First FPW was The Tomb AKA Rakoshi and go down the list from there. I read the tomb and immediatley went out and bought every book up until Harbingers and quickly read through them. I awoke one day covered in sweaty, stinky, smelly books, all by FPW, and realized that there were none left and I had to wait a year for the next. I cried for 13 hours and then realized that the Adversary Cycle was out there somewhere.

I literally went to every single used bookstore in a 50 mile radius until I found The Touch, Reborn and Reprisal. and it was worth every minute.

Oh but the sweaty stinky book and 13 hour crying attack is a fib.....sue me

LOL; the "sweaty stinky book" disease is contagious...
I had it a while back and it didn't go away until I ordered every FPW book I didn't already have.

I found a book that reminded me of a jack book a year or so back but it was written by Richard Laymon. Its called In the Dark. Its pretty neat because I had just run out of jack books and it was written almost parralel.It goes through some pretty crazy twists along with some great character development. The strange part is that the heroine's name is Jane. Jack... Jane... Wierd. I dare say somone had read a jack book before writing no? ha.

The sad part is is that I read so far out of order that a bunch of parts were ruined for me like the airport massacre in Infernal before I had ever even read Gateways.

Thanks for the welcome guys.

By the way Wipitokev, Do you live in Alaska by any chance?

LOL; the "sweaty stinky book" disease is contagious...
I had it a while back and it didn't go away until I ordered every FPW book I didn't already have.

Ok, the truth shall be known of how I discovered FPW.

A couple of years ago, I went to my local B&N and asked the clerk for a good horror book about a monster terrorizing. I had recently gotten the urge to read even though I was not much of a reader. In fact, I did not read at all. So, the clerk recommended Stephen King.... I said no because I had tried King before with Pet Semetary. It caught my attention but lost it after awhile. He then suggested Koontz.

I said huh... you know what my mom reads Koontz. I'll give it a shot. Darkfall was purchased that day and I finished it the next night. I loved it but I wanted more. I wanted to know what happened to the characters. I wanted a series. Something to capture my attention for years rather than a few days. So, unknowingly, I continued down the path of Koontz. I am not complaining I encountered some gems and some of my favorite books to date including The Taking and The Face.

I then grew tired of Mr. Koontz due to the fact that it was just not fulfilling my every want and need, in the ways of literature of course. I ventured off into the world like a lost young kitten looking for a bowl of milk and a can of slaughtered tuna fish. I wanted monsters. New monsters. Not vampires and werewolves who to me are over done. I wanted something fresh fun and funky. Well maybe not funky. I wasn't looking for the Travolta of murdering flesh mongers.

Then I went away from B&N and decided to try borders. I glimpsed Koontz, glanced King, scanned Poe, doubled back on Lovecraft and then I saw all the pretty colors. Ha yes what drew me to FPW? The rainbow of colors. What on earth am I talking about? In the horror section of any bookstore, please go to W which I know you all do.

And look at the the pretty colors that encompass the Repairman Jack book spines. I feel like a dork but that is what drew me. I picked up All The Rage and read the back. Excited like a four year old who has to poop but at the same time cake has been discovered, I checked the front to see which was the first in the series. I saw The Tomb and searched. They did not have it.

I began the hunt. The hunt that all book readers know. There is a used book store close to my house called The Book Nook. I went there and they did not have it. The clerk informed me that there were more locations. I went to the next which was 15 miles from my house. Again, no luck. The last one was in northern Georgia, a good hour drive. I went and was overjoyed to find a beaten copy of The Tomb for a buck and I have not turned back since.

So, all in all, Dean Koontz got me back into reading but FPW made me an avid fan.

I found a book that reminded me of a jack book a year or so back but it was written by Richard Laymon. Its called In the Dark. Its pretty neat because I had just run out of jack books and it was written almost parralel.It goes through some pretty crazy twists along with some great character development. The strange part is that the heroine's name is Jane. Jack... Jane... Wierd. I dare say somone had read a jack book before writing no? ha.

The sad part is is that I read so far out of order that a bunch of parts were ruined for me like the airport massacre in Infernal before I had ever even read Gateways.

Thanks for the welcome guys.

By the way Wipitokev, Do you live in Alaska by any chance?

Nope. Pure hoser all the way, Tyler. I do live in Western Canada, North of 50 degrees lat, however.

Cheers,

-Wapitikev

I was just recently introduced to the Tomb while reading other people's comments about the book in another unrelated forum a couple weeks ago.
After finishing the Tomb I was hooked and so happy to see that the story continued. I was able to pick up the other books in the series, based on the list on Wikipedia, through a local used bookstore and/or online.

I am currently reading the third book of the series "Conspiracies"

the keep when i was fourteen. i was hooked as soon as rasalom breaks out of his cell. i'll never forget realizing later on in the series that rafe losmara was rasalom. serious goosebumps.

HEALER - when i first came out back in '77 (?). I had been struggling to understand my personal philosophy for a long time, and when I read the description of Tolive, I had the same reaction as the Healer... yikes... then, wow...

For me, an epiphany! I've read every book since, and try to always buy the first editions (and the other editions) to make sure the boss' publishers still like him.

There was a period when it was REALLY HARD to find his books - especially the laNague Chronicles... Thank goodness that is no longer the case!!!

Hi everyone, In my case, it was the Fall of 1979, I had already read Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, which profoundly affected me, this was after reading Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, so I was evolving towards Libertarianism. I was staying with my grandmother in Clarksburg, WVA, desparately looking for good books when I found a copy of Healer at the local library. I was hooked! I felt, then, and now, like I'm a lost Tolivian! I read FPW's sci-fi before his RJ books, but once I read The Tomb, I was hooked on RJ. The only quibble I have with The Man is that I think he shouldn't have "updated" the early RJ books. I LIKE that RJ collects Laserdiscs,(I still have a large collection of LDs myself!)and I think the relationship between Kolabati and RJ was written much better in the older version. The Beefsteak Charlie's dinner date was a more believable lead up to their passionate affair. But, what do I know? I'm not a writer.
In any event, now I'm waiting for Ground Zero to come out from B&N, and will buy the new,(REVISED!) Nightworld when it comes out. Til then I'll re-read my faves and the short stories.

It was Legacies. Sometime after reading it in about 1999 or so I realized I had started, and stopped, another FPW book, The Keep. I was about 14 or so, so around 1991 and just not ready for the book. I got somewhere around the German officer who was getting too chubby from eating too much sausage and got bored. But after Legacies I realized there were a whole lot of books in this series and that my mother had read a bunch of them. She had Reborn and Reprisal in the closet and after finally reading The Keep I read those two and the rest is history. Oh, she bought The Keep for me too, so if it weren't for my mother I might never have read FPW. She's 85 now.

She's 85 now.

That's great, I hope she's in good health and doing well.

Ken V.

My first book was nightworld.

I'm terrible with books in that if im not hooked by the end of the first chapter i wont finish it and since my local library was so small i had pretty much worked my way through their entire horror section till i came to nightworld. After reading it i then learned it was part of a series and i was desperate for more from The Man so started searching every book shop, charity shop and car boot sale till i had found all the out of print books to complete the adversary cycle. I must have read it fifty times before learning of the jack books. I am now looking out the LaNague books too keep my addiction at bay while waiting for the next jack books.