What I like to read

I think my favorite are older mysteries. Not just Agatha Christie and Earl Stanley Gardner (though I've read all their books), but Ngaio Marsh and SS Van Dine and stuff like that. I also like noir books - Chandler, Hammett, etc.

I'm not much into modern mysteries, although I do really enjoy Dick Francis's books. For a while, I almost bought a horse because of him. (He's a former jockey, and so most his books feature horses in some way, although the last few haven't).

I do love modern (written recently) historical mysteries. I've read 100s of those, it seems like, but can never remember the authors names. But I like PC Doherty, Lindsey Davis, Ellis Peters, and a bunch more.

I also enjoy fantasy and science fiction. But I'm not really into 'epic' stuff. I prefer off-beat, quirky stuff.

My favorite novel is Sean Russell's "World Without End". I've read it probably 2 dozen times over the last 5 years. The other books in that series are also gripping, but sad, which I don't like.

My favorite defunct fantasy series is Lawrence Watt-Evans' "Ethshar" series. "With a Single Spell", "The Misechanted Sword", etc. His other stuff is crap, unfortunately. And Ethshar is now not quite so defunct. Apparently he's found a publisher for new books in that series/world, and is reissuing the old stuff.

My favorite current ongoing series is Glen Cooks "Garrett PI" novels. Angry Lead Skies is the latest, and it was very very good. Pretty good since it combines the paranormal and fantasy. Almost a first, I think.

I do like Michael Moorcock's fantasy stuff. The coherent stuff - Elric, Corum, etc. Some of his stuff ddoesn't make a hell of a lot of sense. His books are also a bit depressing.

I like older science fiction. H. Beam Piper is my favorite, and I've pretty much read all the works of the famous old authors Asimov, Clarke, Vance, Pohl, etc. I also love James White's Sector General series.

My favorite current sci-fi author is Mike Resnick. (BTW, I like using that term, not only because it rhymes, but because it pisses off overly pretentious science fiction fans.). He's written a lot of books set in a common universe. I think the latest of which is the Widowmaker trilogy. His books are great, but tend to have sad endings.

I don't really like so called 'hard' science fiction because IMHO, it's very hard to predict the future, so what's the point of sticking to the rules of nature we know now?

I'm not really into horror, although I was for a while and I've read most of Stephen King and Clive Barker's older stuff. And I like HP Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, and stuff like that.

Yes, I like the Harry Potter books. They really don't read like they were written for kids.

I've read probably every UFO, Ghost, Paranormal, or whatever book in the library system. Quite frankly, most really really suck. My favorite UFO authors are Jacques Vallee (he's about the only sane, coherent, smart UFO investigator) and John Keel.

Charles Fort's books are also good, if a bit odd. Also good paranormal writers are Jim Brandon and Loren Coleman.

Stay away from books by Charles Berlitz. And Art Bell. They're either crooks or idiots, IMHO..

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