To be honest, I have a love/hate relationship with Anne Rice's writing. Sometimes she just annoys the crap out of me, other times I like nothing better than to sit down with one of her books. I suspect that it's different if you're from New Orleans and you know the places that she writes about first hand. There are times that I've been in the French Quarter late at night and you get just the right mixtures of gas light and fog, and you can almost expect to see Lestat walk out of the fog. If nothing else, she does New Orleans very well.

I loved Interview when it first came out, but I find Louis such a whiney bore at this point that I hate the book now. I always enjoy The Vampire Lestat and Queen of the Damned, but didn't like the further installments very much. I really loved Blood and Gold, but that was mostly because Marius has always been my favorite of her vampires.

I suspect that it's different if you're from New Orleans and you know the places that she writes about first hand. There are times that I've been in the French Quarter late at night and you get just the right mixtures of gas light and fog, and you can almost expect to see Lestat walk out of the fog. If nothing else, she does New Orleans very well.

Isn't it great when you have knowledge of a book's setting, I love it. New Orleans was a character, and a cool one at that, in John Ramsey Miller's Upside Down, his second book featuring Winter Massey, US Marshall. I highly recommend Miller to fans of thrillers.

http://www.johnramseymiller.com/default.asp

I wonder if they have a word for me then, as I was only able to read about a chapter and a half from IWAV. She is the densest writer this side of Tolkien.

That's the funny part. I love Tolkien. I also love Frank Herbert. Some people find it strange that I can get through those books, but it's a completely different thing for me. I love them, and they entertain me to no end -- pretty much literally, as my wife points out. She gets sick of me reading and then rereading those same books over and over again. Rice's prose has just never captured me the way Tolkien's or Herbert's has. I'm sure there are Rice fans that feel the opposite, but that's because they're wrong.

Blake

Isn't it great when you have knowledge of a book's setting, I love it.

That's one of the reasons the RJ series is so much fun for me.

That's the funny part. I love Tolkien. I also love Frank Herbert. Some people find it strange that I can get through those books, but it's a completely different thing for me. I love them, and they entertain me to no end -- pretty much literally, as my wife points out. She gets sick of me reading and then rereading those same books over and over again. Rice's prose has just never captured me the way Tolkien's or Herbert's has. I'm sure there are Rice fans that feel the opposite, but that's because they're wrong.

Blake

There are exceptions for every rule, although I can't think of any recent reading I've done that allows description to bog down the story. I enjoy a brisk pace and if an author can maintain that while describing shit that doesn't necessarily further the plot, then fine. However, if an author would rather describe the various colors of thread found in the carpet or detailing the hedge that surrounds the property, then I will likely cast the book onto my tried, but couldn't pile. Brian Lumley is another writer who I wanted to like, I loved the premise of the Necroscope books, but I just couldn't slog through his seemingly endless descriptions.

This is the primary reason I've given up on the classic fantasy genre, they have become too wordy and the investment the reader must make to complete these mammoth series is beyond my wee attention span.

I am truly getting some good insight into the mind of readers. I am writing a book right now. I am constantly wondering how much is to much or not enough.......Now I have a better idea. Thanks Ya'll.

I wonder if they have a word for me then, as I was only able to read about a chapter and a half from IWAV. She is the densest writer this side of Tolkien.

Hey I love tolkien as well, they aren't dense, just full of detail and imagination. and more detail and imagination ad nauseum, but i do love them.

With all of the writers out there, good and bad, one can only read so much. For me, if I like a writer I'll stick with them. But, if they betray me with a bad book involving either a bad story or bad writing, then I'll dump them and be very, very unwilling to go back. So far there aren't many writers who have betrayed me. There are more writers, however, that don't do well from the start. I'll give them a try, but will not go back because they just don't do it for me. Rice and Tolkein fall into that category.