So.. been reading a bit..

read J.Joyce "Ulysses" for the 4th time, what a head trip that book can be, closest ive ever been to being in another persons head and evesdropping, and the part when he jumps from random person to random person in the street is dizzingly amazing. Read this book if you want a great book off the beaten path

Also read the Entire Wheel of Time series in a row, Great books at times, but the 10th book sucked ass.

Followed that up by reading Michael Moorcocks "Elric" series.

What a Contrast in styles!!
Jordan will use 3 chapters to have Rand take a morning shit.
Moorcock will change the world in a paragraph.
Makes me appreciate Tolkein even more and boggle that the movies are even better than the books.
Hopefully RR Martin picks up the pace some in his books, but not too much. He is without at doubt the best author of Fantasy alive today. ASOFI is an AMAZING series, I hope the damn 4th book comes out too much.

Anyway... thats my rambling.. feel free to disagree or comment.

What are you all reading? What books do you recommend?

Slowly pacing my way through the Death Gate cycle by Weiss and Hickman at the moment. It's not too bad, has its moment. On the whole Weiss and Hickman are very competent authors, and the series seems fairly thought through so far. The only thing that bothers the shit out of me is that fine, having four worlds around which the story evolves is fine, but ladies please, I don't want to know every fucking detail there is about them. Sometimes I feel like I'm reading a fricking manual on waste disposal, heat transitions and so forth.

My all-time favorite series has got to be LE Modesitt's Recluce saga. No other series has ever captivated me like his, and I've never re-read a series that many times before. Modesitt has an unnerving ability to making me identify myself with the protagonist each and every time. His world is also extremely thought through and by the end of it all you really know how it all works (and fuck physics by the way) without feeling like you've been force-fed someone's pet project like with Weiss and Hickman.

I'm with you on the WoT there L2. Overall a good series, and it started out well. The first book covers what... two years? things were flowing in a fairly decent pace, but nowadays it takes the characters five pages to wipe their asses. On the other hand, I think he's realized people are getting testy about the slow proceedings 'cause the pace seem to be picking up again now at the end. At least I fucking hope the end is around the corner, time to be done with it before he succumbs to a terminal illness and his next of kin has to finish his fucking work. like with most epic authors.

WoT has slowewd down ALOT, waiting for the new Sword of Truth to hit paper back. Hehe and then again i have read every Harry potter book. Pretty good books actully my daughter loves them and so do my wife and I.

I dig WoT, Jordan does seem to be stretching out awfully long in the past couple of books. My favorite series is still probably the original DragonLance series.

As of right now I am rereading the Vampire series by Anne Rice. I enjoyed these books and just had a craving to reread them and also the couple new books that have come out since I read them the first time.

Blazemore

Re-reading Stephen Kings: Dark Tower series to get my self refreshed for the 5th book this november Wolves of the Calla.

I have enjoyed all of those)

I have one that I really enjoyed) The Belgaraid series by David Eddings was very enjoyable to me.

I read another excellent series about 20 years ago or so and I am ashamed to say i forgot the authors name. it was a series called the Chronicals of Thomas Covenant and it was a very well written tale.

I want to say it was written by Robert Jorden but to my own embarassment I simply cannot recall who wrote it for sure)

Stephen Donaldson wrote the Thomas Covenant series, damn good books

Re-reading Stephen Kings: Dark Tower series to get my self refreshed for the 5th book this november Wolves of the Calla.

are you fucking serious? bout damn time. im not sure if i have the time to read the 4 leading up to it, but i need to since its been awhile and there are chapters that i dont remember reading :/

Hickman is a dude, Kiv.

Don't let the name Tracy throw you off.

I bought the book Dreamcatcher after watching the movie adaptation.

I hope the book can satisfy some little details that I need to hear and make sense of that story.

I liked Eddings' series as well, all of them. I especially like the Elenium books. My only complaint is the dramatic overuse of 'bleak'.

He bleakly stared out the bleak window of his bleak room at the bleak sky casting bleak shadows over the bleak landskape and said bleakly, "I feel bleak". Gad.

I wanted to name my Paladin 'Sparhawk', but the server wouldn't let me... dammit.

Dfrac

ckman is a dude, Kiv.

Don't let the name Tracy throw you off.


You got to it before me!, lol..don't worry kiv..I was surprised as fuck when I first met tracy hickman and saw he was a guy.

He says thats the #1 question hes always asked.

Kill Bill made me realize I never read Shogun. There was another book in that same vein that's supposed to be awesome, but I can't remember the title.

Dreamcatcher: the book is much better. Duddits is much better in the book. It's really hard to capture King in movies.

As far as The Dark Tower.. check out his Dark Tower site.

Stephen Kings: The Dark Tower site. (http://www.stephenking.com/DarkTower/flash_index.html)

It seems like 'Tower is his opus or swan song so to speak. The vast majority of all his works revolve in some way around the tower.

I have read the WoT series and agree, it is getting stretched out.

Another author with some good books is David Weber.

I have also read a lot of Anne Rice lately.

Other good reads include Robert Ludlum and his Jason Bourne Series, wayyyy better than the movie. :)

It's really hard to capture King in movies

The best movie adaptations by far are, in no particular order, The Stand, Christine, and IT.

IT scared me so bad when I was young, I still have an affliction towards clowns and sewers. King knows real terror.

Haven't read Jordan's 10th book yet, but read the first 9 over this summer. I personally don't feel the pace, as of the ninth book, is slow due to him taking the Dickens route of over-detailing the mundane. I think what he has done is introduce far, far too many characters, so many that he can barely move the story now. Five major plots going on at once in book 9 (Rand's cleaning effort, Elayne's throne, Egwene's war, Mat's escape, Perrin's wife) is way too much to make decent progress in 1000 pages. Throw in the Forsaken, Paidin Fain, the Shaido and you've got a series that could pretty easily go 20-25 books. At this rate, thats another 20 years until Taimon Gaidon...

RA Salvatore (of Drizzt Do'Urden fame) tends to write books that pace themselves, and unlike Jordan, each novel in a series is a complete entity. Keeping with the Forgotten Realms theme, I've also found myself enjoying Ed Greenwood's books in spite of the feeling you get that he is narcissisticly writing about himself...

WOT? nope never read it... (check the sig baby)

I read all of the Thomas Covanent series but didn't really like them, he was too much of a whiner to me...

Raymond Feist's rift war saga is a pretty good read, but the real treasure in that series is the books that start with 'Daughter of the Empire' where the story centers on the other side of the rift. Read the first 3 first though so you understand the rift war.

Ulysses is much better reading if you can pace yourself and digest it. I had to read it in a month while doing a full course load at school.

Martin's fourth book is due out in June/July of 2004. I'm torn between liking Snow and Tyrion the best in that series.

The only good part of the WoT series these days is Mat.

Snow Crash and Diamond Age are very good, Cryptonmicon is better. I just wish Stephenson would write a closed ending just once.

I've taken to reading a lot of John Shirley's work, but some of it (The Eclipse Series) is terribly hard to find.

For lighter reading, I enjoy Prtachett, though his books rarely last more than 5 hours or so.

Stopped reading WoT halfway through book 6. Just couldn't take it any more. Do something!

I just reread Neil Gaiman's Sandman collections and will pick up the new book when it comes out. Also midway through his American Gods.

In non-fiction, I'm reading Will Durant's "The Story of Philosophy" with Elaine Pagel's "The Gnostic Gospels" on deck.

I plan to start reading Martin's books at some point, as they are universally recommended. It's also about time for Neil Stephenson to put out a new book (read "The Diamond Age," "Snow Crash" and "Cryptonomicon" now).

American Gods could have been SO much better...

I forgot to mention Good Omens- the best book about the end of the world, ever!

Re-reading things at the moment..

"Gates of Fire" by Steven Pressfield and
"The Dark Tower" series by S.King

i recommend both

Avasetdawn

57 Cleric
Turul Legion

LE Modesitt's Recluce saga was pretty damn good but the spellsong cycle is getting pretty boring...how can many time can a sorceress clear her troath of mucus before you get bored?

Tad William's memory sorrow and thorn was pretty damn awesome as well...but god i wanted to smack the main character upside the head during the first 200 pages.

if i want to read something in french there's always anything by Frederic Dard.

Just finished reading the entire Foundation set in a row.

I've read all the books at one time or another, but never sat down to read all from beginning to end.

I did stay true to the publicaiton dates, so I read foundation trilogy first, then the 2 (Foundations Edge, Foundation and Earth) then the 'preludes' (Prelude and Forward)

Was great! Asimov, you didn't write nearly enough! ;)

Now I'm reading the Robot books (again)
SLR

Actually there are just two more wot books to go, fyi. I can't see how you think it's slowing down just as he is gathering everything up for the last push..he does go into a lot of detail(he is creating a new world here, it's not like he sat down to do a book in dragonlance or forgotten realms), I guess people with short attention spans have trouble with that.

Personally I prefer the authors to give more detail to their world instead of less, so you don't have to sit there like dart with dreamcatcher...missing little details that would help the story make more sense.

Atm I'm reading a game of thrones by George R. R. Martin and I have to say it's about the best I've ever read, if only my raids didn't end too late i might actually finish it too :p If you've read lots of fantasy this is one I really recommend simply because it's different from most of the fantasy I've read...

Actually I'm very gladly surprised by alot of new books, apart from the above mentioned I just read The weavers of Saramyr by Chris Wooding. These two both qualify into my top 3 list together with Raymond E. Feist's Magician series :)

I've read alot of fantasy and I have to say that alot of it is really quite mediocre.. wouldn't recommend Eddings or Jordan for example to anyone.. Eddings' Belgariad seriers mainly is perhaps suitable fantasy to start with, rather childish really and with way too much travels, while Jordan on the other hand is just too obsessed with what some characters in his books are wearing and things like that, the feeling that he's just out to get my money now that he got me to start reading his books is just overwhelming.

Dont know if it's possible to get a hold of but there's a really good swedish book named "Sju konungariken" by Göran Sahlen, if not then it's still a kick ass book for us swedes..

Mungo

Okey seriously, who the fuck names their son Tracy?
Hey hun, lets call him Tracy! That'll really give him a boost with the ladies! Oh oh, and the football team will be SO jealous!

And crist0, hate to break it to you bro, but most authors out there create their own worlds :p
Just glancing over my shoulder at my bookshelf I can name around a dozen (feist, herbert, modesitt x3, pratchett, furey, eddings x2 even though his second series was just a plagiarization of his first, moon x2, tolkien, goodkind, williams, weiss/hickman (x4 I guess) etc etc). Just 'cause you're snowed in on books where people "steal" worlds, don't assume I (or we I guess) am (are!). As far as I can recall the only books I've read that've "borrowed" a universe is the Drizzt stuff by Salvatore, and if I could undo that I would - I wouldn't even wipe my ass with those pages.

There's nothing wrong with Jordan's world. And there's nothing wrong with the detail he's given it. What's wrong is the fact that he gets turned around at every freaking turn, forgetting the plot and sidetracking forty pages into someone's wardrobe. I'm extremely openminded when it comes to literature, I can tolerate most stuff, and I still read Jordan's stuff. But seriously, Jordan has a tendency to go whole books without even touching the main story, which gets old after a few times. Shit, every time you can say "I could have skipped that volume" in any series the author has fucked up royally.
Goodkind suffers from the same syndrome with his "hi, i'm standalone, but sorta in the story, but then again I'm not, 'cause everybody dies in the end and well I gotta kill Richard but I can't 'cause he's my brother, oh anguish" Pillars of Creation.

I saw a book in the fantasy section called Nocturne that grabbed my attention today. I played the game on PC, and after reading the back of the book, noticed it had nothing to do with it.

One review compared the author's works to Ann Rice. Could be worth a go, maybe I'll pick it up after I finish Dreamcatcher.

I've been reading the Sword of Truth books by Terry Goodkind.

damnit. now im all excited about book 5 of dark tower that im gonna have to crack out on the books for the weekend and re read them all lol. seeya mon.

Hmm kind of surprised no one has mentioned Wilbur Smith as of yet.

I just got done reading "Birds of Prey" was kind of cool to go back after reading approx 4 other of his works, to go back and see the 'beginning' for the Courtney linage.

Wilbur has impressed me with his story telling ability, and actually getting involved with the character. Any time an author can make get me craving the next time I can sit down and open the pages is an accomplishment in my book.


Losyl Lignisam

...two fish, red fish, blue fish!

This one has a little car, and this one has a little star!

(Attempting to use humor to take attention off the fact that I haven't read anything of "novel" quality in months...maybe time to take another crack at Atlas Shrugged.)

I swear I can't read more than a page or 2 of that without getting completely bored.

I think my favorite series has been The Belgariad, The Mallorean, and the auto-biographies by David Eddings.

The other books/series that I have enjoyed are any of the Stephen Ambrose histories, (highly recommend Undaunted Courage, Band of Brothers, and Pegasus Bridge), The War of the Spider Queen series, The Left Behind series, and of course, the stories of my favorite drow, Drizzt Do'Urden (Author: R.A. Salvatore). ;)

One of the Forgotten Realm books that I thoroughly enjoyed was Silverfall: Story of the Seven Sisters.

HHGTTG!

SLR
-who is a really cool frood who knows where her towel is...

I'm going to agree with L2 and the others about George R.R. Martin's Song of Fire and Ice series. I've read a lot of fantasy and this is hand's down my favorite and that's saying a lot. If you have never read or heard if these do yourself a favor and pick them up. They are great. The next volume in the sereis 'A Feast for Crows' I beleive is now supposed to be coming out next April after being pusehd back several times.

Tad William's memory sorrow and thorn was pretty damn awesome as well...but god i wanted to smack the main character upside the head during the first 200 pages.

You and me both.

Memory Sorrow and Thorn seemed to get much better as they progressed and ended up being very good. I also highly recommend the Otherworld series by him. It's not fantasy and the first book took me a little while to get into but its a very well done and worthwhile take on a VR world sort of thing.

David Eddings stuff if great if you like a focus on dialogue between the characters. I loved those books when I first read them and have read through all of th series a couple times. Not as heavy as some other stuff and that and the character aspect is what I enjoy about them. They are some of my favorite things to read when I need a contrast from tedious journal articles.

Stephen King has a lot of good stuff. His short story collections might be my favorite but I've liked most of his novels too (think I've read all of 'em but 3 or 4). If you like fantasy stuff, Eyes of the Dragon is decent and is as close to pure fantasy as he gets. The Talisman and the Black house books have some fantasy aspect to them and I liked both of them a lot. I enjoyed Dreamcatcher a lot more in book form.

A lot of the Raymond Feist stuff makes my A-list as well. Riftwar Series and the Serpentwar series are excellent, some of the newer stuff like Riftwar legacy series is just not in the same league. He has a new series starting set in Midkemia and I'll probably grab that at Christmastime. Hopefully he's back to form in it.

I've been reading the Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny on and off for the past few months and for whatever reason I end up putting them aside for weeks ata time even though I think they are very good from what I've read.

The Weis & Hickman Dragonlance stuff, Terry Brooks stuff, R.A. Salvatore Forgotten realm stuff and the Terry Goodkind Sword of Truth Series (although it gets pretty slow at times, liked the first 2 or 3 better then the last ones) are all decent reads as well. Personally I've never been able to get into Jordan's WoT too much for whatever reason although I remember reading some Conan novel by him quite a while ago I think that was pretty good

In the slighly more serious vein, I just finisihed The Glass bead game by Herman Hesse recently and I thought that was a pretty deep read. I enjoyed it quite a bit.

There's lots of good stuff out there. I like threads like this because you get a sense of what other like out there that might appeal to you.

I actually started to read Hamelt for the third time. Its prob my second fav. book but its just a great read for me, I love it.

I enjoy reading Salvatore's books because he takes the time to actually try to explain what it would be like living in a Drow society (and the thought still makes me shiver a lot...) even if it is just "re-using" a world that has already been defined. I love Tolkein books and really enjoy re-reading them even if he can be a little hard to understand at times. I have not read the WoT series much, started the third one a couple days ago.

On a different note, Agatha Christie (sp?) books are a huge amount of fun to read for me because when the ending comes round and you find out who was the real culprit it leaves you scratching your head at first. You start thinking but why could it be him/her? But then after a while it starts to make sense and leaves an impression, I often started to have debates with the book practically bantering possible alibis/suspicious acts trying to figure out how the character got away with it for so long.

well its not super initative or high level quality.

I'd recommend reading the dragonlance saga if you wanna take up some time.

Its what about 200? books now, read it from the start of the timeline to the end.

By a variety of different authors, some better then others, most of it written by margret and tracy though.

I made mistake of picking one up well young, took me 3 years to read them all under my "finish what I started" policy. I don't regret it, I got some catching up to do latley..I havnt read the last 30 books in saga.

Sad thing is..after all the time invested..I probly know more about Krynn then I do Earth.

Anyways, definetly worth reading if your into massive scale epics.

Steven Brust has got to be one of my favorite, just wish he would write more. I read everything mostly fantasy or Sci fi, but love westerns, thrillers, horror. only thing i WONT read are the romance ewwww

"In the slighly more serious vein, I just finisihed The Glass bead game by Herman Hesse recently and I thought that was a pretty deep read. I enjoyed it quite a bit."

Woot! Another Hermann Hesse fan :) . I read Magister Ludi some years ago and really enjoyed it as well. If you haven't read it already, check out Steppenwolf; I think it is probably my favorite of Hesse's works.

Some of my other favorites have already been listed; the Robot series by Isaac Asimov (do this right and start with his two early works, The Caves of Steel and the Naked Sun, if you read these :) ), as well as the Foundation series, are two of my favorite series.

I've previously mentioned my appreciation of Gene Wolfe's 'New Sun' tetraology, as well as Julian May's 'Pleiocene' series (first book is entitled The Many Coloured Land). Both have an incredible depth of character development; Wolfe's work is far more philosophical, whereas May's is more social and political.

Unfortunately, I don't seem to get much time to read good fiction these days. I recently re-read some of Somerset Maugham's short stories and found him as delightful as ever; I read a fair amount of poetry as well.

Regards,
Nydia Ywalmoriel
Autonomous Collective

Tommy Knockers, Stephen King.
Unfinished Tales, Christopher Tolkien.

I have read alot of different authors ranging from Asimov to Jose Philip Farmer. I still always come back to King and Tolkien. I can't tell you how many times I have read LOTR and its companion histories. Those 2 authors are far and away my favorite reads.

Incidentally the last 2 Tower books after after Wolves of hte Calla are all but wrapped up as well.

Book 6 is called Songs of Susannah
Book 7 is aptly called The Dark Tower

Very best: King Rat by James Clavell. I've no connection with the characters' background or, excepting the main villain to a small extent, in terms of personality. Nevertheless, it was the strongest book I've ever read.

Numero Dos: Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. Great book, but don't read the sequels unless you like intensive moralistic/theological struggles. The "Ender's Shadow" -> "Shadow of the Hegemon" series (in progress, IIRC) is also worth reading.

Other very good stuff, in no particular order:

Most books by Raymond E. Feist. His last book will certainly disappoint, though.

Kurt Vonnegut has some amazing books amidst quite a few that are just bizarre or disturbing. The great ones include "Cat's Cradle," "Slaughterhouse-Five," "The Sirens of Titan," and maybe "Galapagos." In addition, "Mother Night" is a must-read if you're not easily offended - it is the only book that made me laugh hysterically and nearly cry within the span of an hour.

James Clavell's "Shogun" is excellent, if not on par with his "King Rat."

"Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer.

"Aquarium" or "Inside the Aquarium" (depending on publication) by Victor Suvorov. Chilling.

"The Black Company" by Glen Cook. Starts off great. The sequels go downhill, though; by the fourth book, it goes from quality vernacular fantasy to tired repetition. I'd recommend getting the first two.

"All Quiet on the Western Front" by Erich Maria Remarque. I've read a lot of "classics" and hate quite a few of them with a passion. This, however, is a must-read.

"Rainbow Six" by Tom Clancy. Most Clancy books consist of several hundred pages of the best-written pure political/technical tedium known to mankind, with some excellent action thrown in. This one actually has a rapid pace and a few solid plot twists in addition to the quality of the writing. It's also not set in Russia, which Clancy does not have the slightest fucking clue about.

There's probably quite a few more that I can't name off the top of my head.

I've been reading Sword of Truth series almost since it came out, I actually hit the book store before i went off to college and picked up Faith of the Fallen and Pillars of Creation (go go gadget Borders gift card!). The other weekend when I was home, I saw the next book (Naked Empire, was it?) for sale, but alas in only hard cover, so I'm waiting for that to come to paperback. Faith of the Fallen was decent, Pillars of Creation was a refreshing break hearing all about Kahlan and Richard and how much they're in love (I love the series overall but sometimes this facet is harped on so much it makes me want to gag myself). I actually missed Soul of the Fire (store didn't have it when I picked up the last 2).

I've also been somewhat reading the Dark Tower series (phenominal so far, but I couldnt find a paperback version of Wizard and Glass and yes I am behind). Hopefully I can pick those up this weekend if I'm home. I've always been absolutely *fascinated* by the way King ties in so many of his books with Dark Tower concepts, I often find myself stunned and reading over passages several times getting all tingly knowing that he's referring to the Dark Tower, and it would really be a shame to read these other books and not know about some of the Dark Tower, since it'd really go over your head.

I haven't read Grisham in a while, has anyone read his last 2 books? I also noticed that a new movie based on one of his books is comming out :) It looks promising, I must have read every one of his books, minus the last 2 (and done countless book reports on them ;P I even made up book reports for my friends on Grisham books, it was rather amusing and they always did well).

Dreamcatcher the movie was a *major* letdown for me. I read the book about a year before it came out, and then read it again before I went to see it, and I was rather miffed at how badly the movie massacred the book, it was pretty bad imo. I say it's a bad movie, but I confess I have a very jaded opinion, because the movie very well might have been good, but due to the fact that I instantly compare it with the book, I'm disappointed. Of course, the problem with the book being translated into a movie was that Dreamcatcher relied a lot on very interpretative concepts "in your mind", and to have to translate a book largely not about tangent objects into something where 95% of what you have is tangent and visible, well... who can blame anyone for losing some of the book's substance.

Willgatus, much agreed on Black Company. Great 1st book, good 2nd and 3rd, after that...eh.

Ever read Bluebeard? That's my favorite Vonnegut novel, though all you mentioned are quite good.

Yes, I have read Bluebeard. Aside from a very memorable line (referring to dancing as something along the lines of "sacrificing the remains of my dignity at Torpsichore's altar") it wasn't too great of a Vonnegut book in my opinion. Excellent reading overall, sure, but I just don't see how it compares to the brilliance of Sirens of Titan or Cat's Cradle.

'I still always come back to King and Tolkien. I can't tell you how many times I have read LOTR and its companion histories. Those 2 authors are far and away my favorite reads.'

- Amen. Throw in Terry Pratchet for some cheeky British humour too.

Call me retarded, unlearned, or unexposed, but the only book I have honestly ever liked was Catcher in the Rye.

And crist0, hate to break it to you bro, but most authors out there create their own worlds


No, most set their books in new worlds, there is a difference...

Again, better too much detail than too little.

This thread made me go back through all the books I own and I grab 1 that i read while still in school Andre Norton Quag Keep. hehe even gave it to my daughter to read

The only book Crist0 has ever read is Fantastic Mister Fox.

Shit, I've been reading since I was 3. I can put away a 1500 page book in a day, and I've been doing that since you were in preschool. Run off to the thread your guildleader started, it's talking about something you are actually familiar with, your own shortcomings.

'Shit, I've been reading since I was 3'

- The tatoo's on your mum's tits (of which read: Suck me, beautiful) don't really count as reading in this context, fucking twat.

http://www.storiesfromtheweb.org/joinin/postcard/images/postcard11.jpg?????

Shit dude, you don't remember what I tell you well..those were YOUR mom's tits.

Now move to the other thread.

So anyway.
Does it get more nerdish than thrashing people over literature and exclaiming their supremacy by how big of a book they can muster per day?
I mean it's like... my texas ti-83 owns your Casio, beotch!

I'm currently in the middle of the Wheel of Time series. I've read all the Sword of Truth, can say that my favorite was definetly the most recent one Naked Empire. I've read all of Salvatore's books, from the Drizzt novels to the Demon War sagas to the Cleric Quintet. These are the fantasy sections (obviously Tolkien too) and I have to say that other then Tolkien my favorite of these authors would have to be Salvatore. He takes time to write explicitly about what he wants to say and what he wants to convey, and he does it well. His books are never insane sized (which never bothers me) but they always have enough information in them to satisfy me at least and leaving absolutely no questions in my mind other then the ones he wants us to have (Jarlaxle is House Baenre, WTF?!?!?!!??!).

However, by far my favorite author has to be Stephen King, I've read all of his novels, including those written for internet only, his Richard Bachman books as well as all his short stories. I'm a HUGE horror fan, movies or books or whatever pretty much. Dart put it well when he said that this man knows the true meaning of terror. Dart, you thought the movie IT was scary? Read the book, you wont sleep for a week. The Dark Towers are beyond incredible. Make sure to also read the following books: The Stand, Everything's Eventual, Hearts in Atlantis, Salem's Lot, The Talisman, and Black House if you want to fully comprehend the Dark Tower novels. If you go to the Stephen King website (www.stephenking.com) he has an exerpt from The Wolves of the Calla that he reads, fucking amazing. Also, the reason I said to read the above books if you wish to fully understand King is because many many of the characters in these books are going to be re-used in the Dark Towers. On the website he stated he will for sure be bringing back Ted Braughtigan from Heart's in Atlantis ....for those following and have not read Hearts in Atlantis...Ted is a Breaker, one of the most powerfull breakers ever to be come across. He said he will be bringing back the character in the short story Everything's Eventual in the book of short stories titled Everything's Eventual, he said he will be bringing back the priest from Salem's Lot, and for those that don't already realize it (haven't read Wizard and Glass you might not have, however in Wastelands he gives you a pretty damn good hint) the wandering stranger (i think thats what he was called) is no other then Randal Flagg from the Stand. Flagg is one of King's most loved villians it seems, if any of his books there is a villian last name Flag or initials R.F. this will be the same guy. So all in all those hardcore King fans, go to his website, listen to the exerpt, read his books if you can, he brings a lot back and he ties a lot together, make sure your paying attention.

I LOVE talking about books I read and even books i do not, feel free to msg me in game on Munseen or just continue posts on this forum. :hat

For a bunch of people that "read" as much as you claim to, you'd think more of you would realize that ALOT isnt a word.

Master Damoiel Mindbend
Retired Enchanter of the 60th Season

yea and i should also capitilize the first word of every sentence, indent 5 spaces, always capitilze "i" "i'm" "i've" etc, comma before quotes....fuck off its a msg board not a final english exam.

Good attitude ;) Your parents must be very proud ;)

Master Damoiel Mindbend
Retired Enchanter of the 60th Season

My parents are proud of me....Thanks...I fail to see the insult of your post if there was one. I know english, hell I've been speaking it and reading and writing it for my entire life, on msg boards though I don't watch proper grammer/punctuation/spelling...who really cares? Blatent mistakes where you can't read shit (Comcast/Amp) yea, I understand, but dude, alot is pernounced the same, cause also Isn't a word, people use it all the same and they don't spell out because everytime, why? cause its a msg board and we assume you people can read regardless of stupid mistakes.

on msg boards though I don't watch proper grammer/punctuation/spelling

No kidding?

Master Damoiel Mindbend
Retired Enchanter of the 60th Season

I did that on purpose...whatever you got the point i think heh

I used to read a lot until I got a computer. :p
Some of my favs include Ann Rice, Stephen King,Robert Cormier. Theres more,but I cant think of em at the moment.

A few personal favorites:

E.E. 'Doc' Smith's Lensman series, recently back in print, pure space opera, no hard scifi, just a good read. His Skylark series is also being re-printed.

Robert Heinlein: most anything but Stranger in a Strange Land tops the list with The Past Through Tomorrow and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress close behind.

David Drake's Hammer's Slammers series, military scifi.

Terry Pratchett's Discworld, I sit in the local bar reading these and laugh out loud thru the entire book. Good fun.

Philip Jose Farmer...haven't come across a stinker yet. Riverworld, Dayworld and for a truly twisted read try The Image of the Beast and Blown, two books in a series but be warned, these two aren't for children. Nuff said.

All of William Gibson's cyberpunk books, finished All Tomorrow's Parties recently, can't wait for the next to hit paperback.

James White's Surgeon General series. Scifi set around an Intergalactic hospital and also recently back in print. Well worth the read.

Fritz Leiber's Lankhmar series. Liked these so much I named my 2 cats Fafhrd and Gray Mouser.

Hell, this could go on forever...Brust, Saberhagen, Cook, Cussler, Niven, Pournelle, McCaffrey, Anderson, Herbert, Lovecraft, etc. I just love to read ;)

Aalamar