Review of "Blood Picnic": "Delectable"

There's a new 5 star review of "Blood Picnic and other stories" up at Amazon.com. It reads, in part:

Fans of horror and sci-fi will not be disappointed, and there is a liberal dose of spice sprinkled throughout.

This is a rich and satisfying collection to savour over several readings or to devour in one sitting.

The book is available at Amazon for Kindle, or at Smashwords for a variety of e.book formats. At $2.99, that's only $0.10 per story - what a deal!

Also, in the interests of full disclosure, "Blood Picnic and other stories" got 3 stars at Goodreads (just the rating, no review). Would you give "Blood Picnic" 3 stars? 5 stars? 1 star? Buy the book yourself and post your own rating!

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Wednesday #Poetry: Drag, Mumble, Penetrate

Welcome to my regular Wednesday poetry corner, brought to you by Three Word Wednesday.

Today's words are: Drag, Mumble, Penetrate.

"Don't mumble! Shut up and sit straight!"

Words to a child's heart penetrate.

Grown from such a drag,

With a heart of cold slag

Ne'er once fired by love... only hate.

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The best joke ever

Quentin Tarantino telling the best joke ever - hilarious:



... and a great way to show, not tell.

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The risks and rewards of posting NSFW content

My story for #FridayFlash last week, "Babbling Brooke", was uncharacteristically erotic, not just adult-themed with sexual content, but with material that is outside conventional romance/erotica. Needless to say, this was pretty far outside the kind of thing I usually post. I gave warning that it was NSFW (i.e. Not Safe For Work), and provided links that gave jumpcuts, so no one would unexpectedly find themselves face to face with the content unless they knew what they were in for.

I've since been informed that it was too far over the line dividing erotica and pornography. That line is an indistinct one; I thought I was skirting it, but apparently went clear over it. In previous stories, I've done horrible things to people. They've been shot, stabbed, incinerated, decapitated and eaten. Sensitive bits of anatomy have been sheared off, and people brought willingly (and unwillingly) to the heights of passion. This time, though, was different. I understand that, and I respect that judgment.

The question remains, though, why write such a thing in the first place? Because in an upcoming post for Write Anything, I discuss genre writing. In it, I noted that I write in lots of different genres, but have never written erotica. So, me being me, I thought I'd try it. I wanted to see what it was like to write, to revise, to read and re-read my own work. Such writing is intended to evoke a more basal emotional and physical response than, for example, science fiction. Could I do it?

I had fewer comments on that piece than on many other #FridayFlash stories. I interpret this as meaning that, for those that did stick around to read beyond the first five lines, the majority either didn't like it or didn't feel comfortable commenting on it. Comments ranged from noting that it was different than my usual fare to liking it. Responses on twitter ranged from "meh" to "not bad". For the first time out in a genre, that's an OK response.

That's one of the reasons why I wrote it. But why post it? If it's so far beyond the pale that links to it were taken down, why run the risk of posting something of that nature?

I've been thinking about myself as a writer, and I've come to the conclusion that I like to have my ducks in a row. I like to have order and precision. I like to analyze what works and what doesn't. The thing is, though, I don't just think things through... I have a nasty tendency to overthink things. This, I believe, has the potential to be a problem for the quality of my writing. I've decided that a writer who is perfectly unobjectionable is far too close to one who is perfectly acceptable, perfectly unexceptionable, perfectly bland.

Perfectly forgettable.

As a writer, can you see yourself striving to be acceptable? That's setting the bar a little low, don't you think?

The trick here is, of course, as it always is: how to avoid writing things purely for shock value and instead capture the emotions and power of "objectionable" writing for use in my more important, mainstream writing.

And if that sounds like even more of an analytical approach to writing... well, I wouldn't want to change too much, too fast.

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That was the night that was

Goodbye, Hurricane Irene. You could have been a lot worse for me. Do me a favor and show the same restraint to all other current and future "hosts", OK?

As of 11:30, it's still windy and raining. Flash flood warnings and watches remain up, and we could still lose trees or power in a wind gust, but the worst of it is over now.


I stayed up until about 4:00 to keep an ear out for tornadoes. Several scary moments, amid hours and hours of heavy, dangerous rain and wind. When the tornado watches expired, I finally called it a night, locked the place up, did a few final checks. Head hit the pillow at 4:30, was asleep by 4:33.

For the record, I did not spend those long hours writing anything at all. I watched "X-Files", finishing off the second season and getting deep into the third. I admire and envy anyone who could have worked on a novel, a screenplay, a story or anything else under similar circumstances. Anything I might have produced would have been incoherent busywork to be deleted in the morning light.

My thanks to all my Twitter and Facebook friends with whom I exchanged check-ins during the night. It made the vigil infinitely more bearable.

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Twitter, twitter, how do I love thee?

From Rebecca Brown comes a lovely poem, "Ode to Twitter". It reads, in part:

.....

For far more lies in such small measures

Than at first appears to untrained eyes.

From links posted by those more wise

To marv’llous tips and witty treasures.

.....

Go give it a read.

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#FridayFlash: Babbling Brooke (NSFW)

Note: This story contains erotic scenes not suitable for all readers. Story appears after the jump.



Read the story....

How to write faster... a LOT faster

Today, I'd like to introduce you to a writing tool that you SHOULD NOT be without.

It's a somewhat geeky one, though, and will require you to read the instructions. Are you listening, Laura Eno? Stick with me, though, and I can GUARANTEE that you will write faster. Seriously, you WILL write faster. I'm so confident of this that I will WRITE IN ALL CAPS again.

Are you ready? Want the magic mojo? Want the zombie juice, the secret sauce, the +5 Potion of Productivity?

It's called AutoHotKey. It's a free program that you can download from http://www.autohotkey.com/.

So, you're thinking, enough with the hyperbole, Tony, what does it actually do?

AutoHotKey is a programmable automation utility. Now, calm down, you creative types... yes, I used the word "programmable". I didn't call it "customizable", because, although it certainly is customizable, you need to actually edit a script with some funky looking semicolons, colons, dashes and case-sensitive modifiers.

Is it worth the trouble? Oh, yes. Oh my sweet coffee-dripping loveliness, yes.

The program will let you launch programs, change window settings, perform complex actions and do all kinds of things with a single keystroke. But that's not important to you as a writer, is it? No, I know it's not. What I promised you is a way to write FASTER. Well, here it comes.

AutoHotKey will also serve as a customizable text expander. Any long string of text can be referenced by a very short string, which will auto-expand as you type. If your protagonist's name is Christopher, you could just type "C". No need to click a button, no need to do anything but keep typing. As soon as you press the space bar, AutoHotKey will expand "C" into "Christopher". You typed one character and eleven appeared - BOOM, you're 11X faster.

As you write your novel, how many times do you write your character's names? AutoHotKey would be worth it for that alone, but you can also replace other commonly used words, like this, said, you, will, that, and so on.

Here's part of the AutoHotKey script I have running right now:

::sa::said

::ts::this

:: y::you

::th::that

::w/::with

::wi::will

::ef::effective

:CR:tAG::the Avant Guardian

:R:tg::the Grammarian

:R:pv::Professor Verbosity

:R:PW::Parenthesis Woman

:R:lx::Lexicon City

This script will automatically turn this:

“Y’ll never get away w/ ts, pv!” tAG sa, “tg wi stop y!”

Pv laughed, his voice rasping. “Tg is doomed! Th trap I set for him wi rid me of th pestilential obstacle once and for all! Now, my dear,” he sa, turning to pw, “I believe y and I have some unfinished business…”

Into this:

“You’ll never get away with this, Professor Verbosity!” the Avant Guardian said, “the Grammarian will stop you!”

Professor Verbosity laughed, his voice rasping. “The Grammarian is doomed! That trap I set for him will rid me of that pestilential obstacle once and for all! Now, my dear,” he said, turning to Parenthesis Woman, “I believe you and I have some unfinished business…”

I actually typed 214 characters, but 317 characters appeared on the screen. Instantly, I typed 48% faster. Over the course of a long work, the ability to replace long strings of characters with short ones is a real time saver.

You can set up MS-Word to do auto-expansion, too, but if you don't use Word, you're stuck. Besides, you can use AutoHotKey for e.mails and other types of documents, too. Any word you type often is fair game to be automated. For example, this line in the script:

:R:nt@::noland.tony@gmail.com

Means I only have to type "nt@" and "noland.tony@gmail.com" magically appears. Three characters becomes 21. It works on webpages, in e.mails, documents, any text entry field on your screen.

Granted, it takes a little while to get used to it, and the coding requires a bit of patience to make the expanded text appear only when you want it. However, this is one writing tool that y shd nt B w/t.

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Wednesday #Poetry: Adapt, Glide, Lie

Welcome to my regular Wednesday poetry corner, brought to you by Three Word Wednesday.

Today's words are: Adapt, Glide, Lie.

Sing in me, O golden muse

Adapt these, my cloddish sinews,

Let prosody fly

To a poetic lie

Thus glide beyond bare, bloody thews

... and I wouldn't say "no" to a winning lottery ticket, either.

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Using yWriter for novels, short stories and blog posts

After my FridayFlash.org blog post last week on story order in assembling an anthology, I had some comments specifically about yWriter. Here's the brief introduction to the yWriter software, from the developer's website:

yWriter is a word processor which breaks your novel into chapters and scenes, helping you keep track of your work while leaving your mind free to create. It will not write your novel for you, suggest plot ideas or perform creative tasks of any kind.

yWriter is a standalone application which runs on Windows PCs. It doesn't need or use an internet connection, and all data is stored on your own computer. The only time it uses the internet is if you use the inbuilt 'check for update' routine (in which case yWriter simply reads the latest available version number from spacejock.com), or the 'backup to ftp' feature (in which case you have to provide the server address and login details.)

(Although yWriter was designed for novels, enterprising users have created their own translation files to customise the program to work with plays, non-fiction and even sermons.)

I love yWriter, and I guess I'm one of those "enterprising users", since I use it for a lot more than novels. It does almost everything I need, helps to keep me organized and would even help me to be more productive and a faster writer if I used all of its features. Also, the program is free, as in beer; the download is the full program, with no registration, no time limits, no expiry. (See here for an explanation of why the developer made if free).

So how do I use it to write my short stories, blog posts and novel(s)? Pictures are worth a thousand words (click on any of them to enlarge):

The file for "Blood Picnic and other stories". Each chapter has multiple "scenes" - the stories themselves. Moving them around was a snap.

My WIP, "Goodbye Grammarian". I can edit each scene's text and instantly see how long each scene & chapter is. It's easy to make background notes on characters, places and objects, to map out plotting notes and to identify which scenes are at the stage of rough draft, 1st edit, 2nd edit, line edit or completed.

Almost all of my short stories are written in yWriter. I use a new "chapter" for each year's FridayFlash stories, with each story being a new "scene". Other chapters are for conventional short stories (~4K), poems, song lyrics, non-fiction pieces and other items.

I also use yWriter to keep track of my blog posts for Write Anything, to write and keep organized interviews and guest blog posts that I've done, and to do NaNoWriMo, of which "Goodbye Grammarian" is an example.

So there you have it. As you can see, I like yWriter a lot, so much so that I went ahead and donated some money to Simon Haynes, the developer of yWriter. In fact, I'll even plug his books, the Hal Spacejock series of funny science fiction novels.

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FridayFlash Reader's Choice award

I'm thrilled and honored that not one, but TWO of my stories have been nominated for the "Best of Friday Flash, Vol. 2" Reader's Choice award:



"A Double Month of Dust in Whiskey Gulch", one of my rare forays into the Western fiction genre

and

"Where the Hell is Tony's #FridayFlash?", a silly little piece of wish fulfillment.

You can go to the FridayFlash.org website and vote for your favorite in the sidebar poll. They are all great stories, so I encourage you to read them all before voting. Thanks!

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How to assemble an anthology

Today over at FridayFlash.org, I have a guest post on one of the more wonky aspects of assembling an anthology: deciding on the order of the stories. It's not nearly as simple as you might think.

Go read my description of how I did it, then tell me your thoughts. Did I overthink this? Can you tell? Is this level of polish truly necessary, or is it something you don't even care about? Of course, you're welcome to buy and read "Blood Picnic and other stories" so you can track the behind-the-scenes detailing. It is $2.99 at Smashwords, Amazon and many other e-book outlets.

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Just Enough Power - 14

"Ms. Lonnigan, you might as well take your hand off that knife. We'd like to have you in one piece, but it's not strictly necessary."

The man's eyes were as blue as ever, his manner as unhurried. Patricia Lonnigan resisted the urge to look around to confirm what he'd said about the snipers. She looked back at him instead, without taking her hand from the steak knife she'd been using on her porterhouse. The moment stretched, neither of them moving.

He sighed. "Unit Two," he said, apparently speaking into the air between them, "on my mark, light up Ms. Lonnigan's knife hand. If she doesn't stand down within two seconds, shoot her hand off. Mark."

On the back of Lonnigan's right hand, a red laser dot flared into life. Without hesitation, Lonnigan smoothly moved her hand away from the knife and went to put her hands in her lap.

"Where I can see them, please. Lace your fingers together and put your hands in the bread basket. No, leave it where it is in the middle of the table. That's fine. Now then... let's talk."

"I don't care how many guns you've got, pal, interrupting my lunch is pretty fucking rude." He made no reply, and gave little reaction. She kept the bravado on high and tried another angle. "What do you want? And who are you, anyway? Are you with the Russians out of New York? Are you part of the Mikhailovitch family? Or the Murphys? Are you Boston?"

The man clucked his tongue. "You're fishing, Ms. Lonnigan. My name is Mr. Jones. As it happens, I'm with the biggest gang of them all."

Lonnigan's eyes drew close, then she pursed her lips in thought. "So you're... F.B.I.?"

"Good guess, but wrong. I work for the Department of Justice, Ms. Lonnigan. And as of this moment, so do you."

Oh, damn, she thought. "Bullshit. Go fuck yourself, G-man." Oh, damn, damn, damn!

He smiled. "Aside from your long list of more pedestrian offenses, Lonnigan, by our count, you've killed at least four people. That's more than enough for us to seek the death penalty. No one would fight to save your life and no one would miss you when you're dead, Lonnigan. The fact is, I hold your life in my hands."

"I said, go fuck yourself."

Mr. Jones, or whatever his name was, leaned back in his chair and sipped from the glass of water he'd brought to her table. "Here's the deal, Lonnigan. I don't really give a shit about you or the lowlife bastards you capped. I want Meng-Shiu Tong. You're one of his killers, you're in the inner circle, or close to it, and I want him."

For the second time in ten minutes, Lonnigan felt as though reality was twisting around her. Could this guy possibly have his facts so wrong and not know it? He went on, "The Tong organization has been a cancer on the east coast for a long time, and it's time we burned it out. We've been watching him for a long time, but it's only recently we've been able to make some solid headway against it."

You mean, she thought, ever since Meng-Shiu took over after the Jade Prince died. Jesus, I knew the sloppy asshole was screwing things up, but I had no idea it was this bad!

"I don't know what you're talking about, pal. I'm not in anybody's inner circle." She was hardly able to get the words out, she was thinking so fast.

"Don't be coy, Lonnigan. We already know that he sent you into the Kim organization as a mole. Oh, don't look so shocked. Of course we know about the game you're running for your boss, Mr. Tong. We've got ears everywhere."

This is unbelievable, she thought. They have it all so completely screwed up, it's like a bad movie. Lonnigan had never dealt directly with the Feds, but this was not what she'd expected. She'd always heard that, although they moved with a ponderous slowness, they were still to be treated with wary respect. But as she considered it, hadn't all the stories been about undercover F.B.I. agents?

Cautiously, she asked, "What does the Department of Justice want with Tong?"

"All in due time, Ms. Lonnigan. For now, just keep playing the role that Tong assigned you. Act naturally and tell no one that we contacted you. Keep doing whatever you're doing with Kim and his associates. At some point in the near future, we'll be back in touch with further instructions." The man made as if to get up, then, with a patently melodramatic pause, said, "Oh, and if you try to run or to tip anyone off, we'll come get you. We always know where you are, Lonnigan. Always."

After telling her to enjoy her lunch, he walked away from the table and left the patio of the restaurant. Lonnigan, aware that she was certainly still under surveillance, and perhaps still under sniper cover, picked up her knife and cut off a large piece of her cooled steak. She allowed the chewing motion to disguise the smile she wasn't able to hide. If the DOJ was truly as far off the mark as it seemed, then she now had two powerful allies that were going to help her destroy Meng-Shiu Tong, and maybe even rescue Uncle Simon.

She just had to play them both, and do it very, very carefully.

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Procrastination is...

Procrastination from Johnny Kelly on Vimeo.

Graduation film from the Royal College of Art, 2007.

An investigative and exploratory hands-on gloves-off study into the practice of putting things ‘off”. Sometimes the only way to get something done is to do two dozen other things first.

Story, Animation, Direction: Johnny Kelly
Voice Over: Bryan Quinn
Sound Supervision: Mike Wyeld
Foley Artist: Sue Harding
Foley Engineer: John Mark
Foley recorded at Fonic Studios, London

The film is distributed by Dazzle Films
dazzlefilms.co.uk

via Jesse Richardson

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Social media and the illusion of perfection

 This morning, Sean Platt sent out a link to the article, "Faking it : The art of perfection in social media", written by Lauren Fisher. It's an interesting discussion of how we present ourselves in the realm of online social media. In particular, it goes into the quest to be flawless: removing tags to embarrassing photos, muzzling our discourse, always staying on-message, etc. All of this is to prevent some future employer from Googling up something untoward at some point in our later careers.

But at every level of the content that we share about ourselves, we are making a fundamental change in the way that people perceive. We’re not so much sharing ‘fake’ content about ourselves, but the content that fits to support the life we want to portray. ... It’s not disingenuine, far from it. Rather, it is exercising a level of control that we have never had before, that allows anyone to ‘discover’ us online, whether we’ve met them offline or not, and instantly form an opinion about ourselves, our worthiness to be followed, or what category you fall into.

The article goes on to discuss the complications involved in managing a constructed life. Some real world examples are offered as well, including what happens to people when they live their lives knowing that all of their social interactions are being watched and judged.

Is it different for people who are online for purely social reasons vs. people who spend time in social media in order to get a career off the ground? Indie bands, small business owners, and maybe, oh, I don't know.... writers? These are people who draw a distinction between normal social activity (which can be spontaneous and directionless) and efforts to advance their specific intent of building a brand (which are supposed to be intentional).

There have been a number of writers online whom I've seen post something like, "This has been fun, guys, but I'm now setting up an Author Page on Facebook so I can keep my socializing separate from my interactions as a serious writer." I found these to be jarring, and perhaps others did as well. I suppose the social circle overlap of family-friends-church-neighbors-etc. with writers-editors-readers-agents-publishers-etc. got to be too messy. Ideally, we would think of everything in advance, so as to avoid the necessity of having to make such announcements. Alternatively, maybe technology will come to our rescue, like the way Google + allows you to set up circles of interest, so your book club doesn't have to listen to your political discussions.

And what happens when your perfectly constructed online life doesn't match up with the messiness of your real life? Is this a new societal phenomenon? Although the article presents it as such, I don't believe that it is. People have always been liable to show one face to the street while wearing another in the home. The goal of self-actualization is to be able to be the same person at work or church or on a camping trip that you are at home. "Just be yourself": it's a valid goal to strive for, if only because it takes a lot of work to switch back and forth among different masks and personalities.

I would think that for people prone to wearing such masks, the shelter of online social media could be a dangerous crutch. However, it's just as likely that the same sheltering aspects could allow people to let their true selves shine out, freed from the expectational baggage of past relationships.

Do we live for ourselves or for others? What do we want out of life? Who are we, really? These are not questions that have arisen concurrently with Facebook and Twitter. They come from us being human, in all our frailties and finery.

Update: Click here for "Spit and Polish or Spit and Scowl?", a response to this blog post by Zoe Whitten, looking at this issue of social media presence from the standpoint of someone with a message people don't want to hear.

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Wednesday #Poetry: Gasp, Mute, Viable

Welcome to my regular Wednesday poetry corner, brought to you by Three Word Wednesday.

Today's words are Gasp, Mute, Viable.

She asked with a gasp, "Viable?

Und vy is dat bottle haf-full?"

I stood stupid and mute

With my sketch of a brute,

So sloshed that I saw it duh-bull.

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Smiling bastards lying to you everywhere you go

Your little bit of inspiration for the day. Stan Rogers, performing "The Mary Ellen Carter"



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Choose Your Own Adventure - science fantasy

September 15 is fast approaching as the official launch date for the science fantasy Choose Your Own Adventure story, "History's Keeper". The heart-pounding blurb:

The beautiful and mysterious Selene, one of the beings charged with managing the flow of events through time, has a terrible secret: she once used the fundamental forces of the universe for her own illicit purposes. Now, the crime that she thought she had buried away forever has been unearthed to be used against her by someone she once loved. Left unchecked, the terrible power will threaten not merely her own destruction, but that of the entire world. Can she outrace her own colleagues to track down the evidence of her crime and contain the damage before it's too late? In a wild ride that spans centuries and cultures, "History's Keeper" is a science fantasy adventure with thousands of permutations. Save the world, fall in love, rescue a princess or see all of existence shattered and destroyed.... where will your choices take you?

Along with being an associate editor of this CYOA story and helping to guide some of the decision trees, I contributed several of the stories it contains. The team of authors was an exceptionally talented one, with many names you'll recognize. The whole package is well worth the $1.99 price of admission.

More details will come later, with prizes including free access to "History's Keeper" and a contest where you, yes, YOU can win a cameo appearance in the story.

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Sunday fiction

"I brought you here so I could show you the world," said the King.

"I can see more in my crystal than you could ever show me, more than
the eyes of any normal man could understand," said the Sage.

"I brought you here so I could tell you about the world," said the King.

"I can hear more from my whispering bells than you could ever tell me,
more than the ears of any normal man could parse," said the Sage.

"I brought you here so I could bring you Death," said the King.

"I can feel more pain from my blades than you could ever inflict upon
me, more than the heart of any normal man could withstand," said the
Sage.

"Pain, yes, but not Death," responded the King.

The Sage said nothing, but looked out over the Valley of Kings, saw
the sunlight refracted and reflected among the walls and halls of
diamond, alabaster and jasper. He heard the music of the north wind as
the fluted streets sang and rang below.

"Bestow your gift, then, O gracious Sovereign, upon me, your servant.
For if any normal man can take me from this world, let it be you. Let
it be here. Let it be now."

So saying, the Sage closed his eyes and stopped his ears, as he had
done so many, many times before with so many, many Kings of the earth.

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Flash fiction anthology now available: "Blood Picnic and other stories"
Just $2.99 at Smashwords <https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/54957> and
Amazon <http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004Z2KE14> Buy your copy today!

_______________________________
Buy my books: http://amzn.to/hWwRP9
Read my blog: http://www.TonyNoland.com/
Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/TonyNoland
Friend me on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/aSvNy1

Top 100 Sci-Fi & Fantasy books

Via Alan Baxter comes NPR's Top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy books. These were chosen by reader nominations and voting, so take that crowd-sourcing for what it's worth. In particular, more recent books always score higher in this sort of thing.

The big question is, though, how many of the books on this list (which is copyright NPR, 2011, thank you very much) have I read?

1. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, by J.R.R. Tolkien YES

2. The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, by Douglas Adams YES

3. Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card YES

4. The Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert Only first book - tiresome

5. A Song Of Ice And Fire Series, by George R. R. Martin NO

6. 1984, by George Orwell YES

7. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury YES

8. The Foundation Trilogy, by Isaac Asimov YES

9. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley YES

10. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman NO

11. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman YES

12. The Wheel Of Time Series, by Robert Jordan NO

13. Animal Farm, by George Orwell YES

14. Neuromancer, by William Gibson YES

15. Watchmen, by Alan Moore YES

16. I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov YES

17. Stranger In A Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein YES

18. The Kingkiller Chronicles, by Patrick Rothfuss NO

19. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut YES

20. Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley YES

21. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick NO

22. The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood Only the first 150 pages - tedious

23. The Dark Tower Series, by Stephen King NO

24. 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke YES

25. The Stand, by Stephen King YES

26. Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson YES

27. The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury YES

28. Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut YES

29. The Sandman Series, by Neil Gaiman Only first book - excellent

30. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess NO

31. Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein YES

32. Watership Down, by Richard Adams YES

33. Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey YES

34. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein NO

35. A Canticle For Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller YES

36. The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells YES

37. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, by Jules Verne YES

38. Flowers For Algernon, by Daniel Keys YES

39. The War Of The Worlds, by H.G. Wells YES

40. The Chronicles Of Amber, by Roger Zelazny YES

41. The Belgariad, by David Eddings NO

42. The Mists Of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley NO

43. The Mistborn Series, by Brandon Sanderson Only the first book

44. Ringworld, by Larry Niven YES

45. The Left Hand Of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin NO

46. The Silmarillion, by J.R.R. Tolkien NO

47. The Once And Future King, by T.H. White Was assigned in freshman year back in high school, never got around to it. Since I'm a stubborn bastard who doesn't like doing what I'm told, probably won't read this anytime soon. Take that, Mr. Schlemmermier!

48. Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman NO

49. Childhood's End, by Arthur C. Clarke YES

50. Contact, by Carl Sagan YES

51. The Hyperion Cantos, by Dan Simmons NO

52. Stardust, by Neil Gaiman NO

53. Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson YES

54. World War Z, by Max Brooks NO

55. The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle NO

56. The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman YES

57. Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett NO

58. The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever, by Stephen R. Donaldson NO

59. The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold YES

60. Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett NO

61. The Mote In God's Eye, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle YES

62. The Sword Of Truth, by Terry Goodkind NO

63. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy NO

64. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke YES

65. I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson NO

66. The Riftwar Saga, by Raymond E. Feist NO

67. The Shannara Trilogy, by Terry Brooks NO

68. The Conan The Barbarian Series, by R.E. Howard Read a few of the old comics

69. The Farseer Trilogy, by Robin Hobb NO

70. The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger NO

71. The Way Of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson NO

72. A Journey To The Center Of The Earth, by Jules Verne YES

73. The Legend Of Drizzt Series, by R.A. Salvatore NO

74. Old Man's War, by John Scalzi YES

75. The Diamond Age, by Neil Stephenson YES

76. Rendezvous With Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke YES

77. The Kushiel's Legacy Series, by Jacqueline Carey NO

78. The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. LeGuin NO

79. Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury YES

80. Wicked, by Gregory Maguire YES

81. The Malazan Book Of The Fallen Series, by Steven Erikson NO

82. The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde YES

83. The Culture Series, by Iain M. Banks NO

84. The Crystal Cave, by Mary Stewart YES

85. Anathem, by Neal Stephenson YES

86. The Codex Alera Series, by Jim Butcher NO

87. The Book Of The New Sun, by Gene Wolfe Have read books 1 & 2, reading 3

88. The Thrawn Trilogy, by Timothy Zahn NO

89. The Outlander Series, by Diana Gabaldan NO

90. The Elric Saga, by Michael Moorcock NO

91. The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury YES

92. Sunshine, by Robin McKinley NO

93. A Fire Upon The Deep, by Vernor Vinge YES

94. The Caves Of Steel, by Isaac Asimov YES

95. The Mars Trilogy, by Kim Stanley Robinson Read first book, abandoned Blue Mars 75 pages in.

96. Lucifer's Hammer, by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle YES

97. Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis NO

98. Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville NO

99. The Xanth Series, by Piers Anthony YES

100. The Space Trilogy, by C.S. Lewis NO

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