probably the best thing to do is note some of the authors who contributed [for better or for worse] to who i am.

Diana Wynne Jones. possibly my favorite fantasist of all time, she writes rich quirky occasionally dark amusing complex character-driven conceptually and mythologically interesting masterfully written and thoroughly enjoyable stories primarily for young adults. yes, i know, i'm gushing. sorry. but read her books and maybe you'll figure out why. i can't even begin to explain, but this page might. go here to see my opinions about the books, in a wacky Tiered system.

Neil Gaiman. two words. The Sandman. achingly extraordinary series of graphic novels that brought the play of light and darkness flashing into view. also wrote with Terry Pratchett possibly the funniest book ever written about the Apocalypse, Good Omens. as well as some other damn cool stories and things. his new book, American Gods, comes out soon, and he's doing a nifty little journal thing associated with it.

Terry Pratchett. the man has a sense of humor and generally uses it wisely. the Discworld series and the Johnny trilogy make me happy.

Minnesota authors. recently i've been reading alot of them. for that matter, Gaiman might even count here 'cause he's currently a Minneapolis resident. but there's Steven Brust, and Emma Bull, and Patricia C. Wrede, and Pamela Dean, all of whom are strikingly readworthly. Emma Bull in particular i have only recently discovered and fallen in love with... 'cept i've run out of her stuff to read... also, Brust and Bull are musical, both together and apart around Mpls, and wrote Freedom and Necessity together, a lovely, lovely novel. i think more authors should share camraderie. it seems to positively affect the books. being from MN, i particularly like Emma Bull's Bone Dance and War of the Oaks as well as Pamela Dean's Tam Lin, primarily for making me homesick. i'm currently in the midst of barrelling through everything Lois McMaster Bujold has ever written, thrilled and thoroughly enjoying it all.

Terry Moore's Strangers in Paradise. a comic book series that is some of the most graceful, intuitive, affecting, and simply lovely realistic fiction i have read. i especially like it because it has surreal moments that serve to make the story and the characters truly alive.

Jhonen Vasquez did Squee and Johnny the Homicidal Maniac. fantastic.

Various manga (Japanese comics). notably Inu-yasha and X. also, Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind. to some extent Magic Knights Rayearth and Oh! My Goddess. Kimagure Orange Road. it's a little hard to talk about manga and not anime. sufficieth to say i'm also addicted to anime, including anything by Miyazaki, Escaflowne, Utena, KOR, Fushigi Yuugi, Rorouni Kenshin, Evangelion, and others... of course, i'm not as addicted to anime as some people are...

childhood nostalgia authors. L. Frank Baum, Sydney Taylor (who wrote All-of-a-Kind Family), L. M. Montgomery (Anne of Green Gables, etc.), Louisa May Alcott, E. Nesbit, Edward Eager, Maud Hart Lovelace (Besty-Tacy), P. L. Travers (Mary Poppins), E. L. Konigsburg, Madeline L'Engle, Susan Cooper, C. S. Lewis, Rumer Godden, Norton Juster, etc. yes, i read too many british children's novels when i was young.

young adult novels. this is a separate catagory from the childhood nostalgia authors, and includes stuff by people such as Margaret Mahy, Julian F. Thompson, Pamela F. Service, Suzy McKee Charnas, Tamora Pierce, Stephen Manes and, of course, Diana Wynne Jones. it's sort of a hard-to-explain catagory, and i must admit it also includes some very silly stuff which i nonetheless have a big wet soft spot for.

Jostein Gaarder. the Norwegian author of Sophie's World and The Solitaire Mystery. surrealist philosophical fiction of the highest order. delightful, rather Carroll-like. whether i mean Lewis Carroll or Jonathan Carroll (both of whom i quite like) is your guess.

Georgette Heyer. wrote Regency Romances of the highest order. lovely frothy comedies of manners which are delightful and very very human.

Dorothy Sayers. i don't usually read mysteries. not because i don't like them, really... just... because. Dorothy Sayers is the exception. her books are intricate and intelligent, and brilliantly amusing.

hmm. i think i'm getting to the point where it's no longer addiction to particular authors or things, but a more gentle fondness of authors who go to feed the more general reading addiction. people whom i love dearly, but aren't necessarily massively driven to read all the time. or people who i really really like, but haven't read quite enough of to feel right about counting them as an addiction. people like Diane Duane, Connie Willis, Julian F. Thompson, Walter Miller, George Orwell, Tim O'Brian, Jonathan Carroll, Roger Zelazny, Neal Stephenson, Orson Scott Card, Toni Morrison, Louise Erdrich, Douglas Adams, Robert Asprin, Mary Monica Pulver to name just a few. there are also authors like David Eddings and Anne McCaffrey, whose books i enjoy not in small part because i read them when i was sufficiently young and enjoyed them then. what i would think if i had picked them up now... well.

i've recently read a book called Strangers in Necessity by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. Fantastic space opera. Interesting world, great characters, involving plot. Check it out.

i've also been on a P. G. Wodehouse kick. gotta love kooky Brits.