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

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

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

----
Robert Jordan:

The Wheel of Time series:

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

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

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

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

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

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

----
C.S. Friedman

Black Sun Rising
When True Night Falls
Crown of Shadows

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

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

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

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

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

----
Raymond E. Feist
Fairie Tale

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

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

The Serpent War Saga

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

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

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

----
Robin Hobb

The Farseer Trilogy

Assasin's Apprentice
Royal Assasin
Assasin's Quest

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

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

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

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

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

----
Peter Maas

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

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

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

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

----
Douglas Adams

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

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

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

----
Orson Scott Card

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

----
David Eddings

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

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

----
Raymond Feist

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

----
Stephen King

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

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

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

Doug,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thanks,
Brian

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

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

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

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

Hello -

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Great site -
Brandon Wu

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

	David Morris

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Later,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


				--James

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

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

Doug

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

As To recommendations

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jay Samples
tlsampl@airmail.net

Have a nice day!

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

You asked for suggestions.. :)

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

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

	Of the authors you've already tried :

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

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

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

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

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

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

	Now for some not on your list...

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

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

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

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

	Cheers,

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

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

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

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

Happy Reading,
Laura Caudle

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mylee Ejercito

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hello Doug!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Best wishes,
    Pedro

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

Hi again Doug,

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

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

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

Pedro

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Poul Anderson, The Devil's Game, 1980

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


Ben Bova, The Dueling Machine, 1969

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

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


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

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


HG Wells, The Time Machine

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


James Hogan, The Two Faces of Tomorrow, 1979

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


Dennis McKiernan, Dragondoom, 1990

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


Pat Frank, Alas, Bablyon, 1959

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


Vernor Vinge, The Witling, 1976

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


Larry Niven, Ringworld, 1970

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


Sharon Shinn, Archangel, 1996

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

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


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

Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

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


Margaret Atwood, The Robber Bride

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


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

Randy Welch

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: "Stephen Levitt" 
Date:          Thu, 14 Sep 1995 14:17:42 SAT
 
Hi Doug,
 
You certainly have a very impressive library, and thanks for sharing
your insights about the books you have read.
 
I find it interesting in that I agree with you about some of your
favourite books and authors, and totally disagree with you about
others. I guess there is just no way to segregate readers into
clear-cut catergories.
 
You rate the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant very highly.  I on other
hand could even finish the first book. I guess the idea of a 
protaganist which is a total wimp just does not appeal to me. The
first book seemed to involve many long passages in which the main
character wallows in self pity. Every now and then (between the 
pathetic whining) the plot would progress slightly. I think that I
must have stopped reading at about the middle of the first book.
However, now that I have read your detailed review maybe I'll give it another
go.
 
On the other, other hand I am in full agreement with you on the 
brilliance of Dan Simmons (after reading the Hyperion Series). I rate
Hyperion as one of the best SF books I have ever read. I also think
that Dune is excellent.
 
I notice that you enjoy Michael Crichton. I also do, but don't you 
the find the endings of his novels are often a cop out - with critical 
problems which have been developing throughout the book, suddenly being
resolved within a paragraph or two. I think Sphere and The Andromeda
Strain are especially guilty of this.
 
Do you find the writing of Umberto Eco and Gene Wolfe similar? 
Obviously they write about very different subject matter, but they 
both use an extensive vocabulary, excellent control of language and
they handle very complex plots. I find the writing of both these
authors very dense (requiring as you say a lot of concentration), but
ultimately extremely rewarding.
 
Finally some suggestions (if they have not already been made):
 
1.As you seem to like humorous fantasy/SF may I suggest Robert
Rankin, author of Armageddon The Musical, They Came And Ate Us and so
forth. Rankin's writing is like mixture of Douglas Adams' and Terry
Pratchett's - the plot is often secondary to the humor.
 
2. Icehenge, Red Mars and so forth by Kim Stanley Robinson. Strictly
hard SF with the extrapolation of current technology into the future.
Robinson studies the scientific literature about the environment in
which his characters are placed (eg: Mars) and so his stories appear
very realistic. Robinson also develops his characters very well and
is an excellent writer IMHO. Note: there is a strong divergence in
opinion concerning KSR which evident from news group articles, but
you should at least try one of his books.
 
________________________________________________________________
Stephen Levitt
eMail: levitt@odie.ee.wits.ac.za
 
"I do not whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly,
 or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming I am a man."
                      -- Chuang-tzu

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: "Lewis Scott (aka Solmu)" 
Date: Sat, 17 Oct 1998 17:50:03 +0000
Subject: book reviews

I hope you don't mind long e-mails from complete strangers, as one
follows ;)

Terry Pratchetts Discworld:
> There are almost a dozen more books than the ones I
> listed here. I read the first four and thoroughly enjoyed
> them. The most slapstick world-view I've seen, and I
> really appreciated it coming from Dr. Parker's
> Parageography class at Texas. Probably the best writer along
> with Douglas Adams in the slapstick genre. Unfortunately,
> I thought Wyrd Sisters was thoroughly plodding, so I stopped
> reading after that, hoping someday to have someone tell me
> what the top five or so in the series are so I can just read those
> rather than buy them all.

I'm one of those fantatical Pratchett people who buys all his books
when they come out in hardcover :) So he's one (of several) of my
favourite authors.

So, suprise suprise, I'd recommend you re-consider reading some more
of his stuff :)

A lot of different people have a lot of different favourites in the
series (not really suprising since there are over 20 books now), but
some of the best (this is in general opinion as well as mine) are possibly:
Mort, Guards! Guards!, Reaper Man, Men At Arms, Small Gods, Soul
Music.

The later ones tend to be of a different style to the earlier ones,
while the earlier ones are full of puns and comical humour the later
ones are more subtle.

As you probably noticed his books aren't exactly a direct series -
you can just pick up any one and read it straight off. So if you know
someone who has a couple, or a library, or happen to see one I'd
recommend you pick it up and give it a shot.

Raymond Feists Riftwar Saga
> Pretty good series about a war between two different kinds of fantasy
> worlds, connected together by "rifts" that allow passage between
> the two with the right magic. Lots of surprises and
> good characters here, but I guess I didn't like it
> enough to go out and take a chance on the companion
> books that came out later.

Another one of my favourite authors. The Empire trilogy he co-wrote
with Janny Wurts was more political and had more characterisation,
but was still very similar in style. Personally I loved it - you might, or
might not. But considering you thought the first ones were good but
not great you probably would enjoy them - considering size though
they might only be something to take a risk on if you have nothing
better to do :) You might not like them much, but I'd be suprised if you
actually hated them.

And now... *cackle* Eddings (bet you saw that coming :)). Personally
I like Eddings. I agree that if you study his plots afterwards they
are more than a little thin, and not all that original, but it really
doesn't matter. While reading it it is entertaining, and sometimes
amusing, the fact that the plot is predictable never seemed to worry
me. *shrug* Each to his own. The comments about it possibly being
affected by how old/widely read are interesting. It's possible,
though I'm not sure. When I read the Belgariad I was about 13 and
although I read a lot for a 13 year old I hadn't read much fantasy,
I followed it up straightaway with the Mallorean and though I noticed
the sameness of plot I just didn't care. I left his trilogy the
Elenium for a while, and by that stage had read a bit more fantasy,
and I am only just now reading the Tamuli. I've been trying to find
as much wrong with it as I can having read some bad reviews, but I
just can't :) Yes it's fairly predictable, yes it has some minor flaws, but
it's still an entertaining read. But I guess there is a problem with
that - I find it entertaining and I like it, but if it doesn't
entertain you then there is nothing in it to like, since about it's
only value is that Eddings is a good story teller.

Under Tolkiens 'The Silmarillion' you wrote "I'm told that the
Unfinished Tales do a similar job of telling old history but they are
much better." I heard there was a bit of doubling and contradiction
between Unfinished Tales and The Silmarillion, but since I haven't
read TS I'm not sure. I have however read UF, and personally I quite
enjoyed it, though I was about 14, I like short stories, and I was
going through a Tolkien phase at the time :)

Useful site btw, I was pleased to find some James Blish reviews too
:) I heard about one of his books, sounded interesting so I've been
looking everywhere for reviews - there are a lot of sites saying
"James Blish is an under-recognised pro of the genre" etc. but
unfortunately they don't tend to actually review his books ;)
No wonder he is still under recognised :)

I got given the two Thomas Covenant trilogies and the two Mordants
Need books by a friend who was getting rid of some of their books
(crazy eh? :)), but as I have a *LOT* sitting on my shelves waiting
to be read I haven't got around to starting them yet - guess by the
sound of things I should fast track them to the front of my list :)

I don't know if you have read Terry Goodkind at all, but if not you
should at least consider giving him a try too. He is at times quite
graphic with descriptions. Generic fantasy I guess, but personally I
thought his first two books (Wizards First Rule and Stone of Tears)
were very very very very good. His third was still good, but less so,
and his 4th... pretty good but nowhere near as good as the earlier
ones. I don't know if I would think more of it if I hadn't read the
first three and therefore had high expectations, or less of it
because I hadn't read other very good books by the author - but I
suspect I would actually have thought less of it. Hopefully the 5th will
get better. The first one is self contained, I can't remember exactly
but I think the 2nd was self contained too (ie it won't leave you
hanging at the end), the third was a bit of a cliff hanger, and the
4th too - hinting that he wasn't sure how long his contract would
last but now feels he can keep us hanging ;) Since you don't like
reading ongoing series you'd probably be inclined to give this a
miss, but since the first two are somewhat self contained, rather
than being one long story disected it shouldn't be a problem.
(and if memory serves correctly WFR doesn't leave you with (m)any
questions at the end)

Incidently I've done a few personality tests (all electronic :)) with
varying results, but I am most certainly an INTJ if you are at all
interested ;)

Cya,
Lewis
(aka Solmu)

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: Scott Promish 
Date: Fri, 19 Dec 1997 20:24:59 -0800
Subject: Books, reviews...

Hallo.  I'm just at your web page and reading the letters other people
have sent you has motivated me to add my two cents (it may end up being
a dollar or so, but hopefully I won't bore too much.)  I'm always
looking for new suggestions or discussions on things I've read so I
search for review sites a lot.  If you are interested, check out my site
at http://www.cris.com/~scottjp/BOOKS.HTM

Donaldson seems to be the most talked about author here.  I have only
read Mordant's Need but I liked it a lot.  I've bought most of The Gap
but haven't started it yet.  No real interest in Covenant, though a
friend of mine really liked it...

I like King, though I read him infrequently.  Most of what I've read is
older stuff.  The most recent was The Green Mile, which I thought was
bad.  It was so repetitive, the characters so uninteresting, that I had
no emotional investment in the series.  And on top of that, the ending
was a letdown. But aside from that and some short works, I pretty much
like all his stuff.  A lot of people recommend Koontz to King fans.
Though I wouldn't strongly do so, if you are interested, The Bad Place
is good, as is The Voice of the Night (which is short, too).  I didn't
like Twilight Eyes very much.  After those first few samplings, I've
pretty much had my fill of his writings.

I also love Joel Rosenberg.  I loved the entire Guardians series, though
The Warrior Lives struck me as a little weaker than the rest.  Maybe I
was just not used to life without Karl.  Joel just posted on r.a.s-f.w
that he has submitted the latest manuscript for publication, so
hopefully it won't be long till the next one.  I'm not one of those
people that likes series to drag on endlessly past their prime, but
there is still a lot that hasn't been explored in this one, like the
whole thing between Myrddhin and Titania, which was only hinted at and I
don't think was even touched on in the last couple books.
I've bought the first book of his new series, but haven't read it yet.

Tad Williams:  I've only read Tailchaser's Song, which is sort of a
"Watership Down for cats."  That's oversimplifying, as the story is
original, but I think it's appropriate enough.  I loved it, and I wasn't
even a cat lover at the time I read it.

Piers Anthony:  I liked the first Incarnations a lot, and the second
wasn't too bad.  I hated the third.  For some reason I started the
fourth (I had bought it before I read the third), got a chapter in,
asked myself "Do I really want to read the same story again?" and quit.
Now, I almost never quit a book in the middle, but I decided in this
case I wouldn't be missing anything.  Then a friend of mine gave me the
sixth (? - the one about Satan), and I figured, "Well, he's done the
standard incarnations, maybe this'll be a little different."  Well, it
wasn't as bad as the Fate book, but I didn't think it was very good,
either.  And by then I'd grown to hate his writing style.  That was it
for me.

Some suggestions I don't think I saw in your library:

Mary Gentle:
-Golden Witchbreed, an alien contact novel.  This is one of my all time
favourite SF books.  I read it years ago so it's not real fresh in my
mind, but I do recommend it.  The sequel, Ancient Light, isn't as good,
and it's very depressing.
-Rats & Gargoyles, which appears to be an alternate history that takes
place in medieval times, merging magic and technology (such as it is).
It's really large of scope, at times confusing, but it's fabulous,
believable, and has a lot of likeable characters.  There is a lighter
(and shorter) sequel called The Architecture of Desire, which is also
good, but definitely read R&G.

Tanith Lee:
A lot of her recent work has been in the horror vein (are you interested
at all in that?  I didn't see much mention on your page other than
King.  I can recommend some great stuff if you want.)  The Blood Opera
(Dark Dance, Personal Darkness, and Darkness, I) is excellent.  The
covers make them out to be vampire novels but they aren't at all.  As
for fantasy, I loved her three Unicorn novels (Black, Gold and Red
Unicorn).  They are YA books, I think, but I'm 27 and I enjoyed them
immensely.  They are more or less self-contained (the unicorns in each
book have no relation to each other; they merely tie the adventures
together thematically.)
Overall, I am just in love with Lee's writing style.  It's beautiful.

Charles de Lint:
Wonderful magical realism.  Start with Dreams Underfoot, which as near
as I can tell is the start of his Newford chronicles (Newford is the
fictional town in which a majority of his stories take place.)  de Lint
really makes you believe that seeing the realm of faerie is just a
matter of knowing where to look, and having the right attitude.  It's
uplifting in a way.

Well, I could go on forever but I'll stop now...hope this is helpful and
write back if you want to discuss anything!

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: pwyll@arrakis.es
Date: Sun, 08 Feb 1998 14:57:18 -0800
Subject: some authors & titles

Hi, I'm a Spanish computer-sci student (that explains my clumsy English
:) and happened to find your page yesterday (which I liked very much)
and read some of the reviews and letters in your mail bag. Although you
seem to have read a lot more fiction than I, I can't resist the
temptation of sending you a few recommendations about books I liked very
much, that you haven't read, it seems. One of the reasons for this is
that I saw books from Donaldson, Contact by Carl Sagan, 2001 by Clarke,
Tolkien & so on at the top of your rankinkg, which I also have at the
top of mine, so we have at least partially coinciding likings (but I
can't say the same about, others, like Zahn, for example :).

Unfortunatly, I haven't yet read some of your favorite authors, like
Brust & Simmons, and only Mordant's Need by Donaldson, but I will read
them when I have the chance, specially Covenant's saga, of course. The
only reason why I haven't read it yet is that I want to read it in
English, and not in Spanish translation: to like a foreign literature is
a big problem; first you have to learn the language at a certain depth,
that is hard enough, then getting some titles becomes a little
adventure, at least in the economical aspect. Ordering an foreign
non-best-seller goes like this: often you have to wait several weeks,
sometimes the book won't even arrive by mysterious reasons, in case it
does it will have increased its price noticeably. The other possibility
is to rely on translations, which you shouldn't even if the translation
is good (if it is bad you're done for: I have seen whole pages suppresed
in translations, and most often, lots of sentences). Anyway,
translations of non-best-sellers are published after years and years,
and of course you can't wait all that time for a book of your favorite
author, and even if you can, you'll probably want to read it in its
genuine state. Well, I hope I'm not boring you with problems you won't
ever have, except if you suddenly become overly interested in Polish
literature :-)

Well, to the subject, here are some authors I'd recommend. I don't think
you will hear anything new, because I've seen the size of your mail bag,
but here goes it anyway:

- Neverness by David Zindell: I've seen in one of the letters you
received "you'll either love or hate this one", but I think there's more
to love in it than to hate, because this book has everything: writing,
plot, depth, atmosphere and poetry. It looks like a topic, but with the
imagination employed in this book, Zindell could have written 4 or 5,
which is what he seems to be doing right now, that is, writing a saga
with fewer ideas than the ones he used in Neverness :(

- Stanislaw Lem: this is the one you will love or hate. He has at least
two kinds of books and tales: the serious ones, and the
satyric-humoristic ones. Those of the first kind are totally amazing for
me, because I haven't found anything similar in SF. They REALLY seem to
be written by future people, with a more advanced tecnology (just the
technical terms he invents could pass for true ones), and not just a
mockery of the future. Do you imagine what would it be like for an
18th-century person to read a book about modern computer science? That's
the feeling I have with Lem, and the orientation of his work I like
more, but there is also the humor element and the philosophical element,
which are also quite impressing. One book to begin with is "His master's
voice"; the subject is quite similar to Sagan's Contact, but you will
find the tone much darker, and the end much more pessimistic (indeed
much heavier than Contact). For something more humoristic, try the
"Cyberiad", which you'll probably like. Be careful, if you begin with
the wrong book (for example, the Kafkian "Memories found in a hottub"),
you'll probably end up hating him. Some of his features remind of Borges
(reviews of books that don't exist, and so on).

- Valis, by Philip K. Dick. I've just ended this one and felt quite
impressed. I mention it because I read your review of the "Man in the
High Castle" and totally agreed with it; in fact I had read other books
by Dick that left me quite indifferent (specially, "Do Droids Dream of
Electric Sheep", maybe because I expected "Blade Runner"). This one has
much more plot than the Man in the Castle, and, if you like old
religions, apocryphal gospels, and obscure subjects like those, you'll
probably love it. And it seems that "The Divine Invasion" and "The
Transmigration of Timothy Archer" are more or less sequels to it.

- Robert Holdstock. If you like the atmosphere of forests, the Celts,
shamanism, and mythological creatures that roam in the depth of the
woods, you'll like this one; even if you don't, try it. "Mythago Wood",
"Lavondyss" & "The Hollowing" are three books about an English wood in
which old and not so old myths (like Robin Hood) take physical form. I
can't explain the beauty and the mystery of some passages in the 2nd
book, Lavondyss, a journey into the unknown region. If I had to
recommend you a single book or author this could be the one. Besides, he
has other books with more or less the same atmosphere: "The Fetch" for
example (indeed, that may be his main flaw, he is lately repeating
himself a lot). I think the movie "The Emerald Forest" is based on one
of his short stories.

- The Empire of Fear, by Brian Stableford. This is a novel about an
alternative story set (at the beginning) in the 17th century, in which
vampires have the world in their hands. They are immortal and immune to
pain, therefore everybody envies them and tries to become one of them.
This book is divided in parts so different one from the other that they
could be different novels, so it is possible that you like some of them
and not others, but in general I think the plot is very good and
atmospheric.

- The Secret History, by Donna Tart. This isn't SF or Fantasy, but still
deserves a try. It is mainly a thriller about a strange group of
students and their teacher of classic languages which get engaged in a
rite that ends very badly. Very good description of characters, you feel
as if you knew then personally at the end of the novel. Once I got into
the plot I wasn't able to stop reading.

- If you like subjects like freemasonry and mysterious conspirations and
cults, try any novel by Robert A. Wilson, specially those of the trilogy
"The Historical Illuminati", set in the 18th century.

- I liked very much "Soldier of the Mist" (and a bit less its sequel
"Soldier of Arete") by Gene Wolfe, but if you didn't like specially the
Book of the New Sun, you won't probably like it that much either, unless
you are specially interested in Greek History and mythology.

- Jorge Luis Borges, for example "Fictions" or "The Aleph". This is an
Argentinian author (at least I can read one in my language :) that,
though not SF or Fantasy writer, has quite impressing short tales that
could be considered science fiction like "the library of Babel". Some of
his subjects of interest are books, libraries and time (someone said
that the Name of the Rose was a Borges-kind tale, expanded to a novel),
and, for example, in the tale "Tlon, Uqbar and Orbis Tertius" he deals
with an encyclopedia about another world, and about its philosophy,
languages, etc. In the "Approach to Almotasim" he does a review about a
book that doesn't exist (he does that often). I think all these tales
are in his book "Fictions". I consider him the best modern writer in
Spanish, but some people don't like him because he's too "intelectual".

- Haven't you read the Neverending Story by Michael Ende? (nothing to do
with the movies, specially the second) It is one of the most singular
books I have read (and impressing, specially when you are a child, and
see the the book written in red and green letters to distinguish between
the main character's story and the book he reads, a story inside a
story; I don't know if current editions still maintain this feature).
Full of astounding ideas and catching from the first words.

To finish, some opinions about R. Jordan. I bought the first book of his
'Wheel of Time Series', called the 'Eye of the World', and couldn't
finish it at the first try. I simply couldn't stand passages that, to
me, appeared simply as plagiarism from Tolkien. In fact, in the first 50
or 100 pages there is a situation incredibly similar to the hobbits
hiding from the Black Riders. Well, I thought, let's give it a try, and
got to the end of the book. I decided I couldn't imagine what Jordan's
fans saw in those books and forgot about reading the rest of the saga,
because it all seemed a mockery of Tolkien's world making, an involution
instead of an evolution. I couldn't forget for a moment I was reading a
fantasy book, and what I like about fantasy is totally opposite: I think
that is the difficult thing to do, give readers the impression they are
hearing about a REAL world, although it be totally different to our
world (I'm thinking about Mordant's Need). Maybe the next books in the
series are marvelous and I will miss then forever, but that's too bad. I
know you haven't read the series yet: maybe with bad opinions like mine
you will be able to balance the enthusiastical opinions that go around
the web about R. Jordan, and have a first reading without prejudice ;)

OK, this is getting too long, so, congratulations for your page, and
have a good reading :)

Bye,
  Jose Ramon Gallo Vazquez.
  Sevilla, Spain
  pwyll@arrakis.es

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: "Tartan Collier" 
Date: Sun, 9 Mar 1997 03:02:50 -0900
Subject: Book Reviews...

Doug,

I really, really like your 'library' collection with reviews!  It's very
interesting to see how perceptions differ between individuals (though I
can't say that personality type has *everything* to do with it; Naomi is
also INFJ and she absolutely *detested* Donaldson...)

A few comments from an ENFP perspective...

It's interesting that you didn't much care for Eddings at all.  Behind
"Lord of the Rings" - the '10' mark by which all others are measured - I'd
probably rate both the Belgeriad and the Mallorean as next in line with 9.5
each.  (This was the only series that I've fallen into the trap of
absolutely *having* to buy hardback for the last two books in order to
finish it - like you did with Donaldson.)  In contrast, I absolutely could
NOT read the next series (Ruby Knight, etc, etc); this may have been due to
his shift from 3rdPOmniscient to 3rdPObjective perspective.

I also very much enjoyed Kurtz's "Deranyi" books, though it's been a while.
 Perhaps as facinating as anything was the obvious progression of her
writing skills as time passed.  The second series was much more mature from
a literary perspecive than was the first set.

Card's "Ender's Game" and "Speaker for the Dead" were books that I picked
up so I'd have something to read on a three-day business trip to Houston.
I had to go out and buy "Xenocide" before I got back on the plane...

Feist and Riftwar was just kinda there.  "Mind Candy" describes it very
appropriately.

Brooks and Shannara was tedious.  Worse than tedious.  Frentic.  And he
must have used a computer: such skill with global search and replace!   I
think the only reason I managed to finish the entire series was for the
same reason I didn't walk out of Asimov's "NIghtfall" at the theater.  I
was most likely thinking "There *must* be some point to all of this..."  I
was wrong.  A definite 0 of 10.

Cherryh... OK, so there IS something worse than Shannara.  On a scale of 0
to 10, I'd have to rate her as -1.

Donaldson.  Thomas Covenant.   Ah, here's a conundrum.  A series that was
repulsive, yet compelling.  How can a series of books be centered around a
protagonist with no redeeming qualities whatsoever?  I found myself hoping
against hope that he would fall off a cliff or something.  But no.  Book
after book...  no progress.  No hint of redemption.   Not even a glimmer of
a clue.  *Sigh*  Oh well, at least I liked it better than Naomi did.  :-)

Clarke and Rama: Naomi loved it; I lost interest somewhere about the middle
of the first book.

Maybe I'll follow up with another message one of these days with some more
comments on other books and/or authors.  Right now, I'm just too tired to
even think.

Tartan

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: Anthony Gardner 
Date: Sat, 15 Mar 1997 18:26:13 +1000

I must compliment you on an excellent page. Unfortunately, I think you
have suffered from reading some of the worst books by some of your
reviewed authors.
	An excellent review of Orson Scott Card's "Ender" series. unfortunarely
he seems to be very variable with outstanding successes like
"songmaster" and "Hart's hope" to then write a dodgy series like the
"prentice Alvin" series seems a shame. Likewise, humerous moments like
the dehydrated water in the "memory of earth" and its sequels are
diminished by cardboard-cutout characters and timescales that are simply
inconsistant.
	Your luck with reading the bad books by good authors is most evident
with C.J Cherryh. While "Downbelow Station" and other books in her
"Merchanter" series (Cyteen, 40000 in Gehenna, heavy time, cyteen and
several others whose names escape me at this time) are heavy going (but
excellently inventive science fiction that make Donaldson's "Gap" series
look obviously derivative) these are offset by an excellent trilogy that
I can truly recommend consisting of "Invader", "Foreigner", and
"Inheritor".
	While S.R. Donaldson's "gap" series is badly derivative, it is still
worth reading. A bit lengthy (and somewhat bloody and sexually
perverted) but probably worth it. Some of the best titles in science
fiction.
	While still on science fiction, timothy zahn has written a series
"conquerer's pride", "conquerer's heritage", and "conquerer's heritage"
with a weapon that puts me somewhat in mind of the space rotation bomb
in the weis/hickman "star of the guardians". zahn is still good though
and does some very credible writing on inter-racial politics where the
races have incompatible mindsets.
	If you haven't read it the weis/hickman dragonlance series then do so.
I would say that it may even be superior in some respects to the lord of
the rings. It consists of 3 "dragons" books, 3 "twins" books and a
seventh book which is an absolute abortion and not worth reading.
"Knights of the Black earth", and its sequel "robot blues" are books in
the "star of the guardians" universe and vastly superior to any of the
original trilogy. Margaret weis once again shows her skill with creation
of quirky and likeable characters.
	In your section on tolkien, I notice you have not read his incredibly
funny "farmer giles of ham" which seems to have vanished into definitely
undeserved obscurity. It is infinitely superior to his much overvalued
"Silmarillion" which most people would unreservedly rate as crap were it
not for the tolkien connection. 
	You were right not to read Katherine Kurtz's final series. "King
Javan's Year" was one of the worst books I have read from a respected
author.
	A respected author, who became famous for her "witchworld" series,
Andre Norton has written many books worth reading. "The crystal gryphon"
is a brilliant book, another of the fantasy genre which has strangely
retreated into obscurity. Its sequel "The jarcoon Pard" is worthless in
comparison. Andre Norton has also written a large number of books
generally classed as children's fiction, but which were written as
anything but. "catseye" is the only one of the titles of these that I
remember, but it is probably not the best example of her skill in this
genre.
	Robert Heinlein is another author who has become more famous for his
adult fiction, but did far better work on his fiction for younger
people. Reading any of these, you will note that his reputation as a
science fiction author. I can particularly recommend "citizen of the
galaxy" which is probably a time-diminished equal for "ender's game".
Others of Heinlein's work worth readind include: "red planet", "tunnel
in the sky", "space cadet", "time for the stars", "between planets",
"space family stone", "farmer in the sky" and a host of others. His
great reputation in the early days of science was and is richly
deserved.
	Back to fantasy to say that I am in total agreement with you about my
indifference to David Eddings' fantasy attempts in "The Belgariad" and
"The Mallorean", He has, however, written a very fine book called "The
Losers" and is actually quite good so long as he stays away from
fantasy. (Did anyone else notice how riddled with inconsistancies the
above two series were?)
	I also agree with your opinion that the Riftwar series after "magician"
is scarcely worth reading. "Magician", though, is excellent and it shows
that Feist spent far longer on this than any of the others (I believe it
was his first book). Contrary to the general trend of the Riftwar
series, the trilogy of books "Daughter of the Empire", "Servant of the
Empire", and "Mistress of the Empire" by Janny Wurts document a struggle
on the Tsuranni side of the rift. These are excellent from the beginning
and only get better
	One of the major figures in heroic fantasy who you have missed is David
Gemmell. His book "Legend" is one of the books I would recommend for any
fantasy enthusiast. The ending is a bit less than the quality of the
rest of the book, but still streets ahead of many other author. He has
also written a large number of other Drenai novels which are quite good.
He has also written an excellent trilogy of "The Jurusalem Man". These
are excellent also. David Gemmell has also written several novels
without series including "The Knights of Dark Renown" which has an
interesting, and as far as I know, unique system of magic. Read it
yourself for more. He has also written a series which I have not read
which includes "The Lion of Macedon" and "Dark Prince", which is about
Alexander the Great.
	You mention the author Robert Asprin in your reviews, but you make no
mention of his "Myth" series which is absolutely hilarious (but
unfortunately deteriorates towards the end of the series) the first book
in the series is called "Another Fine Myth". He has also written a
couple of very funny books called "Phule's Company" and "Phule's
Paradise"
	The humourous "Stainless Steel Rat" series has also added a couple of
volumes since you have last recorded one. It now includes "..For
President", "..Wants You", and "...Sings the Blues"
	That is all for now, I look forward to seeing updates on your excellent
pages.
		Tony Gardner
		Brisbane, Australia.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: Anthony Gardner 
Date: Sun, 20 Apr 1997 14:13:20 +1000

My last letter got me to thinking, A thousand things to recommend, and
only a limited lifetime in which to read them. Anyway, here are some
thoughts.
        Anybody who reads more than a certain amount of fantasy will comment on
the number of 'save the world' type stories out there, from Tolkien,
through Donaldson and Brooks and many others. Thus it is a real breath
of fresh air to find a series where the hero is not all that heroic and
has quite enough personal problems on his plate without the problems of
the world being added to them. Such a series is the "Farseer" series by
Robin Hobb. This consists of three books, not all out in paperback yet,
"Assassin's Apprentice", "Royal Assassin" and  "Assassin's Quest".
        Also if you are after something different, Daniel Keys Moran has
written some interesting books. "The Armageddon Blues" is a time travel
paradox book written better than most, but it includes an idea called
the precepts of semi divinity- 1. Mind thine own business, 2. Don't
worry about it. Even if you find yourself not agreeing with them, the
results of their application are interesting. "The Ring" is another by
Moran which is worth reading. It is probably more about the effects of
social exclusion on an individual than anything else. It put me in mind
of how "Ender's Game" could have turned out had Card decided to let
Ender live his life as a military man.
        There are many books which say more about the time in which they are
written than about the story within and the skill of the author. Many of
these do not stand the test of time if read as a contemporary story-
apart from language and style shifts, they simply do not stand up to the
quality generally required by the publishers today. A large amount of
50s and 60s science fiction falls into this category, even including
award winners like "Stranger in a Strange Land" as the issues which they
address are no longer of interest. Even novels which many readers would
agree are good for other reasons lose some of their punch to the ravages
of time- For example I believe that Tolkien was the first to use the
idea of man sized elves- (prior to that they were 'little people' like
fairies, goblins, leprechauns etc), an idea which is scarcely even novel
there days.
        There are some older novels which do stand the test of time. For
soldiering, I can recommend Joe Haldeman's "The Forever War" and R.A.H's
"Starship Troopers", both of which had a cult following in their day (a
thing which would normally make me avoid them like the plague). Heinlein
also wrote an interesting book on a  computer becoming intelligent in
"The Moon is a Harsh Mistress", which is very good, but superseded by
orders of magnitude in "When Harlie was One"- The single book I would
recommend if you have ever felt the urge to read a book about
non-malevolent machine intelligence. Much of Fred Hoyle is also worth a
browse.
        Katherine Kerr's "Palace" is a book which I cannot recommend highly
enough. I know you weren't impressed by Deverry-neither was I (I am
never impressed by an author who cannot write a series where each book
can stand alone to some extent), but Palace is rich in character and
world construction with a very human trend in the upper classes of
society of recapturing the glory of the ancients (remember the
renaissance). The end is left slightly open as though for a sequel, but
I had no sense of dissatisfaction in the ending- Thoroughly worth a
look.
        You may have noticed David Zindell, for the size of the volumes he
writes if nothing else. I have read two of his books, "The Broken God"
and "The Wild". As may be surmised by the length of his books, there are
long stretches of tedium, but these are broken by stretches of
incredible brilliance. Unfortunately another editor who needs to be
shot. The books are speculation into sociological changes in the human
race after many years (he puts much work into languages, philosophies
and religions). Generally good but it annoys me how he assumes that
entire planetfuls of people have similar beliefs  when all evidence of
the human race points to something quite different.
        On annoying trends in authors, the assumption that the killing of magic
in their world is a satisfying end is like saying that initiating a
runaway fission reaction is good because it makes the area sterile and
"pure". Amongst authors guilty of this most horrible crime are
Weis/Hickman in their seventh book in the Dragonlance series "Dragons of
Summer Flame" (on which I have previously commented negatively) and L.E.
Modesitt Jr. in her series conclusion "The Death of  Chaos"- the title
says it all really, where's the fun in the world without a bit of
unpredictability? The rest of that series though, is really very good.
With regards to your comment to one of your letters that you have
avoided reading Modesitt because of the similarity of the jacket art to
that on the "Wheel of Time" series, I believe Modesitt came before
Jordan so who is copying whom? To an extent you're amazingly right, both
sets of  cover art were drawn by Darrell K. Sweet- you have a good eye.
        And now to say some things about Robert Jordan, I have read the first
four books in the series since I last wrote to you and I have to as that
anyone who has paid Aus$100 (~US$75) for the seven books so far has been
the victim of a scam. The books I read equate to the sort of pulp you
see at newsagencies- "Planet of the giant man-eating crocodiles" etc.
The first book is one of the worst books I have ever seen which was
hyped as any good (Most authors do not have the hide to advertise their
crap books as brilliant literature). The feeling I get is that  Robert
Jordan read "Lord of the Rings" and the "Shannara" series and then wrote
a book which was about as good a ripoff of Shannara as Shannara is of
The Lord of the Rings, with a corresponding decrease in quality. Not
only is the story at any point boring and pointless, without any decent
characterisations, but the overall storyline is not going anywhere. This
should be obvious by the fact that he has got up to seven volumes,
steadily increasing in size, with no end in sight. Didn't anyone tell
the man that a story must have a beginning, middle and end? He has a
pathetic beginning, a middle that looks like a set of short stories
bundles together, and no end in sight. In addition he changes focus back
and forward sometimes almost without warning.
        No book can be good when the reader sees the story as at patchwork of
ideas from other authors. A shepherd becomes a king, now let me see, I'm
sure I've read that somewhere before... Amongst others, Jordan has
flogged stuff from The Belgariad/Mallorean (Eddings), Shannara (Brooks),
Empire (Wurts/Feist) and Dune (Herbert). The first two should tell you
something about the overall quality of the series, and Jordan should be
crucified for the last two. Even worse, many of the major events in the
storyline are predictable up to 100 pages ahead of their happening,
presumable he was trying to give enough hints that when the inevitable
happened, the reader says "now who didn't I see that coming? All the
clues were there" (Dorothy Sayers does this admirably). If so he failed.
I would say that most of  the people telling you that this series is
good are trying to justify their expenditure. It's sad really, Like
someone who has just dived into water with ice on the surface saying
"come on in, the water's fine". Maybe they should just admit that if you
paid more than $2 per book for this series then you look like a complete
drongo.
        Anyway, some recommendations of authors whose books you have already
read. "Grass" by Sherri S. Tepper is actually the middle book of a
loosely connected trilogy, the first of which is "Raising the Stones"
and the last of which is Sideshow. I can recommend only the first of
this trilogy to you. I find it difficult to believe that the others were
even written by the same author. "Raising the Stones" is very good. I
can also recommend Ian M. Banks' book "Player of Games", another book
about the Culture (as is "use of weapons"). Most of his books have just
come out in paperback reprint. In addition, the two books "Jack of
Shadows" and "Eye of Cat" by Roger Zelazney are well worth reading..
        Some new authors you may like try- For light Horror Tanith Lee and John
Wyndam (esp Midwich Cuckoos (Although I may be guilty of recommending
this one because it was the first to have the idea rather than on its
own merit, but I think it deals with the idea well)). For humour Tom
Holt's "Flying Dutch" (I didn't find any of his other books any good).
For modern science fiction, Greg Egan has written several excellent
books including "Quarantine". If you ever wondered in your university
courses what possibilities uncollapsed waveforms would provide on a
macroscopic scale, then this is for you. Includes aliens whose existence
depends on their waveforms remaining uncollapsed.
        A suggestion for your library- why don't you write a section on where
to find books. You could include as suggestions:
1. Book exchanges- Pretty obvious I know.
2. Charity sales- lifeline has a yearly sale here of donated books, I
would rate it as the ultimate sale to pick up out of print books and
cheap copies of old favourites. In Toowoomba, a city of about 80000, the
sale has boxes of books set in aisles over about 2 acres on a huge shed.
Many estates donate all but a few of the deceased's books to charity.
3. City Council Libraries -particularly good if you're short on cash and
for single novels, though you have to wait for series' to come in if you
reserve them, and the most popular books are hard to get hold of.
4. Bookshops- this is not so obvious, but some browsing will show that
different bookshops have different suppliers, and some books can be
impossible to get except through the right chain. For example, some
chains may be particularly good at procuring new copies of  books you
thought were out of print. In addition, many bookshops can order in
books for a minimal fee, especially if you order several at once. As
many are hooked up to a bookseller's web, they can track down the
physical location of hard to find books.
5. Online books- There are several sites which hold copies of books
which are out of copyright. You could try bibliomania at
http://www.bibliomania.com/index.html
6. Friends- let's face it, how many stories about books start with "a
friend recommended", or "I borrowed it from a friend".
        That is all for now (sorry about the extended length), I look forward
to seeing updates on your excellent pages.

                Tony Gardner
                Brisbane, Australia.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: Tony Gardner 

Dear Doug,
          Hello again, I was glad to see an update of your page recently. I was
very impressed with the comments you received from Guy Gavriel Kay. I
just finished reading his "Fionavar Tapestry" trilogy, but I cannot say
that I enjoyed it as much as you seem to have. I enjoyed his "A Song for
Arbonne" far more. I can see why you enjoyed them. "Fionavar Tapestry"
has many stylistic similarities to Covenant, including a preponderance
of wood magic- a kind of updated version of many English folk tales. If
you like this kind of thing, Robert Holdstock has written several books
including "Mythago Wood" and "The Hollowing", which draw strongly on
English myth (You know, the kind where imps, bogles and Will 'o the
Wisps are just looking for some fun and a tasty snack) I would classify
them as almost horror. They never did much for me, but you may enjoy
them.
        With respect to additional books in series which you seem to have
enjoyed, Orson Scott Card has written a fourth book in the "Ender"
series called "Children of the Mind". Although Ender Wiggin is no longer
the main character in the series, it continues along the same vein as
"Xenocide" with the quest to save Jane and kill the intelligent virus. I
personally thought it lacked some of the almost poetic language of
"Xenocide" and some of its coherence, it still rates as a good book. I
thought Card used the instantaneous travel method to pad the story a
little too much.
        Also Robert Silverberg has written two additional books to his
"Majipoor" series, "The Mountains of Majipoor"- almost a novella in
length, and "The Sorcerers of Majipoor"- a full-length novel. Neither
involve Valentine nor, as far I can remember, even mention him. Both are
quite decent, but I got bored with the series about the third book. The
first three relied for some of their appeal on being a freakshow of
species, and the last two are no different.
        Silverberg, being a prolific writer over a long period has also written
a number of quite good books. He gets quite strange sometimes. I
enjoyed, amongst others, "Face on the Waters"- a world almost entirely
covered by water (Guess where "Waterworld" got many of its ideas), "Star
of Gypsies" and "Tom 'o Bedlam"- they both defy succinct description,
and a post-apocalyptic book "Winter's End" and its sequel "Queen of
Springtime". Being a prolific writer of some fame does have its
downturns in that his publishers seem to relax their monitoring on
quality. Silverberg's latest dog is "Hot Sky at Midnight". "Kingdoms of
the Wall" is somewhere in between. (You'll probably like it if you're a
big Silverberg fan).
        Another old hand at the sci-fi game is Frederich Pohl. I believe he was
an editor of one of the pulp magazines. He received the Nebula for his
book "Man Plus" which is like a cross between "Frankenstein" and "The
Surgeons of the Six Million Dollar Man try Speed" I highly recommend it
as it more than stands the test of time. It has a sequel which is worthy
of it, "Mars Plus". I believe he received the Hugo for "Mining the
Oort", which I also enjoyed. Pohl also deserves an award for writing a
book (which I've never read) titled "Syzygy"- The longest word I know
which is all (nominal) constants. I have no idea if it is actually about
oppositions.
        Niven-Pournelle have written an excellent sequel to their "Legacy of
Herot" in "The Dragons of Herot", where they make a shift from horror
towards ecology.
        James Gleik has written a wonderful book- "Genius" which is about both
Feynman and the rise of Quantum ElectroDynamics. It contains all the
usual suspects- Oppenheimer, Gell-Mann, Dyson, Bethe and Ralph Leighton
(who I think is generally identified as the author of "Surely You're
Joking Mr Feynman" and also "What do You Care What Other People Think").
It is easy reading and does not include any equations, but the
glimmering of some of Feynman's ideas (like the non-uniform motion of
particles along the time axis) are conveyed. Genius is a balanced
biography, with both his successes and failures in equal proportion.
        John Christopher, often recommended as the successor to John Wyndham,
is well known for his series "Tripods" series (which was serialised by
the BBC), and "Sword of the Spirits", both of which are surprisingly
often found on the children's bookshelves. I say surprisingly, because
for all the simplistic style of writing, the issues are not those
generally regarded as mainstream for children. Both are well worth
reading, but his adult books, including "The Death of Grass" (aka "No
Blade of Grass") are equally good. "The Death of Grass" proposes a virus
which kills all grass species (wheat, rice, etc), causing a breakdown in
society.
        You give a very low opinion of Robert Ludlum in your reviews of his 2nd
and 3rd Bourne books. While I agree that these books are not that good,
I wonder that you seem not to have read the book from which these are a
spin-off. "The Bourne Conspiracy" is quite a good book, and a movie was
made of it which is the best adaptation of a book I have ever seen. It
deals with a (fictional) plot to capture "Carlos, the Jackal"- a very
real terrorist who was on the run for over 30 years.
        Illich Ramirez Sanchez, known as "The Jackal" was captured in 1995 in
the Sudan. He has been involved as a significant figure in several
guerrilla groups.
        He has publicly admitted to his 1973 assassination attempt on a British
Millionaire named Edward Sieff, who was a well-known Jewish businessman
and owner of the Marks and Spencer stores in London. Within the next two
years, he was believed involved in the takeover of the French Embassy at
The Hague, the killing of the two French Intelligence agents for which
he has been recently captured, and a 1976 takeover/kidnapping of OPEC
oil ministers in Vienna, Austria. Later in 1976, he was involved in a
Skyjacking that led to the now famous Entebbe raid by Israeli commandos.
        In 1982 and 1983, "Carlos" is suspected of several bombings in Paris,
France, resulting in deaths of at least thirteen people and the wounding
of one-hundred and fifty more. In the mid-1980's, it is believed that he
may have also participated in the planning and execution of several
operations against Israel, operating out of Syria and Lebanon.
        He is also suspected in the 1983 bombing of a French cultural center in
Berlin, the 1981 attack on the studios of Radio Free Europe in Munich,
the massacre at Lod airport in Tel Aviv and the attack on the Israeli
athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics (where 11 died), although many
suspect that the last is the work of Black September.
        I also slightly disagree with your review of Bill Bryson's "notes from
a Small Island". I found the first half of the book, with its
description of the Fleet Street shakeup in the 70s both informative and
highly entertaining. I found the second half of the book mostly boring.
In addition, I was surprised to find that I took exception to his use of
foul language. I have no problems with this when it is used to emphasise
a point, or to indicate strong feeling, but it seems that in the latter
half he has inserted 4 letter words almost at random.
        I must, at this point de-recommend two books, which have been
recommended to you by several people. "Iron Dragon's Daughter" by
Michael Swanwick was the worst book I have ever read the whole way
through. Let no more be said. David Wingrove's "Chung Kuo" is a series,
now up to about 7 books which shows promise the whole way, but fails to
deliver. It suffers from having too many major characters, with too
little said about each. With a very heavy hand from the editor, these
could have been good, but as they stand don't bother.
        Finally a word about a singular book which I can recommend. "The Man
Who Was Magic" is a charming story by Paul Gallico. It's pretty old now,
but has possibly even improved with age. It is a story about a city of
magicians who are the standard ones we know- ie slight of hand, smoke
and mirrors. To this city are attracted many seeking to join the
fraternity of magicians, amongst whom is a real magician named Adam who
thinks all the slight of hand is real. It's a book about the real thing
amongst disillusionment. Worth buying in hardback.

        Regards,
                Tony Gardner
                Brisbane, Australia.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: Tony Gardner 
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 1997 13:56:31 +1000

Dear Doug,
        I write with an observation that distresses me. The proponents of the
art of science fiction seem to be dwindling to nothing. How would most
of us describe science fiction? Shall I describe it by what it is not?
Science fiction is not just "technology fiction" - a computer in a
wristwatch or a new type of gun, though it may be about the culture and
climate of thought which produces these things. It is not just about
meeting aliens (who probably rarely think exactly like humans or give a
damn for human imposed moralities), though it may be about a new mode of
thought. Finally it is certainly not just a story that happens to take
place in space, on another planet or the far future, though it may be
all of these.
        Having said that, I must say that I can't be an authority on what does
define science fiction. Even if I was, I can't pretend that my opinions
would be of any real value, but I submit that there are few authors
doing any real science fiction. In addition I propose that most of the
most successful popular science fiction are using a fantasy story
structure and simply making an alteration to the setting. (I include in
this all of the star wars books.)
        So what would I include as science fiction? Certainly the latest
Culture book from Ian M. Banks- "Excession" is an example of
technology's unexpected turns. It has aliens who are fundamentally
unknowable and a new discovery, which is not introduced by "aliens came
and gave it to me" or "I had a flash of genius", but a series of
suspicions which coalesce into an increasingly complete picture. The
cover art's quite nice too.
        David Zindell's first book in "A requiem for Homo Sapiens" (whose later
books I have previously recommended to you), "Neverness" is an explosion
of ideas and unexpected turns. It includes a group of pilots who make
their way through an otherspace by impressing their mathematical models
of the space onto itself. Thus, every mathematician's dream comes true-
raw mathematics being applicable to the real world. Quite good but not
as slick as the later volumes.
        As an alternative to this, something I would hesitate to call sci-fi:
"End of an era" by Robert J. Sawyer is a most amusing foray into one of
the more fantastic what-ifs for the end of the age of dinosaurs. Amusing
and well thought out, Sawyer leaves no end loose and some intellectual
satisfaction in the surprise ending of this book. My only criticism is
that this could have been a best-seller if he had spent another 10 years
polishing his writing style, as his dialogue especially is rough in a
couple of places.
        A new author in the pulp fantasy arena is JV Jones. Her first trilogy
"The Book of Words" (yes I groaned at the title too) is really not very
good as a whole. The first book in this- "Baker's boy" is her first
book, but the reason I am mentioning her is that the rate of increase in
her writing skill through the trilogy is incredible. In addition she has
managed to write a trilogy which is factually cohesive (if I may use
that phrase in this context). No loose ends, some good ideas and a good
grasp on the mechanics of writing. If I were her publisher I would be
congratulating myself for having signed a future heavyweight. A major
fault is the lack of emotion in her writing, but even so this one is
worth watching.
        May I also recommend "The Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett. This
surprise entry in my list of good books, as historical fiction is not
normally my thing. This book distinguishes itself by not being about
anybody who is particularly good or wonderful and by not presenting the
European middle ages as being full of knights who rescue fair maidens.
It is mainly about the building of a cathedral (which took a long time
in those days) and includes mishaps like the first attempt falling down
due to a roof which is too heavy. It also has as a sideline the first
inklings of the attempts by French builders to use logic about loading
and stresses in their building designs instead of simply the dogma of
their guild and church. Definitely worth a look. I believe this has also
been recommended to you by at least one other person- but don't let that
stop you. It is also easy to come by cheap and second hand.
        Another author of whom you seem to be innocent is John le Carre. His
most famous book "The spy who came in from the cold", which you may have
read, is far from his best, though it may be the most tortuous plotwise.
His books are mostly cold war spy fiction. They tend to be well written
and numerous and cheap second hand.
        John Mortimer is another established author you seem to have missed.
his series of "Rumpole" books about the escapades of an eccentric lawyer
for the defence are humorous and light reading.
        Finally a word on the latest offerings by Eddings. Much as I hate to
pick at someone who does such a good job of condemning himself, David
Eddings is finally shooting away the last shreds of his credibility.
Having already told the same story four times, he does it again with the
releases of "Belgarath the sorcerer" and "Polgara the sorceress".
Nothing new here and the same problems in writing style. His publisher
should be lynched by the reading public for encouraging this twaddle.
Despite what one of your readers has said about his discussion on free
will vs predetermination (which I think is self delusion because he says
nothing original even in his first series), what is really being served
is the same predigested pap which people read only because they want to
be confirmed in their ill-considered opinions. In short- It's crap.
        Keep up the good work on the page, I always enjoy reading your comments
and those of your respondants.

                Tony Gardner
                Brisbane, Australia.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: Tony Gardner 
Date: Sun, 01 Mar 1998 09:46:52 -0800

Dear Doug,
          On your recommendation, I decided to try "Foucalt's Pendulum". I
thought I was excellent. I noticed in particular the excellent job that
the translator did on it. I was somewhat disappointed though to find
that it was still very noticeable as a translation rather than a native
text. Definitely not for the paranoid.
          I also read three of Bujold's "Mles Vorsiktigan" novels, which I
enjoyed immensely.
          May I recommend to you John Steinbeck, an author of whom you have
surely heard, even if you have not read any of his novels. I have
recently read both "Grapes of Wrath" and "East of Eden". They pleasantly
surprised me by being excellent despite the hype. I would describe them
both as being literature, but easy to read nonetheless. Definitely worth
it.
          I can also recommend to you "Fatherland" by Robert Harris. At the
most basic level it's a murder mystery, but has the extra twist of
taking place on an alterntive timeline wherein Hitler won the war. One
of the most interesting sections in it is where it describes the grand
designs Hitler had for Berlin's architecture, which were never realised
in actuality.
          "Magister" by Johnathan Wylie is a book that I can recommend above
all others which I have read recently. Although the name and cover art
may make you think that this is a cheesy book about magic, it turns out
to be a brilliantly creepy mystery, which spirals in towards the central
character. It is set in an alternative London in which, magic is common
and has its sole use in virtual reality performances. The main character
is a student of this concert magic and is employed to write the
biography of a famous past student of his college. Absolutely brilliant.
          I am currently reading The Gormenghast trilogy- "Titus Groan",
"Gormenghast", "Titus Alone", and I can so far recommend tham inasmuch
as they have glorious imagery, and their use of words is a scrabble
player's dream. Amusing but with a touch of sadness, since a proportion
of their fame accrues from the tragic mental illness and depression of
Mervyn Peake, which I believe led him to eventually commit suicide. If
you will accept a recommendation on a half read series, then consider
these recommended.
          I haven't actually worked out if you enjoy the cold war spy thriller
genre. I previously recommended John le Carre to you, and I can now
recommend Frederick Forsyth for his books "The Deciever", "The Fourth
Protocol", and "Icon", his latest. Very good examples of their genre,
they show the result of extensive research and a truly formidible
writing skill. If spy novels are of interest then this is your man.
        Having recently finished the Uplift series, I can say that I agree with
your rating-  briliant idea with some flaws in execution. A fourth book
in the series is out- "Brightness Reef". It gets much better after a
faltering start, but be warned- it does not stand alone like the first
three, but is the first of a trilogy. I'd also ike to say that I thought
the Postman deserved better than 6 overall, although the last two
chapters certainly are nothing to be proud of.
        "Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow" by Peter Hoeg is another translation
which came highly recommended to me. I have not seen the film so I
cannot make any comparison. Let me be quite brutal in my evaluation
here. I probably would have enjoyed this book far more had I ever seen
snow, or had any experience of wild ice (not the stuff in the freezer).
In any case, the X files have jaded my taste for the extraterrestrial
man eaters. My numerical rating? 8 if it was original, 4 because it's
not.
        "The Book of Myst", I found to be a pleasant, if shallow book. I was
pleased to find that David Wingrove did not destroy them as he did his
own Chung Kuo, on which I have previously commented. Easily the best
imagery in a book I have ever read. Unfortunate lack of a decent plot. I
thought the act of creation vs portal theory of the books was unoriginal
and paralleled the Copenhagen Vs many worlds theories of probability
waveform collapse.
          My email address above should now be correct. Your page continues to
be a pleasure to read. I hang on your updates with avid anticipation.
Keep up the good work.

        Tony Gardner
        Brisbane, Australia

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: tony gardner 
Date: Fri, 23 Oct 1998 12:49:19 +1000

Dear Doug,
           I'm writing again to recommend some book's I've read since my
last writing. I'm including some recommendations and otherwise from my
letter that disappeared, if you were interested. I'm very interested in
the quality of debate you have stimulated re Jordan. I've noticed that
even fans who say of "Wheel of Time" that they
quite liked it (without being fanatical) are being turned off by the
long wait between volumes. With the seventh volume's release date being
delayed twice, release dates for the eighth volume like "maybe October"
inspire little confidence. Quite frankly I see this as yet another
example of Jordan's woeful lack of professionalism, but that could
simply be another example of my anti Jordan fanaticism which is unswayed
by argument.

        I recently read the last of Iain M. Bank's sci-fi novels to previously
escape me. "Feersum Enjinn" is a book I would rate as being equal with
his other two best "Player of Games" and "Excession". He has once again
produced an astounding work of good sci-fi. Though the writing style is
noticeably less polished than that of his later works, it redeems itself
with the unusual feature for Banks that his main character is both
likable and engaging. The main character's part is written in phonetic
English, which is something I expected to hate, but in this case it
improves the character development no end. In addition, Bank's book
of short stories "The state of the art" were excellent. I was
particularly interested in the novella by the same name that was included
in the volume. It had an excellent discussion on the point at which a
culture may be considered stagnant. I know I'm marked as a fan
of Bank's sci-fi works, but I will continue to recommend them
highly. In contrast, one of his non-sci-fi books, "Whit" (written under
the name Iain Banks) bored me beyond belief.

        I've recently been trekking my way through Marion Zimmer Bradley's
"Darkover" series. It's large, but each book is stand alone, and due to their
age, many can be found cheap second hand. Enjoyable workmanlike fantasy about
a rediscovered colony of earth's people with psionic technology.

        I noticed that someone wrote to you at length about earthsea. A point
worth noting about the series is the selection of cover artwork. Very early
in the first book it notes that Ged is black. A dark, dark black. And yet all
issues I've seen show a white man. I suspect that such a blatant misrepresen-
tation is not an error. Not that it probably matters.

        Frederick Pohl's "The Cool War", is yet more evidence of the value of
older sci fi. It's basically a story set post cold war about covert operations
and new methods of waging war which leave the victimized country unaware that
they've been attacked. He says a lot of interesting things about germ warfare
and the recognition of attack in this type of attack.

        One of Robert Silverberg's latest "The alien years", I found to be
typical of his erratic quality. Some will no doubt rave about it, but my
jaded tastes found it quite bland. From the bland to the brilliant,
David Zindell has finished off his "A Requiem for Homo Sapiens"
brilliantly. The completed series now stands as:
"Neverness"
"The Broken God"
"The Wild"
"War in Heaven"

        Where "Neverness" is written previous to a trilogy consisting of the
other three.   These books just get better as they continue, although I
will admit that when he gets off the sci-fi and tries to go into heavy
character development I ended up skipping pages. However this is
primarily in Neverness which is noticeably a less skillfully written, and
more poorly edited volume than its sequels. You could probably enjoy the
last three without having ever read the first.

        I was interested to see that I agreed strongly with your review of the
Galactic Milieu. Though I liked "Intervention", I found the characters
in "Galactic Milieu" too strong and knowledgeable, and truth be told,
far from as likable as Rogi. I admit to having been disappointed- not
because they were bad (quite the contrary in fact) but because I had
expected better. I also read "Earth" by David Brin and found that the
ending being a little unlikely did not really spoil it for me, but the
disjointed writing style, jumping from one character to another and
back, really got my goat. I think that because of this he totally failed
to do anything but very basic character development.

        "Angela's Ashes" by Frank McCourt is well worth reading. It won the
Pulitzer prize for literature, but unlike many of its companions it is enjoy-
able and fascinating reading even for someone who's not an art critic. It is
an autobiographical look at the life of the author growing up in Limerick in
Ireland in one of the poorest neighbourhoods in the city. It's easy to read (I
finished it in an afternoon), but worth rereading.

        The second newest Terry Pratchett "Jingo" marks a significant dip in
the quality of his work. Uninspired is probably the nicest thing I can say
about it. Probably not the one to start on if you haven't read too many
of his works and this may be the reason it was never released in paperback.
If you get enthused to try some of his works, I recommend the ones which are
satires as well as humour. "Small gods" and "Interesting times" are the
two I recommend to someone who has never read any Pratchett before.

       The newest Pratchett is entitled "Last Continent". It's very good and
very funny and set in a hypothetical place that's very like Australia.  Light
reading, but many of the more subtle jokes will be lost on anyone without
an understanding of Australian contemporary culture.

       Lastly two books which have come to my
attention because they were written locally. "The Tasmanian Babes
Fiasco" by John Birmingham and "Zigzag Street" by Nick Earls. Not the
kind of fiction which usually attracts me but they stood out from the
amount of giggling from one of my housemates as they were being read. I
don't want to spoil them but they're both funny and well written with
happy endings. I don't really know if they are being distributed
overseas, but they're definitely worth a look. The kind of books you buy
just to lend to other people.

        All the best and keep up the good work.
                        Tony Gardner
                        Brisbane, Australia

PS-Airport reading recommendation: series "Hope" David Feintuch.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From topher.white@mccaw.com Sat Jul 29 16:35:33 1995
Subject: Re: Doug Library
 
Doug,
 
Enjoyed your library.
 
I have to say that I disagree with some of your opinions. I
can't stand Donaldson; I felt no sympathy for the character
-- no identification there. I had a roomate in college who
kept bugging me to read the stuff, but I got about 70 pages
in and [literally] threw the book across the room.
 
You're dead on with Tolkien -- he's the master and founder of
the genere. It's interesting to see the contrast between _the
Chronicles of Narnia_ and _the Lord of the Rings_. Tolkien
and Lewis were attempting to tell the same story, Lewis
believing that analogy was the best method and Tolkien
believing that metaphor was better. Interesting, eh.
 
Is David Eddings *ever* going to finish hashing out his new
age personal god complex and get on with writing something
different??? He's written essentially the same story through
four series! C'mon, guy, get on with it.
 
I reccomend the Heirs of Saint Camber series. It doesn't deal
with the magic rites as much and is far more political and
depressing than the other books. But it is a fine link
between the series. They are, collectivly, a tragedy, so
don't expect any happy endings. If you know history, though,
you wouldn't anyway.
 
Some other thoughts:
 
Katherine Kurtz's other series are also interesting. The
Adept series (_The Adept_, _The lodge of the Lynx_, _The
Templer Treasure_, and _Dagger Magic_ ) is thought provoking.
If you don't like detailed magic, you may find yourself
drowning in the detail. I thought the depth and complexity of
the story, however, more than made up for it. The
_Brotherhood of the Blood_ novels are interesting in a
detatched sort of way, but the detail is suffocating to even
me! Additionally, the books show a division of opinion
between the authors and suffer accordingly.
 
Deborah Turner Harris, who co-authored the Adept series, has
a set of two -- _Caelodon of the Mists_ and _The Queen of
Ashes_. They take place in a mythical Scottland and displays
a remarkable earthiness. (That is, the magic is neither grand
nor all powerfull, but a small piece to play. She deals in
complex personalities, often anti-heroes, mistakes and
complex politics. If you're looking for larger-than-life
characters, don't look here.)
 
Theresa Edgerton is also a favorite of mine. She, also, works
with the eathiness and anti-heros. No larger than life people
and a quirky sort of world; but slick writing with more
twists than than the I-405 S-curves. The series of _Goblin
Moon_ and _The Gnome's Engine_ is a bit more quirky, but
therefore more enjoyable.
 
David Weber's _Honor Harrington: ..._ series is fantastic! A
good read about the very best commander in the space navy.
 
Weis & Hickman, who scored well with the first six books of
the DragonLance series (creating some of the most memorable
characters and character classes since tolkien), have scored
again with the "Death Gate Cycle." The first book seems
typical (and a bit boring), the second odd, but by the third
things are really beginning to get interesting. It stretches
for seven books and it couldn't be done in less. What starts
out as a predictable fantasy series turns into one of the
most poignant, startling and well written series I have ever
encountered. What's more, it has the single most surprising
ending I've ever read in a book -- it'll keep you guessing
until the last chapter. For those who missed the DragonLance
series, you've missed a lot. The first two series are the
only two worth reading. The first starts out as a typical
fantasy game (yes, you can definitely see the role playing
influence), but the characters suck you in like an Orick
8-pound. (Plus, there are a number of really funny jokes in
the _Death Gate Cycle_ which refer to this and other fantasy
series.) The second series is also well paced and
unpredictable, with some truly wonderful characters. If you
play FRPG's, you'll find the character classes in these books
a big boost.
 
Lastly, for a big douse of humor, check out _A Malady of
Magic_ and subsequent books. Hey, they feature such horrors as
"Gux Ufaddo: Rhyming Demon", "Conquest by Committee", and
"The seven OTHER dwarves." You'll bust a gut.
 
 Topher

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
From: wsretert@students.wisc.edu (WS Retert)
Date: Sat, 6 May 1995 01:42:03 -0600
Subject: short SF book reviews/mailbag
 
Hello,
        After reading over your book reviews/ratings and the reader mail
accompanying, I decided that I too could write a letter of response.
Unfortunately, I find little original that I could add to the already
listed materials, so I'll include a list of secondings.  I agree in general
with both your reviews and previous suggestions made on the mailbag page.
I cannot claim perfect agreement, but none of my quibbles are worth
mentioning here.
Now to the books!!
 
I second recommendations for the following:
 
Mervin Peake (_Titus_Groan_ at least)
more Heinlein (esp. _The_Moon_is_a_Harsh_Mistress_)
Sheri S Tepper (_Grass_)
Arthur C Clarke (I rather liked _Childhood's_End_)
Ben Bova (_Mars_)
Zelazny's _Lord_of_Light_
_City_ by Clifford Simak
Jack Vance (Although I stand by _The_Dying_Earth_)
Weis and Hickman are generally fun.
Dennis L McKiernan (epic fantasy, I liked _Dragondoom_ the most.)
 
Other suggestions off the top of my head:
(Please note some of these suggestions may reflect a strange lack of
distaste or any conscious need to make constant allowances with regard to
older speculative fiction or other works generally considered to lack
style.)
 
Jack Williamson _Darker_Than_You_Think_ and the novella(?) "With Folded Hands"
Philip K Dick
James P Hogan _Inherit_the_Stars_ (So the characters are one-dimensional!)
James Blish _A_Case_of_Conscience_
Cordwainer Smith (Dr. Paul Linebarger)
James Tiptree, Jr. (Alice Sheldon)
Elizabeth Hand (esp. _Winterlong_)
James P Blaylock
C M Kornbluth
Arthur Byron Cover
John Wyndham
Bradley Denton!!
Stanslaw Lem
If your reading Bester, don't forget _The_Stars_My_Destination_
Norman Spinrad, _Russian_Spring_
Clark Ashton Smith
Brian Jacques _Redwall_ (A bit cheesy, this tale of a warrior mouse is OK. I've
                            not read the rest of the series yet, but it'll put
                            something other than Jordan in your 'J' section.)
More in the horror department, I have so far enjoyed all of Kim Newman's books.
                            Unfortunately, the only one I can find in paperback
                            is _Anno-Dracula_.  I've managed to dig up and enjoy
                            a couple more of his books in hardcover from
                            libraries, and would especially recommend _Jago_.)
James Patrick Kelly, _Wildlife_
And sure, what the heck, Neil Stephenson, too.
 
        As alluded to above, all these mentions rest ultimately on nothing
but whether I liked reading the book, not any particular critical standard.
If pressed, though, I could likely justify most of their inclusion, but
ultimately such rationalizations would be as often false as they are true.
I hope that you manage to read and enjoy at least some of these.  I cannot
guarantee your approval, though it would be nice.  I know I plan on
tackling some of the books you recommend that I have as yet avoided, or
else never found to begin with.  Right Now, I would guess that means Thomas
Covenant (probably not until after finals, though).
 
Regards,
Bill.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
# Zack's initial letter

From: zack hall 
Date: Wed, 09 Sep 1998 10:19:51 -0400
Subject: comments

First off, I really disagree with a lot of your reviews.  Michael Crichton,
whose books are more like movie scripts than novels, rates higher than
Philip K. Dick?  What's up with that?  I'm just kind of curious, and I
don't mean this to be insulting, but do you just not like books that are
very complex, or books where you actually have to think about what the
author is trying to say?  I can't believe that you think William Gibson's
books aren't well written, although I do think his latest stuff (like
Idoru, if you've read that) isn't all that hot.  But to say that someone
who, routinely, comes up with great lines like, "It had all the sinister
fruitiness of Hitler youth propaganda" ("The Gernsback Continuum") can't
write is just wrong.  You really owe it to yourself to go back and check
his stuff out again.
Philip K. Dick's written better books than Man in the High Castle; check
out Radio Free Albemuth, which I think is the best.  When you read some of
his stuff, remember that he was basically eating dog food for a lot of his
life, and trying to write quickly just to survive.

# My response:

From d_ingram Wed Sep  9 15:50:40 1998
Subject: Re:  comments

Thanks for the note.  As I try to explain in my review
pages, I do not judge books based on literary merit.  I rate Crichton
higher than Dick because Crichton makes me want to turn the page more.
Yeah, it's pulp.  But pulp can be good.

Is Gibson well-written?  IT is debatable, but beside the point.
Tolstoy's "The Brothers Karamazov" is also well-written, but I
doubt I would enjoy it as much as a tear through Crichton's
quickie novel-du-jour.

And so we come to the ultimate limitation of a numeric grading system.
Clearly, Dick's work is better than Crichton's on some level.  And
I try to reflect my realization of that fact to a small extent in my
reviews (maybe not in the Dick review...I don't recall...but I make
a habit of this).  But my numbers are based on how much I liked to
read the book.  You should read the sourgrapes.html page for more
on this theme...yours obviously isn't the first such note I've received.

Thanks,
Doug

# Zack's response:

From: zack hall 
Date: Wed, 09 Sep 1998 21:50:39 -0400
Subject: me again

Hey, it's Zack again.  If I sounded snippy before, and I guess I did, I'm
sorry.  I don't mean to be a jerk, and liking different stuff than I do
certainly isn't a personal flaw.  Here's the thing:  I think you'd agree
with me when I say that the most important thing, the thing that makes or
breaks any work of fiction, is story.  Nobody wants to read something
that's boring.  The tricky thing is deciding what makes a story good; and
this might sound wierd, but I'm not convinced that good plot is enough.
The best definition of what a good piece of fiction does (I think)comes
from John Gardner (who wrote, among other things, Grendel)is that it should
create a continuous dream in the reader's mind--it sucks you in, totally
and completely, into its own universe.  You're willing to play by the
author's rules, which is where terms important to SF like "suspension of
disbelief" and "sense of wonder" come into play.

I'll confess that the only Crichton I've read is the dinosaur stuff and
part of Sphere, but his stuff doesn't do that for me.  It only diverts my
attention from the "real world" for awhile, because I might look at some of
the stuff that's going on and say, "that's a neat idea," but it doesn't
trap me.  Other things, besides good plot, that help create a fictional
dream in the reader's mind are 1. Character 2. Language/Style (I'll throw
ability to realize setting, etc. in here for simplicity) and 3. Themes.

Character is crucially important, because if you don't identify with and
care about the books characters, you won't like the book.  I didn't care
about the characters in Jurassic Park; I was kind of interested to see how
they would get out of various sticky situations, but I didn't really care
about THEM.  When somebody died, it didn't make me sad; if Chrichton really
was a good writer, it would have.  I did care about the characters in Man
in the High Castle; there's so much pathos in Philip K. Dick's works
because he really cares about his characters.  He's obsessed with them; he
works and reworks their problems over and over again, which is why
sometimes they're not drawn as strongly as they should be (Phil definitely
has his flaws), but I always cares what happens, and I always hope the good
guys win.  When Frank Fink's wife leaves him, my thought runs something
like, "what a . . ." You get the idea.  Style is also important, for
obvious reasons--it helps solidify the dream, making everything seem more
real.  It helps add shades and layers of meaning, and it's also allows the
writer to accurately communicate to the reader. If someone can't write
well, it doesn't matter what kind of nifty plot idea he/she comes up with;
I won't enjoy it, in part because I like description and accurate
metaphors, etc., and in part because I'll be saying to myself, "I can't
believe they wrote such a goofy sentence" and not paying attention to
what's going on.  Finally, themes are also important because they, in a
sense, make everything that's going on better and more worthwhile.  They
are a natural outgrowth of good fiction because fiction imitates reality
(in one way or another); real people come to conclusions about themselves
and the universe becuase of real experiences, either things that have
happened to them or things that they have witnessed, and characters should,
too.  Real people grapple with questions, and so should characters in
books; as a result of the action around them, questions arise and, if the
author's any good, some kind of answer is provided at least obliquely.

Obviously, the best novels have all of these things.  Apart from that, it's
really hard to establish a continuum.  Personally, I would rank plot as
such (especially in the sense of the cool idea plot) around the middle or
near the bottom, with Character and Themes at the top.  This, of course,
isn't to say that the other qualities can be totally absent, or bad; just
that they're less important and definitely not self-sufficient.  My thing
is, I think it's entirely possible to write a story about, say, a trip to
the zoo, in which nothing particularly wonderful or cool happens, and have
it be a good, enjoyable story (as long as, of course, there's some kind of
conflict.)

So that's my manifesto I guess; it may or may not makes sense, though I
hope it does.  I hope this doesn't fall outside the scope of a reviews
page; if it does, then you obviously don't have to do anything with it.
I'm glad that you do have this thing; as we learn constantly in college (in
case you can't tell from my address I go to Haverford (it's near
Philadelphia)).  I do agree with you on some points; Simmons' Hyperion
stuff is awesome.  His other stuff I don't like so much, especially his
short stories (although the proto-Hyperion story "The Death of the
Centaur," or something along those lines, from Prayers to Broken Stones is
really good).  I think that's becuase he's such a novelist, and he only
really writes well when he's writing novel-lenght stories.  Have you read
the last one, Rise of Endymion, yet?  I was kind of disapointed.  Even
though it's a huge book, Simmons throws out so many ideas and characters
that he just can't deal with them properly.  I would have like much more De
Soya stuff, but there wasn't time for it too happen.  He comes up with so
many interesting things that he doesn't really explain, and it's kind of
annoying.  Maybe he's setting himself up for another sequel; there are
definitely enough loose ends.

About Gibson again; of course it's debatable, because we're dealing with
judgements that aren't really hardwired to any kind of universal standard.
But the plot of, say, Neuromancer, is intriguing--it may be a little
complicated, but it's not all that hard to figure out what's going on--and
the characters are pretty well drawn, especially Case.  They're not the
best, but they're pretty good.  Gibson really does a good job of
constructing the dream I talked about earlier; Neuromancer feels like its
own world, it's really THERE.  Not liking Gibson is certainly valid, but I
don't know.  I don't think you can really call his (I hate to use this
word, but nothing else comes to mind) artistry into question.  Of course
that's only my opinion.

Another of my favorite SF writers whom you don't really seem to like is
Gene Wolfe.  Maybe this is along your own Philip K. Dick lines, but I
actually haven't read anything you reviewed.  If you want to read some
quality Gene Wolfe, read his short stories.  I know for sure that The
Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories and Other Stories is still in
print, and it's excellent; so is The Fifth Head of Cerberus, a collection
of three linked novellas, on both counts; Endangered Species is out of
print, but you can probably get it used--every used bookstore I've ever
been in has had his stuff.  Some of his stuff is crap, but a lot of it is
very good.  It can also be pretty demanding, but I think it's good for
stories to make their readers work a little.

I actually have to be somewhere pretty soon, so I think I'll end this thing
now.  Looking back on the main body of my letter, I'm not sure whether I
actually argued to your assertion, that you're looking for a page turner.
To me, reading a book should be a little more than just an entertainment
alternative, something to do instead of watching t.v.  If you disagree
that's fine, I'm certainly not the arbiter of proper fictional purpose
(gee, that sounded goofy), but if that's the case then I really think you
can't, in all fairness, rank one book lower than others becuase of some
"literary" defect, i.e. it's not well-written, while ranking other books
high for being entertaining pulp.  That strikes me as kind of a double
standard.

Finally, this's just an idea--maybe you should get rid of numerical
rankings.  I think some people, myself included, see books they like and
admire with low numbers next to them, and it feels like you're insulting
the book, even though all you're trying to do is assess its relative
merits.  Their first reaction is to be pissed off and yell at somebody, and
the internet makes that pretty easy.  I think if you just let the reviews
stand by themselves it would be better; then people could simply read them
and respond to them without having to worry about the justice of rankings,
which are always fairly arbitrary anyway.

Thanks for listening, write back or don't or whatever.  Sorry again if I
was snide, I'm sure you're a dedicated person, or I wouldn't bother writing
this.

Zack

# My closing response:

From d_ingram Thu Sep 10 05:14:16 1998
Subject: Re:  me again

Thanks for the note.  I'll include your letter among the featured ones
in my mail bag.  In defense of the numerical ratings, you're right that
I get the occasional snipe (which is why there's a "Sour Grapes" page
with advice for the scorned).  However, before I had them, I got far
more letters of the kind "What are your favorite books?  I can't tell
by just reading your reviews!"

So for those people who like to see rankings, I include the numbers.
Anyone who judges whether or not they should read a book (or, worse,
whether a book is worth reading) by simply looking at the number I
give it...well, I guess they deserve what they get.  You're right that
judging books based on a combination of "literary merit" and its
status as "mind candy" is rather hypocritical.  I freely admit that
up front so at least everyone knows my biases.

Throw into the mix the fact that my tastes slowly evolve over time
and that my mood (or external circumstances, like being on vacation
or being in a hospital waiting room) also affects my review...well,
let's just say that I don't pretend to be a final arbiter of any
kind.  Just some guy who's telling you what he thinks about some
books.  I hope that tone comes across in the review page.

Regards,
Doug