[Jacquin]

.(I think being British I have to be formal, but if you don't mind, as I feel a bit of an idiot otherwise I'll call you Matt in the future....)

Matt in the future... Sounds like a dodgy 60's tv series!

[DCS]

Wondering if you've read any E.R. Eddison (The Worm Ouroboros, Zimiamvia Trilogy)... his writing plus the icelandic saga, the Kalevala are supposedly what Tolkien drew most of his inspiration from - and personally I think Eddison is the best wordsmith I've ever had the pleasure of reading. Also wanted to put Jack Vance's Tales of a Dying Earth up for discussion. Similar to the The Book of the New Sun in style, but more lighthearted.

Oh yeah, for Leiali - you can't go wrong with the Fortress and Morgaine books by C.J Cherryh, anything by C.S. Friedman (Madness Season is right up there with any early Greg Bear or Stephen Baxter) and Michelle West is a rising star on the epic fantasy side of things...just to insert a few more women authors into the mix :)

Thanks for sharing your time with us MWS - I've been a fan since the first chapter of Heroes Die and am enjoying watching your career unfold...

[MWStover]

Wondering if you've read any E.R. Eddison (The Worm Ouroboros, Zimiamvia Trilogy)... his writing plus the icelandic saga, the Kalevala are supposedly what Tolkien drew most of his inspiration from - and personally I think Eddison is the best wordsmith I've ever had the pleasure of reading. Also wanted to put Jack Vance's Tales of a Dying Earth up for discussion. Similar to the The Book of the New Sun in style, but more lighthearted.

Oh yeah, for Leiali - you can't go wrong with the Fortress and Morgaine books by C.J Cherryh, anything by C.S. Friedman (Madness Season is right up there with any early Greg Bear or Stephen Baxter) and Michelle West is a rising star on the epic fantasy side of things...just to insert a few more women authors into the mix :)

Thanks for sharing your time with us MWS - I've been a fan since the first chapter of Heroes Die and am enjoying watching your career unfold...

Hey, thanks.

I picked up Eddison in college, and had to put him down due to acting overload (I was playing two of the longest roles in the English-speaking theater simultaneously) and somehow I never picked him up again.

I second the Cherryh recommendation -- I loved the Chanur books -- and all her SF stuff, in fact. Haven't read the others, yet. I'll get there one of these days.

[DCS]

Glad I could bring him back up from the dusty recesses of your memory...he deserves to be brought back out into the light. I remember reading that you don't typically read genre-related works while you are writing, but he's different enough from the Acts of Caine and other "New Wave" fantasy that you might be able to make an exception...

[bluetyson]

Pretty much read all that genre list except Lynch, at least now I know why, not published? What's that book about?

[Shehzad]

I believe the Lies of Locke Lamorra are about a trickster/thief who operates in a city much like middle-ages/renaissance-era Venice...

[bluetyson]

ok, thanks