(I also picked up the second book of Robin Hobb’s Dragon duology, I haven’t actually finished reading the first one yet, as I got a bit distracted by rereading the Wheel of Time).

When thinking about the stupidly high price I paid for Flirt (more than the Hobb), it made me think about the authors I really, really like at the present time and that I really can’t wait for their next book to be released. It’s not the same list I would have given ten years ago, or even five years ago. It’s also not a particularly long list, so here it is:

* Laurell K Hamilton – author of the Anita Blake and Merry Gentry books

* Steven Brust – author of the Vlad Taltos and Dragarean books

* Peter F Hamilton – author of many a SF novel

* Jennifer Fallon – Australian fantasy author (best one there is, IMO)

* Anne Bishop – author of the Black Jewels trilogy

* Lois McMaster Bujold – author of the Vorkosigan books and a number of very good fantasy works.

* Terry Pratchett – if you don’t know who he is, go look it up.

* Steven Erikson – author of the Malazan Book of the Fallen.

Brandon Sanderson is the most recent addition to the list, but yes, he is that good. Ray Feist has fallen off the list, alas. I’ve got his latest book but, like Hobb’s recent work, I haven’t gotten around to reading it yet. It doesn’t grab me like it once did. (IMO, Robin Hobb has written one really good trilogy, the Liveship Traders, and several books that have really promising starts but end really poorly. Soldier’s Son really brings into sharp relief her main problem: that her protagonists can’t make good decisions. I don’t enjoy reading books like that. Give me the Vorkosigan books any day.)

I haven’t been reading all that much recently: TV, gaming and writing session reports has been taking up a lot of my time. Yes, I’ve gotten through 11 volumes of the Wheel of Time in about 3 weeks, and I’ve read three “girly” SF books by Sherrilyn Kenyon and one promising first-time novel by N.K. Jemison (The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms – good premise, entertaining writing style, subject not always handled with the depth that it deserves). However, by my standards, it’s not much reading. 😉

There are still a few books piled up by my bedside that I haven’t gotten around to, so if I make an effort I’ll get to them on Sunday. I’ll reread The Gathering Storm first, now I’ve refreshed my memory with 1-11 of WoT,