The SF and Fantasy Canon, according to...well, me.

Each of these books I can recommend wholeheartedly. They are my all time favorites.

Not a lot of surprises here, but I've included a few esoteric quirky choices.

If your favorite books aren't on the list, I either purposely or unpurposely left them off. If the latter, I will add, if the former, I will tell you why.

There are classics that I just didn't like something about them, such as Childhood's End, by Arthur C. Clarke, which was a great book right up to the ending, but I hated the ending. That kind of thing.

Many series seem to lose steam, in my opinion, so I list the books only so far as they are great.

I've tried just about every fantasy series there is, and most fall very short for me. I've included only those that I think rise to greatness. (I actively dislike books by Donaldson and Brooks and Goodkind, among others.)

There are many books I enjoyed but didn't love, so for instance Ready Player One or Harry Potter or Hunger Games. You know, nice reads, but not in the canon.

62 entries, will go to 100 as I'm reminded, or my standards loosen?

The Once and Future King, T.H.White
Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
Chronicles of Amber, Roger Zelazny (First five only)
This Immortal, Roger Zelazny
Lord of the Rings (including the Hobbit), J.R.R. Tolkien
Narnia, C.S. Lewis
Tunnel in the Sky, Robert Heinlein
Dune, Frank Herbert (only the first)
The Iron Dragon's Daughter, Michael Swanwick
2001, Arthur C. Clarke
Ender's Game (only the first)
Watership Down, Richard Adams (Shardik was great too.)
Conan the Conqueror, Robert E. Howard (the whole Conan oeuvre, actually, but only by REH)
Armor, John Steakley (Vampires was great too)
Vorkosigan Saga, Lois McMasters Bujold (the early ones, really) and her World of Five Gods trilogy.)
Startide Rising (and Uplift Wars, only those two) David Brin
The Postman, David Brin
Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov (the original trilogy)
Robot Books, Isaac Asimov (Caves of Steel; I, Robot; The Naked Sun)
The Difference Engine, William Gibson and Bruce Sterling
Deathworld Trilogy, Harry Harrison
Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr
Way Station, Clifford D. Simak
The Stand, Stephen King
Consider Phlebas, Iain M. Banks (all the Culture novels are excellent)
Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
Elric Saga, Michael Moorcock
The War Hound and the World's Pain, Michael Moorcock
Diamond Age, Neal Stephenson
The Baroque Cycle, Neal Stephenson (including Cryptonomicon)
Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
Devil in the Forest, Gene Wolfe,
Yarrow, Charle de Lint
Tea with a Black Dragon, R.A. MacAvoy
The Lensmen Series, E.E. Doc Smith
Fire Upon the Deep, Vernor Vinge
Battle Circle, Piers Anthony (only Anthony I ever liked, but I really liked this)
Name of the Wind, Patrick Rothfuss (and The Wise Man's Fear)
The Martian Chronicles, Ray Bradbury
Something Wicked This Way Comes, Ray Bradbury
Song of Ice and Fire, George R.R. Martin (only the first three)
Tuf Voyaging, George R.R. Martin
The Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula Le Guin (first three books only)
The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula Le Guin (or The Dispossessed)
Gateway, Frederick Pohl
The Void Captain's Tale, Norman Spinrad
Lord Valentine's Castle, Robert Silverberg
The Beginning Place, Ursula Le Guin
1984, George Orwell
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
Tales of Neveryon, Samuel R. Delany
Valis,Philip K. Dick
Earth Abides, George Stewart
Ubik, Philip K. Dick (gotta be in a certain mood)
Perdido Street Station, China Mieville (also liked The Scar, the rest are too much...)
I Am Legend, Richard Matheson
The Witches of Karres, James H. Schmitz
Hyperion, Dan Simmons, (and Fall of Hyperion, only those two)
Mars Trilogy, Kim Stanley Robinson
Cat's Cradle, Curt Vonnegut
The Forever War, Joe Haldeman
Princess of Mars, Edgar Rice Burroughs (I devoured every Mars, Venus, Tarzan, and Pellucidar book I could get my hands on.)
Alas, Babylon, Pat Frank
Languages of Pao, Jack Vance (actually every word he ever wrote)

A book in a box.

A new idea. I constantly have new ideas about how to write books, and then I write those books the same way, or whatever way is most convenient. Because, you know, writing the book is the most important thing.

The world is full of people who have important books they never write.

My current book started off strong and wrong. No recovering from that. I love it. It's probably my stupidest book and yet my favorite, but because of that I can look at it and see how it might have been even better.

(I should say, I'm leaning toward a complete rewrite to fix what I perceive to be a false start--I do think I can "recover" if I put in the effort.)

So the basic problem is: I discover a story in the the writing of the story. Simple as that.

I've never, ever written a book I've diagrammed in advance. I always found too much wrong with the story and never wrote it.

Maybe I'm saying, ignorance is bliss. Not knowing that the story won't quite work out is enough to keep me writing until I discover different.

So this new idea.

I try to come up with a concept, a premise for a book that I think is strong and needs some thought and development and research.

So I grab a box--a nice Diamond shipping box--and I put the tentative title on the box in black ink and then every time I have a thought, I write it down and throw it into the box. And then...someday...I'll know when I have enough material to proceed.

Silly idea, but I might try it.

Going to see Han Solo today. I'm going to like it.

Sticking to Tuesdays with Linda, Monday's at the store, which is going to slow down the writing, but I'm more and more realizing there is no hurry.

I have the luxury with Fateplay of already having 76,500 words under my belt. So it's not as if I'm not going to finish this thing.

So what I'm looking for is something really strong, really good, full of emotion and action and surprise.

I've got an ending, but it is pro forma, and while that may end up happening and be perfectly adequate, I'd like to do something more than that. So I'm hoping for one of those "ah, ha!" moments I occasionally get.

Usually,  in fact probably almost always, I get these moments during my walks.

I'm letting myself have a few days to mull it over, then I'll finish the book and move on.

Sitting at home day after day writing can seem pretty isolating. It can feel like I'm just doing it for myself.

So working at the store occasionally has been good for me. I'm interacting with people and some of them are giving me feedback that I dearly need. Sold a copy of Snaked on Friday, had a couple tell me how much they liked my books. What do you know? It isn't all in my head.

My walking everyday is a saving grace. It gets me out of the house and out of my head. I'm always so glad that I did it. I also get ideas without forcing them. They come unbidden, which is the best way. (Maybe not totally unbidden; I usually sort of politely ask my subconscious...)

I've kind of backed off posting so much online, except on Blogger. Those of you who are reading this are the ones who actually come here to read, (I thank you for that), versus my come-hithers on Facebook and Twitter. I almost never mention my books otherwise.

I'm writing nevertheless. That's about all I can say. I'm writing nevertheless. 

"Re-write Summer."

Finally got another chapter written. As usual, it didn't quite go where I thought it was going to go. But in the middle of writing it, I realized that one of the logistical problems was solved. You never know when you reach the end of a story how impactful it will be. I'm wondering if this ending is strong enough.

But I have a rule about finishing a book before I mess with it, so...

I've decided spend the summer re-writing as much as possible. I have the four Lander books that need to be revised, the four Thirteen Principalities novellas, and now three different thriller books that could use a re-write, especially the beginnings.

I could get a lot accomplished if I just knuckled down.

What's kept me from doing this in the past is that I've always given fresh ideas preeminence. I don't turn down stories when they come to me. So this could still happen, I suppose. Probably will, actually.

But between fresh stories, I can still set the goal of finishing off the old.

Almost done.

Psyching myself up for the last few chapters of "Fateplay."

I more or less know what is going to happen, but I want to bring some energy to it. Really stick the landing.

I didn't write on Monday because I spent the entire day ordering books for Pegasus, and Tuesdays are now reserved for Linda and Duncan time. (We went to see Deadpool 2, and had writer's group in the evening.)

But I did think up some improvements on my walk. The start of the book always bothered me. The main protagonist wins the lottery (lame) is the richest man in the world (lame) and then comes out of hiding to get involved with the company he started.

Since 20 years pass, that makes him close to forty years old.

But I wanted to make this book a young adult, but I couldn't figure a way to make the changes without ruining the book.

Well, yesterday I figured out a workaround.

I also decided that I would almost immediately start the rewrite, which is a change of procedure. Or more like a return to the earlier procedure.

I have two conflicting things going on with rewrites.

1.) I've learned that giving a story time off helps with perspective, allows me to make bigger changes.

2.) I've only accomplished this once or twice, mostly with Faerylander which was a mess to start with. Yes, each time I've improved that book, but it is only now becoming an adequate write.

So what if I have more perspective if I never end up doing it? Right?

So I'm going to start right in the rewrite while everything is still fresh in my mind.

Tailoring your writing process to your personality.

One of the things I learned running a bookstore for so many years was that it makes sense to tailor your procedures to your personality. There's more than one way to run a business. There are so many directions you can go. Some make more money but are unpleasant, some make less money but are fun.

Sometimes you bite the bullet and bend your personality to make room for a prosperous product. I pretended--no, convinced myself--that I was terribly interested in sports, whereas up to the moment that sports cards started selling, I'd been marginally interested in football and that was about it.

As I've said so many times, if you run a business you have to accomplish one of two things--either having fun or making money.

If you're not having fun and not making money, then you will quickly burn out.

And as I've also said so many times--as a corollary to the above--burn out is almost as big a danger for small business as not making enough money to survive. (Of course, not making money isn't fun, so they go together.)

Eventually I started eliminating things that were unpleasant and I didn't enjoy even if they sometimes would have been profitable to do so. Trading and buying off the street is the most notable example. Concentrating on carrying product instead of promotions and events. That kind of thing.

The things that made the bookstore fun to go to everyday, not the things I dreaded.

All of which is to say, now that I'm writing all the time, I'm finding the same thing is true.

It makes no sense to do things that are so unpleasant that it discourages me from writing. Promotion, mostly, but other things that most writers would say you should do.

The difference, unfortunately, between my bookstore and my writing is that my bookstore has a platform. We are on a "high" street, as the British would put it; a busy foot-traffic area where I have a built in audience. The foot traffic grew in concert with the rent, so it was manageable. So all I have to do is be where I am, pay the higher rent, and I get enough business to survive.

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find an equivalent "high street" platform in writing. Most of the ways you get noticed in writing require huge efforts at self-promotion. Which I hate. Which I  hate so much that if I was required to do it, I'd rather quit writing altogether.

The other possibility is to try to hook up to an agent or mainstream publisher--but you lose so much control, you are so much at their mercy, that it is extremely unpleasant for me. I've had over 35 years of doing what I want. Sending something off to the void and being a supplicant to the powers of others has become almost impossible for me. 

The other thing I did at the store, as mentioned above, is concentrated on filling it with content. Books, books, and  more books. As much product--good product--as I could cram into the space. I learned a long time ago, the more product I had, the higher the sales.

So, in theory, I'm concentrating on writing a lot, in hopes that the more I write, the more I sell. (So far, that doesn't seem to be true, unfortunately.)

So I'm more or less tailoring my writing process to the same kinds of things. Going walking helps? Then go walking. Going into the bedroom and putting a pillow over my eyes and letting my mind wander helps? Then do it. Writing blogs to get the juices flowing, then do it.

The time of day I write, what I write, how I write it, how fast or slow, how much research, how much re-writing, how much time between drafts--all tailored to fit what is most comfortable for me.

Because in the end, what I really care about is writing my stories.

So that's what I do.