August 25th, 1997

I suppose the best way to launch this page is to indulge in a little 'autobiography'. My name is Adrian Gunadi and I've only just finished my high school education at Jakarta International School, Indonesia. Feel free to e-mail me with any inquiries about that country; I'm currently settling disputes that we live without hot water in thatch villages. Actually, JIS (as we fondly call it) is one of the best schools in Southeast-Asia. It's based on the American system, which explains the general looks of bemusement I get now that I'm attending university in Australia. Most of my close friends have scattered to various parts of the globe - some migrating to the desolate reaches of Europe, others to India and the States.

Secondly, if you're anything close to being a regular viewer of this site, you'll have slowly gotten an idea of my own tastes. My own writing is somewhat flashy, emphasizing style, which is why I'm rarely able to sustain it more than a few pages. But as to what stuff I like to delve into myself... well, it all depends on what kind of mood I'm in. For heroic fantasy, my personal favourite is still David Gemmell. His books have a continuum - which means that the characters live and breathe under a shared history, and the world changes independently of them. In the Drenai Saga (that's the shared continuum I was talking about), I have a particular affinity to Druss the Legend, The Legend of Deathwalker and The King Beyond the Gate. Brilliant stuff. Of his other books, I also recommend Morningstar and Lion of Macedon, although you might be swayed to the apocalyptic gun-toting anti-heroism of the Jon Shannow Trilogy.

With science-fiction stories, it's a little harder to pick favorites. My best bet at the moment would have to be Joe Haldeman. He's got more Hugo Awards under his belt than any other writer alive (that's an exaggeration, but not by much). He has a nice, gritty way of writing which really sits well with the type of books he writes. Have a go at The Forever War to see what I mean. But he's also great at writing shorter fiction, which is good, since that means I can look up to him as a guide. I just bought his collection of short stories (four of which have won the Hugo Award and Nebula Award), None So Blind. I'm half-way through it, but loving every second.

Another writer that I like is Dan Simmons. He tends to be more ambivalent than Haldeman, splitting his time between horror and science-fiction. Even though Simmons' novels have won Hugo Awards as well, it doesn't put me in sync the way Haldeman's books do. But that's okay. Because Dan Simmons also happens to be the best short-story writer in the business. Check out Prayers to Broken Stones, or even Hyperion. Damn good stuff.

Finally, some well-written novels from otherwise mediocre authors: Robert J. Sawyer's The Terminal Experiment and Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game. Anyway, feel free to drop by an email if you'd like to put in your two cents' worth.