Just wondering, seeing as I'm likely not to get any sleep tonight, which of the novels was your first? By which I mean, which one of the books precipitated your transition from RJ virgin to full-blown Jackaholic? (Forgive me if this is a repeat of another thread.)

As for me, I was very fond of Masque before I'd even heard of the RJ books, but one day I was surfing the library shelves and the bright green of Hosts caught my eye. I kind of wish I could recapture that feeling of simply jumping into the series without any background knowledge of the previous books; other than a few references to "that event", it was fairly stand-alone. And it was early enough that the meaning of certain motifs, like women with dogs, wasn't as imperative to my understanding.

If you'll recall, Hosts also starts out from the POV of a character other than RJ, which added to the unsettling feeling of reading out of order. I can't quite remember what I thought about it, except that I must have liked it enough to immediately borrow the whole series. I guess for me, you could say Hosts was a "Gateway" novel, har dee har.

And then after I was hooked, I'd fully read up to Haunted Air before even getting my hands on a copy of The Tomb, because the library had every book except the first one So it was very interesting to read the series backwards like I did. The characters and events are revealed in a slightly skewed manner that you wouldn't get from reading them chronologically. Of course I'm forced to go at them in order from now on, since whenever a new one comes out I read it immediately!

Yes, there is another thread or 2 about this subject. But for me it all started with The Keep and just continued happily along from there.

Were there many RJ books out by the time you read the Keep? I think Gateways was the first RJ book I ever had to wait for.

Were there many RJ books out by the time you read the Keep? I think Gateways was the first RJ book I ever had to wait for.

We're talking long ago...lol. But after the movie hooked me....yeah...I'm one of those....I searched for The Tomb and continued from there. I had even read the original Nightworld at one point and it didn't "click" until years later. Now my collection of FPW works is pretty extensive. But there is always room for more!

Were there many RJ books out by the time you read the Keep? I think Gateways was the first RJ book I ever had to wait for.

I approached FPW's work from the POV that he was a horror writer that listed HPLovecraft as one of his inspirations, when growing up. Being a huge HPL fan since I was 13 (back int he day) it was a little strange that I hadn't gotten around to reading any of Paul's work until last fall.

When I did dive in, I gave The Keep a try-out and was, naturally, impressed. So I went back to the beginning of the Adversary Cycle and started with "Demonsong" and read everything in the order listed (elsewhere) on the web-site, stopping at the current Jack book instead of jumping ahead to read The Touch (which I own but haven't cracked yet), Reprisal or Nightworld. The anticipation isn't killing me but my willpower has been sorely tested on occasion.

So By The Sword was the first book I waited for.

...so much for that hour of sleep.

-Wapitikev

The first Repairman Jack novel I read was "Conspiracies"...and I immediately went to the library and started checking the RJ novels out in order, three at a time (about a week's reading).

I've now read almost all of Dr Wilson's stuff...but my favorite novel of his remains "Deep As the Marrow".

I also really enjoyed "Black Wind"...I think it's the best standalone novel of Paul's, and shows what a great job he does at character development. Of course there are a few ties between "Black Wind" and the other novels (I'm starting to believe there ARE no coincidences where Paul's concerned )

I'm trying to find good copies of the LaNague Federation novels, as I've heard nothing but good things about them...but it's tough.

Were there many RJ books out by the time you read the Keep? I think Gateways was the first RJ book I ever had to wait for.

Welcome!

I read THE KEEP when it was first published and became a life long FPW fan. I had to look long and hard for other FPW books, though. The never seemed to be readily available back then. Now I have them all, some second hand, some not. I'm a happy girl.

..but my favorite novel of his remains "Deep As the Marrow".

Me, too! I wanna be POPPY when I grow up. Love her!

I read The Keep after I saw the movie on video. Then I read The Tomb. I (much) later came across the paperback of Legacies in the bookstore and this Repairman Jack character sounded familiar.

[SPOILER]I still appreciate the fact that I had to wait so long to find out if Jack lived or died. It makes The Tomb my favorite, and I think others missed out on that if they read one of the other books first.[/SPOILER]

I remember reading The Keep, The Tomb, and The Touch all during high school in the late 80s, then beginning my search through the local public library for any other FPW titles I could get my hands on. I grabbed Reborn, Reprisal, and Night World in paperback when they became available, and later snatched up the hardcovers for the Jack books.

Used to be a standard thing in my house that a new Jack book would be coming out around November, so I knew what one of my Christmas gifts would be.