The Reading Shelf

I'm a writer and I don’t think that anyone who wants to be a writer/author can do so without being a reader first. "As I see it, a successful story of any kind should be almost like hypnosis: You fascinate the reader with your first sentence, draw them in further with your second sentence and have them in a mild trance by the third. Then, being careful not to wake them, you carry them away up the back alley of your narrative and when they are hopelessly lost within the story, having surrendered themselves to it, you do them terrible violence with a softball bag and then lead them whimpering to the exit on the last page. Believe me, they'll thank you for it." -- Alan Moore “If there’s a book you really want to read but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” -Toni Morrison I tend to get snagged by a particular subject/genre for a while and then I’ll switch to something 180 degrees in the opposite direction. I will give almost anything a read, but if you don’t hook me in the first 60 pages, you will lose me. Life is too short to read bad books. “A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted. You should live several lives while reading it.” - William Styron I love a book that will make me laugh inappropriately! I like to be challenged, disappointed in my heroes, surprised by the bad guys, and I love a book that leaves the ends messy because life is messy. I’m a huge manga fan and if I took the time to list all of my favorites we’d be here forever. In general my favorite authors are Steven Brust, Simon R. Green, David Sedaris, R.A. Salvatore and Poppy Z. Brite. My favorite Manga-ka are Kazuya Minekura, Kohta Hirano, Hirouki Samura, and You Higuri. Just because I like an author doesn’t mean I automatically like everything they’ve written. I judge a book on the merit of the book and if it’s part of a series, how it flows with the other books. "I know that when I stumble across someone who has not only read but loved one of these books as much as I have, I've probably made a friend for life." - Nancy Pearl "I laughed, I cried, I fell down: It changed my life." - Steven Brust (Cowboy Feng's Space Bar and Grille)