By-Tor.com

Another of my quick visits. I certainly read a lot more these days without the presence of the net. I'm suprised to find no mention of the new Harry Potter book here as yet (unless I missed it).
I have been reading alot of late, mostly rereads. After devouring my entire Clive Barker collection I'm now into Anne Rice's "The Vampire Chronicles"...again. Anyone else read these?
The only new books I've read is of course the massive Harry Potter and the best selling "The Davinci Code" by Dan Brown. Surely someone has read either of these?

Ogg wrote:I'm now into Anne Rice's "The Vampire Chronicles"...again. Anyone else read these?

All the Vampire novels in hardback here on my bookshelves D. We love the way Rice makes you see what she is writing about.
Not just the chronicles, but the individual stories also. Armand, Blood and Gold, Vittorio, Pandora, Blackwood Farm,.......... didn't she release another Vampire novel not long ago?

I only read Interview with the Vampire. I read all of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books. Douglas Adams was one of the funniest and most creative authors. I haven't read any Harry Potter but there was one book DA sent me by Brian Aldiss. It was a mixture of time travel and going back through time during the age of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

A friend made me read two Rice books. I hated them both.

One was Interview with the Vampire, in which I remember the interviewer character behaving in a manner so irrational, at the conclusion of th einterview, as to defy any suspension of disbelief.

The other was The Witching Hour, which was wayyyyyyyyyy toooooo lonnnnng. And which also had a ludicrously unbelievable twist in its tail.... coupled with an event that was telegraphed several hundred pages in advance but nevertheless appeared intended to be a surprise to the reader. And amongst its superfluity of verbage, the book included a biography of the main character's ancestry over the course of over a dozen generations, which may have been a back-story of value to the author, but was completely redundant to the story itself.


My bookshelves are dominated by Clarke and Aldiss, with a handful each of Wyndham, Asimov, Dick and Harrison.

I have successfuly avoided Harry Potter and Dan Brown, though I did see a great programme on TV a while ago, debunking all the claims made in da Vinci Code.


Oh, and, rushlight: I sent you two books by Aldiss....

I must confess that I'm neither a fan of Anne Rice (her vampires are a bit too soppy for me. If you want Vampires, read Dracula or Burying the Shadow by Storm Constantine) not Clive Barker (I managed to get through Cabal through sheer stubborness and felt like I'd gone 30 rounds with Mike Tyson at the end).

I'm not a fan of many modern 'horror' writers, with the exception of Ramsey Campbell, preferring the 'classic' writers of the genre like HP Lovecraft, Poe, etc.

I read the DaVinci Code and enjoyed it immensely. Of course, its complete and utter tripe but that didn't stop it from being a well written and plotted thriller.

As for Harry Potter, I was one of those sad people who lined up outside my local Smiths at midnight on the day of release and had read the book by Sunday evening. I've got to confess that it was worth the wait and I think its possibly the best book of the series.

Incidentally, if you're a Harry Potter fan, a new HP forum, The Ludicrous Patents Office has recently opened and could use your support.