassan (sp?) worked past this issue but I continue to think that Kay is at
his best showing 'Good' vs. 'Evil'.  Fionavar is, by the way, an all time
favorite of mine.  And I tout it as a must-read to anyone who will listen.

John Steakley
Wow, I don't know anyone else who has read these books.  I find it impossible to
determine which I prefer -- typically I find whichever I've read most recently
is my favorite.  Question: what do you make of the fact that Jack Crow and Felix
appear in both novels?  Near as I can tell, they are literally the same people
in each; the personalities are striking.  Add in the references in Vampire$ to
the Antwar Saloon and Felix's dreams and I am *very* curious/fascinated.  Sort
of like Saberhagen's Swords Trilogy beginning and ending with the same sentence,
but more interesting than that.  Another must-read.

David Eddings
Minor point -- I actually thought these books were vastly entertaining.  Not
fine literature, but fun stuff.  Of course, that whole Diamond Throne series was
really annoying.

Piers Anthony
Well, we were all thirteen once. . .

Glen Cook
Wow, you found the Empire books?  I only managed to track down the last
two-three and was intrigued.  Given your recommendation I may look for the rest
( I don't know where).  The Black Company continues to be a terrific series; I
assume you know the next one has come out.  It retraces recent events from a new
viewpoint so it doesn't break new ground but is interesting.  For sheer
complexity, as well as wonderful villains (so that's why you should be afraid of
a lich) the Black Company wins big.  Yet another must-read.

Recommendations
Not many at the moment, since you've read most of my major hot-button authors

There is this Anita Blake series out about modern-day vampires, etc.  It should,
by all rights, be total crap but I pounce on one every time it comes out.  Seems
like just plain fun stuff to me.  That is, however, one of my deepest, darkest
secrets.

Simon Greene (sp?)
Blue Moon Rising(?), Hawk & Fisher series, and others.  Very fun stuff, and if
you pay close attention the heroes in Hawk & Fisher seem strangely familiar if
you have read Blue Moon.  As you may notice, I am interested in connections
between books.

Moby-Dick
OK, so I wanted to be an English teacher.  Doesn't change the fact that I think
this is the greatest novel ever written.  The clash of two epic traditions; Ahab
as the great, failed classical epic hero, the direct descendent of Achilles,
Turnus, Aeneas, and others; Ishmael as the triumphant Christian hero from
Paradise Regained -- Adam done good, if you will.  You have to suffer through
the 'all about whales' sections in the middle but I can't recommend it highly
enough.  And I also have pet theories about the whale section which I'd love to
drone on about.  Point of interest: Moby Dick never bleeds.  All through the
novel the whales spout blood, but they harpoon Moby Dick and he *never* bleeds.
A brutal portrait of a great man gone bad and dragging everyone around him down
with him.

The Faerie Queene (Spenser)
Sorry, I'm not trying to show off my education.  However, the first book of the
Faerie Queene is really fun stuff.  Contains one of the all-time great poetic
barfs.  The other books can bog down quite a bit.

Ayn Rand
I thought her two 'big books' were very well written.  I was totally absorbed by
both of them.  She does, obviously, get awfully pedantic and is about as subtle
as a stormtrooper, but still terrific stuff.

Well, that finishes off my initial comments.  I'd love to hear any reactions you
might have, and plan on being a frequent visitor to your page.  Thank you for
creating it.

	David Morris

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: nehrlich@MIT.EDU
Date: Sun, 25 Jun 1995 21:01:27 EDT
Subject: Doug's Library
 
Hi, bounced into your home page from Yahoo when I was browsing various
book links, and spent a fair amount of time comparing your impressions
with my own on various books :).
 
Based on your recommendation, I finally went out and bought the Timothy
Zahn Star Wars trilogy and enjoyed it - I kept putting it off since I
was worried it would just be dreck, but hey, it was pretty good.  On
the other hand, I didn't particularly like The Black Company by Glen
Cook but that may be because it left the story hanging and I need to
read the other two books of the trilogy if I can ever find them.
Your page also reminds me I need to pick up Hyperion at some point - I
read Simmons's Carrion Comfort and liked that but never got around to
his more "pure" SF work.
 
Several comments/recommendations:
1) Definitely have to recommend Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson as did a
few others in your Mail Bag.  Incidentally, Interface by Stephen Bury
(also recommended by another) is Stephenson co-writing with his uncle
under a pen name - I recommend that one as well.  Haven't read The
Diamond Age (Stephenson's latest) myself yet.
 
2) A decent epic fantasy trilogy I read last year is by Tad Williams,
with the books being, The Dragonbone Chair, Stone of Farewell, To Green
Angel Tower (split into two parts in paperback version *grumble*).  Not
awesome (i.e. worthy of re-reading over and over again) but engrossing.
 
3) Might want to read Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Heinlein - good solid
SF from before he started writing his "dirty old man" set of books :)
 
4) Shockwave Rider, and Stand on Zanzibar, by John Brunner are both well
worth checking out.  Shockwave Rider is sort of a precursor to
cyberpunk, and Stand on Zanzibar is a fairly disturbing portrayal of a
possible near future world.
 
5) Bug Jack Barron, by Norman Spinrad is way cool - haven't read much
else of his that I liked though (Little Heroes was okay).  mini-review
of it in the book section of my home page.
 
6) If you get the chance, read Orson Scott Card's short stories.  I read
them originally in hardback from the library as Maps in a Mirror, but
they're also available in paperback as 4 books - Flux/Cruel
Miracles/Monkey Sonatats/The Hanged Man.  Extremely good short stories -
it's these and the Ender trilogy that attract me to Card - I haven't
found the rest of his work to be anywhere near the same quality,
although my expectations are probably unjustifiably high.
 
7) If you liked A Fire Upon the Deep, by Vernor Vinge, you should try to
find a copy of an earlier set of stories by him called True Names, and
other stories.  Don't know if it's still in print, but the title novella
(True Names) is wonderful reading if you're a net-fiend like myself.
 
That's all I can think of off the top of my head (and not in immediate
view of my bookshelf :) ).  Nice job on the page and the reviews - I
find them pretty interesting.
 
Eric Nehrlich, Devil's Advocate - These are just my thoughts/flames/ideas
nehrlich@mit.edu - Feel free to disagree
http://web.mit.edu/nehrlich/www/home.html

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: Iron Czar 
Date: Tue, 11 Nov 1997 02:47:34 -0500
Subject: On a Very Good Reviews Page

I just checked out your reviews page--overall, very well done, and
reasonably comprehensive.

I found myself nodding in agreement on reading many of the reviews (Dan
Simmons, for example--I just finished _Endymion_ tonight and think as
highly of it as I did of the first two)--and disagreeing wildly with
others (Weis and Hickman rate the same as _Lord of Light_?  Come on!)
Still, I enjoyed going over your reviews very much.  The numerical
ratings occasionally seemed inconsistent with the write-up, though.

Here's a couple of throwaway recommendations of stuff I've enjoyed:

1.  Poul Anderson's Time Patrol stuff.  Available in two volumes in pb.
Probably the definitive Time Travel stories.  (The best of the bunch,
IMO, is 'The Sorrow of Odin the Goth,' in _The Time Patrol_.)

2.  Robert E. Howard's Conan stories.  I'm something of a Howard
purist--I don't care very much for the Conan stuff written by knock-off
writers, and the current series of novels from Tor, so far as I've read
is utter garbage.  But the *original* Howard stuff is very good (if not
deep) reading.

3.  Poul Anderson's _Tau Zero_, which may be difficult to find, though I
gather that you (like me) frequent used book-shops, so you shouldn't
have too much trouble.  An excellent novel dealing with the effects of
relativity (on the grandest scale!) and isolation on the human psyche.
There's also a wealth of technical detail, as fans of Anderson should
expect by now.  This novel has character development and big ideas.

4.  Two novels by M. A. R. Barker, _The Man of Gold_ and _Flamesong_.
These are not a series, really, though they are set in the same world
and touch upon many of the same events.  The latter is reminiscent of
Edgar Rice Burroughs at his best.  In my opinion, Barker's world,
Tekumel, is the most original fantasy world ever created.  No kidding.
It's got a depth and richness almost unparallelled in fantasy fiction,
and is the equal of Middle-Earth in this respect--and it's *far* more
original.  (Not that I am slighting Tolkien, mind you!)  The
characterization is a bit lacking, perhaps (though I wouldn't go so far
as to call this a Realy Big Flaw,) but the texture of the setting makes
up for it.

5.  C. S. Freidman's _In Conquest Born_.  I love this book, and have
read it several times.  Really exceptional when you consider that it was
Freidman's first published work.

6.  Heinlein's _To Sail Beyond the Sunset_.  This is a very different
book, especially viewed in the light of RAH's early work.  It's
essentially an autobiography of Lazarus Long's mother.

7.  Larry Niven's _Ringworld_.  Great Big Idea book.  _Ringworld
Engineers_ wasn't as good, but was certainly readable.  I've heard
*really* negative stuff about _Ringworld Throne_, though--believable
after reading the atrocious _The Gripping Hand_.

I'll be interested to hear your thoughts on Donaldson's _Gap_
series--finished it myself not too long ago, and enjoyed it the way I
usually enjoy Donaldson's stuff--with a kind of horrified facination.

8.  Fred Saberhagen's _Swords_ trilogy (The First Book of Swords, The
Second Book of Swords, etc.)  Interesting idea, pretty good writing.
The gods make a set of magical weapons and distribute them among mankind
to amuse themselves by all the blood spilled over them.  Trouble is, it
turns out that the swords can kill the gods themselves.  A problem I had
with this series was that Saberhagen's pantheon of Gods is made up all
all of the mythological gods of earth's past (Vulcan, Zeus, Ishtar,
Thor, and so on.)  I'd have preferred to see an original pantheon.
Still, the books are fairly enjoyable.  The later books are less so, but
the first two of the 'Lost Swords' books make up a single story and are
entertaining in their own right.

9.  The prequel to the Swords books, _Empire of the East_.  Probably
better, actually.  Set some centuries before the swords books, and
entirely separate from them in term of story and characters (though a
single character *does* appear in both series.)

10.  Jordan's _Wheel of Time_.  Yes, I know you're not going to read it
until it's finished (which may be quite a ways off), but I'll throw
another recommendation on the pile anyhow.  Huge, complex and inspired.
I noted that one of your letter-writers (I forget which one) claims that
Jordan ripped off Brooks.  That's pretty laughable, really.  *No* author
writing today is going to rip off Terry Brooks, trust me--they'd be
laughed at.

11.  George R. R. Martin's _A Game of Thrones_.  The first in a series
of four.  Only the first is out, so you'll be wanting to wait, but you
might as well let those recommendations start piling up--I think we're
going to be seeing a lot of talk on this one once the second book comes
out next year.

12.  Isaac Asimov's _The End of Eternity_.  Not sure if this is still in
print or not, but it shouldn't be too hard to find.  One of Asimov's
best, the story of a *culture* that uses time travel and it's
ramifications for mankind.  Great ending, I thought.

13.  Sean Russell's _The Initiate Brother_ and _Gatherer of Clouds_ make
up what is essentially a single long novel.  Good reading.  It's an epic
fantasy which draws on the cultures of the Orient rather than those of
the West.  Refreshing and well-written.

14.  I heartily endorse tracking down all of the Hugo Winners volumes,
of which there are seven, I think.  These are shorter-than-novel-length
award winners, and harbor numerous great stories.  I don't care for
*all* of them, of course, but a great many are worth reading.  Arthur C.
Clarke's "The Star" is probably the finest SF short I've ever read, and
David Brin's "The Crystal Spheres" is brilliant.  I could, no doubt,
name other great stories, but I don't have the books in front of me.
I've been picking up a lot of these types of anthologies lately.

15.  Joe Haldeman's _The Forever War_.  Sort of a counterpoint to
_Starship Troopers_, showing what happens when a military is handled the
*wrong* way.  Great book, winner of both Hugo and Nebula.

16.  Marion Zimmer Bradley's _The Mists of Avalon_.  This book kicked
off the whole trend of what I call 'Wymmin's' fantasy, filed with
sympathetic females, bastardly males, and neo-pagan pap.  Nevertheless,
*this* particular specimen happens to be a very good book.

Well, hope that helps.  I'll probably throw some more picks your way at
some point.  Right now I'm reading Poul Anderson's _Harvest of Stars_
and am pretty satisfied with it so far.

Later,

--
Iron Czar
Gary N. Mengle
ironczar@erienet.net

Check out the Czar's Homepage at:
http://erienet.net/~ironczar

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: Jeff Brown 
Date: Tue, 21 Mar 95 16:24:30 -0800
Subject: Mosaic book reviews page
 
For the first time, I just scanned your book reviews page.  I have a
couple of recommendations.  It shows that all but the last of these are
old stories, things written at least a decade ago.
 
1.  Silverberg's Majipoor books are ok but far from his best.
I was probably clinically depressed when I read them, but my
favorite Silverberg stories are "Downward to the Earth" and
"Nightwings"; both bear on redemption, personal and (in the latter
story) for the whole race.
 
2.  Zelazny's Amber series are his most ambitious books,  but again
far from his best.  He is also known for sci-fi/fantasy stories
where the characters play-act (or otherwise invoke personally)
various pantheons.  The first of these, "Lord of Light", is
based on the Hindu and Buddhist pantheons, and is (as is so often
true) the best.  Another book I very much like is "Doorways in the
Sand", which bears little resemblance to anything else he's written.
His "Jack of Shadows" is a tremendous disappointment: a wonderful
idea that he makes a hash out of.
 
3.  McIntyre's "Dreamsnake" is very good, though later re-readings
made me wonder about it; the protagonist is nearly worshipped,
while all the male characters seem to have very little reason to
be allowed to live.
 
4.  Hal Clement wrote two major books, "Mission of Gravity" in
the early 50's (it should have won either the first or second Hugo)
and "Star Light" about 1970.  He was a hard-core hard-science
sci-fi writer, meaning he holds himself strictly to technology
he knew about or could easily imagine at the time (leading to the
oddity of a tank-like vehicle being armed with a conventional
projectile cannon in "Mission of Gravity" where most authors were using
energy weapons).  The two employ the same central characters
(centipede-like entities from a very-high-gravity planet rotating
near breakup velocity) and focus more on the personality issues ...
"Star Light" is about the best breakdown-in-communications story
I can name off the top of my head.
 
5.  Keith Laumer wrote a lot of crap in his Retief series, though
I am told the earlier stories in that saga were decent.  Some of
his other stuff is very good.  "Dinosaur Beach" is to my mind
the last word on time-travel stories.  Some of his short stories
feature characters of heroic stature: "Field Test" (one of his
Bolo stories) and "End as a Hero" (which I *think* is a piece of
a novel whose title escapes me) both are in this category.
 
6.  My wife likes most of Mercedes Lackey's stuff, which I have read
relatively little of, just some short stories and her "Arrows of
the Queen" series.  So far it's ok, though I haven't read anything
monumental yet.  Tends toward very good female protagonists in
fantasy stories.
 
I should scan my shelf at home and look for some non-fiction titles
for you, though I am more of a history fiend than you are, I think.
 
jeff

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: James Park 
Date: Mon, 30 Dec 1996 14:58:59 -0500
Subject: About your book reviews...

I encountered them first a year or so ago because I was doing a search 
on some engine for the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever and 
your page was one of the hits. I was actually very happy to see such a 
positive review, because for a while I thought I was the only person out 
in the world who really enjoyed the series. That's not entirely true, 
though, because I actually was able to successfully ask two friends of 
mine to read the series, and they were both hooked.

Just a couple comments about bits of your page. I'd recommend the first 
six books of the Dragonlance series to you, as these are written by 
Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. The Dragonlance Chronicles and Legends, 
both trilogies. You may not be excited to hear this, but Zifnab puts in 
an appearance of sorts, and that was the main reason the series came to 
mind. (Zifnab was here first, btw.) Actually, it was a great series, 
though the newer authors have ruined it, imo.

Actually, I'd also recommend the Forgotten Realms books by R.A. 
Salvatore (actually, the Dark Elf Trilogy, the trilogy composed of The 
Crystal Shard, Streams of Silver, and another book I can't remember) 
though a lot of people don't like these either... Too repetitive and 
such, they say.

Btw, if you could find it in your schedule (how's that thesis?) to visit 
my home page about books, I'd appreciate it. You should probably visit 
after January, because I'm planning to update it in January. For 
example, I'd read Tolkien's The Hobbit and LOTR two or three times 
previously and didn't like it any of those times, but on this reading 
I'm enjoying it immmensely. the url is 
http://www.amherst.edu/~jhpark/books.html if I remember correctly. I 
believe I asked you to visit it once before, but I don't remember if you 
did or not. In any case, wait until the end of January before you go.

A word about Donaldson's Gap series. When I finished the first book, I 
had to ask myself, "Donaldson wrote _this_?" I enjoyed both the 
Chronicles immensely (The Second Chronicles drove me to tears, with the 
way corrupted the Land, like the Bloodguard and the Giants before), and 
Mordant's Need less, but the first book of the Gap Cycle just had me 
really annoyed. I mean... I really think it was just bad writing. The 
most interesting part was the appendix, where he talks about the 
inspiration for it. :) But each book got better for me; the second was 
good, the third even better, and the fourth blew my mind away. The fifth 
was about the equal of the fourth, I think, though it may have been a 
little better than the fourth. In any case, I told myself that if he did 
as well in the fifth book as he did in the fourth, he would have 
surpassed the Chronicles, but I think I'm going to sit and re-read the 
whole series in one fell swoop before coming to a final decision about 
that.

It's amazing how similar our lists of read books are... or will be, 
because I actually forgot some of the books I read until I saw them 
referred to on your page! 

Comment on Piers Anthony. He ruins series a lot. The Apprentice Adept 
series (Split Infinity, Blue Adept, etc.) was good for the first two 
books I thought, and Juxtaposition was a little worse. The last four 
books were absolutely horrible, though. My favorite books of the 
Incarnations were the 1st and 6th, and the 7th absolutely ruined that 
series as well. The only series I found he didn't ruin was Bio of a 
Space Tyrant, but I've only read that one once, so I don't know how well 
it ages.

Robert Asprin has written two fantasy-comedy series that I've read, one 
the Myth series and a Phule series. I recommend them both, but with the 
understanding that they're fluff. I think they're good fluff, but 
they're still fluff.

I read the Sword of Shannara before I read LOTR, and enjoyed it 
immensely. As I said before, I disliked LOTR the first few times reading 
it, and I wonder if that has anything to do with the fact that I read 
Sword first. People have said that Tolkien did the best work with 
creating a background for the world, evident with the elves and ents and 
their songs and such, and I agree, though maybe at the time that 
frustrated me more than anything else. (But I enjoyed the Chronicles 
that have much the same stuff, so there's a difference in there 
somewhere). I actually enjoyed Sword and Wishsong more than Elfstones, 
and enjoyed most of the second Shannara series, but milage varies, of 
course. I think I just find Allanon to be a much more interesting 
character than Gandalf... :)

Anyway... what else? I was really impressed with The Name of the Rose.

Oh, one last thing... because I think I'm going to stop this e-mail and 
just add to my web page and hope you'll be able to visit and read my 
comments that way (though I'm cc'ing this to myself): I actually thought 
it might be better to expand the Death Gate Cycle to 8 or 9 books than 
cut it down.  I thought that they really rushed the ending, and it 
may have been better to expand on it. But you're right about the 2nd 
book being really boring with the mensch; I really enjoyed the 3rd and 
4th books though. Well, in any case, I really enjoyed browsing through 
your web site.


				--James

PS. Not sure if you've gotten this one before, but I'd also recommend that
you read Peter David's Vendetta. It's a Star Trek:TNG novel that talks
about the Borg (I think after Best of Both Worlds and the Hugh story)
and gives some neat hypothetical background... It was my favorite ST novel.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: "Jay W. Samples" 
Date: Thu, 05 Oct 95 23:52:22 -700
Subject: Suggestions

Doug

I just found your library home page and I love it. I will likely use it
as a future reference for my reading. I have a long list of books I would
like to buy, but don't have the money too. Consequently I am in the Science
Fiction Book Club, so I get hard backs at lower prices, but unfortunately, 
books aren't cheap

As To recommendations

1) You must read more Arthur C. Clarke. Please don't base your judgments
of him on his novel Cradle.  From what I've heard on the Clarke newsgroup,
that novel was mainly written by Gentry Lee and not Clarke.  The Rama
series is a definite must.  The first, second, and fourth books are
wonderful and the third is a keeper.  However, Lee's influence somewhat
tarnishes the story.  Also read 2001 and 2010.  These two are wonderful.
If you like those, try 2061, but only if you really love the predecessors.
It does drag on a bit.  Also, DO NOT READ _The_Hammer_of_God....It is a
pretty good book, but it was obviously thrown together and is not Clarke's
best work.  Consider some of Clarke's older novels. Childhood's End was
good, but I felt it became too philosophical for me to truly enjoy,
and the ending was disappointing.  I especially enjoyed _The_Deep_Range_.

2) I also tried the first book of The Shanara series and couldn't stand it. 
I never managed trying the next 2. However, I think you should try reading
The Magic Kingdom of Landover series. I think all of it is paperback now.
Once you get past the first 50 pages of the first book, the story is a
magnificent fantasy.  Although the 3rd and 4th books were a little rough
in places, over all the entire series is a must read.

3) Look for the prequel to Eon and Eternity, "Legacy", to be in paperback
some time, I just got it from the SFBC and will soon begin reading it.
It sounds great.

4) You must read Card's Homecoming series. The basic storyline is of humans 
on another planet. The computer who controls their thoughts and prevent
knowledge of war and such is breaking down, so it calls upon a family to 
migrate from their home city so they can return home to Earth after 40 
million years. Obviously, it is quite complex because of the intricasies 
of human nature.  The series is wonderfully written and extremely 
entertaining.  I think it does have hints of Card's style in Ender's Game.
A must read.

5) If you liked The Hitchhiker's Guide series, I highly recommend Red Dwarf. 
It is, in my opinion, as enjoyable and easier to comprehend. It is a funny
story that centers around a man, David Lister, who ends up on a journey
of many light years unintenionally.  He is put into a sleeping thing, I can't
remeber what they're called, that allows him to endure space without aging.
After this, the ships computer malfunctions and lethal radiation spreads
through the ship killing everyone but him, and a cat. He wakes up millions
of years later, after the radiation level is acceptable, with only a hologram
of a man he hates, a sentient cat, and a talking toaster to keep him company.
I give it 2 thumbs up and am hoping Grant and Naylor continue where they
left off.

6) I'm not sure if you've read it or not, but the next book in the Guardians 
of the Flame, The Road Home, has recently come out in paperback.  It is a
little weak, but extremely entertaining.

7) Another series I highly recommend is Stasheff's Wizard in Rhyme series 
about an alternate Earth where magic works through the power of poetry.  The
storylines in the four book are somewhat similar, and once I even caught 
Stasheff repeating exactly a passage in two books, although with different
characters. It is a good read if you like fantasy with wizards and their 
unlikely cohorts. It is wonderful.

8) I noticed that you enjoyed Turtledove's _The_Guns_of_the_South. I 
feel you might also like to read his newer series of Worldwar: In the
Balance when it is complete.  The final two books should be out soon.
The series, about an alien invasion during WWII is wonderful although it, 
as any novel, has its extremely boring moments.  Look for the entire series 
in a year or two. Just wanted to give you an advanced recommendation.

9) As you have already heard, the Death Gate Cycle is a must. I agree 
that the first novel is very slow and normal. However, after that the
story picks up incrasingly and climaxes beautifully. A true masterpiece
of fantasy with wonderful characters and conflicts.

10) I would also recommend two books by less prominent authors. 
_The_Engines_of_God_ by Jack McDevitt and _Assemblers_of_Infinity_ by Kevin
Anderson and Doug Beason.  The first is an entertaining novel after the
development of light-speed travel. It involves what I term Astro-archaeology.
[There is a real word for this:  Archeo-Astronomy]  Humans have discovered
the remains of two worlds that once held civilizations.  However, due to
human destruction of Earth, the humans need one of these worlds, Quraqua,
which is currently a haven of study, for a new human habitat.  The
archaeologists are hard pressed to discover as much as they can about
this civilization and the civilization of The Monument Makers, a strange
race that has left monuments through out the galaxy, including ones in
the Pinnacle system, home of the oldest known civilization, one on Iapetus,
a Saturnian moon, and one on the moon of Quraqua. All have scientists
baffled. It is an exquisite story with a wonderful climax of discovery.
I deem it a 10.  The other book, _Assemblers_of_Infinity_ deals mainly
with nano technology, the use of extremely small machines in billions
to accomplish tasks. A strange structure is being built on the moon by a
strange nano-technology. Scientists on and off the Moon try desperately
to discover what it is and if it is harmful to man's existence.  Although
I feel some of the story was unimportant, I give it two thumbs up.  Try
it if you have time.

Well, that's about it for my suggestions. Hope I haven't bored you 
through redundancy or made this e-mail blotchy because of my lack of
expertise and sending e-mail. Hope you enjoy these selections.

Jay Samples
tlsampl@airmail.net

Have a nice day!

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: Inigo Montoya 
Date: Tue, 03 Sep 1996 16:33:49 +1000

You asked for suggestions.. :)

	I actually found myself agreeing quite a lot with your opinions on
several authors and was glad to see reviews of some people I've been
deliberating reading (Melanie Rawn, Barbara Hambly, and some others). 
So I thought I'd suggest some I think you'd like too.

	By the way, I totally agree with your opinion of Terry Brooks.  I hated
"Sword" and couldn't finish it because it seriously WAS "LotR with
global replacement" (cute phrase).  However, I did like "Elfstones".

	Of the authors you've already tried :

	Robert Asprin - try the Myth Adventures too.  Perhaps a bit juvenile,
but I was very entertained by them.  Course, that was around 10 years
ago..

	Alan Dean Foster - you must read "To the Vanishing Point" at least for
entertainment's sake, and try his Spellsinger series.  I can't remember
all the titles in it, but some are "The Path of the Perambulator" and
"The DAy of the Dissonance".  Crossover story where a college kid goes
to a world inhabited by talking animals where music that he plays works
magic.. (ok, so it's been done before, but I liked it when I read it).

	Robert Heinlein - the *onlY* thing of his I"ve liked was "I Will Fear
No Evil".  There is almost NO description of anything physical - all
action takes place in peoples' minds, which is cool.  I couldn't stand
"STranger in a Strange Land" or "Job".. so...

	Anne McCaffrey - her Dragonriders of Pern series suffers from having an
excellent idea combined with mediocre writing.  But I think you'd like
the HarperHall books - "Dragonsong", "Dragonsinger", and "Dragondrums". 
For a more SF-oriented series, read "Killashandra" and "Crystal
Singer".. both good.  Also, try "Rowan" (or is it "The Rowan"?).  This
develops into a long series I still haven't finished.  THe 2nd one is
"Damia" but I didn't think it was quite as good as the first.

	Larry Niven - forgive me, but I found "Footfall" unbearably dull :) 
However, I really liked "The Integral Trees" and "The Smoke Ring".  (He
did write those, didn't he?)  Check 'em out.

	Christopher Stasheff - "Her Majesty's Wizard" is one of my very
favorites.  He did write a couple sequels but they really aren't worth
it.

	Now for some not on your list...

	Patricia McKillip - Riddle-Master of Hed series.  These reminded me
strongly of LeGuin's Earthsea books, which I also liked.   Probably
written to a middle-school level, but still good.

	Robin McKinley - now she is just awesome.  Try "Deerskin" for fairytale
fantasy tinged with horror (just like the Grimm bros wanted it?). 
"Beauty" for another fairytale retelling and quite excellent.  But most
of all, read "The Hero and the Crown".  The sequel "The Blue Sword"
isn't as good, but do read the first one.

	Sheri Tepper - "Gate to Women's Country", "Shadow's End", "Beauty" (not
the same as McKinley's!).  Yes, she has recurrent feminist themes.  But
it's great writing.

	Well, that ought to keep you busy for a while.  I'm sure you've had
some of these suggested to you by other people, and really, one can only
read so much at a time.. but enjoy!

	Cheers,

	Kiri Wagstaff (yes, the email says from Inigo Montoya.. it's just for
fun).

	http://www.cs.utah.edu/~wkiri/

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From clancaudle@juno.com Sat Oct 26 01:16:12 1996
Subject: Science Fiction reading

Hi,
    I stumbled across your reading list and was fascinated.  I agreed
with most of your opinions ( I would like to give you an opinion on the
personality theory, but I couldn't contact that site.  I'll try again and
let you know).   I have to disagree with you on the Tad Williams books,
_Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn_.  True, there was a wonderful story there,
but I have to admit that I skipped more than I read.  How often do you
have to be told that the tunnels were dusty, damp, and dark?  There was a
great deal of unnecessary detail that could have been deleted, making the
story move along at a faster pace.  And I agree with you, the ending was
seriously disappointing.  I felt like Tad Williams had been taken over by
the soul of Walt Disney.  They are worthwhile, but a little ponderous.  
I thought you missed out on some good ones, though.
     Robert Asprin has written a series, _Myth Adventures_ that are much
more enjoyable than the _Thieve's World_ series.  The first four,
_Another Fine Myth_, _Myth Conceptions_, _Myth Directions_, and _Hit or
Myth_ are definites.   They are the adventures of Skeeve, a magician's
apprentice who can't do magic to save his life and his mentor, friend,
and finally business partner, Aahz (he's a demon from the demension Perv,
but don't call him a Pervert.  It's Pervect, thank you).   The rest in
the series (and it's a long one) are so-so, but the characters are truly
enjoyable and make up for most of the shortcomings.  Another selling
point on these books is that they are highly portable and take about a
day to suck them down (potato-chip books, as my sister would say).
   Another interesting and off-beat novel by a writer that I don't think
I saw on your list is _The Black Dragon_ by R.A. MacAvoy.  I've read a
few of her other books, but since I can't remember any titles I doubt
that I could recommend them.  I do reread _The Black Dragon_ about once a
year, though, and enjoy it every time.
     You also failed to mention Marion Zimmer Bradley's _The Mists Of
Avalon_, another book I tackle once a year or so.  If you haven't read
it, I recommend it highly (it's the only Bradley book I can recommend,
actually).  This is a different take on the Arthur story;  it's all from
the women's point of view.  Very refreshing, especially if you were
raised on the Steinbeck version, as I was.  _Firebrand_, her novel about
Troy from the women's point of view was a flop (imho, thank you), 
especially compared to _Avalon_.  Another
'from-the-woman's-point-of-view' novel that's worth the time is _Lady of
the Forest_ by Jennifer Roberson (I think?!), about Robin Hood.
     In one of your letters, someone mentioned (if not actually
recommended) the Brian Jacques _Mossflower_ books.  They are
entertaining, but meant for a younger audience.  If you are interested,
however, there is a series by Lloyd Alexander that far outstrips
_Mossflower_.  The first book is _The Book Of Three_.  I can't remember
the names of the others, and I'm sorry, but it's been ten years or so
since I read them.  _The Book Of Three_ is about an assistant pig-keeper
named Taran who fights the forces of evil in his homeland, Prydain.  The
character of the untalented minstrel is a special treat.  They are
written for a younger audience, but that doesn't take away from the
enjoyment.
     More light reading:  Elizabeth Scarborough's _Song of Sorcery_ and
_The Unicorn Creed_ are great reading.  There's pretty much everything
for everyone here- unicorns, handsome minstrels, damsels in distress,
etc. etc.; and  Dave Duncan's _The Seventh Sword_ trilogy, about the soul
of a 20-th century chemical engineer being reborn in the body of a
barbarian swordsman in a pre-literate society.
     And finally, I have to put my two-cent's worth in about Melanie
Rawn's new series, _Exiles_.  You don't want to read it, because only
book one has been released, but once the series is finished you may want
to check it out.  So far, book one surpasses the Dragon Prince series. 
It's much more in depth, especially if political intrigue interests you.
     This seems to have turned into my list of  'fun and enjoyable fluff'
books, but hey, they need to be read, too!  Thanks for the great list-
I'm heading to my favorite used book store tomorrow and I'm taking a list
I gleaned from yours along.

Happy Reading,
Laura Caudle

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: Mylee Ejercito 
Date: Thu, 26 Nov 1998 18:14:32 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Book reviews

        Hi!  I stumbled on your book reviews page by doing a search on
Hyperion.  A friend recommended it and I borrowed it from the library.
I'd actually borrowed it previously, but due to the perversity of human
nature, I never got around to reading it.  You're right -- the more it's
recommended, the less likely the recommendee is to read it.  I finally
started reading it last night and ended up finishing it and not getting
any sleep and I was frustrated because the book ended the way it did.  I
was trying to see if I could get s sneak peek at what Fall of Hyperion was
like, since today's Thanksgiving and the library is closed.  The best tale
by far in Hyperion was the priest's.  The consul's story seemed a little
strange to me, but then again, that could be because it was already 6 AM
and I hadn't had any sleep.  It was also obvious that he was going to be
the Ouster spy.

        I read SF, but I've mostly been reading what I call chick-SF --
Anne McCaffrey, Mercedes Lackey, Marion Zimmer Bradley....  The
first DragonRiders trilogy is written in a somewhat different style
compared to her later books.  The dragons appeal to female readers because
the they are basically winged horses who know and understand you so
perfectly, you'll never be alone.  The human-dragon bond just screams of
commitment.  No offense to anyone.  The one good thing that's fairly
unique in Pern is that there is no supervillain.  The enemy is inanimate.
All of McCaffrey's books have strong female protagonists.  The Rowan _is_
good, Damia is a somewhat weaker version of the Rowan, and the next two
books are pretty much just about the recurring threat of the Hive.  The
Crystal Singer series is strong, and the first two B&B Ship books are
good.  Don't bother with the Acorna and Freedom series unless you're a
real McCaffrey fan.

        Mercedes Lackey's books are enjoyable, but they are definitely
geared towards female readers.  There are several books about elves in the
city, which were interesting but not gripping.  The Bardic Voices series
(I think that's what they're called) aren't that good.  The first book,
the Lark and the Wren, is good, but the rest just rehashes the same theme.
I read all the Valdemar books, mainly because I suffer from series
addiction -- once I begin it, I'm compelled to read all of it.  If you're
into sentient animals, read it.  Otherwise, I'd say skip the series except
for the Magic Trilogy, which has more depth than the rest of the books,
plus it doesn't end with the heroes living happily ever after.

        I have to admit that though I read quite a few Darkover books by
MZB, it didn't really grab my attention and imagination.  I've heard many
good things about the Mists of Avalon, and someday, I'll get around to
actually reading it.  She has another woman's perspective book about
Cassandra and the fall of Troy -- I can't remember the title offhand.  It
was interesting, but it took me a while to get through it.

        I've also heard that the first couple of books of Jennifer
Roberson's Chronicles of Cheysuli are good, but the rest kinda peters out.
The Sword books are great though -- Sword Dancer, Sword Singer, Sword
Maker, Sword Breaker.  Plenty of plot twists, but not too many that the
reader feels cheated.  I read these about six years ago, and recently, I
found out that there is a recently released fifth book, as well as a sixth
book that will come out in '99.  She also has a book called Lady of the
Forest which deals with the Robin Hood legend from Marian's perspective,
and it's very good.  There's a definite historic feel to it.

        Patricia McKillip's Forgotten Beasts of Eld is very good, and so
is Sheri Tepper's Family Tree.  The Family Tree is somewhat confusing at
the beginning because you alternate between the present and the future,
but it comes together about midway through the book, and there are some
very good plot twists.  Tepper's Shadow's End was also good, but I have to
admit that I could not get through Jillian Star-Eyed (or something like
that).  So far, the stories I've read from her have dealt with nature
having her revenge on humans for screwing up the environment.

        Charles deLint!  You could say that he writes modern fairy tales,
but that doesn't adequately describe his work.  Memory and Dream is very
high on my list.  If an artist puts enough of himself (or herself in this
case) in his painting, the figures in his painting take on a life of their
own.  It's very well written and mostly character-driven.  Spiritwalk
comes after Moonheart, but you can read it without reading the other.
It's an odd mix of European and Native American folklore but it works
well. The stories about Jacky Rowan (a modern retelling of Jack the GiantKiller)
aren't as good, but Someplace to Fly is excellent.  I didn't see deLint on
your list... I certainly recommend him, especially Memory and Dream.  His
books are somewhat introspective.  The main characters are certainly very
3-dimensional.

        I recently read Kirinyaga, by Mike Resnick.  Excellent.  It's
actually more like a collection of sequential short stories about a group
of Kikuyus (a Kenyan tribe) who immigrate to a new planet to create
their own Utopia by going back to the old ways.  Unfortunately, society
keeps changing and though Utopia may be achieved, it cannot be maintained.

        I've heard many good things about Tad Williams but the length of
his books have been putting me off.  (Same reason why I refuse to read
Jordan.) Once I get into a series, I need to get through them as soon as
possible, and I just don't have the time for it right now.  Maybe I'll get
it this winter break, when I finally have time to do some relaxing.

        Okay, this email has gone on for too long.  I need to stop
procrastinating and get back to my paper regarding pre- and postsynaptic
facilitation in Aplysia.  Sounds like a thrilling topic, doesn't it?

        Great website.  Love to link it to my page when I finally get
around to finishing it....

Mylee Ejercito

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From MLucas@CRHA-Health.Ab.Ca Wed Jul 19 12:26:21 1995
Date: Wed, 19 Jul 95 13:28:00 MDT
Subject: Books and stuff
 
Doug,
 
I came across your reviews after doing a search on Stephen R. Donaldson.
After reading some of them, it became obvious that your opinions on books
seem to be very similar to my own. In other words, when it comes to books
your views are virtually 100% correct, differing only slightly from my
views.
 
Here are some of my opinions on your reviews, and some suggestions on books
to try out.
 
1) Your review of the two Covenant series was excellent. I too believe those
books (especially the first series) are among the most original and
ground-breaking books in the history of the genre. They deserve a place next
to Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, simply because they managed to tell a
similar sort of tale in an absolutely original way. The only complaint I
have about the Covenant books is that they are too damn depressing! And this
is not a problem with the stories or anything; I just mean it makes them a
little bit harder to read. It also makes them more difficult to get others
interested in, as I have found time and again. Nevertheless I wouldn't have
it any other way.
 
2) I must say, however, that I actually prefer the Mordant's Need series
over the Covenant books, probably mainly because they are not so depressing.
And the plot is so complex and compelling: Donaldson seems to understand
what kinds of scenes will make his readers shudder with awe, and brings them
about with finesse. Plus I'm just a romantic at heart, and the story of
Terisa and Geraden turns my wheels.
 
3) Taking your recommendations, I've just started to read Dan Simmons
(Hyperion). Thanks!
 
4) Now for some recommendations of my own. Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time
series, which has been recommended to you by others, is a good one, though
it seems to be slightly overrated. It has some very good moments, but it
also seems that Jordan has become _too_ popular, and his editors let him get
away with too much. His books all approach 1000 pages, and many of the later
ones seem to need trimming down in some parts.
     One writer that I recommend to you with a passion, though, is Patricia
A. McKillip. She seems to be a friend of Donaldson's (I believe he dedicated
The One Tree to her, while she dedicated one of her Riddle-Master series to
him). She is not all that prolific, but be sure to read the Riddle-Master
series, starting with the Riddle Master of Hed. Also, try to find (in the
library, since it's not very popular) a book by her called Fool's Run. It's
a single volume science-fiction book, and is one of the best novels I've
read in my life. Donaldson (on the book jacket) said something to the effect
of "There are no better writers than Patricia A. McKillip. If you don't
believe me, read Fool's Run. Like a shimmer of oil on water, her writing is
at once beautiful and evanescent. Some writers paint the surface: some go
deep. McKillip does both." You couldn't ask for a better recommendation,
from a better source. (I mean Donaldson, not me.)
 
5) I agreed with you on the Timothy Zahn books; they actually managed to
bring back the feeling of the Star Wars trilogy, a feat in itself. However,
I am growing quite upset about all the Star Wars books that are being
published now. I liked Jedi Search, Kevin Anderson's first book, but the
sequel Dark Apprentice was horrible, probably the worst book I've read cover
to cover. I don't want Star Wars books to turn into something akin to Star
Trek ones; a way of publishing inferior writing while being insured of many
sales. Just my little beef.
 
6) You didn't like the Ludlum books you mentioned, but you didn't read The
Bourne Identity. I agree with you that The Bourne Supremacy was mediocre at
best, and The Bourne Ultimatum I couldn't even finish, but the first one was
brilliant.
 
7) I understand your reluctance to buy hardcovers; yet I don't understand
where you get the resolve to hold back on, say, Donaldson's Gap series. How
can you wait? What I usually do is borrow the hardcover from the library
(often there's a waiting list, but don't be afraid to reserve it). Then, if
I liked it enough, I'll buy it when it comes out in paperback: this way I'll
own it in case I want to read it again or lend it to a friend, and also I'll
give the author some royalties for writing such a great book.
     The Gap series is awesome! The characters and setting in it are so
strong, and the plot so intricate, that I prefer this series over even the
Covenant books. The first novel, The Real Story, is finely crafted story
with a small scope. But as the series progresses, the scope grows more epic,
the plot more intricate and appealing, the characters more real. I urge you
to buy all the paperbacks right away (the first four are out), then borrow
the fifth (and last) book, This Day All Gods Die, from the library when it
comes out, which is supposed to be very soon. I myself will spring for the
hardcover; Donaldson deserves the royalties.
 
8) I once heard that Stephen R. Donaldson wrote some mystery novels under a
pen name; do you know anything about this?
 
Lastly, I will leave you with this quote from the famous poet John Keats:
"Truth is beauty, beauty truth: that is all ye know on earth, and all ye
ever need know."
 
Mike Lucas
Mike.Lucas@CRHA-Health.ab.ca

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: Magali Mathieu 
Date: Wed, 22 Mar 1995 11:20:06 +0100
Subject: your book page
 
        Hi,
 
I discovered your www page sometimes in december, and read it with interest.
I quickly realised that, whenever we both had read the same book, our opinions
about it where roughly the same. So I decided to give a try to some of the
books that you rated highly which I did not know, and went into heavy buying
and reading... so far, so good !
To give you an idea ('new' means I followed your advice and tried the author),
I agree with you on Adams, Asimov, Brin (new), Brust (new), Clancy, Crichton,
Feist, Gibson, Herbert, Hubbard, Kay, McCaffrey, Moorcock, Niven, Rice(new),
Saberhagen, Silverberg, Tolkien...
 
Hence this mail: I'm sending you some comments on books I read which are not
on your list, plus some comments on books on which I disagree a bit with you.
 
Poul Anderson
                the Time Patrol
        I'm taking a guess at the english title... Collection of short stories
        about a man from the fifties, who gets a job as a time patroller. He's
        supposed to check that history is not altered, or so his bosses from
        the future say... The best book of this author, imho.
 
Willian Fortschen
                The Lost Regiment trilogy
        A northern regiment from the american civil war is displaced on
        another world, where it meets with some russian from the middle age,
        some ancient romans... and some nasty nomadic beings who consider
        them as cattle, to be eating in some gruesome ways... The first book
        is quite good, with lots of tactical consideration made interesting
        and some *very* disgusting descriptions. It gets repetitive after that.
 
C.S. Friedman
                Black Sun Rising
        Very good book set on a planet colonised by human some time ago, and
        where some dark forces are working. It's a fantasy book, where good
        and evil have to ally against a greater danger. Full of ideas, and
        plenty of moral choices for the 'good' guy. Recommanded.
 
Mary Gentle:
                Rats and Gargoyles
        The only reason I finished this book was because I had bought it... and
        I haven't the faintest idea what it was about. There is hardly any
        continuity, it's very painful to read and uninteresting. I heard that
        some of her books were quite good, but it will be some time before
        I ever try one, and I certainly will not buy it!
 
Robert Jordan:
                The Wheel of Time
        Ok, I won't say a thing...:)
 
Richard Matheson
                Bid Time Return
        A man with terminal illness feels in love with a woman from the last
        century and manages to rejoin her... A very poetic and romantic story,
        and a book difficult to put down once you started it. I also recommand
        most books from the same author (alas, I only know the french titles..)
 
Dennis McKiernan
                The Eye of the Hunter
        Fantasy. Nice reading, but I never managed to get in the story, to
        get interest in the characters.
 
Michael Moorcock
                ?
                ?
                The end of all songs
 
        Sadly, I cannot come with the english titles from the first two books
        of this trilogy. It's about some godlike beings who live far in the
        future, when Earth is near its end. One of those being travels in
        time and falls in love with a woman from the Victorian area. It's very
        funny (D.Adams must have read it:), very original, and far above any
        other books from Moorcock, Elric included.
 
Terry Pratchett:
        I haven't read all the books, but I'm planning on it. The best I read:
                Guards! Guards!
                Men at Arms
        those two follow each other, and are, imho, some of the best of
        Pratchett. Very, very funny, with a lot of H.Bogart in it...
 
                Moving pictures
        very funny, but more predictable than the two above, mainly because
        jokes on 'Holy Wood' are quite widespread. Timewise, it goes before
        'Men at Arms'.
 
                Reaper Man
        Death is thrown out of job... But there are no replacement available...
        A surprising role for the oldest wizard of the academy.
 
        Some other good ones I read: Pyramids, Small Gods, Witches abroad...
 
Clifford D. Simak
                City
        The dogs are around the fire, and wonder about what are men, these
        strange beings that appear in their tales... In France, it is
        considered as *the* Simak to read. Strongly recommended. I also
        like all the 'fantasy-like' books from Simak, which take place on
        an almost normal earth.
 
Jack Vance
                the Tschai cycle
        A small ship crashes on a strange planet, and the survivor tries to
        find a way to leave it. The planet is inhabited by various strange
        races, each special in its own way. The best Vance books I've read,
        quite above anything else (I read) he wrote.
 
Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
                DragonLance Chronicles
                DragonLance Legends
        those two trilogies are enjoyable fantasy books, with clear-cut but
        interesting characters. Those are the books which started me into
        roleplaying. Forget about all the other DragonLance books, except
        maybe for the Heros serie. Just to give you an idea, these books are
        above any Edding's books in quality (imho of course).
                'Chronicles' is about the War of the Lance, and has some
        frustrating holes in it, but overall a very good read. 'Legends'
        concentrates on some of the characters of 'chronicles', and is an
        even better reading.
 
                The Darksword trilogy
        Let's pack great and original ideas, and let's not exploit them...
        It started well, but just to think about what they could have done
        with those premises...
 
                The Rose of the Prophet trilogy
        Very nice and funny arabic fantasy, where Gods are plotting, and
        using their djinns, angels... and humans to fullfill their objectives.
        I really enjoyed reading it.
 
                The Death Gate
        I bought the first two books in one go, started reading the first and
        got really upset at myself for having bought the two of them. But the
        second one was better, with an intriguing Zifnab character (I guess
        you have to read DragonLance first to be intrigued:), so I bought the
        third book. To my surprise, the quality was much higher, with some
        original new characters. So I decided to buy the whole serie. Quite
        enjoyable overall I must say. Either borrow it, or buy the third one
        (the first four books only loosely follow each other, so I guess this
        should not be a problem) and decide whether you want it all.
 
 
From your list...
Stephen Donaldson
                The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever
        I decided to try it after reading your review. I had some difficulties
        finishing it, mainly because of the writing style, which didn't agree
        with me. I wouldn't say I found it enjoyable, but I really like this
        different viewpoint on fantasy and heroes... To summarize, I will not
        read it again, but I certainly do not regret reading it: kind of an
        obligatory fantasy reading :)
 
Connie Willis
                Doomsday Book
        I quite enjoyed the book. It's not heavy sf or fantasy, but it makes
        a good reading, with a good depiction of middle age. But I also find
        it difficult to believe it won any price.:)
 
 
                Keep filling your home page, and good reading!
                Magali

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Date: Mon, 16 Oct 1995 15:02:41 -0400
Subject: Book Reviews
     
Doug, 
I enjoyed glancing through some of your reviews.  I'm an INFP and found that 
areas of agreement and disagreement were about evenly split. 
 
Brust, Steven - I loved the Vlad Taltos books (except for the last one where 
our hero switched occupations - I didn't get to far in it).  What I enjoy most 
about these books is Brust's humor.  The plotting is good, but without Vlad's 
wisecracking I probably wouldn't have read the series more than once.   
                I agree that he did a great job with Dumas' style in the 
Khaavren books. 
 
Card, Orson Scott - I agree with you about the Ender series.  I haven't read 
the Worthing Saga or the Lost Boys.  I don't know why I bothered to finish 
Wyrms.  Have you read the 'Prentice Alvin series.  I enjoyed that.  It was 
really different in style and mood. 
 
Cherryh, C. J. - Downbelow Station is one of my favorite books.  I've probably 
read it at least 4 times.  Her Chanur series is great.  The aliens in that are 
better than any I've encountered elsewhere.  I also really like the Cyteen 
books.  In fact I guess I like all of her SF, but her fantasy books leave me 
cold.  Her characters are generally flawed to a greater extent than one 
usually sees in SF, yet in the course of the stories they manage to grow to 
the heights necessary to survive her truly intricate plots. 
 
Eddings, David - Fortunately, I only bought the first three of the Mallorean 
and didn't feel compelled to finish the set.  You know in the back of all his 
books where he says something about experimenting with the genre? (or 
something like that).  I think he's just seeing how many times he can write 
the same story and still get people to buy it. 
 
Kay, Guy Gavriel - I hated Tigana. I just couldn't work up any concern for the 
characters.  I really didn't care what happened to any of them.  A Song for 
Arbonne was interesting in a way, but once again I couldn't make a connection 
with any one in the story.  On the other hand, I loved the Fionavar Tapestry.  
It is one of the most emotionally charged fantasy sets that I've ever read.  
His use of myth was extraordinarily well done. 
 
Ludlum, Robert - I agree that the Bourne Supremacy and the Bourne Ultimatum 
were only so-so.  But the book that preceded them, the Bourne Identity was 
pretty good--At the time it was first published it served to break the mold in 
terms of the types of things authors were doing with thrillers.  I think 
that's why the other two sold so well.  The Iccarus Agenda is probably his 
best book though. 
 
Rawn, Melanie - These books simply had too many characters to keep track of 
and after the first couple of books I found that I really didn't like any of 
the characters enough to even try to keep up with them. 
 
Rice, Anne - I've really enjoyed all of her books though admittedly some are 
better than others.  I'm having a hard time getting into the latest one, 
Memnoch the Devil.  I pick it up every two or three weeks, but it just doesn't 
catch my interest. 
 
Roberson, Jennifer - The first three were pretty good, but as the series went 
on it just got more and more depressing.  I like happy endings and these books 
(or at least those I read) just left me feeling kind of sick inside.   
 
Have you been reading Robert Jordan's series?  It is truly delightful.  The 
characters are really well drawn and well fleshed-out.  The plots and subplots 
and intricate but not difficult to follow.    He also makes good use of 
mythology and folklore. 
 
I have recently discovered David Weber.  All of his books provide a pretty 
good read, but the Honor Harrington series is classic.  Great Space Opera! 
 
How about David Gemmel?  His fantasies are also very well done and his world 
has a definite sense of History. 
  
I'll check your home-page again. It was fun. 
Nancy Proctor 
IDVPQ@mhs-tva.attmail.com 

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: "Phil McDown" 
Date: Mon, 07 Apr 97 15:54:58 PST

     Good Afternoon Doug:
     
     I just discovered your book review page today (I backed into it from 
     the John D. MacDonald Homepage).  I read all of your favorite letters 
     so I could avoid as much duplication as I could.  To help you decide 
     on the quantity of salt to sprinkle on my recommendations: I'm one of 
     those folks who never made it past page 100 of Thomas Covenent.  
     Onward...
     
     My first recommendation is the above mentioned John D. MacDonald, 
     although known primarily as a writer of thrillers such as the justly 
     famed Travis McGee series, he also wrote speculative fiction.  My 
     favorite among his S.F. novels is The Girl, The Gold Watch and 
     Everything.  The basic premise is answering the question: If you had a 
     device that slowed your personal time stream by a factor of several 
     thousand, what would you do with it?  A relatively insipid made-for-tv 
     movie with John Ritter and Pam Dawber came out some years ago, but 
     (the old cliche) the book was MUCH better.
     
     One gaping omission in your list, which I'm pleased to fix for you is 
     H. Beam Piper.  He has two primary fictional universes: one with a 
     myriad of parallel time dimensions (Paratime) and a race of humans who 
     have figured out how to shift from one to another and exploit/police 
     them, the other is a fairly straight-forward space-faring future 
     history.  Three of my favorites are: Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen, Space 
     Viking and Little Fuzzy (despite the frivilous title it deals 
     primarily with the question of sapience and the ethics of exploiting 
     alien races).
     
     From here I'm mostly adding to recommended reading from authors in 
     your index.
     
     Poul Anderson also writes excellent fantasy...Operation Chaos, A 
     Midsummer Tempest and Three Hearts and Three Lions are three that are 
     linked indirectly.  You may also wish to read further in his main 
     future history of the Poliostechnic league (Trader to the Stars and 
     Satan's World are good examples) and its successor Empire (the Dominic 
     Flandry stories).
     
     I add my vote to the reader who recommended Asimov's short stories, 
     they are much better than his novels.  Also some of his non-series 
     novels such as The Stars Like Dust are worth checking out.
     
     Since you like Tom Clancy, you should be aware that Executive Orders 
     is out in paperback now (it and Debt of Honor form one continuous 
     narrative).  He also has another of his look inside the military 
     series due out this month titled: Into The Storm (my guess is that 
     it's about the U.S. Coast Guard).  Speaking of the book being better, 
     it totally devestated me when the opening shot of the coast guard 
     cutter in Clear and Present Danger blew 75% of my favorite subplots 
     out of the water (no helipad).
     
     David Eddings' first novel; High Hunt is a complete departure from his 
     fantasy work.  Like The Losers, it is placed in contemporary (well, 
     Viet Nam era) Washington state and deals with family, love, friendship 
     and all the usual mainstream novel stuff.  It and The Losers are out 
     in a low cost hardback double volume (you can probably find on 
     Walden's clearance table, I did).
     
      I agree with the people who recommend Heinlein's earlier works (a 
     favorite of mine is Glory Road) especially the not so juvenile 
     juveniles (I re-read Citizen of the Galaxy about once a year, Double 
     Star is a study in relativistic time dilation).  You should also take 
     a shot at his short stories... All You Zombies and By His Bootstraps 
     are THE definitive time travel stories, everybody else is derivative.
     
     Larry Niven's known space universe is definitely worth visiting.  
     Several of his short story series set in known space have recently 
     been collected into single volumes.  ARM collects all the Gil Hamilton 
     of the UN police stories together (mysteries, organ-legging villains, 
     a phantom third arm and other fun stuff).  Crashlander collects all of 
     the Beowulf Shaeffer stories together including one never previously 
     printed (Shaeffer is a tall, limber, albino space pilot from the 
     planet We Made It who has close encounters with neutron stars, quantum 
     black holes, antimatter and other hazardous stuff).  Then there is the 
     Ringworld trilogy: Ringworld, The Ringworld Engineers, The Ringworld 
     Throne (imagine the possibilities of a terraformed ring-shaped 
     artifact with a one A.U. radius centered on a sun, stocked with 
     wildlife and homonids who have evolved to fill myriad ecological 
     niches).
     
     If you liked Fred Saberhagen's Swords series, you really ought to read 
     the story of what happened before them.  Empire Of The East is a three 
     in one combination of the three short novels that preceded the Swords 
     (The Broken Lands and Ardneh's World are two of the titles, but they 
     are long out of print in the three volume form).  EoE has all the same 
     features of the Swords: Magic, demons (truly nasty ones), 
     pre-catastrophe technology and so on.
     
     Three early Clifford Simak novels that you may enjoy.  They Walked 
     Like Men (shape-shifting aliens invade).  The Goblin Reservation (what 
     if elves, goblins etc. had not been driven off by all the cold iron).  
     Out Of Their Heads (what if imagination was more powerful than we 
     think).
     
     As one writer noted Christopher Stasheff is sequel-prone.  One of his 
     series that has not yet been driven into the ground is Starship 
     Troupers.  It's clear from content and contex that he knows and loves 
     live theatre, if you do too you'll probably enjoy them.
     
     For your horror/vampire collection, I'll pass on my daughter's 
     recommendation of the Saint Germaine series by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro.  
     Hotel Transylvania is one title.
     
     And finally one historical fiction trilogy (if you liked Brave Heart 
     and would like to read about him and Robert the Bruce) Nigel Trantor's 
     Steps To The Empty Throne, Path Of The Hero-King and Price of the 
     King's Peace.
     
     You'll probably hear from me again.
     
     Regards
     Phil McDown
     mcdown_phil@dph.sf.ca.us

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: "Pedro Mizukami" 
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1998 10:57:37 -0300
Subject: Re: Doug's Library

Hello Doug!

    I've stumbled upon your site today. Let me tell you, first of all, how
much I enjoyed it. I had tremendous fun going through the reviews, and
surprisingly enough, I enjoyed many of the books you enjoyed with the same
intensity. Obviously, I disagreed with you a few times (the most divergent
opinion I had from yours was concerning "Ender's Game", which rates only 6
in my list), but most of the times, your opinion matched mine.

    Since you welcome recommendations, I thought of some for you. In the
sci-fi realm, have you tried Mary Doria Russell's "The Sparrow"? I picked it
up a couple of months ago, initially skeptical, because of the amount of
hype it was getting, but the book won me over. Surprisingly good sci-fi.
Lately, I've also read Nicola Griffith's "Slow River", and enjoyed it
immensely. I was also surprised at this, since I didn't care much for
Griffith's first effort, "Ammonite".

    As for fantasy, have you read anything by Elizabeth Hand? She's not a
fantasy writer in the classical sense of the word. I would recommend you
"Waking the Moon" if you haven't read anything by her. The book drags for
the first fifty pages, but after it finds its pace, it's quite a ride. It
could be shelved both under fantasy and horror. Hand's "Glimmering" is also
interesting, more of a horror novel, and has some tremendously good ideas,
but in the end is just an average book. You could also check "Winterlong". I
did not like it, but lots of people seem to. It's a sci-fi book, with a
touch here and there of fantasy. But it's way to confusing for my liking.

    I've read another interesting, unusual piece of fantasy writing these
days. It's called "Archangel", by Sharon Shinn. It's fluff, but exceptional
fluff. It's a fantasy world, but has a huge sci-fi plot working behind it,
if you can figure it out (and it's very easy to do so). there are other two
books in the same setting, "Jovah's Angel" and "The Alleluia Files", but
they're all stand-alone pieces. If you enjoy "Archangel", you should enjoy
the rest.

    Now, for a note about Jordan. I think you've made an interesting
decision concerning the reading of his work, or of any other series that is
yet to be completed. But, anyway, taking in consideration the reviews I've
read on yoursite, I doubt you will enjoy The Wheel of Time series. I can
imagine all the hype you've taken over those books. The hype is indeed, is
excessive. And there's no way, I think, that by the time you get to read it,
the hype will match the books' contents.
    I am a huge fan of the series, I must confess. I loved every single one
of the books so far. I have succumbed to the "hardcover curse". And I think
Jordan's work in unmatched in all of fantasy fiction. Of course, it has an
extraordinary ammount of flaws. But it worked for me. It struck a note with
me, deep down. Hey, I even feel that he's way better than Tolkien. But I
only think that way, because I read the first book on intuition alone. I had
not read any reviews, nor had anyone recommended me the books. There's no
way that anyone in the world, hearing so much praise for a single series,
would read the books and not be disappointed with them. I think you will,
when you manage to read them. In fact, I think that even if you had not
heard any of the hype over the books you would enjoy them. Then again,
that's only intuition. So I suggest you pick "The Eye of the World" and give
it a read. Don't worry about the "hardcover curse". I doubt you will feel
like reading the rest of the books.

    I think that for the same reason, you have not read any of the Terry
Goodkinds work. Well, I suggest you read "Wizard's First Rule", then keep
long distance from the rest of the books. WFR is a masterpiece. I truly
loved that book, despite its low start. It has some brilliant stuff in it.
The rest of the books though, ruined the first. I do like them, but I don't
feel they're any good. Book two is a Jordan ripoff. Book three is the second
best of the series, but the ending is an Aliens ripoff. The fourth book is
original, but it sucks. Goodkind should have stopped with WFR.

    Finally, if you're in for some horror, there's a delightful little
anthology of short stories called "Robert Bloch's Psychos" that is most
amusing. I would also recommend you Ramsey Campbell's "Nazareth Hill". Nice
haunted house novel. And last, but not least, I strongly recommend you a
book called "The Ignored", by Bentley Little. It's unusual, and very
disturbing. There are a few flaws to it, but overall, it's brilliant.

    Best wishes,
    Pedro

--
From: "Pedro Mizukami" 
Subject: Re: Doug's Library

Hi again Doug,

    Thank you for your reply. Since I wrote that message, I've read George
R. R, Martin's A Game of Thrones, and let me tell you, stay away from it if
you don't want to spend money on the yet to be published hardcovers that
will complete the series (called A Song of Ice and Fire).

I decided to give Martin a try after it was recommended by a friend. I knew
that the series still needs three books to be finished. I just didn't think
I would enjoy it as much as I did. Now, when A Clash of Kings comes out next
year, I'll be forced to spend 25 bucks to read it.

After I put aGoT down, I thought about your decision of not reading any
series until it was entirely published in paperback, and felt kinda
dumb...but I do not regret it. It's going to be quite a while before it gets
all published in paperback (considering a 2 year interval between hardback
copies) Well, I'll spend some extra money in this series, but I wasn't at
all disappointed in reading it. It's quite terrific.

Pedro

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From withrow@vnet.net Sat Aug  5 22:57:10 1995
Subject: RE: your Web pages/fantasy lit/Personality types/etc.
 
Dear Doug,
 
I just found your pages today and was absolutely fascinated.  I
too, am an INFJ/INTJ.  And yes, we do seem to share many of the
same literary likes/dislikes.  On your list I found many
favorites: Steven Brust, the Thomas Covenant series, Gene Wolfe,
Dan Simmons and Orson Card.
 
I'd like to suggest to you some others I have enjoyed:
 
Anything written by Charles De Lint.  You might try the Jack of
Kinrowan paperback which combines two of his earlier books.  Also
good were The Little Country, Yarrow, Moonheart and Spiritwood.
 
Some of Brust's Minnesota friends: Will Shetterly and Emma Bull.
Her Finder and his Elsewhere and Nevernever were quite good.
Pamela Dean's Tam Lin and Ellen Kushner's Thomas the Rhymer were
great reads, too.
 
I also read anything Neil Gaiman does and particularly enjoyed
his Angels and Visitations collection of short fiction. An
absolute HAVE TO READ!!!
 
Old favorites are Tolkien, of course, and Harlan Ellison.  I
can't think of enough good things to say about Ellison as a
writer and as a person.  I know he gets himself into trouble
speaking his mind, but we need guys like him to keep us honest.
Ellison is an absolute breath of fresh air after the daily
insincerities we are subjected to from our national leaders,
don't you think?  Ellison shows us the sides of ourselves we need
to see, not always the sides we like to see or like to have
others see.(If you know what I mean)
 
I think we differ in musical tastes more than in literary.
DISCO???  Enya however, I do like. Along with her sister Maire
Brennan and Clannad.
 
Well, enough rambling.  THanks for the lovely pages.  They are
great fun.
 
Robin Mercer
withrow@vnet.net

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Hi, Doug.

Just stumbled across your site tonight, and REALLY enjoyed browsing it
as I'm hungry for new SF books to read, but am reluctant to plunge into
them since so many are a disappointment to me.  Your site's definitely a
bookmark to keep!

(Funny that you're an INFJ; I am too, and they're usually rare, aren't
they?)

Before I get into any of my own book suggestions to you, let me say that
you are far, far more generous a reviewer than I am.  In fact, I found
your site by doing a search for reviews of Simmons' Endymion, hoping to
find someone else as disappointed as I was, and you let him off easy.  I
really liked the first two books (thought about them for months
afterward), but this 3rd one was a let-down since so little ever
happened, and I thought a lot of his writing was shameless fluff (good
lord, how many of their meals did he have to describe in endless detail?
and all those lengthy inventories of how many flashlights and knives and
batteries they had?  who cares?).

I guess I liked the beginning and end of the book where the action
happened, and nothing in between, because it was more like a travelogue
than a novel and almost no questions were answered (what are the
Ousters, Core, and Pax really up to? what happened to the people on the
Jewish and Muslim planets? who does the Shrike answer to? and just what
is this wise and wonderful woman going to teach that's so profound?  and
how did the narrator wind up in jail? etc.), so of course now he gets to
write yet another sequel to answer the questions he should have dealt
with in this one.  (Sorry, this is a rant about cynical publishing, but
I work for a publisher, so I see it from all sides.)

Anyway, I really liked your comments on Gibson and Terry Brooks: very
honest and to the point.  And you warned me off of several books I'd
been tempted to buy (Azimov's Nemesis) plus changed my mind to go after
some I'd hesitated on (Saberhagen's Swords Trilogy), so many thanks.

What follows are books I didn't see listed in your reviews but that I've
read myself (some long ago so I'm sketchy on plot details, but remember
if I like them or not).  And by way, we don't publish any of these so
this isn't a sell-job, and I work in the college textbook area anyway,
not fiction.


Poul Anderson, The Devil's Game, 1980

A favorite of mine.  A mysterious being called Sammael helps a ruthless
man build an financial empire, then has him summon to his private island
seven strangers to compete for a million-dollar prize. Very
psychological with well-developed characters and insightful inner
dialogues of each of them, and some interesting plot twists.


Ben Bova, The Dueling Machine, 1969

I've read 5 of his books, this is the only I'd recommend. Not real deep,
but an imaginative lark as a scientist finds his "dueling machines"
(created to end violence in society by letting people resolve their
conflicts in a shared dream) is being twisted by an ambitious dictator
to help spread his little empire (set in the far future when Earth has a
big empire surrounded by smaller ones).  Some humor, lots of political
intrigue, basic but appealing characters.

He also wrote Voyagers, a first contact novel, that was so-so.  Not
recommended.


Isaac Azimov, Pebble in the Sky, 1950
                The Stars, Like Dust, 1951
                The Currents of Space, 1952

These are all self-contained preludes to the Foundation trilogy, set
before the Galaxy-spanning society that falls apart in Foundation has
been fully set up.  Not as compelling as the Foundation books and
lighter reading, but I still enjoyed them.


HG Wells, The Time Machine

A quick classic worth reading; I used it as part of a college thesis on
futurism and had fun both reading and studying it.


James Hogan, The Two Faces of Tomorrow, 1979

A slightly slow buildup in the first half, great action and adventure in
the second half.  An orbiting colony of Earth is the experimental sight
for a new breed of computer system that is truly self-aware.  Only
problem is that it's not aware of anyone else, so when it flexes its
muscles those insignificant humans ("shapes") get in the way.


Dennis McKiernan, Dragondoom, 1990

This is the kind of book I would pick on while you would find redeeming
elements, so you might give it a try.  It was recommended to me as "a
book written in Tolkien's style" so I leapt on it and was disappointed.
It does have men and dwarves and dragons in it, and there's a lot of
map-travelling quest stuff and battles, plus a woman and dwarf
rivalry/romance, but I just couldn't get hooked like some people, and
it's NOT written in Tolkien's style.


Pat Frank, Alas, Bablyon, 1959

An old classic, so of course later books have gone beyond it, but I
think it was pioneering for its time.
Nuclear war hits the US in modern times, and how do people cope and
rebuild society?  It's mostly about survival and struggling and the
consequences of war and radiation, but it was worthwhile for me to read
a granddaddy of its genre.


Vernor Vinge, The Witling, 1976

He's really creative about setting up alien worlds, isn't he?  I thought
A Fire Upon the Deep was really fascinating how he developed the
wolf-packs that functioned as a single mind and personality.  Anyway,
The Witling is about future human explorers who find a medieval world
where everyone can teleport, both themselves and objects around them;
everyone, that is, except the imperial heir to half the planet.  His
life is in jeopardy since he's considered a freak and unfit to rule, and
he and the humans get caught up in intrigue and adventure with a good
ending.  Well-developed ideas about how the politics, economics, and
social structure of a teleporting race would work on an everyday basis.


Larry Niven, Ringworld, 1970

Seems his most famous classic, so I was surprised it wasn't on your
list, though I thought it a neat idea that didn't go very far.  It
involves several races finding this great artificial band surrounding a
sun and working as its own world with various unique regions, kind of a
travelogue without too much plot that I remember, plus the characters
were only so-so (it had some of those Kzin in it too, but this is after
their wars with humans).  It won a Hugo and a Nebula, which was why I
read it, but I would recommend it only to familiarize yourself with a
classic.  (Then again, you'd probably be more tolerant of it than I
was.)


Sharon Shinn, Archangel, 1996

Just finished this one.  Good points: very well-developed society based
on the division between angels and humans, though the angels aren't
saintly like in the Christian tradition, but they have wings and fly and
sing in overwhelmingly beautiful voices; in fact, their culture is based
on singing, and they call down good or bad powers from the God Yovah by
singing to him.  The culture seems post-apocalyptic, so there are
remnants of technology but it's basically medieval.  Each region of the
continent has its own identity, which made the travels around it
interesting, and the tone is on the positive side (unlike the current
trend of novels that are dark and depressing and cynical).  Bad points:
not many, but it's a romance (which I'm not into), so there's a lot of
"she hates him/he hates her, but they're stuck together so they have to
get along," and there's spat after spat, and those parts are rather
contrived (you can guess by page 2 if they're going to wind up loving
each other or not; in fact, you don't even need to read that far!).

But there's also a political sub-plot of things being slightly amiss in
a land that should be harmonious, and the signs continue to build, and
that kept me reading it to see what happens.  Plus I like original,
well-developed societies, so that made it all worthwhile.


That's all for sci-fi, but 2 other novels I'd recommend:

Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

I wish I'd read this novel sooner!!!  I don't usually read books about
Americana, but this is the great exception: great characters, many
plotlines (it's about way more than racism), some mystery, some humor,
some tension and excitement, and marvelously written--not a word wasted
or an ounce of filler.


Margaret Atwood, The Robber Bride

Another kind of book I wouldn't normally read but glad I did.  It's
about 3 very different women who have something in common: they've all
led difficult lives, and those lives were made 100 times worse by the
intervention of the cunning, beautiful, mysterious, and sadistic Zena
(sp?), who preys upon them one at a time like a spiritual vampire,
sucking out of their life whoever or whatever they've found to make them
happy. Now she's back after a long absence, and can the 3 of them
finally stand up to her or will they crumble one by one? Atwood's a
really good writer, and I enjoyed this one.


Well, that exhausts my list and it's getting late, but I sure appreciate
your list and wanted to offer something in return.  Thanks again for all
the work you've put into your site!

Randy Welch

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: "Stephen Levitt" 
Date:          Thu, 14 Sep 1995 14:17:42 SAT
 
Hi Doug,
 
You certainly hav