From: William Armstrong 
Date: Sat, 01 Aug 1998 14:18:04 -0400
Subject: A British series that MUST be read.

A few years ago I read an excellent fantasy series called "The
Chronicles of Hawklan," by British writer Roger Taylor.  While it is the
familiar story of the Dark Lord, it is told brilliantly, with some
interesting twists.  It must be read.  It is published by Headline Books
(only in paperback from what I've seen), and is composed of these
titles: "The Call of the Sword," "The Fall of Fyorlund," "The Waking of
Orthlund," and "Into Narsindal."  The Call of the Sword caught me
straight away with the Prologue, describing an ancient battle key to the
story, and culminated in the masterful Into Narsindal.

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From: cab 
Date: Mon, 03 Aug 1998 00:44:25 -0700
Subject: McCammon,R

I was literally shocked when I saw the review you gave to Swan Song.  I =
was first introduced to McCammon while passing the night away in a line =
waiting to purchase some Pink Floyd tickets.  Half of Swan Song was =
devoured by the time I got my tickets.  Swan Song was one of the most =
robust, real, and endeavoring books that I've ever read and certainly my =
favorite of McCammon's.  It is similar to The Stand, but it is much more =
subtle and surely its details are less corny.
I've read most of King's work as well as McCammon's.  I recommend that =
you read the rest of McCammon's writing, such as Mine (completely creepy =
and real!) and Night Boat (one of his best).
Well, that's all!
chris@woodlandwebs.com

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From: Med_Affairs 
Date: Tue, 04 Aug 1998 08:46:52 -0700
Subject: Swan Song

# Apparently, I have galvanized the McCammon fan club somehow.

I'm not sure when you wrote your review of Swan Song, but I have to say
that I completely disagree with you.  I found the characters in Swan
Song to be rich.  Unlike a lot of King's character's I could visualize
Sister Creep, Swan and Josh instantly.  Just because both books deal
with the impending end of civilization, doesn't mean that they aren't
both worthy of praise.  They aren't the ONLY post-A books afterall. 
Besides, while Swan Song deals with what happens when our environment is
destroyed, The Stand deals with the potential extinction of the human
race while our environment remains in tact.  I think that while the
psychic connection to Mother Abigail is spiritual (as the woman herself
is), the concept of your true self emerging, of God bringing the inner
face forward is much more powerful.   I thought the only truly
believable character in The Stand was the Trashcan Man.  His was a
psychosis too bizarre to be made up.  I found Swan Song inspired much
more hope than The Stand.  I will agree that Randall Flag was a more
imposing villain than the Laughing Man.  However, the site of Las Vegas
for the colonization of evil was cliche.  Anyway, I read both books
although I have read Swan Song several more times than The Stand only
because the characters draw me back time and time again.  It is a book I
have purchased and given away dozens of times.  I consider it a must
read.
Kris Staley, Fresno, Ca

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From: Ivy 
Date: Tue, 04 Aug 1998 11:58:56 -0500
Subject: book list

You have quite an extensive list.  I would like to recommend a few more
books for you to take a look at... I noticed that you liked the Covenant
series by Stephen Donaldson (I really liked those myself, both trilogies
were good, although I found the second series really depressing, but
anyway, he wrote another book which I thought was interesting if not as
good as Covenant called "Daughter of Regals"... some other books that I
thought you might be interested in reading as well from Barbara Hambly,
she wrote a series called the Windrose Chronicles, it is a trilogy
consisting of "The Silent Tower," "The Silicon Mage," and  "Dog
Wizard".  Also I saw that you had listed the Darwath trilogy and I'm not
sure if you were aware that she added two books onto that series...
"Mother of Winter" is a good stand alone book that follows the other
three, and "Icefalcon's Quest" comes after that.  I have not read
Icefalcon's Quest, it is still in hardback form and I haven't gotten
around to it yet.  There is one more book of hers that I think you
should definately read though called "Dragonsbane"  it is a very
different type of portrayal of Dragons and fighting dragons... Another
author that I think that you might be interested in is Tad Williams, you
rated his Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series, but he just started a new
series called Otherworld, the first book is "City of Golden Shadow" and
it is in paperback, the second is River of Blue Fire and that was just
released and is still in hardback.  I haven't read River of Blue Fire
yet, but I really liked the first book.  It very different from his
Memory, Sorrow and Thorn books.  Hopefully you don't think I'm being
pushy or whatever, I think you have a fabulous list, and I really like
how you have managed to rate them all.  I have a list that I am working
on of my own, but I've got so many books that I own but haven't read yet
that it's pathetic.  And I have friends that keep giving me books that
they think I NEED to read.  

Janell Wolfinger
nel@michianatoday.com

PS. I forgot there's one more series that you might find interesting by
Barbara Hambly, it's called the Unschooled Wizard series consisting of
"The Ladies of Mandrigyn", "The Witches of Wenshar" and "The Dark Hand
of Magic"  They are about this one eyed pirate type of character (not
actually a pirate, a barbarian) who is thrust into all kinds of
mischief... and each book ends with him saving the town and then being
banished from that town. 

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From: Ronnald Stovall 
Date: Sat, 08 Aug 1998 15:03:57 +0500
Subject: other authors

Doug

Just spent about 4 hours reading your reviews of authors/books.  Like to
recommend Patricia
A. McKillip's "The Forgotten Beasts of Eld" to you.  Good read.
  I think you are way off the mark on Guy Gavriel Kay...I have been
reading anything I can
get my hands on for 20 years and believe he is the quintessential author
of any time.  I've never read anything, by anyone in any genre that has
moved me like his works have.  The exception being, I thought the "Lions
of Al Rassan" was boring, dry and shallow when compared to the
"Finovar Tapestry" , "Tigana" and "Song for  Arbonne"...  also, I
thought Stephen R. Donaldson was just great, too, ...until I found Kay.
Anyhoo, just giving you my humble opine.
     Great website, btw.  Keep up the good work.  Would love to have you
see my own hardback collection sometime.
     Best regards

Stacy Jackson
onesunnygal@yahoo.com

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From: Smudgeco@aol.com
Date: Sun, 09 Aug 1998 22:59:44 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Star Wars Books

I found your Library in a search for Star Wars books.  I have recently gotten
addicted to the series, and while reading the first in the Jedi Academy
series, Jedi Search, I read about the resurrection of the Emperor, and Luke's
experience of going to the Dark Side.  Was there a book written about this?
If not, there should've been.  It's not nice to tease avid SF readers.  If
there was a book about this, do you know the title?  I've read all the books
up to the last Jedi Academy book, Champions of the Force, which I am finishing
up tonight.  I haven't read the four X-Wing books yet.  I'm trying to follow
in chronological order, so I won't miss some background stuff.

There's supposed to be a website for some of this stuff, I saw it on the back
of the latest book.  It has the words bantam/spectra in the address, but I've
forgotten the rest.  Any you have would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you. 
Steve Bryan

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From: "Philip J. Thoennes" 
Date: Sun, 09 Aug 1998 22:19:52 -0700
Subject: The Sword of Maiden's Tears

The last book suggestion I gave you was Agyar.  Glad you liked it.

The Sword of Maiden's Tears by Rosemary Edghill has been really
interesting.

Take one elf, dump in NYC, and add a man-eating monster that only the
Elf can kill.

The part that makes this book any good is the folks who get involved
with the Elf.  Most think his story is complete bunk except the girl who
falls in love with him.

The book does have a large number of gramatical erros, which is strange,
even if it is her first book.

It may not be a great book, but I enjoyed it and plan on buying the
sequels of which there are two.

Actually, this isn't that great a book, it is ok, and even somewhat
interesting, but doesn't rate very high.  However, I do have a book that
isn't on your list that rates very  high on my own scale.  "Swordspoint"
by Ellen Kushner (I think that is the authors name.)  While Brust is my
favorite author, and the Wheel of Time is my favorite series,
Swordspoint is my favorite book.

It takes the political intrigue that is found in the "Hawk and Fisher"
series by another author and refines it with excellent characters,
descriptions, and plots.  All in all, a book I can and do in fact read
time and time again.

And no I did not get that blurb off of a dust cover. ;)

Philip J. Thoennes

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From: RICHARD BROWN 
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 1998 23:50:02 -0400
Subject: Guy Gavriel Kay and your reading habits

Honey, I read your book report of Guy and your summary of the Lions was
frankly a little dismaying. If you didn't pick up on the religious
nuances of the book, maybe you haven't read it as carefully as you
should have. Don't miss out on all the juicy details and parallels to
his literature. Its all really quite fulfilling.
    Also your choice of literature matches that of every boy I've ever
dated. Frightening, but not all in bad taste. Though Donaldson I could
do without.

# Sometimes I just HAVE to respond...

From d_ingram Mon Aug 17 07:34:51 1998
Subject: Re:  Guy Gavriel Kay and your reading habits

Thanks for the comments.  Regarding your comments about "religious
nuances" in Lions and me not reading the book as "carefully as I
should have":  Please, you're taking my reviews *WAY* too seriously!
As for guys you've dated, I guess you should look on the bright side.
At least they *read*.  

Doug

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From: Lara Langeneckert 
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1998 16:46:58 -0500
Subject: hi (again)

I sent you mail during the period where you deleted the file, so I
thought I'd resend it just in case you hadn't read it.

I read one Steven Brust work you haven't mentioned on your page:  "The
Sun, the Moon, and the Stars."  I really enjoyed it.  It's a part of
Terri Windling's Faerie Tale Series, which consists of adult retellings
of classic fairy tales.

Recently, during a trip to Florida, I read Kara Dalkey's "Goa" and
"Bijapur" which are the first two books in a trilogy.  Don't read them
yet, since the third one's not even out in hardcover yet, but they were
great.  Incidentally, Brust and Dalkey were part of the Scribblies, a
writers group in Minneapolis that also included Pamela Dean (my personal
favorite author), Will Shetterly, and Emma Bull.  (But then you probably
already knew that.)

Thanks, and I hope to hear what you think of any of these.

Langley

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From: Erskin Tallent 
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 1998 09:31:07 -0400
Subject: Clarke fan.

I was just looking at your list of Arthur C. Clarke books that you have
read and I have a few others I would like to suggest.  First is "The
Songs of Distant Earth" 1986 release.  Also I think you would enjoy two
other books, one by Clarke and the other by Clarke and Gregory Benford.
The first one is "Against the Fall of Night" and the other co-author
book "Beyond the Fall of Night."  These books deal with the evolution of
mankind, and I think they are very well written and thought provoking. 
On another note.  I began reading Clarke after taking a Philosophy
course in college and reading "Childhoods End."  I have been hooked on
him ever since.  I hope you read and enjoy these books.

Erskin Tallent

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From: "Geil, Craig" 
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1998 15:33:21 -0500
Subject: hi

Hi Doug,

I got a little bored at work and started on a quest to find a good
sci-fi book since I've run dry with all the authors I normally read. You
have a really great web page, very informative. It looks like your a big
Dan Simmons fan so I'm gonna give Hyperion a try. Amazon.com has tons of
great reviews on it too. Thanks for the tip :)

Craig

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From: jkc 
Date: Sun, 30 Aug 1998 03:12:54 -0400
Subject: some comments

I like to thank you for doing this sight, it was getting hard to find a
good sff books until i found this sight. And i totally agree with you
about the Thomas Convenent series, but i would have gave the Gap series
little higher grade. For my recommendation,  some comedy fantasy try
Foster's Spellsinger Series, one of the funniest fantasy i read, Mudge
the otter kills me. I read it ten years ago, but i think it's still
good. I would recommend more books, but you already read it, and i can't
remember some of it.  And Thanks again for all your recommenation. Keep
up the good work.

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From: nightstryke@juno.com (Brandon C Wu)
Date: Wed, 02 Sep 1998 23:28:17 -0400
Subject: Intrepid

Hello again -

I visited your page today for the first time in a while.  Thanks for
putting up my letter.  I had forgotten writing half the stuff I said in
there.  I have some updates: first and foremost, when I wrote I was
reading the Covenant series; well, I finished both Covenant trilogies a
while ago and absolutely loved them.  Amazing imagination and emotional
impact, and to me the writing never got in the way.  I also wrote about
George R.R. Martin and recommended a few works by him.  Now, after having
read almost everything the man has written, I'll have to put forth the
recommendation again.  Not for anything specific, just something by him. 
I'll say no more.  :)

I noticed you're reading the Coldfire Trilogy now, and in a flash of
egotism wondered if that was perhaps inspired by the review in the copy
of _Intrepid_ I sent along to you.  What do you think of it, anyway?  I'm
not sure how many people really want to read our opinions, but we're
having a lot of fun putting it together so we aren't going to stop
anytime soon.  :)  Thanks for letting me use your review, by the way.

Well, that's all I wanted to say.  Take care.

Best regards,
Brandon Wu

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From: apintrix 
Date: Fri, 04 Sep 1998 01:03:53 -0400
Subject: links links links

I have a review page at http://pantheon.yale.edu/~ewo3/authors.html , want
to cross link?
Another good review page is "seized by the tale", it's linked to on my
authors page.

I can't remember if I've told you this:

I really think you've missed a lot of the good points about LeGuin's
Earthsea books.  While I found Tehanu a little overpoliticized, I enjoyed
the fact that bad stuff happens to the characters which does not happen to
your everyday fantasy characters: a woman grows old without realizing her
potential, people are ignorant and malicious and don't face retribution or
education, heros are forced out of the limelight.  The result may strike
some as a cop-out-- there's not much entertainment in the bleak reality of
life-- but it took courage, I think, to attempt to write a novel in the
fantasy genre which would be no-one's fantasy.
But Tehanu wasn't my favorite earthsea book, and I think there's stuff
you've overlooked in the others.
From reading your long donaldson review, I can see that you're a man who
appreciates the finer points of theme, and are not just reading for cheap
thrills.  Although I like a thrill as much as the next person mind you.  ;-)
The thematic content of the first two books of earthsea is tremendous; what
leguin does in "a wizard" is write a novel in a western canon (the coming
of age story) that is largely based on the eastern philosophy of Lao Tsu's
Tao te Ching.  It's an amazing accomplishment, resulting in an uncommon
quest: it has all the western elements that have become cliche with the
proliferation of epic fantasy, but in an eastern context.  It is acceptance
of the dark side rather than defeat of it; when Ged in traditional coming
of age fashion meets the enemy, he does not destroy evil, but becomes one
with it-- and the doing so is right.  It is also a perfect quest, because
doesn't it seem that the point of all these coming of age quest novels is
always for Mr. Protagonist to discover that the greatest thing he's
accomplished is the questing, not its goal?  In Ged's case, his questing
itself teaches him the aim of his journey, unifying the seeking with the
finding.  But enough: on to "atuan".
In "atuan", the polarity is reversed: where Ged is light that becomes
unified with darkness, Arha is darkness that must be filled with light, by
him, almost sexually.  It's a rather traditional view of femininity, but no
less valid, and the imagery of darkness, emptiness, etc. fills the book and
is one with the ideas of womanhood as yin: most spectacularly, as the
undertomb forbidden to men is the womb from which Tenar is born of Arha and
can enter the human world of wholeness.  In this book the connections of
sex to yin/yang are subtext, and the polarity of light/dark is more clearly
seen than in "wizard", which dealt more with unifying west/east.
As for "farthest", I've never been able to understand what LeGuin's subtext
is; I suspect that it's about aging, and I suspect that when I get older
I'll understand it: I'm too young.  I'm not worthy.  ;-) All I know is that
when I was a child, I hated the book, and found it depressing... but the
more I read it, and the older I got, the more I appreciated its beauty, far
greater sadder than the overtly thematic previous novels.  Ged after his
sacrifice reminds me of the fisher king story: the "grail" has healed the
king by delivering him to death, and the new generation (arren; also the
living in general) assumes kingship.  (this is not the Arthurian fisher
king, but the older greek celestial hercules figure from which that story
evolved).  Ged himself is the grail now drained, which no-one thinks of after.

well I hope I've convinced you to give the books a second reading, at
least; they're the kind of thing that improves with repetition.

BTW, you really should try "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep", it's
beautiful, has a plot, and is by Dick.  Also "Valis" because of the
interesting narrative technique.  (same author)

lizzie

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From: John Gewin 
Date: Wed, 09 Sep 1998 19:37:54 -0500
Subject: good reading guide and some recs

Doug,

Love your page. I think I've spent hours reading it and look forward to
reading some more Brust and others soon.

Anyway, in case you haven't already found it, The Good Reading Guide has
been redone in HTML and is at
http://skogsviol.ce.chalmers.se/SF_archive/SFguide/ The site seems pretty
erratic though, and I have gone weeks without being able to get on it.

It (and your page) have inspired me to create my own at
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Dunes/8791/ About 3/4 of the way done now.
If you get bored some time...

Some quick recommendations-

The Winter of the World series by Michael Scott Rohan is my favorite
fantasy. It's your basic "stable boy becomes powerful" tale at its core, but
it throws in mythological and prehistorical elements. These, combined with a
detachment from the characters (like Earthsea), really made the thing seem
like the retelling of a legend. And as legends contain elements of truth, it
actually seemed somewhat realistic to me. Hard to explain as I read it a
couple of years ago, and my copy isn't around here.

The Seventh Sword series by Dave Duncan, in particular the first book, was
very entertaining. Covers some of the same ground as Covenant (although it
doesn't have the same "literary" weight).

Treason by Card. Sometimes I think it's better than Ender's Game.

Honor Harrington is great, mindless, formulaic action.

Gateway is one of my favorites.
The Diamond Age is like Snow Crash, but better.
I bet most of these are already on your reading list. I think I have more
books _to read_ than I've actually read. Oh, well. I'll catch up after I
retire in like 30 years or so.

Again, thanks for the great page.
-------------------------------
John Gewin
jgewin@ibm.net

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From: Default 
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1998 15:22:37 -0400
Subject: a list

Just happened upon your site while preparing a research exercise for my
new Eng. Comp. students.  I'll have them read your brief review of
"Black Like Me."  I have a Library Committee meeting, so I won't be able
to explore your site immediately, but I do want to ask whether you've
ever seen the paperback called "The College and Adult Reading List."
I'm going to check while at the library for this meeting to see if it is
still in print.  Ciao.  Dan Gribbin.  Ferrum College.  Ferrum Virginia.
dgribbin@ferrum.edu

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From: olivier@disquette-et-mat.com (Disquette et Mat - Olivier)
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1998 22:25:08 +0200
Subject: Hi, from France...

Hi there !

Being  a  Donaldson fan, I ran a search on Altavista, and I found your
Donaldson-related  page.  Well  I  could  say  you're not the only one
bearing   The   Unbeliever   as  your  personal  cross...  I've  been
recommending that to everybody for almost ten years, without success.

Well, that may be because all my pals read french, and the translation
is  not  so  good.  The  Unbeliever  was  even  my main motivation for
learning  english  :  I  thought  at the time that that book HAD to be
better than what I was reading.

Well, I was right. :)))

I LOVED the Gap series. Do you know by any chance what comes next ?
Better yet, do you happen to know Donaldson's e-mail ?

And thanks for your page. ANd the whole library, as a matter of fact

Olivier

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From: Chris 
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1998 15:50:30 -0500
Subject: Anne Rice

Just writting to let you know that there is an error on your page for Anne
Rice.  You have "The Mummy" listed as part of the Vampire Chronicles when
it is in fact a stand alone novel that has nothing to do with the vampire
series.

A quick reading sugestion: read the Dark Tower series by King.  I know you
don't read a series until it is finished but by King's own admition he may
never finish.  At the very least you should read "The Gunslinger" which in
my opinion is his best novel (and i've read them all).  It works well as a
stand alone novel so you can read it without being completely sucked into
the series.  The books combine all the best elements of King and will, I
think, be remebered as his greatest achievement.
	Great site.

Chris

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Subject: Simon Hawke
Date: Sun, 27 Sep 1998 14:06:36 -0400 (EDT)

I just thought I would write to you about the latest info on Simon Hawke. He
now teaches at Guilford Technical Community College in Jamestown, NC. I am one
of his students. He is currently working on a new screenplay that has already
opened many ears and eyes. I thought you might want an update.

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Subject: Thanks
Date: Sun, 27 Sep 1998 21:12:13 -0400 (EDT)

Dear Mr. Ingram:

Thanks for the review page.  You must read books 24 hours a day.

I'm sure you have a recommended reading list a mile long, but being an
SF fan, I'd like to add a few more to your list:

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman

Gateway by Frederick Pohl

Solaris by Stanislaw Lem

I wouldn't put any of these in the top 10 best SF, but at least in the top
100.

William F Buckley has written some fascninating books on sailing the Atlantic.
He's written about 4 or 5, of which I've read Windfall and Cruising.  And he
doesn't talk politics.  You might give one a try.
Thanks again for the reviews.
        ~SF FAN~

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From: Seth Armstrong 
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1998 14:16:51 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: books

The Chronicles of Hawklan, Roger Taylor (series includes: "The Call of 
the Sword", "The Fall of Fyorlund", "The Waking of Orthlund", and "Into 
Narsindal").  I enjoyed them very much.  They are, of course, influenced 
largely by Tolkien (but it is not so blatant as some); while it owes him 
a great deal, it is still highly original.  And it has all been out for 
several years now.

Fire From Heaven, Mary Renault.
You _might_ not be into this one, but I enjoyed it immensely.  It is a 
story about Alexander the Great's life from boyhood to his accession. It 
is a part of a trilogy, but can stand on its own.  The other two, "The 
Persian Boy" and "Funeral Games" are also very good, although the last 
is of the events after his death, when his successors fought over his 
empire.
If you are into that kind of thing, you should also check out her 
biography of him, "The Nature of Alexander", which is not as dry as most 
works on the subject; while scholarly, it is also entertaining.

"The Chrysalids", by John Wyndham.  I hated it when I was forced to read 
it in high school, but re-read it later and loved it.  The run-down 
sounds cheesy (its about telepathy in a post-apocalyptic world) but the 
way it is written makes it worthwhile.

"Legends of the Fall", by Jim Harrison, I loved.  If you didn't like the 
movie, that's okay, because the story (it is a novella, published along 
with two others) is superior.

"Lion of Ireland" and "Druids", by Morgan Llywelyn.  Both are basically 
"historical fantasy".  "Lion of Ireland" is about the semi-legendary 
Irish High King (d.1014 A.D.) Brian Boru and his war to drive the Norse 
out of Ireland (which he did) and his attempts to unify the country 
(where he failed).  It is very good, and has some decent battles.
"Druids" is in many ways more fantasy than history.  It takes the 
legends of the druids and their abilities as fact.  It is set in the 
times before, during, and after the conquest of Gaul by Caesar.

"The Iliad", trans. Robert Fagles.  Now, I know what you're probably 
thinking. But it's not the dull read that it sounds.  It has some of the 
bloodiest, most gruesome battle scenes ever - particularly in book 20, 
when Achilles fights.  But don't bother with anything but the Robert 
Fagles translation.

Those are some of the ones I've most enjoyed.  If you end up taking a 
look, I don't think you'll be sorry.  Well, see ya.

Seth Armstrong