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I'd like to share some of my favorite authors and books with you.  I read fiction and non-fiction; whatever it is that interests me.  I've always tried to be a free thinker -- and thus a "free reader":
Stephen R. Donaldson

One of my favorite authors "of all time" is Stephen Donaldson (born in 1947).

If my memory serves, his parents were medical missionaries in India; specifically ministering to those with Hansen's Disease (leprosy).

Stephen's experiences with his parents in India provided some of the background and motivation for his "The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever" and "The Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant" (both triologies).

These are six of the very best books I've ever read.
The Illearth War
Lord Foul's Bane
The Wounded Land
The Power That Preserves
The character of Thomas Covenant and Donaldson's creation of another world called "The Land" captured my imagination.

Here are a some of the very best sites about and for Stephen Donaldson, his Chronicles, and other works:

Stephen R. Donaldson's Official Site

Welcome to The Land

Kevin's Watch
White Gold Wielder
The One Tree
J.R.R. TOLKIEN
Click on image to visit The Tolkien Society
Click on image for The Tolkien Society's biography
"If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world."

J.R.R. Tolkien
British Scholar and Fantasy Novelist
1892-1973
One of the finest writers of the 20th century, with possibly the most fertile imagination, was J.R.R. Tolkien; a man who considered himself a "hobbit" of sorts, and who believed that he was simply the "editor" of The Lord of the Rings.  He seemed to share Aristotle's philosophy that shapes and forms and ideas have their own existence independent of us humans; our role is simply to discover.

What an interesting man; and we are all grateful for his energy and wonderful imagination and all that he's contributed to the literary world and to each of us.
"In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit.  Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort."

-first words of "The Hobbit" by J.R.R. Tolkien
"The Hobbits are just rustic English people, made small in size because it reflects the generally small reach of their imagination."
The Hobbit
Collector's Edition, Hardcover
Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for the Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

J.R.R. Tolkien
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
50th Anniversary Edition, Leather Bound
STEPHEN KING
Stephen King, as most know, is a very successful American horror novelist.  His books are hugely popular here in America and throughout the world; many have been made into films.

I became hooked on King back in the early 1970's while in high school -- when I read "Carrie".  Since then, I've read most of his work; including his collections of short stories.

He's a master of dialogue, and I always appreciate the way King uses his plots to go to the core of the human condition.  I think that in many ways he uses his plots and characters simply as vehicles to tell the age old story of good and evil; to show how great people can really be, but also how depraved we can be -- under the right sets of circumstances.

He's a wonderful writer, and it's no surprise that his works are so widely read.

Thank you, Stephen!
Click on image to visit Stephen King's official website.
For my money, I believe that "It" is King's magnum opus.  It includes everything that makes his writing special; telling the story of a group of people, who, as children, faced a terrible evil together, and then promised one another that if the evil ever returned, they would return too, and defeat it once and for all.

It's an awesome book (and film), and represents all I love about King and his wonderful imagination.

Just click on the book cover to read more about "It".
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