#########################################################################
I reserve the right to omit letters from the mailbag if I feel they don't
really contribute anything such as new ideas or new recommendations or
(most commonly) they make recommendations for books I've already read or
refuse to read until they're all out in paperback (i.e. Jordan).
Large .sig's deleted for my own sanity.

When appropriate, I have summarized my response to the letter by quoting
myself on lines prefaced by "##".  I hope this is clear.  Also, please
contact me if you would like your letter to be left off of this page.
#########################################################################
From: John Simpson 
Date: Thu, 27 Oct 94 13:40:04 GMT
Subject: Book Reviews

Doug,

I've just discovered your book reviews at:
    http://personal.tcu.edu/~ingram/books.html

Thanks for taking the effort to write these and then be so generous to share
them with everyone else out here on the 'net. I've just started reading the
Terry Pratchett Discworld series and having just finished Wryd Sisters must
agree with your opinion that it was "plodding" compared to the rest. However,
since I borrow rather then buy the books I'll continue reading the series
although he writes at a prolific rate so I hope I eventually catch-up !!

I also want to recommend the Scottish author : Iain Banks; he writes both
general fiction and science-fiction (under the name Iain M. Banks). Some of
his stories are VERY strange but "Consider Phlebas", "The Player Of Games", 
and "Use Of Weapons" can be highly recommended.

- John.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: Robert Devereaux 
Date: Thu, 01 Dec 1994 13:26:51 MST
Subject: Book suggestion :^)

Hi, Doug,

I found your WWW page today, thanks to your message.  Great job indeed &
thanks for providing this service.

Book suggestion?  DEADWEIGHT, my first novel, a Dell/Abyss horror novel 
from March 1994 & still orderable if not stocked.  Mix of a Kingish sort 
of plot with the graphic presentation of the splatpack, plus of course 
what I think is my own unique voice.

If you want to see my bio & a short story originally published in Weird
Tales, Spring 1993, check out Casey Hopkins' horror web page at:

   http://www.ee.pdx.edu/~caseyh/horror/horror.html

Best,
--
Robert Devereaux
bobdev@fc.hp.com
Fort Collins, CO
(303) 229-3423

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: "avedon@leland.stanford.edu" 
Date: Tue, 13 Dec 1994 10:41:52 -0800
Subject: Your WWW Books Page

Just wanted to say hi, and mention that I enjoyed your Books Page.
I followed the URL on your Weber review for rec.arts.sf.reviews.

My SO and I share your taste in authors to quite a degree, although
we split across a few:  I like Clancy, she reads King and Simmons.
We are both raving Weber fans.

By way of suggestions, I thought Vernor Vinge's Fire Upon the Deep
was exceptionally entertaining, particularly for anyone on Internet.  
It's far superior to the, IMHO, highly overrated Snowcrash.  

If you're into Trek, the best Trek novel I've ever read (with the
possible exception of John M. Ford's Final Reflection - I'm a 
Klingon-o-phile of sorts) is Barbara Hambly's Crossroad.  It's
actually gritty.

-- Roger

p.s.  This mail probably echoed in various unfinished forms several 
times.  Thank my cats!  

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: paisley@bilbo.suite.com (Theo Petersen)
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 95 15:17:39 -0600
Subject: Gene Wolve reviews

I like your book review page!  Thanks for making it public.

You haven't much to say about Gene Wolfe, but I'm glad you avoided the  
frequent r.a.sf statement that he couldn't write his way out of a paper bag.  
Like Donaldson, for most readers he's either a hit or a miss.  I don't have  
enough of a literary criticism background to say easily just what the hell he  
is trying to *do* in his stories, but it's almost as if he's more interested  
in the state of the characters than the action of the story.  I always seem to  
discover the plot of a Wolfe novel is a side-effect; the characters usually  
haven't much of an idea what's going on.

If you should happen to find a copy of _Peace_ by G.W., I suggest you give it  
a try; it's short and serves as a good example of what I'm stumbling to  
describe.  Easier to find is _A Soldier in the Mist_, set in the wars of the  
Greek city-states, about a prisoner of war whose head injuries result in him  
not remembering anything beyond the previous 12 hours.  There was a sequel  
which wasn't quite as good, _A Soldier of Arete_.

By the way, I agree with you about _Free Live Free_; I think it was a complete  
muddle, and Wolfe tossed in an ending to get it over with.

..Theo

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: robert@bookwire2.bookwire.com
Date: Thu, 12 Jan 1995 13:16:34 -0500
Subject: Doug's Library/BookWire

Your Home Page will be featured as a link on the new BookWire Home Page.  
BookWire is an online service for those interested in the publishing 
business.

We would be most appreciative if you would browse our WWW site and add a 
link to our Home Page to your site. Our address is:
http://www.bookwire.com

Thank you.
Robert Pierosh

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: swart@POINCARE.CIMS.NYU.EDU (Pieter Swart)
Date: Sat, 11 Feb 95 11:54:45 EST
Subject: your sf review page

Hi Doug, thanks for some super reviews. Now I have quite a few 
books  I can't wait to check out.

Looking through your list, I missed Mervyn Peake's "The Gormenghast
Trilogy". I thought it surpassed Tolkien & Donaldson in its vivid style & 
selfcontainedness. 

Best
Pieter Swart     

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: craig@phobos.ME.Berkeley.EDU (Craig Smith)
Date: Tue, 21 Feb 1995 16:15:28 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Thanks

I really enjoyed reading comments on the books you have read.
I got caught by Robert Jordan with the Wheel of Time series.  I
think you've got the right idea there.  I read the first five books 
in about five days, then came to a grinding halt unwilling to spend the
$25 on the next one.  Damn it.

	I like Heinlein.  You haven't read Stranger in a Strange Land?
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress?  I agree that The Cat Who Walks through 
Walls is a crappy book, but don't base your opinion of Heinlein on
that one.  Try 'Time Enough for Love'.  

	Another suggestion, not sure if it is part of the Mission:Earth
series, I really enjoyed 'Battlefield Earth' by Hubbard.

	They are both really long, but I liked them when I read them.


Thanks again.

	Craig

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: amanda.wells@stonebow.otago.ac.nz (Amanda Wells)
Date: Sun, 5 Mar 1995 16:21:21 -0500
Subject: sf reviews

Why don't you have Sheri S Tepper on your list?, she's great!

*    Amanda Wells                                   *
*    Address:  amanda.wells@stonebow.otago.ac.nz    *
*    =8^)                                           *

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: Brian Scholl 
Date: Sun, 5 Mar 95 6:49:00 EST
Subject: Random sf/f suggestions...

Hi Doug--

I was procrastinating with a vengeance last night, and happened across 
your web site full of sf/f reviews.  We seem to have remarkably similar 
taste in books, so I'll offer some suggestions, before I head off to 
sleep:

1. My favorite author is also Donaldson.  I admire your patience in
    waiting for the complete Gap Cycle to come out in paperback. 
    Alas, I was too weak, and was forced to buy all the hardcovers!
    
2. Make sure to read David Brin's "Glory Season", now that it's out
    in PB.  It doesn't top "Earth", but it explores a bunch of
    neato ideas, and is worth reading if only for the afterword.
    
3. Perhaps my strongest suggestion concerns Jack Chalker.  I certainly
    agree that the "Rings of the Master" series is mediocre at best 
    (although I rather liked the first volume), but some of his other 
    series are just fantastic.  (For a long time, he and SRD were my 
    favorite authors.)  His writing never has any real depth in the way 
    that, say, Orson Scott Card's books have, but his plots are always 
    quite enjoyable.  His best series, IMHO, is "The Four Lords of the 
    Diamond".
    
4. Perhaps my other stongest suggestion concerns the book "Snow Crash" 
    by Neal Stephenson, which is painfully absent from your list.  It is 
    written in the spirit of "Neuromancer", but is better in every way, 
    and is entirely original and refreshing.  If I ignore SRD's "Gap"
    books, it is probably the best book I read in 1994.
    
5. Do get around to reading Arthur C. Clarke's "Rama" books.  The second 
    volume, "Rama II", is definitely in my best-books-I've-ever-read 
    club.
    
6. Finally, I think you'll like Orson Scott Card's newest "Homecoming" 
    series, although they're not all out yet.
    
As for me, I'll be sure to pick up some of Dan Simmons' novels.  I've never
heard of him...

Have a nice day,

Brian Scholl  (scholl@ruccs.rutgers.edu)

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: Jehovah-1 
Date: Tue, 7 Mar 1995 20:14:04 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Brust

	I hope this piece of mail isn't an intrusion, but I came upon your Home 
Page completely by accident this evening, and I must say that I was very 
impressed!  Your Myst page and book reviews, in particular, caught my eye.
	I, too, am a big fan of Steven Brust, P.J.F. (whatever that 
stands for) and I noticed that you hadn't listed _Broke Down Palace_, an 
earlier work by Brust.  The novel is strange in a lot of ways, but I can 
see the roots of Dragaera in it.  You should read it, I think.
	Thank you for the book list.  I read straight through it, and am 
excited about several of the books I saw listed (many of the series' I 
had already read).
	And as for Jordan, I know you said you don't read any series 
until it is all out in paperback...but MAKE AN EXCEPTION!  These are BY 
FAR the finest fantasy books I have EVER read...and I am a HUGE Tolkien fan.
	I know what it is like to wait for books, and why you don't want to 
though.  I am stuck.  My mother brought me _Eye of the World_ when it 
first came  out, and since then, I have been a slave to publishing 
schedules.  (Luckily I use this as an excuse, and have guilted my mother 
into buying most of them for me in hardback only days after they are 
released).  I went through _The Lord of Chaos_ in about 30 hours, and it 
is a hefty book.
	Thank you again for your page, it is bookmarked!

		JHVH-1 (toliverp@pcificu.edu)

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: smhenry@vt.edu (Steve Henry)
Date: Tue, 21 Mar 95 03:28:03 GMT
Subject: Re: Sci Fi Book Reviews on WWW

I checked out your page and I think its great.  I noticed that you hadn't read 
one of my favorite sci fi authors - Ben Bova. I might suggest Voyagers, Mars, 
or Cyberbooks.

| smhenry@vt.edu                   73's KE4IMK               Virginia Tech |
| Steven M. Henry	     Cleveland Sports Fanatic	        Go Hokies! |
| ftp: succeed.ee.vt.edu /pub/smhenry					   |
| www: http://succeed.ee.vt.edu/smhenry/smhenry.html                       |

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: Aaron DaMommio 
Date: Thu, 23 Mar 95 12:00:35 -0600
Subject: Your personal page

Thanks for the tip...I traveled from there to your book reviews.   
Some good stuff there...I agree with your opinion of the Dune books,  
by the way; I think their quality plots more like a parabola than a  
slope.

Have you read Brin's Uplift books?  Great stuff there.

I can recommend "Mother of Storms" (can't remember the author).  It's  
about a lot of things, but centers around a bombing of the arctic  
that sets up conditions for a tremendous series of hurricanes.  It's  
got a lot of great speculative technology, and interesting  
characters.

--Aaron

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: alan williams 
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 1995 18:26:43 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: sf reviews/ratings

Hi Doug,
        I just stopped by your web page while waiting for a long
document to print out. I haven't had an extensive look yet, but
I must say, some of your opinions strike me as perverse. Varley's
Titan trilogy getting 5/3/3?  Are you *nuts*???  You gave ratings
almost as bad to Gibson's cyberpunk stuff and Wolfe's Book of the
New Sun, while bestowing a (relatively) glowing 8 out of 10 to
Jurassic Park. 
     You're perfectly entitled to your opinions, of course, and
I respect your willingness to fly in the face of conventional
opinion. But that conventional opinion - just like the opinion
that generally puts Pablo Picasso a few rungs above Chuck Schultz -
is not *entirely* without foundation.
     All I can say is, you have very strange tastes. (Thank god you
didn't review any of Sam Delany's stuff - I probably would have a
coronary.... :)
                   
     Just thought I'd throw in my two cents.
                      
                                alan williams  
           
## [Ed. note:  To be fair, I responded that Mr. Williams should really
##             read the complete review of Varley's trilogy.  His email
##             message is a case study in why one should never trust 
##             book opinions that are distilled into a single number,
##             not even when it's my number.  :)  ]

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: Olin Workstation #16 
Date: Mon, 24 Apr 95 00:17:02 -700
Subject: Book Reviews

Great job your doing on the book reviews.  
I am looking forward to getting into Bear and Vinge.
Suggestions for further reading include Sheri S. Tepper 
(all of her novels are excellent, try  Grass or A Plague of 
Angels), L.E. Modesitt Jr. (his Recluse series is great and 
you don't really have to read them in any particular order), 
David Brin's Uplift Books are amazing, and Weis and 
Hickman's Deathgate Series.  I won't say a thing about 
Jordan.
  Once again great job.
   Douglas Woodbury 

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: Lawrence Watt-Evans 
Date: Tue, 9 May 1995 12:31:34 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: Fan mail

Hey, thanks for sending the review -- I'd missed that one.  Much appreciated.

The only part I'm not thrilled with is the description of me as a 
grizzled old-timer; I'm all of forty.  Not that you had any way of 
knowing that.  And I do like being seen as a storyteller.

I'd never thought of those others as professorial, though -- maybe 
because my father really WAS a professor...

Well, anyway, thanks.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: "Bryan J. Rice" 
Date: Wed, 17 May 1995 01:33:06 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: WWW Page

Doug,

I've really enjoyed your WWW page, "Doug's Library."  I share your 
opinion of Donaldson (he is my favorite author).  In your review of _The 
Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever_ you make reference to "the 
Covenant discussions on the net."  I was wondering what they were about 
and if you knew of a way for me to go back and read some of the dialogue.  

I also have a suggestion for you.  Julian May has written quite a number 
of SF books involving humans with "metapsychic" abilities.  The works are 
in three series, with the third (and final?) series two-thirds 
completed.  The titles follow.  Each series is interconnected, but the 
first series is sufficiently stand-alone that I don't believe your 
restriction about "waiting 'til everything's out in paperback" applies.  

    The Saga of the Pliocene Exile Tetralogy
        The Many-Coloured Land [1981]
        The Golden Torc [1982]
        The Nonborn King [1983]
        The Adversary [1984]

        (companion work: A Pliocene Companion [1984] [Non-fiction])

    Intervention [1987] [split into:]
        The Surveilance [1988]
        The Metaconcert [1989]

    The Milieu Trilogy
        Jack the Bodiless [199?]
        Diamond Mask [199?]
        Magnificat [awaited]

Anyway, I enjoyed many of the characters and her system of
"metafaculties."  Hope you read and enjoy them.

--Bryan

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: Michael LEWIS 
Date: 17 May 1995 10:03:00 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Stuff from your page of book reviews

1)  Are there really five more books in the Lankhmar series after the first
six?  I've never seen any more...

2)  Ron Luciano's third book is called "The Fall of the Roman Umpire".

3)  You should try a little more of L. Sprague de Camp's work--the Enchanter
stuff isn't his best.  There is a fairly early series of his--hard to find,
and not made easier by my inability to remember the first book (the
second is "The Clocks of Iraz", and the third is "The Unbeheaded King")--
that reminds me a lot of Lawrence Watt-Evans.

4)  Have you seen/read "Ties of Blood and Silver" by Joel Rosenberg?  I
didn't like it as much as the first few books of the Guardians series,
but it's not bad...

5)  Philip K. Dick is also a very good author, although quite difficult to
find in bookstores for a reasonable price (his current editions are all
trade paperbacks for $10 each, but you can find a lot of it in libraries).
If you didn't know, he's the guy who wrote the book Bladerunner was based on.

- Mike

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: Michael LEWIS 
Date: 17 May 1995 10:09:00 -0800 (PST)
Subject: (also from your reviews)

While poking around further in different parts of the Web, I discovered that
the first book of that de Camp series is "The Goblin Tower".  You really
should read them...if you can find them.

- Mike

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: "Ogden, Marcus" 
Date: Mon, 29 May 95 19:30:00 PDT
Subject: SF suggestions

Hi Doug,

Just spent most of an afternoon combing your WWW page. I'll certainly chase 
up some of your suggestions!

Meanwhile, here are a couple of mine:

1)  You asked which Pratchett books were the best: IMHO, "Guards! Guards!" 
and "Pyramids" were where Pratchett hit his peak. I agree "Wyrd Sisters" 
(and several follow-up witch books) were weaker, but definitely read these 
two.

2)  If you read people like King and Simmons, you should definitely read 
some of H.P. Lovecraft's short stories. Lovecraft wrote in the twenties and 
thirties but his stuff is still very readable, and King cites him as his 
biggest influence as a writer. His most interesting work is the "Cthulhu 
Mythos" stories (which have become popular again recently through the "Call 
Of Cthulhu" RPG) which certainly qualify as SF. "The Shadow Out Of Time" and 
"The Thing On The Doorstep" are my favourites along with "The Call Of 
Cthulhu", "The Rats In The Walls", and others.

All the best,