Introduce Yourself

[Kenny]

Silly bird....look at all that you typed.

oh and welcome Rinelle, Laurel, and Alexandra

[Laurel]

Kenny wrote: "Silly bird....look at all that you typed.

oh and welcome Rinelle, Laurel, and Alexandra"

Mithril happily takes credit! She will also take your desk and turn it into toothpicks! Oh what fun to have a busy beak!

[A.L.]

Lol. My rats used to do type badly, at least that is what I claimed:)

[Clay]

oops. Been a while since I checked this thread. Hi to all the New people! Welcome to the Group! I recognize a couple of you from another group I just joined :)

[J.F.]

Hi everyone! My name is J.F. Pérez and I am from Spain. I have started my writer career seriously this year with the publishing of three ebooks at Smashwords. Apart from author, I am a recent graduate seeking his first job. Fantasy and Science-Fiction are the literary genres I love. This is the list of my favourite authors although I hope to find out new ones in this group:
J.R.R. Tolkien
Alison Croggon
George R.R. Martin
Isaac Asimov

Nowadays, I am finishing reading The Riddle by Alison Croggon, which I recommend.

The ereaders I use are Reader for PC, Kindle for PC and Adobe Digital Editions.

I like networking so feel free to add me as a friend or drop me a message.

Thank you so much for your interest and attention. Best regards.

J.F.

[Dean]

A pleasure to be part of this group.

Though I write primarily science fiction, I read across a good many genres in fiction and non-fiction. You can probably get a better sense of what I like by checking out my reading list.

The book I'm releasing first to the world is a tome, so I've been boning up on folks who write big sci-fi books. That's how I discovered and fell in love with Peter F. Hamilton, Ian M. Banks, and others. Singularity and transhumanism are favorite topics; I'm particularly interested in the kind of impacts to society emerging technologies will have. This book is the first in a series that explores the inner transformations we are likely to all have to make to survive Present Shock. While it's very much a novel of ideas, there's also plenty of action, dark comedy, and fun stuff (superheroes, travel to parallel universes). If this sounds like your cup of tea, please check out the early chapters I've posted on my profile page and let me know what you think. I'll be posting new chapters every few days.

If you have a few chapters posted of a work in progress you think might be up my alley, please let me know, because I want to support other writers as well.

Looking forward to getting to know all of you better!

[Dean]

Laurel wrote: "Alexandra is the reason why I am here! And yes, she does read paperback. :) My books are best read in paperback because I'm a world builder who loves to include lots of reference materials in my ..."

You had me laughing. Enjoyed your post.

[Paul]

Hi all, I am Paul Spooner from Yorkshire in England. I'm 51 and have been into SF all my life (I remember the crushing disappointment I felt at not being allowed to stay up and watch the Apollo 11 landings - it would have been about 3am UK time, and it was a school night, so I can see my parents point now, but still...!)

Currently using the Kindle app for my android tablet (and yesterday I discovered how to plug my wireless keyboard into the tablet, which is making this a whole lot easier!

I started in SF with Asimov, Niven (inc. Niven/Pournelle) is probably my all-time favourite, Orson Scott Card, Heinlein and Herbert of course, Phillip Jose Farmer, and others too numerous to mention.

In Fantasy, it's pretty much just Tolkein and Stephen R Donaldson (The Thomas Covenenant series).

Since getting my first Kindle a couple of years ago, I've been discovering the delights of free/cheap ebooks by indie authors,and being surprised by the high quality there, and slightly saddened by the fact that a lot of it is drowned by the sheer volume of output, and never reaches the audiences it deserves to.

I'm a big fan of S. J. Hunter (the Longevity Law Enforcement series), and am doing what I can to try and raise the profile of these excellent books.

I look forward to getting to know you, and taking part in discussions.

[Kenny]

Grrrr! Bad Parents! Bad!!!

[Paul]

Kenny wrote: "Grrrr! Bad Parents! Bad!!!"

(laughing) I certainly thought so at the time! Bless them, they didn't know any better, and just couldn't see the point of it, or why I was so excited! - though given the way we've shamefully abandoned space exploration in the decades since, clearly they have the majority view....

[John]

Greetings, primitive Earth creatures! I'm a lifelong Science Fiction fan, and generally go for "hard SF," but also like "H. Potter" and "Lord of Rings" style adventures.

I have a Kindle, my wife has a Nook, both with eclectic collections of English literature.

Now I'm also claiming to be an author, since I released my first Science Fiction novel for eBooks: "Inkling."

Hope to connect with SF and Fantasy fans.

Later, John.

[Jim]

Hi John
Welcome aboard

[Dean]

Welcome, John.

[Marianne]

Hi, I wondered over from kboards.com. (Geoffrey left a trail of breadcrumbs.) Hopefully those of you from kboards will recognize me, or at least my avatar. :) I'm generally a fan of "hard" SF that also has good characters, although I can also go for the occasional space opera or fantasy. I'll probably lurking for a while, but I'm sure I won't be able to resist putting in my two cents occasionally!

[Joshua]

Hello to all. I have been lurking for a little while and figured I should introduce myself. I am Joshua. I am 27 and live in a small town north of Birmingham, AL. I like to read sci-fi and fantasy but will read anything with a good story. I lean more to sci-fi than fantasy. My weapon of choice is a Kindle. I still consider myself a noob when it comes to reading because I never really read books untill about 3 years ago. So I am eager to get to know you all and join in the discussions. See you around.

[[deleted user]]

Welcome Joshua. I also didn't read much until 3 or 4 years ago but now thanks to Kindle and Goodreads I have read more in the last couple of years than my entire life previously put together :-)

[Keith]

Hi everyone! I'm a newly minted Ebook author with Musa Publishing. I'm slowly learning how to use Goodreads, making mistakes along the way, and meeting some great people.

[Lisa]

Hi, just thought I'd introduce myself. I started reading sci-fi, fantasy many years ago. Loved Anne McCaffrey then, and now. I'm currently working through the Robert Jordan wheel of time series on my kindle.

[Keith]

LOVE Wheel of Time! Finishing it was bittersweet. Patrick Rothfus fills the void.

[Lisa]

Looking forward to trying new authors. It'll be nice to lose myself in new worlds.

[Keith]

I'm sure you'll get a ton of recommendations. Rothfus's books are nothing like Wheel of Time story wise, but they really pulled me in. Of course Brandon Sanderson is a must for WOT fans. I just started Theft of Swords by Michael Sullivan and like it a lot.

[Lisa]

Thanks. Looking forward to having tons of recommendations.

[Keith]

How are Steven Erikson and Glen Cook?

[Lisa]

I'll look into them, thanks, I have no idea when WOT will finish though just finished book 6, so I am getting through them. Slowly but surely.

[Alan]

Paul wrote: "Hi all, I am Paul Spooner from Yorkshire in England. I'm 51 and have been into SF all my life .."
Hi Paul
Your message 25th May gave me a nice list of your favourite authors - and they overlap pretty well with mine! I think the major discrepancies were that I don't know S. J. Hunter - and I never could get on with Stephen Donaldson, though I can't work out why - just personal inclinations, I guess.
How do you feel about any/all of these . . .
David Brin, Hal Clement, William Gibson, Joe Haldeman, Julian May, Eric Frank Russel, Charles Stross, Roger Zelazny . . . Or any others you care to throw into the mix?
And you wrote " I've been discovering the delights of free/cheap ebooks by indie authors,and being surprised by the high quality there, and slightly saddened by the fact that a lot of it is drowned by the sheer volume of output, and never reaches the audiences it deserves to."
I'll take that as an invitation and ask you to check my profile and website - and get back to me.
Thanks

Alan

[Susanna]

Hello everyone,

I'm Susanna Lehner from Hungary, I'm the author of The Golden Panthers. This is a paranormal fantasy/adventure novel about Amrita, the helping witch entrusted with a mission: she must find the twins, who were separated and went missing. She has to fight against enemy creatures and contend with her contradictory love for Morgan, the charismatic vampire.

The ebook is free now until 06/01 on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/The-Golden-Pant... (Best sellers rank/free: 1. and 2. in its categories)

My website is at: http://susannalehner.com

Have a good day,

Susanna

[Sabrina]

Hi all, I'm Sabrina Flynn. Been a long time SF/F reader and writer. Loved the Deathstalker books by Simon R Green and my favorite fantasy series is probably "The Dragonbone Chair" by Tad Williams. Looking forward to reading Neil Gaiman's new release 'Ocean at the End of the Lane' in august!

[Charles]

Mariannne wrote: "Hi, I wondered over from kboards.com. (Geoffrey left a trail of breadcrumbs.) Hopefully those of you from kboards will recognize me, or at least my avatar. :) I'm generally a fan of "hard" SF that ..."

Hi, Marianne: I'm NogDog's alter ego here. :-)

[Jo]

Hi all --

I'm Jo, and have also been lurking a while. I love most sci fi and fantasy, although there are books my husband swears are great that I just can't get into.

Loved the discussion on 'hard core' sci fi :)

[C.C.]

Hey all. I saw Elric and figured I needed to at least check the group out - so then I joined. C.C. here and like many of you, I've been reading SFF for a long time.

My first 'real' novel, graduating from Encyclopedia Brown and Tom Swift, was A Princess of Mars. And my favorite writers are probably King and Fredric Brown. In time, all that might explain a few things. :)

I'm looking forward to having fun discussing SFF. No, I'm not a geek at all. :)

[F.s.n.]

I'm F.S.N. Stefan. It's my pen name. Actually, my name is Sirapop. You can call me "Film", it's my nickname. I'm from Nakhon Pathom, Thailand. I'm just a computer science student. I have read Twilight and Warm Bodies and fall in love with the supernatural beings with some science explanation. I also wrote three books. One of them is "An Invisible Wing Book One: The Burnt Wings", the first book of "The Craintif Philson Novels" series. I'm happy to join your group. If you wanna see my E-book, you can visit my blog and see the links to buy it. http://fairytwilight.blogspot.com/

[Alan]

Hi Everyone

This is probably in the wrong place - so first point: Moderator - if you remove this, that's fine, but please tell me where I should have posted it!

This is not really an introduction - I have been around for a while, many regulars will recognise my image. This message is to announce the release of my (our - I work with a friend) second book "Shades of Gold". Find it on Amazon, and later today it will be registered on the Goodreads lists.

Like our first, this looks like Fantasy, but there is an SF background/foundation to the world we are writing in.

If you are fed up with dragons, fairies and unicorns but like magic with rules, give us a try.

Reviews would be appreciated, on Amazon or Goodreads - and if you want to know about our first book, try Shaun Horrigan's review here
Thanks

[Kirk]

Hey there, name is Kirk. I have been reading fantasy/sci fi for around 25 years now. Favorites are Wheel of Time, Black Company, Fionavar Tapestry, Amber, etc, etc - edit: P.C. Hodgell as well, I couldn't forget Jame of the Kencyrath :). Many many others. I look forward to seeing what everyone is reading as I seem to have come to a plateau of re-reading all the old good books as opposed to all of the recent influx of digital books. Authors like Rothfuss and Abercrombie are keeping me reading but I have trouble with these dollar books that pop up.
Whew, anyways, hey there :)

[E.D.]

Salutations! I'm new to GR and Kindle, but have followed the growth of ebooks for a while now. Hope to add some interesting and entertaining thoughts, while learning a few things. My favorite wor...Ooohh.Look. Rabbits!

[Charles]

C.C. wrote: "Hey all. I saw Elric and figured I needed to at least check the group out - so then I joined...."

I admire your taste. (Disclaimer: I threw that little graphic together for this club.)

[Nikhil]

Hi all, I have always felt rather awkward introducing myself on internet forums. Apparently I can never tell whether I'm interesting enough for people to pay attention to what I'd be telling them- which is, of course, that I can never tell whether I'm intere...

See? Even though there is an inner voice begging me not to play a fool, I'm bound to do it.

Anywho, I'm Nikhil, which is largely evident from my username, and I love to read. Fantasy and Sci-Fi infest the largest part of my bookshelf, and when I use the word infest, it is in the spirit one calls his patched puppy (as she wags her tiny tail) a cute little bastard.

I occasionally dabble in poetry, and as a matter of fact privately boast to anyone who cares to listen about a number of shiny trophies I have won on allpoetry.com.

I write prose as well, although after having concluded the process of a single chapter, I feel fairly certain that a chipmunk could have composed a better sequence of words.

I consider myself satisfactorily intelligent, satisfactorily because I often use (or misuse) said intelligence to humiliate the less privileged of our species [quite to my satisfaction].

I'm 21. Recently graduated. Going to start working at Microsoft as an SDE.

[Simona]

Hi, I'm a reader from Italy and proud owner of an old Kindle. I joined this group to look for new (for me, at least) books to read. I've been reading SFF for a long time, but I always seem to find new things in this genre that keep me interested. I read a bit of everything, but I'm not too fond of zombies and vampires.

[Zachary]

Hi All,

I'm Zac Katz-Stein. I recently graduated from Kenyon College with a B.A. in English. However, although I've read a lot of "literature," my heart belongs to fantasy.

I blame my mother for this. When I was growing up the policy was, "You are allowed toy swords but not toy guns." Thus, I played knight instead of soldier, spy, or cowboy.

I recently got a Kindle and have been digging into the eBook fantasy world (my interest helped along by the fact that I decided to publish my book as an eBook).

Yes, like many of the other lovely people I've met on this forum, I am an author. I just published my first book, "The Grey Heir," a little more than a week ago :)

Geek-wise, I'm a PC gamer in love with Bioware, and a devoted fan of Tamora Pierce, Garth Nyx, Mercedes Lackey, and David Eddings.

Other interests: Oil painting, yoga, and juggling torches.

Looking forward to meeting you all,

Zac

[Brenda ╰☆╮]

Charles wrote: "C.C. wrote: "Hey all. I saw Elric and figured I needed to at least check the group out - so then I joined...."

I admire your taste. (Disclaimer: I threw that little graphic together for this club.)"

I always wondered about the Elric graphic (also one of my favorites.
:)

[Paul]

Greetings, I'm a Kindle Fantasy reader, and also author. My first book, The Lost Brigade, is available at the moment for free on Amazon, thought I would just mention that! Looking forwards to some interesting discussions!

[S.]

Hey,
My name is Tarek and I am from Cairo, Egypt. I read all kinds of books, but am inclined towards fantasy and sci-fi. My favorite fantasy book is the Lord of the Rings - I know its a cliche - and my favorite sci-fi book is Vengeance of Orion by Ben Bova, although I prefer Issac Asimov's books to Ben Bova's. I write in my spare time, and finished a total of three books so far. My first book to be independently published is Book of Kayal: Hands of Fate. If you are interested in knowing anything else about me just holler me. If you are interested in checking out my book you can get a free copy today and tomorrow exclusively on kindle, here is the link http://www.amazon.com/Book-Kayal-Hand...
Nice to be part of this group.

[Mejanel]

Hi all,

Time to introduce myself: i'm à French geek, I live near Paris. I'm a hudge fantsay fan and a book addict in general.
In real life I am a software engineer and a happy father.

Nice to meet you all!

Méjanel

[Vidar]

Hello everyone.

I'm Vidar, 30, Norwegian.

I've prefered books over people since I was about 10.
My dislike of people have lessened a lot since then, but my love for books have remained the same.
I discovered Tolkien when I was 13, and I was hooked on fantasy trough most of my teens.
Then when I was 19 I read Voyage from Yesteryear by James P. Hogan, and it's anti-authoritarianism and themes of post-scarcity really intrigued me.

I also get accused of being "weird" a lot.
I've also dressed exclusively in black since I was 16-ish. Not to make some kind of statement. I just don't like colours.

[Ken]

Oh, an intro topic! I should have come here first.

In typical fashion, I dive right in instead.

I'm Kenneth, from the United States. For work I'm a systems designer at a leading AV integration firm. It's a job that has taken me to 50 states, 29 countries, and 5 continents.

Though I'm an American, I devour the cultural traditions of others and am fascinated by the art of storytelling in general. I'm not an eBook reader, but I like the discussion of this group more than any other I've found. If I were an eBook reader, maybe I would not have my current running-out-of-bookshelves predicament.

I'm married, late 20s, enjoy Wei-qi (also known as Go in Japan or Baduk in Korea), books, music performance and recording, technology, travel, and fine art.

I like to read speculative fiction, SF, fantasy, philosophy, classics, and anything that is deeply original or imaginative. I dislike genre tropes and the everyday. I also generally dislike comedy. Every story should have some comedy in it, but when comedy is set as the author's goal from the outset I can't find myself getting into the story.

I am that kind of reader whose bank account is in danger whenever I find a new favorite author - because I will buy the best editions I can afford. I don't put too much emphasis on whether a book is a "first edition", but rather if it is a fine edition. Leather bound, embossed, quality printed. For me, collecting isn't about value (though occasionally that enters sidelong into the fray) but rather about preserving this cherished tale for posterity.

I love to talk about books. I'm pretty strongly opinionated, but don't really take anything personally.

[Nathaniel]

Hello, my name is Nick and the invention of ebooks and the iPad was a God sent for me as I have very poor vision and find reading paper books a challenge.

I am a big scifi fan, mainly military adventure such as Soldier of the Legion and the Crimson Worlds series.

Starting to find it hard to find books to read so I am looking for friends who can help point me in the right direction.

[Robert]

Hello, I'm Robert

I started with Asimov and Clarke, went towards fantasy when someone introduced me to McCaffrey. Then discovered The Tales of Thomas Covenant - just brilliant. Actually came to Tolkein quite late.

I currently write sci-fi but fantasy is still a favorite (or favourite as we Brits say).

[Ken]

Welcome guys (from a fellow new guy). Nick, I joined for the same reason - discussion & recommendations!

[K.]

Hi all, I'm Kate.

Although I'm a sci-fi author, I prefer to read books with a fantasy/myth/paranormal aspect to them. I'm a fan of the usual suspects; Pratchett, RR Martin, Rowling & Tolkien, but I also like to give indie-authors/non-mainstream writers a read. I'm always on the lookout for a bargain, & the majority of what I end up reading these days has been free promotions from indie writers. So much so, I've had to stop downloading as my Kindle 'to read list' is getting way too big.

[T.]

Hello Everyone,
My name is Thad. I live in the Tampa Bay area of Florida. I grew up loving both Star Wars and Star Trek, though I confess to having a weakness for darker fiction. That's probably why I'm such a Battlestar Galactica fan.
I really like Starship Troopers (the novel) and George Orwell's Animal Farm. I also read a lot of nonfiction, mostly military history.
I'm anxious to participate in discussions and learning about you all.

[Martyn]

Hello Everyone,

I am currently in the process of writing an unusual fantasy series. It's called the Deathsworn Arc and it's got an undertone of pragmatic moralism and atheism. The most recent fantasy I've read was Paulini's 'Inheritance Cycle' and Philip Pullman's 'Dark Materials' but my favorite author is probably either Terry Pratchett or Tolkien. I live in a small village on the Staffordshire, Cheshire border which has the rare benefit of it's own castle, albeit a very small one. I work full time, I'm married, I'm studying for a degree and I have two small children who are lovely but hate sleeping... I fit my reading and writing around that... Somehow :P

Martyn