Gaertk at aol.com writes: > > Be patient, Brust is worth the wait. [...] -snip- How many books do you all read anyway? I guess I average about one book per week, including rereading books. In 1999, I read about 80 books, but that was unusually high for me. > Here's some other fantasy authors I enjoy: Tolkien, > Pratchett, Robin Hobb (aka Megan Lindholm), Jo Walton, Heh, I liked the "a vanished Lindholm" throwaway line in Pamela Dean's JG&R. > Diane Duane, and GRR Martin. Be warned that the Wheel of > Time starts going downhill after book 4. -snip- Some additional fantasy authors I enjoy (not necessarily similar to Brust): P C Hodgell, Laurell K Hamilton, Diana Gabaldon, Patrice Kindl, Tove Jansson, Robin McKinley, Philip Pullman, Norton Juster, Jules Feiffer, Susan Cooper, Pamela Dean, Zenna Henderson, Patricia McKillip, Sheri S Tepper, Orson Scott Card. If you've been avoiding Harry Potter because you think it's just marketing hype, you should give it try, and keep in mind that the first book is the weakest. I liked _Dhalgren_ by Samuel Delany a lot, but I liked the joke Arthur Hlavaty relayed in response to Jo Walton's Scintilla fanzine: Answer: Absolute zero, the center of the Sun, and the end of Dhalgren. Question: Name three things man will never reach. -- from http://www.bluejo.demon.co.uk/reviews/scintilla/scint1a.htm Also, I recommend giving Dorothy Dunnett a try. It's historical fiction, but reads to me a lot like fantasy. But do be warned that she likes to narrate from the point of view of characters who don't fully know what's going on, so you tend to be in the dark throughout most of each book until all is revealed at the end...and possibly subverted [1] in the next book. [1] That's not the right word. Overturned or superceded might be better. In general, there's lots of good SF out there, including books by Lois McMaster Bujold, C J Cherryh (hi DDB!), Vernor Vinge, Neal Stephenson, Raphael Carter, Jack Womack, plus many of the "fantasy authors" listed above. - tky