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Short and simple, I'm going to list my favorite authors and the books that he or she has written that I enjoy. That I enjoy so much, that I read and re-read despite having a good memory for books and already knowing what will happen down to the next word uttered.
Piers Anthony Other then his infamous Xanth series, I have enjoyed his Extraordinary trilogy and his Rings of Ice novel. I have also read some of his joint works with other authors, such as with Mercedes Lackey in If I Pay Thee Not In Gold and Josepha Sherman in Caterpillar's Question.
I first got hooked on Xanth when my grandmother gave me the novel, Night Mare merely because at the time I was (and still am) a horse buff and the novel features what appears to be a horse walking through a wall. After reading it, of course I had to find the first book in the series and so on and so forth. I am currently anxiously waiting for Zombie Lover to come out in paper-back, although I have Demons Don't Dream and onwards in hardcover. However, my shelves are yelling at me about the strain (I think perhaps their contact with the novels that feature Dor have allowed some of his talent to seep out and infect my bookshelves.) so I am now awaiting the paperback editions.
James Axler The only novels of his that I have are his post-apocalyptic series Deathlands. Now, I have to admit, they get sort of run of the mill after a while, but every now and again I do have the urge to read a novel that features some blood, gore, and morals in the face of a world gone haywire. It reminds me of rush-hour traffic.
Terry Brooks He wrote the well known Shannara and Scions of Shannara series, as well as a smaller series called The Kingdom of Landover which in some ways reminds me of Anthony's Xanth series, but not quite. I got into the former series because my brother had the books, and the latter series because of the second novel of the series, Black Unicorn.
Mercedes Lackey What else can I love her for if not her Valdemar series. I have all the books, and am awaiting OwlSight in paperback. I got hooked on this series after I bought The Black Griffon. After reading that, who couldn't help but get hooked? I think her novel, Magic's Pawn was the first novel that ever made me cry from reading it. Or one of the few, anyway. I've read other novels of hers, joint works usually, including her Bard's Tale novels staring the Dark Elf (ooh, I can't spell his name!) and the Bards. Also, how can I not include her Bardic Choices and Bardic Voices series, as well as the novel Bedlam's Bard and Children of the Night.. and who can forget her SERRAted Edge books!
Anne McCaffrey She has the claim to my heart that only Piers Anthony rivals her in. Her Pern series (I bet you all knew I was going to say that) has to rank up there with my favorite books. I have to admit however, after All the Weyrs of Pern I stopped buying the novels. Other books by her that I love include her .. well, I don't believe it has a name, but her novels about the Brain Ships (in conjunction with such authors as Mercedes Lackey, Jody Lynn Nye, S.M. Sterling, and others. I would list their names, but I fear to get them wrong and don't wish to insult anyone.). She has other novels to her name, as we all know, such as the Crystal Singers trilogy, and the Coelura. Oh, I could go on and on, couldn't I? And, I can't forget her The Rowan series.
Christopher Stasheff He wrote the wonderful Warlock series, and is now involved in the Rogue Wizard series.. although I do wonder what is going to happen to the youngest of the Warlock's children with the PEST agent.
Now, onto single book mentions. These people don't have huge series to their names, but their books deserve the merit of being wonderful novels of intrigue, mystery, romance or daring. Or all of those and more!
Ann Downer wrote the Spell Key Trilogy, or at least the first book of it, when she was thirteen! To me, that's amazing. Kudos to her! It's a great book.
Mark and Julia Smith wrote the novel Shadow Maze which is a novel of mystery, suspence, romance and magic.
Nancy Kress is a new author I have discovered recently, I'm not sure if she's new to you out there, but to me, she is. She wrote An Alien Light which puts a new slant on the human race that I found enlightening, and Beggar's In Spain which is another novel of the intrigue of the human persona.
Eve Forward has the novel Villains by Necessity (Oh, I hope I spelt that right) which puts an interesting twist on the usual epic saga of Champions of Good fighting the all encompassing Evil. I even used her novel in a college essay about books that have changed the outlook of my life.
Patricia Briggs wrote the novel Steal the Dragon which is a delightful story that does involve a deeper theme of slavery of spirit and the flesh.
Elizabeth Moon wrote two novels in sequence, Moonspeaker and House of Moons if I remember correctly, also involving the inner spirit.
Gayle Greeno wrote a series called The Ghattis' Tale and has a new series following that called The Ghatten's Gamble I believe, which is a story involving what amounts to large house-cats with telepathy.. you probably get the idea of why I'd like it.
Sharon Green has a series whose name I'm not sure of, but starts with the novel Silver Princess, Golden Knight and ends with the novel Game's End and involves two types of special people who can shapeshift and can do magic, and two couples out of those people who go onto romance and war.
Michael Kurland wrote a book called The Unicorn Girl that I loved! I'm trying to find other books by him and Chester Anderson.. where they save the world.
Sherri S. Tepper wrote a book that I personally loved, called Shadow's End although it's hard to sum up.
Jack Lovejoy wrote the novel Outworld Cats which was a thoroughly enjoyable book about super-smart cats. Who of course, make the humans around them look like idiots, but regular cats do that anyway. I recommend the novel, it's an enjoyable read.
The Forgotten Realms
I bet a lot of people were wondering how I can read so much, and not have ever touched a Forgotten Realms book.. well, don't worry, I've touched just about them all. My favorites include the Harpers series, of which I was sad to see ended, and the books associated with that series, but not apart of it (although the only novel of that type I can think of is Spellfire).
And now.. all you R.A. Salvatore fans out there, yes, the Dark Elf, Ice Wind Dale, what I term the Mithril Hall trilogy and the Cleric Quintet series include some of my favorite characters, including (but of course) Drizzt Do'Urden, Cattie-Brie, Bruenor Battlehammer, Regis, Cadderly and Danica, as well as Ivan and his brother (whose name I forget.. no, don't hit me! I'm sorry!). And of course, his villains - Artemis Entreri, Jarlaxle, the Baerne females (excluding Elaine Cunningham's heroine drow, Liriel), and Druzil the Imp. I particularly enjoyed how in The Passage to Dawn and The Silent Blade he mixed together the main characters from his Drizzt and Cadderly novels. Although, I do admit, it was cruel of him to leave the ending of The Silent Blade as he did. Naughty R.A. Salvatore, naughty! You had better be sitting at that word processer and writing up the next novel! Us killer-Drizzt fans will kidnap you and make you tell us what happens if you don't get the next novel out! We're not joking!
Erm.. heh.
As for the other great multi-authored series out there, such as Ravenloft and DragonLance, don't feel neglected, I've read some novels in you too. I've read the.. ooh, it's name runs from me at the moment, but the one involving the Dragon Lords, Tanis Half-Elf, etc, etc from DragonLance, and in Ravenloft, the one written by Christi Golden, involving her Forgotten Realms elf Jandar Sunstar (oh, I do hope I'm not mixing up my elves there.).
There are, as you can probably imagine from this SHORT list I've provided, plenty of other books that I own I could probably mention. In fact, if you gave me time, I could write something about all 500+ books that I own. (all in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy genre) But I'll spare you the pain and suffering. If any book here I've mentioned interests you, or if you've read it, I'd be more then happy to start up an email discussion with you about it. My email is at the bottom of the page, as you probably know. However, that email is unavailable to me during the week, so you may wish to email me at kithan@hotmail.com as well.
Happy Reading, all you Bookworms out there.
© 1997 kithan@mindspring.com
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