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I loved all the Shannara books and of course Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit. WHile my readings tend to be alot of scary stuff, King Koontz anfd the like, I also loved all the books bu Brian Jaques. Redwall etc.

I really enjoyed LoTR too selkie. Even though JRRT's work fathered a lot of the cliches and archetypes seen now, he managed to do so much more convincingly than many of his successors. The ring itself wasn't no much of a plot element as it was a tool for developing his characters.

I'd have to say that quite a few of his characters (Boromir, Sam, Theoden...) are definitely among my favourites.

Anne and Todd McCaffrey

C. S. Friedman

George R.R. Martin

Oh, who can forget Edgar Rice Burroughs!

I really like The Fionovar Tapestry trilogy by Guy Gavriel Kay, although I haven read it in years. Kay is one of Alone's favorite authors.

A rather obscure series I like is the Godstalk series by P.C. Hodgell. Her books are sometimes hard to find because she keeps bouncing around publishers, but she was recently picked up by Baen Books, and they're reissuing her earlier works.

I'll agree 1000% with LadyVorkosigan about the Vorkosigan books by Lois McMaster Bujold. And I'll add in anything else by Bujold as well, SciFi (NOT SyFy ) or Fantasy.

I'll have to point Alone to this thread, she's a voracious fantasy reader.

As many Hugos as that woman has won (second only to Heinlein, people!) you are only the second person on this board I've found who reads Bujold! The other was Inchoate, who was infamously awesome. Good job WH_in_Georgia!

Oh PiQue! Of course the McCaffreys! I do so want a pet Firedragon.

I want to mention Octavia Butler one of the few (only) black SpecFic writer, female. Her Lilith's Brood (formerly the Xenogenesis trilogy Is an amazing work. Dark and scary, but truly unique. Look her up on Wikipedia.

Currently reading Sabriel, by Garth Nix. Will be followed by Lirael & then Abhorsen. Sabriel is pretty fantastic so far.

Another shout out for Guy Gavrial Kay's works and one for another prolific Canadian Writer

Steven Erickson's Mazlan Book of the Fallen Series.

My Favourite in the series is the Deadhouse Gates or possibly the Bonehunters.

This series will keep you busy for a while.

George RR Maartin's books are great, and I second the votes for Julian May's books.

I liked the first six Pern books.

Roger Zelazny's Amber books are great.

I grew to hate Wheel of Time. Focus, focus, focus.

My favorites used to be Katherine Kurtz Deryni books. Some are so heartbreaking - she is as murderous as Martin!

A fun one I just reread was Silverlock.

Oh! More...

Dan Simmons - especially the Hyperion Cantos.

Robert Charles Wilson - Spin is fantastic, but all of his work is just fun, speculative, ideas-as-big-as-the-universe fiction.

Tim Powers - I liked Declare best, with The Anubis Gates close behind, but he's got great rollicking mish-mashes of ideas in every one of his books.

Steven Erickson's Mazlan Book of the Fallen Series.

My Favourite in the series is the Deadhouse Gates or possibly the Bonehunters.

This series will keep you busy for a while.

I highly reccomend this series too. But it is wicked hard to follow.

I also reccommend Stephen R. Donaldson. His Covenant series is number to LOTR IMO and even his sci fi "Gap" series of books is amazing.

I do so want a pet Firelizard.

Firelizards are cute, but I want a full-sized dragon! I'd want a brown, even though women don't usually impress browns. I could bypass all the rush hour traffic and get to work on time!

I like Stephen Donaldson, too.

Favorite character AND best villain:

Gerald Tarrant, The Hunter, of C.S. Friedman's Coldfire Trilogy.

Okay, I found a decent copy of "A Game of Thrones" in paperback at a thrift store, it better be good. I'm saving it for our upcoming flights to Phoenix.

Gosh, I have kind of gotten away from reading fantasy/sci-fi but going to have to get back to it, after reading those of these suggestions.

LadyV's namesake is one of the best, and I loved Julian May's series, as well as Kathryn Kurtz' "Deryni". And another one, Marion Zimmer Bradley "Darkover". Many of the early ones are out of print, unless they have been reissued. I am of the love 'em and leave 'em book reader type...like to send them on to other appreciative readers, but I still have my entire set of Darkover...well maybe I'm missing a couple of the newer ones not written by her, and have dragged them all over country during different moves.

There's also an older Arthurian legend series, well, actually 2. One by Zimmer Bradley that is my baseline for other legend books and one by Jack Whyte (?) that is really good.

And all the gods save me, but I just LOVE Galbadon's Claire and Jamie. I know, I know, it is considered romance, but a misnomer if I ever heard one. It is a odd mix of fantasy, history, romance and action that is hard to classify.

Problem is, with these series book, I just tend to disappear. Nothing gets done...I can read for days and days and day, only occasionally coming up to shower and eat...

I just finished up Spirit Gate and went to Chapter's to grab the next book in the series and search out a few of the titles mentioned here.

I couldn't find any of the Vorkosigan books and the first book of Steven Erickson's Mazlan Book of the Fallen Series was only in a hardcover anniversary edition

Maybe next time I'll take a print out of this thread to help my memory, lol.

LeapyearBaby (happy birthday btw) isn't Bradley's Mists of Avalon just about the most wonderful book ever? The only trouble was that too many people kept thinking of me as the Wise Woman and expecting me to solve ALL PROBLEMS with my wisdom. Never had time to solve my own so I disappeared into my fantasy books...

I like the Pern books as well. My H told me about them years ago. I first got The Dragonriders of Pern (the three in one) and read it in just a couple sittings.

(And PiQue, I personally would want Ruth, the white dragon.)

Another McCaffrey series that I think is good is the Talent series, starting with The Rowan. The set-up books are To Ride Pegasus and Pegasus In Flight.

There was a series a few years back written by the woman who claimed to have been married to Jim Morrison. I think Kineally was her last name and she hypenated Morrison, mostly for attention and more book sales, I think.

Anyway, her series was a fascinating combo of Celtic legend and space travel. I just loved it, but as near as I can tell, she never got the last couple books published.

And does anyone know of a specific website that list sci-fi by author, title and/or character? I found a great one for murder mysteries called Stop, You're Killing Me! and it is a great resource. I would love to find something similar...

I finished the second Vorkosigan book (Barrayar) last night and really enjoyed it! I'm looking forward to reading more of this series. Thanks LadyV for the enthusiastic suggestion!