[Alucard]

Any Carroll fans here?

I have just finished "From the Teeth of Angels," and I thought it was a creepy, interesting, thought-provoking book. True, there were some moments that I didn't think were very necessary, but I enjoyed it. It was one of the most original and haunting takes on Death that I've ever read.

I've just gotten my copy of Land of Laughs and am really looking forward to it. I thought the Wooden Sea and Bones of the Moon were both excellent, and I've heard that Laughs is one of his best. Carroll is steadily climbing on my "favorite Authors" ladder.

Anyone else like him? You usually only here about Jordan and Martin around here . . . but there actually are some other authors out there :)

[Rob B]

I've only read The Land of Laughs by Carroll and was very rewarded. Loved the book and plan on getting into some more of his work.

[Alucard]

Check out The Wooden Sea, Fitz. It was very good, I thought.

[AuntiePam]

I like Carroll too. Heidelberg Cylinder is the most recent one I've read. Need to get Land of Laughs, now that it's back in print.

This probably belongs in the "If you like --, you'd like ---" thread, but if you like Carroll, you might like William Browning Spencer. Same qualities of sweetness and intelligence and respect for readers.

[Alucard]

I've heard of spencer and have been meaning to try him. Got any reccomendations on where to start, Pam?

[AuntiePam]

I think there are only three in print -- two novels and a short story collection. Get all of them.

Resume With Monsters, The Return of Count Electric, and -- dadadada - forgot the third title and it's two floors up. I'll think of it as soon as I hit Reply.

I haven't heard about anything new from him for a couple of years -- hope he's still writing.

[AuntiePam]

Back -- went to Amazon (easier than going upstairs) -- there are four Spencers. Zod Wallop and Irrational Fears. Zod Wallop is his signature novel, I think. I'd read that one first, to see if he's someone you'd like.

[Cygnus]

Any Carroll fans here?

<waves hand frantically in the air> "I am, I am!!"

I cannot possibly overstate how much I like this guy. His stories, though mostly in the fantasy section, are somewhat genre-less. I read the Wooden Sea first, and then A Marriage of Sticks, and have been meaning to move on to his other books.

As you say Alucard, he really is thought provoking. Carroll also has a way of cutting through all the BS in our lives and getting right to the very essence of our emotions. There were so many things that I've always felt about life, but was never able to put into words until I read Marriage of Sticks. I say who needs counseling when you have Carroll? Though some may feel they NEED counseling because of Carroll!! :)

The books are generally short and stand-alone, so you all have NO excuse for not giving him a try! Well, I'm sure you do, but I'm not going to listen to it!

[Llama]

Browning Spencer's best book is ZOD WALLOP, but it has enough thematic similarities with LAND OF LAUGHS that I wouldn't read them one after the other or their individual strengths might be lost. RESUME WITH MONSTERS is a very funny pseudoLovecraftian novel (yup) and COUNT ELECTRIC is a very good short story collection. IRRATIONAL FEARS I thought was less successful. He also has an earlier novel that is out of print.

Jonathan Carroll I find an exasperating author, because I have read all of his books and I find a few, such as LAND OF LAUGHS, BONES OF THE MOON and THE WOODEN SEA, to be fabulous, while the rest to be quite awful. I came close to not reading THE WOODEN SEA because I found MARRIAGE OF STICKS to be so disappointing.

[Alucard]

Zod Wallop. Gotcha. I'll hunt for a copy tomorrow and possibly wait to read it until I'm a few books after Laughs.

And good to see some other Carroll fans. He rarely gets mentioned, and I've always wondered why. Though I haven't read everything yet, and I have heard (as Llama said) that he has a few books that aren't to par with his gems, I think he's great reading . . . and reading that fantasy fans and non-fantasy fans alike could easily enjoy.

And I agree, Cygnus, that he has a way of wording things that really rings true.