'Readin' 'Ritin' and 'Rithmetik …

These are a few of my favorite things …

Hm.

'Readin'

Well, okay, I'm a book fiend. I love books. I absorb books. I collect books. I give away a lot of books, too. Rather than check out books from the library, because often I will find a book I like so much, that I want to keep it, generally I purchase my books. Once upon a time I had a house, and had one room devoted to my library, and was able to collect hard covers.

I do have my favorite authors, though the new authors I will sometimes "test-drive" by visiting the library. Even then, I will take a chance and purchase a book from an unknown. This has led to a whimsical discovery of authors that have joined my listed of favorites.

Due to the lack of storage space where I live now, I'm resigned to mostly paperbacks, and even then, I occasionally weed out my collection, and give them to a friend of mine I work with whom English is his second language, and he learns by reading novels. "Whether I like them or not," he says, they provide a great way to build his vocabulary.

Favorite Classic Authors

• John Steinbeck (notable for his works on the migrants from Oklahoma to California during the Depression)
• Robert Heinlein (science fiction author, Stranger in a Strange Land one of his finest works)
• J.R.R. Tolkien (most noted for The Hobbitt and the Lord of the Rings trilogy)

Favorite Contemporary

• Piers Anthony
• Ray Bradbury
• Terry Brooks
• Tom Clancy
• Laurell K. Hamilton
• Frank Herbert
• Tony Hillerman
• Stephen King
• Dennis Lehane
• Anne McCaffrey
• James Patterson
• Anne Rice
• Peter Straub

A Few Words on These Contemporary Authors

Piers Anthony considers himself somewhat mad, but I think he's absolute wonderful. My favorite series that he has written, Xanth, is filled with wondrous magics and tales of the fey and other mythical, magical creatures, created of puns. I will be placing the Xanth Lexicon in my pages to share this whimsical world.

Ray Bradbury is a wonderful storyteller. I had the opportunity to attend a small, informal lecture of his, and I walked away more awed. Though I have his autograph on one of my favorite of his books, The Martian Chronicles, its the stories he wove that night I carry in my mind and cherish more.

Terry Brooks is most known for his Shannara and Landover series, he also was contracted to novelize Star Wars Episode I. He writes as magically as the worlds he creates.

Do you like good political intrigue? Tom Clancy is one of my favorite spy novelist, most known for The Hunt for Red October. Warning! His works can be a bit frightening because they are so believable. Makes you wonder what our governments really are up to.

Frank Herbert has wrote about a million Dune books. Okay, that's an exaggeration but he's written so many in the series, it sometimes seems that way. I love Dune and I admire his writing, but after the tenth in the series, they became sleepers.

Laurell K. Hamilton, is one my newest favorite contemporary author. She is most famous for her Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series. Her creativity in making the vampires acknowledged as legal beings in the contemporary world is awesome (and cool too, because Jean-Claude IS an incredibly sexy vampire, beating out Lestat by far). Ms. Hamilton has begun a new series of books concerning the fey, the first in the series being A Kiss of Shadows. The protagonist, Meredith Gentry, is a fey princess of the Unseelie Court, and the series begins with her hiding in the human world, working as a private detective. This series of books brings a more erotic light to the fey, and provides for a very good read. Two others are currently in the series, A Caress of Twilight and Seduced by Moonlight, with book four due out in early 2006. I recommend this author highly!

Tony Hillerman provides not only a good mystery read, but he also provides insight and education of the Native Americans, their folk lore, their beliefs. He's an incredible writer that is both an easy read and enjoyable read. My oldest daughter, at the age of 16, picked up one of my Hillerman books and read it for a school project. She was hooked on Hillerman after that.

Steven King is simply the King of Fright.

Dennis Lehane is one of my new discoveries, known for his book-turned-movie, Mystic River. If you've seen the movie, but haven't read the book, I recommend it; it provides clarity and a better understanding of the story. Far superior, however, is his best-seller, Shutter Island, which twists and turns so much, you are still guessing until you reach the very last page. Even then, does the story truly end?

Anne McCaffrey, an incredible science fiction author, was suggested to me by a co-worker long ago. Although she has written other series, it's her Dragonriders of Pern series that I am empassioned with. What I would give to be a dragonrider!

James Patterson is my favorite big-city crime-mystery-intrigue author of today. The books are fast-paced and gripping; the main character in his series becomes part of your family, his children, you just want to squish.

Anne Rice, well-known for her erotic writing, has two series that I like. First, her rewritten stories of a fairy tale, Sleeping Beauty, are not for children. She is most known for her Lestat the vampire series. Attempts have been made to bring those stories to film, but I found them to suck big time. However, in Queen of the Damned they did at least cast a better actor to play Lestat.

Peter Straub is, simply, the Prince of Fright.

'Ritin'

I love to write, be it short stories, forgotten attempts at a novel or two — or creating webpages. It's one reason I enjoy online roleplaying as well; especially those venues that allow for creativity without too much restrictions.

It was such constraints that I left the roleplay world known as Gor. If there was consistency, it would be ideal, but each room had their own interpretations of the books the chat rooms were based on. Worse yet, within each room, each individual had their own interpretations of the books, and too-often, rather than roleplay, days were spent enduring these heated discussions of things such as whether or not ka-la-na came in any other color besides red. Then there were the rules which slowly were rewritten to the point that rather than offend the free women, kajira were not allowed to publicly be who and what they were supposed to be. And most annoying — the free women that acted like bigger sluts than the kajira, and the men who thought they were masters, yet had no clue how to master themselves firstly.

'Rithmetik

I suppose you could say I enjoy math as well. I was told by an instructor of mine that I have an algebraic mind versus a geometric mind, thus, it's why I aced algebra but sucked at geometry. It's why I enjoy doing Logic Puzzles as well.