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Places to Go
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I love to read, especially good (usually "hard") science fiction and
fantasy. I also subscribe to several magazines, and would subscribe to
many more if time and mailbox space permitted!
My favorite books are Tolkien's The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion. I get the urge to read these books just about every Spring or Summer. The level of detail and depth to them astounds me with every read, and each time I finish the last book (I always read them in the story's chronological order) I feel like I'm saying good-bye to good friends. No other novel I've ever read has so drawn me in and made me believe that the story is real as well as these books.
Here are some interesting Tolkien web sites: Second after Tolkien's are probably The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever by Stephen R. Donaldson. The story is dark and depressing much of the time, and Thomas Covenant's whining grates my nerves, but these traits are there for a purpose. Thomas, a modern-day leper in our world, is transported to "The Land" in some magical alternate universe. The burden of deciding the fate of the Land is forced upon him by Lord Foul, the Devil figure in the novels, and Thomas' summoner. Thomas, who is nearly driven mad by his new surroundings, insists the Land is a dream (thus his title), and his resulting apathetic attitude makes it difficult for the people he encounters to accept him as either their savior or their doom.
The characters are well-developed and highly interesting, and Stephen
Donaldson devises some very unique monsters and creatures for these novels.
Many of them have names from mythology, but most are totally unlike their
"real world" namesakes. I also love some of the names of the characters
and villains, my favorites being "Satansfist" and "Soulcrusher". I'm
especially fond of the Haruchai, a race of humans with a stern and
inflexible honor code, and exquisite hand-to-hand combat skills obviously
meant to be very like karate or tae kwon do. Stephen Donaldson manages
to put so much evil in his villains; even more so, I think, than
Tolkien.
I'm also especially fond of the Dune books by Frank Herbert. I don't have much to say about them other than "Wow!".
A good Dune site:
Other favorites include the Dragon Riders of Pern books by
Anne McCaffrey, the robot novels and Foundation series by Isaac Asimov,
many of Larry Niven's books, and the books by Jerry Pournelle that I've
read.
On this page I will post any books that I find particularly good. If
you've read any good ones lately that you think I might like, drop me
some e-mail--I'd love to hear about it.
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