Syborae

My parents owned the books and I stumbled upon them when I was 10 or 11 as I made my way through their bookcase. I only read the first few books and then moved on. When I was 18 or so I joined a Wheel of Time forum and as I got to Novice I was required to read the entire series before being raised to Accepted.

<inserts clever and warm welcome/>

*offers a pumpkin spice cookie* You didn't specify! And welcome Also, I love pumpkin mmm. I can't wait for the return of Pumpkin Spice Latte's at SB!

Don't encourage him! I'm glad Brandon doesn't care about pronunciation, I had to totally change how my brain said Egwene and Nynaeve when I heard the "proper" way and it was hard and annoying!

When I was posting in the Introductions forum I got (and didn't think to screenshot or what not) a Page Not Found message but it posted my post anyway when I went back and refreshed before trying to post again.

Stayed up to finish Hounded last night and started The Chronicles of Amber vol 1. this morning.

Welcome to the forums Feloxia! How'd you come up with your nick?

Welcome to the forums Pat! I agree with everything you've said about Jordan and Sanderson

I'm guessing Joe ST must be on DM because I noticed a lot of the people I know there and some other places are on his friends list too.

I finished The Angel of Darkness. It was a bit more heavy handed than the first on the author's viewpoint and you could see how he molded the antagonist on a real life case from the 1980s that I'd never heard of but was obvious after I'd read about it. Even still though, I really enjoyed the story and even though he's said he's working on a 3rd I'm not sure it'll ever happen considering he said that in like...1997. I picked up Hounded by Kevin Hearne. A friend bought it for me to review awhile back and I started it and never finished. Then today I won the sequel, Hexed, from the author on FB so I'm finishing Hounded. Makes me glad I didn't buy Hexed at Borders the other day! My only qualm so far is how sophisticated Oberon's (the mc's irish wolfhound) "speech" is. It throws me off a bit every time.

Sounds good!

If anyone is interested, here's my gplus. I'll start adding people who've posted before. gplus.to/caitrin !!! I just realized I've been on Hangout with E before!

I thought this might be a fun topic after shopping at Borders today. I know I'd love to hear what books y'all are getting as well! Basically it's just somewhere to post about your book acquisitions, whether bought or gifts or found free (legally). Walking into Borders was exciting at first. I knew there would be great deals and I was excited to see how little I could get books for and thus stretch the $20 my Grandma gave me. Once inside though it felt rather eery and unsettling. I hadn't been in our only bookstore in town (other than a not very good used bookstore that is) since before the announcement of Borders going out of business so the change was drastic. As I looked over the Fantasy and Scifi shelves they were sad and lonely. It sort of felt like we were all picking over a corpse and my former glee made me feel guilty for some reason. Sanderson and Jordan were nowhere to be seen (I'm hoping to try in the Reno stores though!) so I looked over what was left to see what I wanted. I was going to get Hexed and Hammered, two novels finishing Kevin Hearne's urban fantasy about a Druid but when I wandered over to the Reference section (60% off instead of 50%! ) I spotted a writing book that I'd always wanted but that had been previously too expensive for me ($28). I am definitely going back when I have some more money to see what I else I can get! I also looked at Mievelle, Bacigalupi, Downum, Scholes, de Bodard and Carriger. So without further adieu, my picks off of Border's decaying corpse: Story Engineering by Larry Brooks - I hadn't heard of this book before I walked in the store today but it really seemed to speak to what I need at the moment with writing. I always thought that I would be the kind of writer's that just has an idea, starts and goes and yet I've never been able to finish a story. I've come to realize that I want more structure than I'd ever thought and this insight into the story building process will be invaluable. The fact that Terry Brooks had a blurb on the back was helpful as well, not that I'm a big fan (it's been at least 10 years since I've read anything) but the fact a speculative fiction writer had a blurb on the back was encouraging to me. The Writer's Journey by Christopher Vogler - I've only recently started getting back into writing again. I created a few writer's folders for myself and when I got birthday money in May, I used it to buy a few other books that I'd been wanting for awhile but could never afford (Booklife: Strategies and Survival Tips for the 21st Century Writer by Jeff VanderMeer and The Guide to Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction by Philip Athans ) and noticed this book in the same section. I contemplated getting it at the time but the price threw me off. Today was a golden opportunity to get the book and I'm eager to jump in.

I'd recommend the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan. It's modern day with fantastical and historical elements and the reading is easy and quick and fun.

I've decided to avoid all the book forums until I do rereads as it is pretty easy for me to forget things. I'd rather have all of the books fresh in my mind. Definitely avoiding the Theories forums until then as well!

Welcome Nathan! I'm sure you'll enjoy it here

Hmm, I'll try and recommend some that haven't had any reccs yet! The Kushiels' novels by Jacqueline Carey God's War by Kameron Hurley The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold The Sevenwaters novels by Juliet Marillier The Kushiels novels are a must read for me but beware if you don't like sex in your novels. God's War is a recent book, lovingly deemed bugpunk and it is bloody and puts you in deep without a lifejacket but it was amazing, The Curse of Chalion was just so well written and engaging and the Sevenwaters novels start with the retelling of a myth The Wild Swans.

I think it's interesting how differing people's reading can be, even in fantasy and even with fantasy classics. I know I haven't read many on the NPR list. I never read 1984 or Animal Farm in highschool and I remember reading a Wrinkle in Time but didn't especially like or dislike it. I'm pretty sure my first fantasy was Lord of the Rings. My Dad loved listening to it as we drove at night or to and from church (hour each way). But what I consider to be the books that hooked me on fantasy were actually Dennis L. McKiernan's novels. Before I read any of his I was really into Tom Clancy and John Grisham (4th and 5th grade) but McKiernan's novels sucked me in. Probably because they weren't so...slow and pondering as LotR. I haven't read any in ages though and I'd love to dive in again. I also would like to read LotR as an adult instead of just watching the movies but the last time I tried I didn't push past Bombadil. A year or so after I got into fantasy I started reading Wheel of Time but stopped after the 3rd book. I also started reading A Song of Ice and Fire which is how I learned about sex. My parents have never given me the sex talk haha.

Of the top 100, I've read 21 and of all 270-something I've read 29. Despite the fact I've been reading fantasy for most of the time I could read. Then again I haven't tried reading much sci-fi until this year. I do know of a few books that I tried and couldn't finish but would try again (ex: Kraken by China Mievelle) and also a few I tried and don't think I would ever try again (ex: Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson).

Well now that I look, it looks fine. It was probably just my browser hatin on me.

Welcome! Good luck on your book in with agents And thank you so much for your service! All the men in my family have served and I think it's one of the most honorable and selfless things you can do.

Briefly but I didn't know anyone else playing and I'm too shy to try getting to know random people and so I didn't get into the game as much. WoW sucked me in because my brother and Dad played and it was the only way I got to spend time with them for most of the year. Don't get me wrong, I love computer/video games but I tend to play RPGs like the Heroes games when I was growing up and recently Dragonage and Fable. I just started playing Fable III on my mom's Xbox 360 actually. The new GW just looks so amazing that I can't wait to play. That combined with SWTOR and whenever Diablo III comes out in the future and I feel like I'm going to be a hermit!

The books with Brandon co-writing are the best of the series imo but I just like his style better so that may be why!