From: rhp@acsu.buffalo.edu
Date: Mon, 01 Dec 1997 19:24:51 +0000
Subject: Stephen Brust missing

You are missing two novels on your web page on Stephen Brust and a short 
story.  Broken Down Palace or Castle may be the name of one (and that was 
his worst book, but I liked To Reign In Hell), and this story of a group of 
starving artist with no real plot and really great characters.  he also has 
a short story in the anthology for the Sandman comic book character (which 
I have yet to read).  goodbye, Robert Pastwick, rhp@acsu.buffalo.edu

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From: alan_prendergast@csg.stercomm.com
Date: Tue, 02 Dec 1997 08:28:07 -0600
Subject: Re: Nice hints page.
     
     Checked out your books page.  Good solid list.  There's a book 
     that was written before you were in high school, back around 1981 - 
     83.  Sorry I'm fuzzy on the year, it was a while ago... anyway the 
     title of the book is Armor, and I think the author was John Steakly 
     (possibly misspelled that too....). 
     Anyway, while it was, on the surface, a rip off of Starship Trooper 
     (the suddenly popular....) it turned out to be a LOT more than that.  
     (Ah!, sorry just checked again and saw you've read it and gave it 
     good reviews...I don't think I've found anyone yet who got through it 
     and didn't like it.  BUT! based on your review of Vampire, I'll get 
     hold of a copy...) 
     
     Another author you might consider reading is Tim Powers, he wrote 
     Anubis Gates, On Stranger Tides, Dinner at Devents Palace, The 
     Drawing of the Dark, The Stress of Her Regard (and probably others, 
     I've fallen WAY behind in the last few years...)
       Anubis Gates & The Drawing of the Dark are probably my two 
     favorites, because the plot lines were pretty easy to follow, and it 
     was fun because he uses historical time line situations for the 
     stories. 
     On Stranger Tides, and The Stress of Her Regard, were also 
     historically based, but a little harder to follow (of course, by the 
     time I read them, I was used to his style.)  Dinner at Devents Palace 
     was very much like some 60's psychedelic movie, it was easy to 
     follow sometimes, and made you work REAL hard at others.
     
     With Niven/Pournelle, you might try reading Mercenary, or West of 
     Honor. If you like those then you can tie into others, because there's 
     a relationship.  The concept is taken from the Co-Diminium 
     which is mentioned in Mote in God's Eye.  It's a future history
     that covers the creation and use of mercenary legions around the time 
     the Co-Diminium is on the point of failure.  The writing is, as is 
     usually the case with Niven/Pournelle, technically based.  Sort of 
     like the Tom Clancys of Science Fiction.  The story line carries into 
     novels like Go and Tell the Spartans.  If you want to read a decent 
     future history that doesn't involve a lot of aliens try it.
     
     Also you might try Protector & Ringworld by Niven/Pournelle.  These DO 
     involve a lot of aliens, but you get a lot of nice technical 
     constructs and plausible explanations for things like Ring Worlds, and 
     Dyson Spheres.  (I was tickled to see one in a Star Trek, Next 
     Generation episode where they rescued Scotty from the Transport loop)
     
     Another author you could try is Gordon Dickson, some of his earlier 
     stuff.  I've picked up some of his recent work, and haven't really 
     liked it as much.  Old stuff like Ancient my Enemy and some of the 
     early Dorsai novels were decent.  
     
     Well, I've bent your ear (or worn out your eyes...) long enough.
     
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From: "ROSS M. BANTA" 
Date: Tue, 02 Dec 1997 20:07:13 -0500 (EST)

Hi!  My name is Ross and I am a student at Eastern Michigan University.  I
know you don't like people to reccomend books to you, I'm the same way,
but you should at least check out the Dark Tower series by Stephen King.
I thought it was a great fantasy/adventure, even though it is not yet
completed.  If you ever find yourself without anything to read, try it.
Just know that it may be awhile before Stephen King finishes it.

-Ross Banta
RBANTA@online.emich.edu

# Yup, I'll read it when it's all out in paperback.  Looking forward to it.

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From: PEGIT61@aol.com
Date: Wed, 03 Dec 1997 16:34:05 -0500 (EST)

I was disappointed in your reviews on both David Eddings and Anne McCaffery.
I personally have enjoyed all of their books. But I enjoyed  the sameness of
the books. It's like going back and visiting your favorite friends over and
over again.

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From: "R.F. Briggs" 
Date: Thu, 04 Dec 1997 23:58:30 -0500
Subject: P.K. Dick

As one of your tormentors, I'm glad to see you finally found a Dick
novel to read.  I think, from reading your review, you may find his
other works disappointing in similar matters.  He tends to focus on the
"little people", generally the underbelly of society, and their
reactions to extreme mental stresses.  There really are never any earth
shattering happenings, or heroes for that matter.  I enjoy his writings,
but I have to view them as a separate genre, ie "I think I'll read a
Dick book now".  

Take Care!  

Ralph
rfbriggs@netcom.ca

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From: Mark Huckabone 
Date: Sat, 06 Dec 1997 21:32:49 -0800
Subject: Great page!!

I too am a big Dan Simmons fan.  I just finished the last Hyperion
book "The Rise of Enymion".  It was great.   A love store, believe
it or not.
I agree with most of your reviews and since you've read a lot more
than I, I'm going to try out some of your better ones.  I'd also
like to recommend a few.  Larry Niven's first 2 Ringworld books are
great.  Also the sequel to "The Mote in God's Eye" called "The Gripping
Hand" is better than the original.  Thanks, again for the page and
the reviews.

Mark Huckabone

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From: Janet Allaby 
Date: Mon, 08 Dec 1997 22:19:07 -0400

Interesting point of view on some of my favourite authors and just
because I don't happen to agree doesn't mean that I think you are wrong.
The purpose of this email is to find out (since I didn't see her name
mentioned) if you have read or are going to read anything by Mercedes
Lackey (she is, perhaps, my favourite female author - it used to be Anne
McCaffery but I found that she seemed to be running out of ideas in her
Dragonriders of Pern series and started getting boring).  If you have,
what is your opinion?

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From: Elke Sisco 
Date: Tue, 09 Dec 1997 23:25:09 -0800

Hi Doug,

Since you like science-fiction - and Richard Feynman, one of my heroes :-)
- have you heard of John Crowley? I found him via a recommendation on a
usenet group, regarding his novel "Engine Summer". I love word plays, so
the title caught my interest.

I bought a paperback that has three of his novels - and that's what the
book is called: Three Novels by John Crowley. It contains "The Deep",
"Beasts", and "Engine Summer." I liked the Beasts okay; haven't finished
The Deep, and have reread Engine Summer twice. It's one of those stories
that gives you little clues that you want to revisit after you've pieced
the whole thing together. Much like Myst, I guess.

If you read it, I'd love to find out how you like it.

Regards,
Elke Sisco

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From: Halcion 
Date: Sun, 14 Dec 1997 00:02:37 -0500
Subject: P. K. Dick

You were asking about P. K. Dick novels that worth the read. The ones
I've read are very powerful in sense it drives you in strange state of
mind for some days... The only other sf writer that makes me feel this
way is Dan Simmons.

so you could read: Ubik, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, A Maze
of Death, Dr. Bloodmoney. But i would say that maybe the best part of
his work consists of short stories check for The Father-thing, Faith of
our fathers, Upon a dull Earth, Colony and more...

also if you like short stories (i'm not sure you do by reading some of
your reviews) i couldn't suggests you enough richard matheson (you
certainly know his classic "born of man and woman", others are
masterworks too).

Please forget my (poor) english, french is my native tongue.

P.S.: Can you explain me what are the differents between a novella, a
novellete and a short story? In french, we just use the word "nouvelle"
and we don't make further classification.

Thomas Bergeron

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From: KCdgw 
Date: Wed, 17 Dec 1997 07:55:21 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Roy Gallant

Dear Doug:

Like your web page!  Roy Gallant wrote a book 30 years ago, THE ABC'S  of
ASTRONOMY, which my parents gave me, along with my first telescope. I loved
that book, practically wore it out in fact. Alas, it was lost many years
ago... and is out of print... I wanted to get another copy for my daughters,
who are showing an interest in astronomy, and I found Mr Gallant via a web
search recently, and he's selling me another copy. He is a delightful man!

Sincerely,
Dave Wisker

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From: wam 
Date: Thu, 18 Dec 1997 20:52:05 -0600
Subject: Books to Read

        I like your list but i didn't see David Wingrove's series Chung
Kuo......the Middle Kingdom.    You should definately read
them.....trust me.

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From: Frunaxx 
Date: Thu, 18 Dec 1997 22:47:13 -0500 (EST)
Subject: thanks a lot (in regards to the sight)

your "Tom Clancy" part of the sight saved me...i had an english project due
and your info helped me through it...i got an "A"...i searched through about
30 sights and that all had nothing but crap...thanks again for making a sight
with real criticism.
Thanks again
Jason

# Great, just what I always wanted.  I've designed a site that helps
# students cheat on their homework.  :(  Seriously, you wouldn't believe
# how often people write requesting that I write a special expanded
# review for them so they can complete an assignment of some kind!

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From: Clifford Kashtan 
Date: Sun, 21 Dec 1997 18:58:24 -0600
Subject: The Dark Tower

I'm a little surprised that you don't seem to have read Stephen King's 
Dark Tower series. These books are often extremely disgusting and 
gritty, but they have an incredibly interesting and mysterious 
atmosphere (especially in the third book). These books are very easy to 
obtain in either used or new bookstores, although the series is not yet 
finished (King once said that he might never finish it in his lifetime) 
and the fourth book just came out in hardcover.
	-A fan of your review page

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From: Hans-Christian Karlsborn 
Date: Fri, 26 Dec 1997 00:41:09 -0800
Subject: carl sagan

Hello!
Actually Carl Sagan released a book posthumously- "Billions and
Billions-Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium". I
got it as a christmas gift from my wife yesterday. It appears to be very
entertaining..as usual in his case.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Hans-Christian Karlsborn, Helsingborg, Sweden

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From: Rj 
Date: Thu, 25 Dec 1997 19:20:37 -0800
Subject: You have every right to be critical

Hi:

I thougt I'd drop you a line and tell you that I think you opinion on the
Terry Brooks Shannara series are valid. I say this even though I am Terry
Brooks fan.

I don't know why people have to be upset when you are speaking your opinion.

Your page is informative.

Keep it up.
Rj

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From: "McKenney, Sean" 
Date: Wed, 31 Dec 1997 12:52:34 -0600
Subject: review of gap series

Hi Doug, 

Enjoy your home page.  Since you just read the Gap series, allow me to
suggest this interesting review (if you haven't already come across it).

http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/road/adc95/Gap.htm

Sean

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From: Merrilyjo 
Date: Thu, 01 Jan 1998 16:16:34 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Book of Atrus

first my apologies if I am responding in the wrong area

However I loved the Book Of Atrus
Just the pages and the color and the very physical form of the book made me
feel serene. The story made me feel included and the ending satisfying.
I did wonder how the Island of Myst evolved from the simple place pictured  in
Atrus' book to the very technical place pictured in the game Myst.
I probably would never have even tackled Riven (THE GAME)had I not read Atrus
book.

The last book that I found to be so involving of the reader was NEVER ENDING
STORY.  

Just a bit about me---I am not a Science Fiction fan per se but I will read
books by any author that make me feel that the story  could be real! That I
wake up in the morning feeling I need to get something done!! ( see about the
characters in the book) Therefore I loved Atrus, and most of the Pern ( Anne
Mc Caffery) books, and some by Salvatore (forgotten realms). I found myself
yearning for a dragon for my own and a dark elf for a friend. Nuff said.

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From: Kim Woolley 
Date: Mon, 05 Jan 1998 17:23:38 +1100
Subject: Books...

This letter is not from Kim, it's from Emily Groom...

Just a letter to let you know about another author that you seem to have
overlooked/not heard about on your sci-fi/fantasy review pages (although I
haven't looked *everywhere*).  There's a Scots author by the name of Iain
M. Banks who writes marvellous (imho) sci-fi books.  The ones I know about
are...
Consider Phlebas, Player of Games, Use of Weapons (which I haven't read
yet) and Excession, which are a semi-series about a civilisation known as
the Culture which has a symbiotic relationship with computers/machines (not
as naff and cliched as it sounds), Feersum Endjinn and Against a Dark
Background which are stand alone books, and a collection of short stories
called The State of the Art.

All of his books are very dense, generally have several (seemingly)
unrelated stories going on at the same time, and are what you could call
'intelligent' sci-fi (ie: not your average 'hero saves the known universe
using nifty weapons' stories).  Out of all of them I probably enjoyed
Excession the best (that's his latest one) although Feersum Endjinn is also
great.  That's not to say, though, that the others aren't good as well.
The State of the Art is interesting in that it contains a novella which
relates the Culture that he writes about in several of his books to the
earth, as well as having some other quite bizarre little stories in it.
Highly recommended by me and most of the people I've told about him.  I'm
forever grateful to the guy that lent me the first one of his books I read.
 I really can't say enough good stuff about him, especially the Culture
ones, so I guees you'll just have to give them a go and find out for
yourself (if you want to of course).

He also writes straight novels under the name Iain Banks (no M.), although
straight is not really the right way to describe them.  Probably the best
known and most controversial of his novels is the first one he wrote, The
Wasp Factory, and if anyone who's read it can think of a good way to
describe it without making it sound like a horror novel (which it's
definitely not) then I take my hat off to them.  He's also written Canal
Dreams, Espadair Street, Walking on Glass, The Crow Road and Whit, althoguh
I may have forgotten one or two.  I also highly recomend these, although
The Wasp Factory is not for those who object to some fairly graphic and
macabre things.  One of the funniest things I've ever read is the
collection of reviews inside the front cover of The Wasp Factory - ranging
from 'this man is god' to 'this man is the antichrist'.

On a sideline, I forced myself to read the first two Covenant books and had
to give up - not what normally happemns when I pick up a book!  I think it
was a combination of Donaldson's writing style (although I enjoyed the
Mordant series), the wallowing in self pity for pages at a time, and the
overriding tone of depression.  I really only read the second book because
I thought I should, which I suppose is not a good reason to read anything.
It just didn't grab me at all, although I can see your point about it being
an important series.

If you want to write back (don't know if you do that or not) then don't
write to this address - my *real* email address is
ek_groom@postoffice.utas.edu.au.  Also, if you're going to put this letter
up on your web page, put that address on, not the one I'm sending this
letter from.  This isn't my address, and theoretically I shouldn't really
be using it (promise you won't tell anyone?), so please don't drop me in
the poo!

Thanks for a great page, anyway - you've certainly given me a list of
authors that I shall have to go and find out about.  I'm always on the look
out for more things to read - I've a friend who works in a secondhand
bookshop, and he keeps handing me books he likes, but he's not a big sci-fi
fan and hence doesn't tend to know what's good and what's rotten.  Must go
now, so hope you enjoy Iain M. Banks and keep up the good work!

Cheers, Emily (Taz)

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: Kim Woolley 
Date: Mon, 05 Jan 1998 17:38:21 +1100
Subject: Books again...

Emily again...

Arrggh!  How embarrasing...  Just revisited your web page and found Iain M.
Banks (Use of Weapons) in your author list - I can't have looked very hard
last time!  Sorry about that, although it's interesting that you had little
gripes about parts of his writing (the complicated place names and
technical terms etc.) that I probably found the most interesting things
about his books.  For me, the explanations about the basic premises in
sci-fi novels are definitely tedious - I'd prefer to find out about them
during the course of the novel.  With his books, it would probably help to
start with the first of his Culture series, Consider Phlebas - this does
give you a little more background information and is written from an
interesting perspective.  Having not read Use of Weapons, I can't comment
on your mark out of ten, although if it's up to the standard of his other
books I'd have to say that I think it's a bit low (but I'm not going to
flame you about it or anything - at least you liked it!).  any way, that's
all I wanted to say, so thanks again for the reviews (keep 'em coming!).

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From: "Richard Wallace :)" 
Date: Wed, 07 Jan 1998 15:50:57 +0000 (GMT)

Well, i suppose Use of Weapons is fairly bouncy round on the time scales,
i felt this was the only real way of doing the thing without giving the
reasons zakalwe was like he was though (just my view anyway), but i none
of his other books really go into strange timelines, pulp fiction all over
again :) Excession, his newest book is well written, but i expect the none
Banks fan to get a bit confused with all the intership communication, most
of which is pretty irrelevant anyway, GSV's, ROU's, and all the other
ships, i guess someone should bring out a book of terms for his ships.
Still, i like his writing style, its flowing, and he's generally got the
quirks of humour slipped in around the place. 

I've got to admit to liking Clancy too, however, im in abit of a mood with
him at the moment, as his Op-Centre books are all too short, why not stick
them all together. Red Storm Rising has got to be one of the definitive
3rd world war stories, one of those books where you get engrossed. I guess
that comes of being a pilot though. 

I just think you should give banks another go really. 

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From: LMarley 
Date: Sat, 10 Jan 1998 17:04:11 -0500 (EST)
Subject: Completed trilogy

Dear Dr. Ingram:

Like you, I'm a college teacher (Prof. of Voice, Cornish College, Seattle).
I'm also a classical concert and opera singer, and my trilogy from Ace Science
Fiction is now complete:  Sing the Light, Sing the Warmth, and Receive the
Gift are all on the shelves.  These are science fantasy novels with strong
musical and artistic themes.  I would love it if you could visit my web page: 
Louise Marley's Web Site
and if you find that the novels interest you, and you'd like to review them,
I'll send you a set.

I've enjoyed your site over the last three years--thanks.  I hope to hear from
you!

Louise Marley
LMarley@aol.com

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From: Jeremy Hamilton Ross Norton 
Date: Thu, 15 Jan 1998 17:18:59 +0200
Subject: Books/reviews/etc.

Hello 

Just found your site I which I liked,The Idea Of a place where I can
Come to look at reviews of books by you and/or your contributing letter
people is great,Books are so expensive here at the moment,I find my self
less and less risking buying non-recomended authors (I have a shelf at
home of Books I have struggled through once and have no wish to do so
again.)Thanks for giving me a sudden boost to the recomended Booklist.

I would say that your were a bit harsher than i would be on some books
,but it does give me hope for those Authors with high ratings who I have
not read yet.

What I found interesting in reading the letters which have been sent to
you is although there seems to be some divergence on what is good and
what not ,
LoTR seems to have a strong following among all ,It Obviously is THE
great fantasy work.

As to your reviews and those books which are missing (most of hese have
been given by others)

Iain Banks/Iain.M.Banks : This guy is great,He has a very different view
on SF I found Use Of Wepons a great and inventive read, I would
recommend his other Sience fiction also his non-SF work Mostly quite
good but some of it is wierd,I would say  The Crow Road  is possibly his
best to date but I still have not read all of his stuff

C.J.Cherryh : To see you having such a negative reaction to one  of my
favorite authors says to me you probably read the wrong book first.

The forigner series gives a great perspective on the confusion of cross
cultural reationships(I liked the development of the old idea that alien
mentality veiws the universe in a different way to humanity,this is also
explored in  40000 in ghennia  (again spelt wrong ))

her view of space flight and space expansion culture I also enjoyed.
though I will have to reread the books to pinpoint the exact details .

Her fantasy seems to periodicaly suffer from ideas put down to fast
without enough development(farie in shadow being one of these) but on
the whole it is well writen and good .The Chronicals of Morgaine are a
wonderful series which while written as seperate books Should be read as
on volume(IMHO)-Exiles gate however i found a slip in standard a bit
,Still worth reading however.The Fortress in the Eye Of Time Is Possibly
her best fantasy work to date which invloves a complex political
threads,magic,melevolent spirits and a confused central character yet
manages to aviod being setreotypical -A very gripping read.

Anouther great Series Not mentioned by you but brought up by ine or two
of your contributors is the Farseer Trilogy by Robb Hobb This is a
different series put's newe spins on some idea's (the system of magic )
and introduces a difficult to describe hero , it is possible to put down
his attributes and motives this does not capture the nature of this
character as written by Hobb. an author to watch.

More to come when I go Home And look through my collection.

Thanks for the site 

Jeremy Norton
High Executioner of the Point ,
Clan of the Upright Pencil .

Durban  
South Africa

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: Kim Thomas 
Date: Sun, 18 Jan 1998 13:40:03 -0800

Don't mean to spam you but I just had to email you and say I love your 
book reviews web page.  I've been reading non-stop (it seems) as far back 
as I can remember so in my recent pursuit of building a webpage I was, 
of course, forced to include a page of links on various authors I've 
enjoyed.  Out of all the pages I've hit recently I would say yours was 
the most complete, insightful, and (most importantly) in agreement with my 
own opinions :).  Anyhow, just wanted to say, loved your reviews.  

Kim Thomas

p.s.  I noticed you didn't have any comments on Simon Hawke's Wizard series.  
It's a rather nifty series if you're interested in light fantasy/SF/whatever.  
Basic premise is magic returns to the world.  It contains one of the best 
characterizations of Mordred that I've seen recently (my hero of the Arthurian 
legends) and of course where you have Mordred you have to have Merlin (ah, 
but it's Merlin with a twist).  But, I should be going now, so, good eve.  
(One more comment: he has more ways of resurrecting dead characters than a 
D&D campaign ... and I mean this in a good way ... sorta).

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: Chase Roden 
Date: Tue, 20 Jan 1998 00:24:34 -0600

i didn't see a review of it, so i'd like to suggest one of my favorite
sf books of all time: stephen king's _the running man_ (as richard
bachman).  totally incredible book.  you can read it in one sitting, as
i have several times.  don't avoid it because of the movie.

                    chase

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: Penny Duane 
Date: Thu, 22 Jan 1998 20:54:22 -0800
Subject: quite a list

Mr. Ingram  I was impressed with your page/web site. you have done alot of
reading. you hit some of the ratings right on the nail. did you notice that
a lot of the series loose points as more books in the series come ouy? here
is an author you might be interested in. Donald E. McQuinn has a 3 book
series out and as far as i know it's only going to be 3 they are 1. Warrior
                2. Wanderer
                3. Witch
He is working on another book but i don't think it is connected. I met him
at a writers con about 4 years ago. i see him once or twice a year at cons.
you might like them. and have you read any of Tanya Huff's vampire ones.
fun. And i really liked Terri Windling's - The Wood Wife.

Nice readingd ya!  PJ

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: RSmith5284 
Date: Sun, 25 Jan 1998 00:35:31 -0500 (EST)
Subject: You asked for it...

Tom Clancy: Couldn't agree with you more about the recent trend; What is it..
something OPS? But I don't dislike them as much as you seem to. I personally
think that "Without Remorse" is his absolute best by far.
Wanted to recommend a writer named M.A. Foster.... best book: The Gameplayers
of Zan. Good luck finding it, though.
Brin: The first Uplift books were great, but I've had a much harder time with
the newer ones.  I couldn't beleive I was on the verge of laying one of this
guy's books down. I've read thousands of books and have laid down about five
in my life.
Piers Anthony: try an old one called "Macroscope"

enjoyed your site.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: Alun Bestor 
Date: Sun, 25 Jan 1998 20:19:27 -0800
Subject: Myst: The Book of Atrus

OK, I have played and finished Myst and Riven and have also read the first
prequel book, Myst: The Book of Atrus. I haven't read the second (Book of
Ti'ana), and I hear there's a third, Book of Gehn (any news of it?) Anyway,
I have to say while I loved both games the book was a disappointment. Just
like the other person said of it, the world was excellent (I particularly
liked the descriptions of Riven prior to the opening of the star-fissure),
but the plot and writing were pretty bad.
The ending to me in particular was very badly written. I mean, Atrus
'suddenly discovering' that Anna had been following and watching him the
whole time, that she had written an age of her own (with what materials, may
I ask?) and that Catherine had been planning this with her all along, it
sounds too much like either the Millers and/or Wingrove wrote themselves
into a corner and had to use the cheesy deux ex machina approach. These plot
twists could have been hinted at prior to the ending, and could have been
unfolded more smoothly than simply cramming it all into the epilogue.
So there's my two cents. For now, I advise the Millers to stick to the
medium they are best at: the data bit.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: "Summers, Dana" 
Date: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 12:25:25 -0600

Dr. Ingram,
	Hello, I'm in your noon 2083 Astronomy course and was suprised
to find the absence of Alan Lightmann books in your list of bood
reviews.  As a physist and an English professor, Dr. Lightmann has
combined a very interesting twist of science and narrative fiction in
his work, Einstein's Dreams.  He has also reciently published another
book, but I unfortunatly don't remember the title.  If you've read this,
or are interested, please let me know, I'd be happy to pass it on or
hear your feed back.  My e-mail address is not the one listed above but
rather mfred@delta.is.tcu.edu.  Thanks for your time.

Marian Red  

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From: ringrost@rmcs.cranfield.ac.uk (ringrose.t)
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 1998 17:27:16 +0000 (GMT)

g'day Doug,

just visited your book page again and was surprised that
you didn't rate the Gap series that highly. I thought it
was generally better than Covenant, even though his grasp
of elementary physics seemed pretty dodgy at times. 
It definitely seemed epic to me, and i can't think of any
other books which pull off the just-when-you-thought-it-couldn't
get-any-worse-it-does so well and so often. I'm amazed you
rated the first one more highly than the rest too. My marks
out of 10 for the five books would have been 1 8 10 10 9. 
(For comparison, I'd rate the six Covenants at 5 10 10 6 3 6). 

Also I have to disagree with your comment that the forwards/backwards
storylines in Use of Weapons didn't serve any purpose. I would
hold it up as the ideal example of when an unusual structure
like that not only helps but is crucial. The final revelations
wouldn't have had anything like the impact they did without
that structure. I really don't think the book would have worked
with a standard timeline. 

Have a nice day.

Trev/WTG etc

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From: Rod Pennington 
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 1998 22:15:10 -0800
Subject: More suggestions...

Doug,
Visited your website for the first time in a few months.  Glad to
see you read and enjoyed "Permutation City".  You gave it a "7", I'd
probably give it an "8".  It had it's weaknesses, but also delivered
several transcending moments that I'll remember for a long time.  And
then, of course, there's the patented "big ideas" Egan is known for.
That being said, I have to say I was a bit disappointed in reading
Egan's much talked about collection of short stories "Axiomatic".  Also,
I was so eager to read his next novel "Distress", that I bought it in
hard back.  But I found it to be a bit of a disappointment, too.  Still
worth reading though.

I note you read Roger Penrose's book "The Emporer's New Mind".  I haven't
read it, but I've read of it, and have also read "Conciousness Explained"
by Daniel Dennett.  If you have any interest in the concept and nature of
human conciousness, you should definitely read Dennett.  He debunks
Cartesion dualism, Searle's "Chinese Room", and various other concepts
that get bandied about among cognitive scientists and philosophers.

Incidently my opinion is that if Star Trek transporters were a reality, 
that the self/soul/ conciousness, or whatever, would survive transporting
(I'm refering to the issue you raised in your Penrose review).  Let's say
we describe an individual conciousness as a continuous stream of causally
connected informational states.  So long as the chain of causality isn't
broken, I'd say the person who steps out of the transporter chamber at the
"receiving" end is the same one who stepped in at the "sending" end.  The
substrate in which the informational states are encoded, be it a particular
set of atoms or an energy beam, isn't (in my opinion) important.  Just 
thought I'd toss that out there.  I'm not sure how well this idea would
stand scrutiny.

Anyway, keep up the good work!  Do you realize you're probably the
most famous "Ingram" on the internet?

Regards,

Rod
=================
Rod Pennington
Temple, TX
rodpenn@sage.net

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From: "J.C. King" 
Date: Sat, 31 Jan 1998 00:27:25 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Generals Comments and Patton

Dr. Ingram,

I chanced upon your site in my feverish search for Riven hints.  My 
hunger satisfied, I browsed around until I found your book list.  Very 
impressive.  I was surprised that you did not include Joan D. Vinge's 
Tiamat series.  A friend of mine bought books one and three for me as a 
birthday present some years ago.  I more recently found out that a book 
#2 existed.  They are:

The Snow Queen--My favorite of the three.  Combines your basic 
Cinderella story with cloning, environmentalism, and the mysteries of 
the universe.  Just a darn good space opera.

World's End--Like I said, I didn't know until a few years ago that this 
book even existed, and I had no problems (aside from the occasional 
"well, how did so-and-so get from there to here," which didn't trouble 
me too much.)  It is a good transition between the two larger works, and 
is written in a different style.  I almost wonder if it was written 
retroactively.

Summer Queen--The fairy tale elements take back stage to the tech in 
this volume, as the unthinkable gives rise to the next unthinkable, and 
so forth, and all come to pass before the book ends.  Incredible ending.  
Really binds you to the characters.

All three are in PAPERBACK, and you should check them out.

Literature aside, I enjoy your site thoroughly.  It's nice to see a 
professor with a cyber-geek streak like the rest of us.  Keep up the 
good stuff...

JC King
Wayland Baptist University
Plainview, TX