From perryw@coral.viper.net Sun Aug  6 15:57:40 1995
Subject: simon hawke

I realy enjoy your reviews and listings though I don't always agree.
 
I noticed that you did not list any of Simon Hawke's "Wizard of ...." books. 
I highly recommend them. They are set in the future where civilization is on 
the skids, then Merlin of Camalot fame reawakes and brings back magic. The 
entire society is now based on the workings of magic. 

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: George Kalogridis 
Date: Sun, 20 Aug 95 10:05:53 -0700
Subject: Book Reviews

Hi, Doug.  I've enjoyed browsing through your library and reviews.
I'm a voracious reader of fantasy and sf myself.

Would you be interested in receiving free copies of my two dark hardcover 
fantasies, COVENANT WITH THE VAMPIRE: The Diaries of the Family Dracul, 
and CHILDREN OF THE VAMPIRE:TDFD, for review (if you can ever find time, 
of course, given all the other interests your page indicates you pursue)? 
COVENANT was published last October in hc, and CHILDREN is scheduled for 
this October (I can get you a bound galley).

Let me know...

Whatever your reply, thanks for maintaining the great on-line resources 
for us bibliophiles.

Jeanne Kalogridis

(P.S.  Being lazy, I happened to web-browse while my husband had logged 
on using his account.  *My* e-mail address is jmkalo@west.net.)

## I have since responded positively and received said review copies
## in the mail.  I will probably read these within the coming month
## or two.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: E.OMara@uws.edu.au (Edward O'Mara)
Date: Tue, 22 Aug 1995 12:29:03 +1000
Subject: Favourite Authors - Fiction & Sci-Fi

Dear Doug?
I eat fiction and sci fi books. I've read all of Donaldson, Brust & Simmons
and loved them. It seems you have a penchant for the dungeons and dragons
genre. Surprisingly none of my three favourite authors appeared in your
author index of book reviews. These are 1. James Clavell, 2. Philip J.
Farmer and 3. Julian May.
Clavell paints panoramic adventures based in Asia, Japan, Hong Kong and Iran
Have you read Shogun, Noble House, King Rat, Whirlwind? Most are really long
stand-alone historical fiction books. Farmer is famous for his Riverworld
series - a mega read (a FOUR book Trilogy - he needed 2 books to write part
3!) He is very imaginative - a creator of worlds. Julian May puts out a
fairly good sized novel as well. Get hold of her Golden Torc, Many Coloured
land Series. It all about a galactic civilisation, and humans with
psycho-kinetic powers who travel back six million years into our past. It
has prequels and sequels titled Intervention and Jack the Bodiless. I
haven't included all their titles and some may be incorrect. It's been years
since I read their stuff in some cases. Some of Farmer's short books which
he wrote early on are imaginative-weird-crap but most of his stuff is great.
Regards
Eddie

*****************************************************
     Edward O'Mara                                 
     UWS Macarthur                                 
     PO Box 555                                    
     Campbelltown  NSW  2560                       
     Australia                                      

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: pjmiller@pcug.org.au (Paul Miller)
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 1995 11:15:17 +1000
Subject: Stephen Donaldson

Congratulations on setting up this homepage for the chronicles. I had been
looking for one for a while.  I am also a great fan of Donaldson, the
Chronicles, and the Gap series.  I think the Gap series is fabulous.  
I tried to get onto the Donaldson home page, but it give me a 404 not found.
Do you know how I could find more about him?  
The Chronicles did have a profound effect on me ( and my brother as well! ),
and I agree that rereading them all the time gives me a new insight on
something I might have missed before. A magnificent acheivement isn't it?
I also found the Mordant's Need and Gap series magnificent, very original
and it just proves how good Donaldson's imagination is.
I am just about dying to wait for the final book of the Gap series to come out!
Catch you later.
From Mark in Canberra, Australia.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From JERFLICK@KUHUB.CC.UKANS.EDU Thu Aug 24 19:53:53 1995
Subject: suggestions

A couple of authors that u might find int. are robert jordan and michael w. gearjordan:  wheel of time series not yet complete, yet well worth reading in their own right, 7th of an unanounced number, thought to be 9-12.
gear:  am through 2/3 on two of his series, am planing on ordering the last 2, 
my bookstore continuely caries the first two but not the 3rds.
sorry about the shortness, need to get a decent mail program
jer

## What is it about Jordan fans, anyway?

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: sam@peta.ee.cornell.edu (Samuel Lin)
Date: Fri, 25 Aug 95 18:19:40 EDT"
Subject: Doug's library

Dear Doug Ingram,

I'was browsing through your book reviews and saw your Backlash / 
The Beauty Myth reviews.

I haven't read these books, but I would like to recommend another 
feminist book I recently read:
_Who Stole Feminism?_  by Christina Hoff Sommers.

Before I began college, I would have had no problem labling myself 
a feminist. I consider my views moderate/liberal. 

In college though I meet a number of women feminist, and their 
attitutes really irritated me.  They always seemed to be angry, 
resentful, and self rightous. ( "Men are barbaric, Men are jerks...")

I've always supported equal opportunities, but I was immediately 
turned off by this style of feminism.  

Sommers' book is a sharp and incisive criticism of the Faludi, MacKinnon,.. 
style feminism.  Sommers' accounts of some of their behaviors and tactics 
are absolutely appalling.  Sommers has been criticised as being 
"a radical right winger", but as a strong anti-fundamentalist, I found
Sommers' criticisms to be extremely penetrating and on-target. 
(One of her harshes attacks is on "the unholy alliance of gender 
feminists and the radical right to oppose pornography")
Except for a few instances, all of them minor, I generally agreed
with her analysis.  ( A response to her critics has been posted at
http://www.pitt.edu/~dxdst6/csommers.html)

It seems that there is a wave of counter-feminism books coming out.
Some I've seen in the bookstores (haven't read) The New Victorians, 
Professing Feminism, Defending Pornography (don't remember the authors).

I  would certainly be in terested in your thoughts/reviews of these books.

Samuel Lin

PS.  Good luck on jobs.
        I'm a physics bailed and switched to EE grad student.
        You're not kidding that the job market is tough.
        (Endless postdocs, >500 applicants for a job opening...)
        I know physicists a whole lot smarter than I am who aren't
        finding jobs. I'm just not that brave!!

## Hmmm.  Not too sure I want to read a recommendation based upon
## political grounds rather than quality judgements, esp. from someone
## who seems to want to generalize feminists as being male-bashers.
## Nevertheless, I have an open mind.  I read through the WWW site,
## and found a couple of really silly and obviously untrue statements
## by Sommers (see http://www.pitt.edu/~dxdst6/AAUW2.txt and the
## quote at the end of the first paragraph...NOBODY but NOBODY speaks
## like this...for an example).  She doesn't really strike me as
## credible.  I'm sure there are other feminism books out there with
## alternate viewpoints from Faludi/Wolf.  I would appreciate
## recommendations.  Right now, I'm not inclined to seek out Sommers.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Date: Sat, 2 Sep 1995 15:46:59 +1000 (EST)
Subject: Thomas Covenant

Dear Mr Ingram, 

I have just found your summary/review of the Thomas Covenant books on the 
NET.

Ye Ha...! Just what Ive been looking for.

Ive been after a simple summary and review that agrees with my thoughts 
and feelings on these books for a long time. 

I have always struggled with explaining these books while trying to 
recommend them to my friends. My ability to describe and comment is not 
too good. All I have to do now is show them your article!. 

Thankyou very much.

From another Stephen R Donaldson fan.

## Nothing quite like preaching to the choir!  :)

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From login@crucible.inmind.com Mon Sep  4 10:33:49 1995
Date: Mon, 04 Sep 95 13:22:14 -700
Subject: Glen Cooks

I've just read your Black Company series (Glen Cook) review, and
saw that you mentioned that the Glittering Stone was broken up
into three parts, the first two of which are released.  Did I
read that right?  That's the second time I've heard mention of
The Glittering Stone being broken into 3 books, but I've been
unable to find any of them anywhere!  Think you could send me
the publisher of them, or any other info you have?  Cook's books
are the greatest, and I'd hate to be unable to conclude the
series because the books are hard to find.

While speaking of the difficulty of finding Cook's books, do you
know where I could get a hold on some Dread Empire books?  I
have the 2nd and 3rd, and a friend has the 5th.  Ill Fate is
available through the publisher, but I can't find any others.

Have you read anything else by him, outside of these two series?
The Garrett series is excellent (if your books are printed
right!).  I've read all but three.  The order they're read in
makes little difference in the plots.

The best I've read by him were The Tower of Fear, The Silver
Spike, and perhaps the Swordbearer.  Check them out... Intrigue
galore.  Tower of Fear can be a pain at first because you have
to keep switching back to the title page to see the cast of
characters for things to make sense.  Hmm.. I think I've babbled
on enough about Cook.  :)  Let me know if you'd like to swap
titles.  

Thanks,
Brian Salomon
salomon@acavax.lyncburg.edu (not the @inmind address!)

## I haven't heard this "Stone" rumor, but I don't really pay attention.
## I stopped looking for news on this series about 4 years ago.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: Naomi Kalmus 
Date: Tue, 05 Sep 95 14:14:14 -700

I'm anxious to read your review of Downbelow Station, since i couldn't get 
interested enough to finish it.  Try a new series by Margaret Wies (sp?).  
Its got a Star Wars "feel" to it.  Good light reading.  Stephen Donaldson's 
series that starts with The Real Story is quite interesting and quite 
different from his other stuff.  Its more traditional sci-fi on the surface.  
His discussion about the series and how it was inspired by a Vagner series 
of operas is very interesting. 

The series is the Star of the Guardian series.  So far its four books long.

## I started "Downbelow Station" once and then put it down for some
## reason I can't recall.  Looks like it has "name-itis", but I'll give
## it another chance.  I mean, it's a Hugo winner, right?  Then again,
## I thought the same thing about Willis' "Doomsday Book" and was wrong.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: jason@sentex.net (N. Jason Kleinbub)
Date: Thu, 07 Sep 1995 09:59:45 -0400

Not that I think it is my place to bring this up ... but
I was browsing your Web page and I noticed that you are missing 
"the SUN the MOON and the STARS" by Steven Brust.
Published by ACE in '87 Hardcover, '88 paperback.

In which, 

"Once upon a time, there was a kingdom
that lived in darkness, for the Sun, the Moon, 
and the Stars were hidden in a box...which
was hidden in a sow's belly...which was
hidden in a troll's cave...which was surely
hidden at the end of the world.  And...

Once upon a time, there was a 
struggling young painter who also lived 
in darkness, and-like the hero of that
Hungarian folktale-was the beginning his
most perilous quest.  Shooting for the Moon.
And the Sun.  And the Stars..."

Although, I did not particularily enjoy this
book, you may.  We disagree about "To Reign
in Hell" so who knows.

Just for your information.

NJK

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
X-Personal_Name: Mike McCullough
From rbe@spl.lib.wa.us Thu Sep  7 10:43:23 1995

Try reading Eye Contact by Stephen Collins.  

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: Cynthia Chewter 
Date: Sat, 09 Sep 95 12:27:14 -700

Just finished Kay's new book the other day. [Lions of Al-Rassan]
It's an epic fantasy of two religions - the Jaddites and the
Asharites - who occupy and vie for control over a peninsula.
The culture and time period are similar to the Spanish
renaissance.  Three main characters are: Ammar (warrior of
Al-Rassan, the civilized city centre of the South), Rodrigo
(warrior of the northern Jaddites in Esperana, a horse rearing
people of the plains) and Jehane, a Kindath (similar to Jewish)
physician in Al-Rassan who loves both warriors.

It wasn't a bad read by any means but it wasn't Tigana by a
long shot either.  The characters were not quite up to Kay's
usual standards - a little too cardboard & obvious - nor was
the culture or land one interesting enough to support another
book.  Ok, it was violent in the extreme and there was a tension
asking who, really are the civilized ones here? but in the end,
its been done better elsewhere.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: BUZZY58485@aol.com
Date: Sun, 10 Sep 1995 22:20:19 -0400

Try "Mustapha and His Wise Dog" by Esther Friesner.   I've never been
disappointed
with anything written by Spider Robinson.  R.A. MacAvoy wrote a series of
books, the first of which was "Damiano."  She also wrote one entitled "Tea
With the Black Dragon"
that was excellent.  This is the first time I have travelled to your site,
and I was pleased to see that you have read Glenn Cook's Dread Empire series.
 I am missing one of the books. Never could find it.    

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: Frank Koren 
Date: Mon, 11 Sep 95 10:48:35 -0700

Congratulations on a wonderful collection.
I have decided to add your link to my own library.
You will find it at
http://vaxxine.com/koren/books.html
Any recommendations regarding books containing time travel?
My personal recommendation for you would be "The Witching Hour" by
Anne Rice.

Regards,

Doris

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: Robert West 
Date: Tue, 12 Sep 95 16:27:52 -0700

from your page, at least at a quick glance:

LEGACY by Greg Bear --- his new novel, set in the same universe 
as eon and eternity but not really related to them. Interesting 
story about the problems of settling a new planet, reminded me 
in some ways of OMNIVORE by Piers Anthony (written by him back 
in the days when he could still write serious fiction).

THE PRACTICE EFFECT by David Brin ---- light science fiction, 
with an amusing twist, and an entertaining tale.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: Matthew Ross Davis 
Date: Fri, 15 Sep 95 14:22:09 0400

Eco's "How to Travel with a Salmon & Other Essays" is now out 
on paperback. You should definitely check it out...it's making 
me laugh out loud on the subway. Have you read his other 
novel, The Island of the Day Before? I haven't heard anything 
about it, so I don't know if it's any good. But it's Eco, so 
what more can be said.

Matthew Ross Davis, WWW Design and Editing
Quantum Research Corporation
mdavis@qrc.com, (301) 657-3070
http://muon.qrc.com/mdavis/mdavis.html

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: Steveland@aol.com
Date: Sat, 16 Sep 1995 15:36:44 -0400

Hi Doug,

I love your pages, but I must say, "How J of you!"  ;)

I'm an INFP, so we do have quite a bit in common.  I agree with your theory
that personality type has a lot to do with taste in reading.   Here are some
of my thoughts about the matter.  They are mostly gross generalizations, but
still....

I suspect the E/I scale has a lot to do with whether someone reads a lot, the
I's reading more, on the average, than the E's.  

What kinds of books someone enjoys is strongly influenced by the S/N scale.
 N's, like us, enjoy fantasy, intricate plots, imaginative, creative works.
 It's hard to say what S's like; how-to books, I suppose (joking again).

For example, take mystery and detective novels.  I'd guess that S's enjoy
more the detective novel, where there's not so much of a puzzle to be solved
as a relatively straightforward story of detective work.  And that N's prefer
a mystery in the Agatha Christie tradition.

I don't have any strong ideas about the T/F scale and reading.

About J/P, my theory here has to do with which parts of a story we like best:
J's liking the ending, and P's prefering the set up.  P's like it when
characters set out on a journey, J's like it when they arrive.

Well that's all for now.  Thanks for a wonderful time spent poking around on
your pages and links.

Take care,
Eugene

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: Michael B Sachs 
Date: Tue, 19 Sep 1995 15:37:59 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Covenant

Mr. Ingram,

I just ran across your review of the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant on the 
World Wide Web, and was excited to see that there was somebody still 
writing about this series.

I first read the Chronicles about ten years ago while still in high 
school, and certainly enjoyed the stories.  However, back then, I 
probably had different perceptions about the characters.  Well, namely, I 
thought Covenant was whiny.

Anyway, I'm now rereading the Chronicles for the third time, and I now 
consider the Chronicles one of my favorite Chronicles of all time.  

I'd like to write more and ask you a few questions, but I don't want to 
write a novel or something if I'm not even sure you're still at this 
E-mail address.  So, if you have time, please drop a note and maybe we can
talk about the books a little bit.

Thanks!

Mike

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: wils@ozemail.com.au
Date: Fri, 22 Sep 1995 21:42:45 +1000

I recommend that you should review the book The Day of the Jackal by Frederick 
Forsyth because I thought it was an exciting book!

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: Chin-Tung Chen 
Date: Sat, 23 Sep 95 21:46:59 -400
Subject: Books that you should read.

THERE ARE SEVERAL AUTHORS THAT I PERSONALLY
ENJOY AND THAT I THINK YOU WOULD TO. THE FIRST 
BEING DAVID GEMMELL WITH THE "DRENAI SAGAS".
SECOND, TAD WILLIAMS WITH "MEMORY, SORROW, AND THORN".
THIRD, MICHAEL STACKPOLE WITH "ONCE A HERO". HOPE
YOU ENJOY THESE AUTHOR LIKE I DID.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: Ryan Phillips 
Date: Sat, 23 Sep 95 20:58:09 -0700
Subject: (no subject)

I highly reccammend Michael Chrichton's The Lost World. It is a 
wonderful book. This is a sequel to Jurrassis Park and is 1000 
times better than the origanal. The plot revolves around Ian 
Malcolm(the only returing character  besides Peter Dodgeson) 
and a couple other scientists who travel to an island to 
investigate rumers of living dinosaurs. Dodgeson goes also to 
steal dinosaur eggs. One of my favorite parts of the book is 
when Malcolm and Sarah Harding are in a trailer and a 
Tyrannosaur comes and trys to knock it over the edge of a 
cliff. Once again this is a wonderful book and is highly 
recommended.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
X-Personal_Name: Louise McGrath
From: lmcg@mail.msen.com

You have a great site. I found a lot of personal favorites.
A recommended list - not listed yet - from me would include

	John Crowley - Little Big
		     - The Deep
	John Gardner - The King's Indian ( a personal favorite )
	Wallace Stegner - Crossing To Safety
	Stanislaw Lem - Return From The Stars ( this reminded me of 
				Phases Of Gravity )
	Samuel Delany - Stars In My Pocket Like Grains Of Sand 
				( where oh where is the second half? )
I'd be interested in knowing what you thought.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: Elizabeth_Bogner@harcourtbrace.com
Date: Mon, 25 Sep 95 15:45:59 EST
Subject: You don't know me but...

     I thought I would let you know that we (Harcourt Brace) will be 
     publishing Umberto Eco's new novel, THE ISLAND OF THE DAY BEFORE, on 
     Friday, October 13th, 1995.  I read the review you did of Foucault's 
     Pendulum and thought you would be interested.  It will be at 
     bookstores everywhere, I am sure.
     
     With hopes you will enjoy,
     Elizabeth

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: Major5th@aol.com
Date: Wed, 27 Sep 1995 10:12:03 -0400
Subject: William Gibson

I read with interest your review of what you call William Gibson's
"Cyberpunk" series.  While of course literature is a question of taste, it's
hard to believe an obvious fan of hard SF like yourself could consider *any*
Gibson book "not well written."

Gibson is brilliant at painting pictures with words, using metaphors and
similes with a self-assurance and confidence rarely found in any genre of
novel.  His colorful descriptions pull the reader into a world saturated with
neon, rock 'n roll and surreal imagery.  Yeah, it's a bit hard to follow at
first, but ya gotta give it a chance.  Have you actually *read* all of the
books in this series??

I think one of Gibson's techniques is to give away only selected bits of
information, a little bit at a time, in order to keep the reader interested
in finding the next clue to what's going on.  It would be boring if he gave
away too much at once, sorta like those whodunnit shows on TV where they tell
ya who dun it in the first five minutes.

In summary, I feel (as do many of my sci-fi friends) that _Neuromancer_ and
its sequels rank among the top novels in the genre, from *any* era.  From
your list of authors, I infer that you lean a bit more toward the fantasy
side than the hard sf side, but you really should give these most excellent
works another chance.  Just check out the vivid imagery, not to mention the
intricate and involving plot twists.  I feel they're *extremely*
"well-written."

Late.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: Michael B Sachs 
Date: Wed, 27 Sep 1995 15:32:13 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: Covenant

Doug,

Well, I finished White Gold Wielder last Saturday night while I was 
getting over a cold, and I must say that I enjoyed the six books much 
better this time than ever before.  I read the series twice during high 
school, but I think now I can say that Thomas Covenant is one of my 
favorite fantasy characters ever.

You're right (in your review) about Donaldson's work not being for 
everyone.  When I tell people I'm reading a series about a guy who goes 
to a place called the "Land" and he doesn't want to be a hero and he 
complains a lot and he rapes this girl, and later he falls in love with 
his daughter, and everyone dies for him, and so on, they usually are 
turned off.  But, that's why I like Covenant.  It would be boring if we 
had a terrific guy from our world come to the Land.  It's only because of 
Covenant's different sides and textures that he's able to succeed.

I also appreciated that Donaldson was able to end both trilogies very 
successfully.  At the end of both trilogies, when Covenant has saved the 
Land with or without Avery, we are whisked away without seeing the Land 
rebuilt and without getting a chance to see the good that the Unbeliever 
has done.  I like this, because it's lets our imagination run away.  At 
the end of WGW, what will happen with Cail's search?  With the giants?  
With Sunder and Hollian and the Staff?  Will the Land ever be the same?  
Lately, I've been rereading some fantasy series, and I'm finding that 
these authors spin a terrific tale and then ... they can't end the 
freaking book.  The final confrontation comes 100 pages before the end of 
the book, and then this character has to marry, and that character has to 
marry, and then someone has kids, and that kid is named for the martyred 
hero who died during Book 1, and so on.  Donaldson ends the Covenant 
books with a quick period.  Allow the imagination to flow.

I'd like to talk more and ask some more questions to a fellow Covenant 
fan, so write back when you get a chance.

Mike Sachs

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: Brian Galasso 
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 95 05:02:29 0600
Subject: Joel Rosenberg's Series

You are one of maybe 3 other people i've come across who've read this 
series. I've been ranting and raving about these books for years but 
nobody's paid any attention.

Your are completely correct in saying that the last few books were 
lacking in the action, intrigue, humor and interest of the others. 

Every time a new book in the series comes out i end up reading the 
entire series over again. That means what--6 or 7 times! Two years after 
his last release, every time i'm in a book store i check the R's just in 
case.The only other author that has ever had this impact on me is Tom 
Clancy.

thaks for your time

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: Brian Galasso 
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 95 05:29:28 0600
Subject: Rosenberg again + Vampire stuff

Yeah, it's me again. I just browsed all the letters you've enclosed in 
your site. In regards to Jason and Karl Culliane along with Ahira & 
Algernon(sp?) the Dragon, Are we alone in the world??? I saw no mention 
of Rosenberg's books. I think only you and i read them. What a shame.

Also, i saw some mention about novels including vampires. While not 
being a A. Rice expert, I do know my way aroung the Brian Lumley 
Necromancer series. It's up to at least 6 books now and even gets into 
the second generation type a thing like Dragonlance.

It takes place in the present day for the most part. In short, vampires 
have been around for centuries. They come from a parallel univerise 
similar to earth (an entire novel takes place here--the best out of all 
of them!). They are parasites that invade and convert the human body 
into vampires. All the old myths mean nothing and there are some 
fantastic historical scenes. The protaginist can speak with the dead and 
gets roped into becoming a Vampire hunter.

It's character generation and development is great & so is it's dive 
into the history of vampires.

thanks again,
Brian

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: Daniel Bach 
Date: Wed, 27 Sep 95 20:20:31 -0700
Subject: Books

Excellent Page.  I higkly suggest reading _Quarantine_ by Greg Egan.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: Lisa Redwine 
Date: Fri, 29 Sep 95 13:27:42 -0700
Subject: Comments on Doug's Library (with some book recommendations)

Love the Library!  I don't always agree with you (how ANYONE prefer 
Donaldson to Eddings is beyond me), but I still enjoy reading your 
reviews.  

A few authors that you might want to try:

Elizabeth Moon -- The Deed of Paksenarrion (3 book series)

Mercedes Lackey -- Any of the Valdemar books.  The later ones are better 
(in my opinion) such as Arrows of the Queen, Arrows Flight, and Arrows 
Fall.

Anne McCaffrey -- Planet Pirate series.

Enjoy reading!

Lisa Redwine
(redwine@engr.msstate.edu)

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: eiagm@eznet.net
Date:          Fri, 29 Sep 1995 17:39:04 +0000
Subject:       Donaldson

Hello Doug,
    I just read your web page about Stephen Donaldson's Covenant 
series.  I was impressed with your piece about the series because you 
very clearly pointed out some of the reasons many people have been 
unable to "get into" the books.  I have been a huge fan of 
Donaldson's ever since I read that series back when I was in 7th 
grade, and I too have read the books several times over because of 
their depth.  Unfortunately, I have not met many people who liked the 
books like I did, and I have always been frustrated by people's 
responses to them - "too slow", I hear a lot, "Covenant's such a 
whiner", etc.  
    I have read all of his other books as well, and I enjoy them very 
much, although I think the GAP series is the first one that rivals 
the Covenant books.  Anyway, I just wanted to say I liked your short 
piece there and that there are others out here that agree with you.

Mike Stover
eiagm@eznet.net