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Introduction: Active Reading
Looking for Mister Write (1989)
How I Got Here (in 1998)
About the Negative Review
On Reviewing
13 Ways of Looking at the Novel, Jane Smiley
1997 Award-nominated Short Fiction
5 Novels, Daniel Pinkwater
The Acceptance World, Anthony Powell
Across the Wounded Galaxies, ed. by Larry McCaffrey
Addicted to Humour
Adventures in the Screen Trade, William Goldman
Again, Dangerous Visions, ed. Harlan Ellison
Against a Dark Background, Iain M. Banks
Age of Wonders, David Hartwell
Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do, Peter McWilliams
The Aleph and Other Stories, Jorge Luis Borges
The Algebraist, Iain Banks
All About Strange Monsters of the Recent Past, Howard Waldrop
Alternate Oscars, Danny Peary
Amusing Ourselves to Death, Neil Postman
Angel Island, Inez Hayes Gilmore
Angels & Insects, A.S. Byatt
Anime Explosion, Patrick Drazen
Anno Dracula, Kim Newman
The Annotated Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
Antiquities, John Crowley
Anything Considered, Peter Mayle
Arcadia, Tom Stoppard
Archer's Goon, Diana Wynne Jones
The Areas of My Expertise, John Hodgman
As She Climbed Across the Table, Jonathan Lethem
At Lady Molly's, Anthony Powell
Author's Choice Monthly
Autumn, Anthony Powell
The Awakening, Kate Chopin
Bad Trips, ed. by Keith Fraser
Balkan Hours, Richard Bassett
Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again, Frank Miller and Lynn Varley
The Beak of the Finch, Jonathan Weiner
The Bear Went Over the Mountain, William Kotzwinkle
Becoming a Writer, Dorothea Brande
The Beekeeper's Apprentice, Laurie R. King
Beginning, Kenneth Branagh
Bellwether, Connie Willis
Beloved, Toni Morrison
Beowulf
The Best American Comics 2006
Between the Woods and the Water, Patrick Leigh Fermor
Beyond Life, James Branch Cabell
Bible Stories for Adults, James Morrow
Black and Blue, Ian Rankin
The Black Company, Glen Cook
Black Orchid, Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean
Blackadder, Richard Curtis et al.
Blacks, Gwendolyn Brooks
Blast from the Past, Ben Elton
Bliss, Peter Carey
Bloodchild and Other Stories, Octavia E. Butler
Blue Heaven, Joe Keenan
Blue Road, Windy Baboulene
Blue World, Robert McCammon
The Bone Forest, Robert Holdstock
The Book of Bourbon, Gary Regan and Mardee Haidin Regan
The Book of God, Walter Wangerin, Jr.
The Bone People, Keri Hulme
Book by Book, Michael Dirda
Book Publishing, John P. Dessauer
Books Do Furnish a Room, Anthony Powell
The Books of Magic, John Ney Reiber
Born a Crime, Trevor Noah
The Botany of Desire, Michael Pollan
Bring on the Girls, P.G. Wodehouse and Guy Bolton
Bronze Mirror, Jeanne Larsen
Buddy Holly is Alive and Well on Ganymede, Bradley Denton
A Buyer's Market, Anthony Powell
By Bizarre Hands, Joe R. Lansdale
The Cabell Scene, Robert H. Canary
Caedmon's Hymn
The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book, Bill Watterson
Canal Dreams, Iain Banks
A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr.
Carter Beats the Devil, Glen David Gold
Cause of Death, Keith D. Wilson
Cerebus: Reads and Minds, Dave Sim
Changing Places, David Lodge
Chase the Morning, Michael Scott Rohan
The Chess Garden, Brooks Hansen
Children of the Night, Dan Simmons
China: Was (Not Was)
City of Djinns, William Dalrymple
City of the Iron Fish, Simon Ings
City of Truth, James Morrow
Clay's Ark, Octavia Butler
Clinker Islands, Lillian Otterman
Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons
Colloquium on Crime, ed. by Robin W. Winks
The Color of Distance, Amy Thomson
Comic Book Culture, Matthew Pustz
Comics & Sequential Art, Will Eisner
Coming to Terms with the Great Plague, Brian Stableford
Committed
The Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged), The Reduced Shakespeare Company
The Complete Frank Miller Spider-Man
Complicity, Iain Banks
Confucius Lives Next Door, T.R. Reid
Contending Forces, Pauline Hopkins
Conversations with Stalin, Milovan Djilas
The Cornish Trilogy, Robertson Davies
Count Geiger's Blues, Michael Bishop
Crossing the Mangrove, Maryse Conde
The Crow Road, Iain Banks
Crystal Express, Bruce Sterling
The Cyanide Canary, Joseph Hilldorfer and Robert Dugoni
Cyber Rights, Mike Godwin
The Cyberiad: Fables for the Cybernetic Age, Stanislaw Lem
Danger Music, Stepan Chapman
Dusty in Memphis, Warren Zanes
Dangerous Visions, ed. Harlan Ellison
The Dark is Rising sequence, Susan Cooper
Darkness Casts No Shadow, Arnost Lustig
Data Smog, David Shenk
The Daughter of Time, Josephine Tey
Death Be Not Proud
The Deptford Trilogy, Robertson Davies
The Devouring Fungus, Karla Jennings
The Diamond Age, Neal Stephenson
Did She Fall?, Thorne Smith
The Dilbert Principle, Scott Adams
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
Doing Business on the Internet, Mary Cronin
Doomsday Book, Connie Willis
Door Number Three, Patrick O'Leary
The Doorbell Rang, Rex Stout
A Dozen Tough Jobs, Howard Waldrop
The Dragonbone Chair, Tad Williams
Dreams Underfoot, Charles de Lint
The Dud Avocado, Elaine Dundy
Eastward Ha!, S.J. Perelman
Ecstasy Club, Douglas Rushkoff
The Ecstasy of Influence, Jonathan Lethem
Ecuador & the Galapagos Islands, Rob Rachowiecki
The Egypt Game, Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Eight Days of Luke, Diana Wynne Jones
Emerald Eyes, Daniel Keys Moran
The Enthusiasms of Robertson Davies
Escape Velocity, Mark Dery
Ever Since Darwin, Stephen Jay Gould
Everyday Drinking, Kingsley Amis
Evolution Isn't What It Used to Be, Walter Truett Anderson
The Evolution of Useful Things, Henry Petroski
Excession, Iain M. Banks
Expiration Date, Tim Powers
The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde
Fables, Volume 2: Animal Farm
Fast Company, Jon Bradshaw
Faust Among Equals, Tom Holt
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Hunter S. Thompson
Feersum Endjinn, Iain M. Banks
The Fermata, Nicholson Baker
Fireworks, Angela Carter
The First 20X Years of Monty Python, Kim "Howard" Johnson
Floreana, Margret Wittmer
Fools, Pat Cadigan
The Friendly Guide to the Universe, Nancy Hathaway
The Friendly Shakespeare, Norrie Epstein
From Heaven Lake, Vikram Seth
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, E.L. Konigsburg
From the Teeth of Angels, Jonathan Carroll
Full Spectrum 3, ed. by Lou Aronica, Amy Stout, and Betsy Mitchell
Galapagos, Kurt Vonnegut
The Galapagos Islands, Marylee Stephenson
Galatea 2.2, Richard Powers
Gambit, Rex Stout
The Game of Kings, Dorothy Dunnett
The Gate of Angels, Penelope Fitzgerald
The Gate to Women's Country, Sheri S. Tepper
Gentlemen of the Road, Michael Chabon
Gin, Patrick Dillon
Give the Boys a Great Big Hand, Ed McBain
The Glass Bead Game, Hermann Hesse
Glimpses, Lewis Shiner
Globalhead, Bruce Sterling
God Is Not One, Stephen Prothero
The God of Impertinence, Sten Nadolny
God Stalk, P.C. Hodgell
Gods Behaving Badly, Marie Phillips
The Gold Bug Variations, Richard Powers
Gold by Gemini, Jonathan Gash
The Golden, Lucius Shepard
The Goodbye Look, Ross Macdonald
Gospel, Wilton Barnhardt
The Grail Tree, Jonathan Gash
Grailblazers, Tom Holt
Graphic 4th of July
The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman
The Great California Game, Jonathan Gash
Great Mambo Chicken and the Transhuman Condition, Ed Regis
Griffin's Egg, Michael Swanwick
The Growth of the Graphic Novel Format in the U.S.
The Gun Seller, Hugh Laurie
Gun, with Occasional Music, Jonathan Lethem
Habibi, Craig Thompson
The Hacker Crackdown, Bruce Sterling
Half Magic, Edward Eager
Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, Haruki Murakami
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, J.K. Rowling
Hearing Secret Harmonies, Anthony Powell
Heatseeker, John Shirley
The Heckler, Ed McBain
Here Comes the Sun, Tom Holt
Heydey, W.M. Spackman
High Fidelity, Nick Hornby
His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
H.M.S. Surprise, Patrick O'Brian
Homicide, David Simon
Homicide Trinity, Rex Stout
Horror Free Zone
Hot Head, Simon Ings
Howl's Moving Castle, Diana Wynne Jones
How Much for Just the Planet, John M. Ford
How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Thomas C. Foster
How to Suppress Women's Writing, Joanna Russ
How to Write a Damn Good Thriller, James N. Frey
Hunters & Gatherers, Geoff Nicholson
Holy Fire, Bruce Sterling
I Served the King of England, Bohumil Hrabal (trans. Paul Wilson)
I. Asimov, Isaac Asimov
I'm OK - You're OK, Thomas Harris, M.D.
Icehenge, Kim Stanley Robinson
If You Can't Live Without Me, Why Aren't You Dead Yet?, Cynthia Heimel
The Importance of Detail
The Impossible Bird, Patrick O'Leary
Impossible Things, Connie Willis
In Trouble Again, Redmond O'Hanlon
Indelible Acts, A.L. Kennedy
Insanely Great, Steven Levy
Inside the Kingdom, Robert Lacey
The Internet Graphics Toolkit, Steve Rimmer
Internet Help: Two Books for the Perplexed
Into the Heart of Borneo, Redmond O'Hanlon
Ishmael, Daniel Quinn
It's Obvious You Won't Survive by Your Wits Alone, Scott Adams
The Jagged Orbit, John Brunner
Jaguars Ripped My Flesh, Tim Cahill
James Branch Cabell and Richmond-In-Virginia, Edgar E. MacDonald
James and the Giant Peach, Roald Dahl
Jar of Fools, Jason Lutes
Jhereg, Steven Brust
Jonathan Carroll
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Susanna Clarke
JSA: Darkness Falls
JSA: Justice Be Done
The Judas Pair, Jonathan Gash
The Jungle Book, Rudyard Kipling
Kai Lung's Golden Hours, Ernest Bramah
The Killing Joke, Alan Moore et al.
The Kingdom of Kevin Malone, Suzy McKee Charnas
Kissing the Beehive, Jonathan Carroll
Kissing the Witch, Emma Donoghue
Knight's Castle, Edward Eager
Lives in Writing, David Lodge
Lunatics, Bradley Denton
Last Chance to See, Douglas Adams and Mark Cawardine
The Last Good Kiss, James Crumley
Learn Photography in a Weekend, Michael Langford
Life Among the Savages, Shirley Jackson
The Life of Python, George Perry
Light Elements, Judith Stone
The Literary Life and Other Curiosities, Robert Hendrickson
The Little Nugget, P.G. Wodehouse
Live from Golgotha, Gore Vidal
The Lives of Christopher Chant, Diana Wynne Jones
Lives on the Boundary, Mike Rose
The Locusts Have No King, Dawn Powell
The Long Lavender Look, John D. MacDonald
Look to Windward, Iain M. Banks
Lords and Ladies, Terry Pratchett
Lost in Place, Mark Salzman
Lucifer, Volume 1: Devil in the Gateway
Lucky Jim, Kingsley Amis
The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove, Christopher Moore
La Luz Canyon, Royce Allen
Lysistrata, Aristophanes (trans. by Douglass Parker)
Magic Words, Lance Parkin
Magic Realists from the Genre Side of Things
The Magicians, Lev Grossman
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Oliver Sacks
The Man Whose Teeth Were All Exactly Alike, Philip K. Dick
The Man with Two Left Feet and Other Stories, P.G. Wodehouse
Maps and Legends, Michael Chabon
The Marriage of Sticks, Jonathan Carroll
The Martini, Barnaby Conrad III
Mary Poppins, P.L. Travers
Master and Commander, Patrick O'Brian
Mastering Magic Cards, George Baxter & Larry Smith
May Week Was in June, Clive James
Medea the Sorceress, Diane Wakoski
Meeting in Infinity, John Kessel
Mefisto in Onyx, Harlan Ellison
The Mexican Tree Duck, James Crumley
The Mezzanine, Nicholson Baker
Microserfs, Douglas Coupland
Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie
A Miscellany of Short Fiction
Miss Shumway Waves a Wand, James Hadely Chase
Molly Ivins Can't Say That, Can She?
Monty Python's Life of Brian
The Mother Hunt, Rex Stout
The Mountain Cage and Other Stories, Pamela Sargent
The Mountains of Mourning, Lois McMaster Bujold
Much Ado About Nothing, Kenneth Branagh
The Muddy Fork and Other Things, James Crumley
My Man Jeeves, P.G. Wodehouse
My Top 10 Favorite Books (as of 1997)
My Top 10 Favorite Short Stories (as of 1998)
Myst: The Book of Atrus
The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana, Umberto Eco
MOO, Jane Smiley
The Names of Magic
National Rifle Association: Money, Firepower, and Fear, Josh Sugarmann
Nebula Awards 31, ed. by Pam Sargent
Nebula Awards 33, ed. by Connie Willis
Neither Here Nor There, Bill Bryson
The Neon Rain, James Lee Burke
A Nervous Splendor, Frederic Morton
Neverness, David Zindell
Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman
Neverwinter Nights Official Worldbuilder Guide
The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern
No Deals, Mr. Brown
Non-Fantasy Fantasy Novels
The Nonexistent Knight and The Cloven Viscount, Italo Calvino
Novelty, John Crowley
Nude Men, Amanda Filipacchi
Of Men and Monsters, William Tenn
The Once and Future King, T.H. White
One for the Morning Glory, John Barnes
One of Us, Michael Marshall Smith
Only Begotten Daughter, James Morrow
Our Landlady, L. Frank Baum
Out on Blue Six, Ian McDonald
Overtime, Tom Holt
P.G. Wodehouse, David A. Jasen
Pale Fire, Vladimir Nabokov
The Panda's Thumb, Stephen Jay Gould
Panel Discussions, Durwin S. Talon
The Panic Hand, Jonathan Carroll
Parable of the Sower, Octavia Butler
Passing, Nella Larsen
Pattern Recognition, William Gibson
Patterns, Pat Cadigan
The Penguin Book of British Comic Stories, ed. by Patricia Craig
The Phantom Tollbooth, Norman Juster
The Pirate's Daughter, Robert Girardi
Pnin, Vladimir Nabokov
Poor Things, Alasdair Gray
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce
Possession, A.S. Byatt
Post Captain, Patrick O'Brian
Postcards from the Edge, Carrie Fisher
Practical Demonkeeping, Christopher Moore
Preston Sturges by Preston Sturges
Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
The Prince and Betty, P.G. Wodehouse
Promethea, Vol. 1, Alan Moore et al.
Prydain Chronicles, Lloyd Alexander
The Psychology of Everyday Things, Donald A. Norman
Pulphouse #15
Pulphouse #16
Putting on the Ritz, Joe Keenan
Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction, Patricia Highsmith
The Quark and the Jaguar, Murray Gell-Mann
The Quarry, Iain Banks
Queen Lucia, E.F. Benson
A Question of Upbringing, Anthony Powell
The Quetzal and the Macaw, David Rains Wallace
Quin's Shanghai Circus, Edward Whittemore
The Rainbow, D. H. Lawrence
Raw Spirit: In Search of the Perfect Dram, Iain Banks
Ready Player One, Ernest Cline
The Red Magician, Lisa Goldstein
Remake, Connie Willis
Remaking History, Kim Stanley Robinson
Replay, Ken Grimwood
Requiem, Graham Joyce
Resume with Monsters, William Browning Spencer
Resurrection Man, Sean Stewart
A Right to Die, Rex Stout
Riotous Assembly, Tom Sharpe
Rogue, Volume 1: Going Rogue
Rolling Nowhere, Ted Conover
The Runaway Bride, Elizabeth Kendall
A Room of One's Own, Virginia Woolf
Rubyfruit Jungle, Rita Mae Brown
The Salterton Trilogy, Robertson Davies
Sandman: Fables and Recollections, Neil Gaiman et al.
A Saucerful of Secrets, Nicholas Schaffner
Say Goodbye, Lewis Shiner
The Scarlet Ruse, John D. MacDonald
Scissors Cut Paper Wrap Stone, Ian McDonald
See Them Die, Ed McBain
A Selection of Wallace Stevens Poems
Setting Free the Bears, John Irving
Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu, Doug Moench and Paul Gulacy
The Shape of Further Things, Brian W. Aldiss
A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush, Eric Newby
Silicon Embrace, John Shirley
Sinai Tapestry, Edward Whittemore
Small Presses and Small Stories
The Smiths' Meat is Murder, Joe Pernice
Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
Social and Ethical Effects of the Computer Revolution
The Soloist, Mark Salzman
Some of Your Blood, Theodore Sturgeon
Something Fresh, P.G. Wodehouse
The Song of the Dodo, David Quammen
Sorcery & Cecelia, Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer
Spacetime Donuts, Rudy Rucker
Speaking in Tongues, Ian McDonald
Spend Game, Jonathan Gash
A Splendid Chaos, John Shirley
Stalking the Angel, Robert Crais
Starting from Scratch, Rita Mae Brown
The State of the Art, Iain M. Banks
Steel Beach, John Varley
Stiff Upper Lip, Lawrence Durrell
Stone of Farewell, Tad Williams
The Stormwatcher, Graham Joyce
The Story of the Stone, Barry Hughart
The Stress of Her Regard, Tim Powers
Stupid White Men, Michael Moore
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman, Richard P. Feynman
Surrender the Pink, Carrie Fisher
Swordspoint, Ellen Kushner
A Tan and Sandy Silence, John D. MacDonald
Tea from an Empty Cup, Pat Cadigan
Technopoly, Neil Postman
Temporary Kings, Anthony Powell
The Texas-Israeli War: 1999, Howard Waldrop and Jake Saunders
Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston
There Were Two Pirates, James Branch Cabell
They All Laughed, Ira Flatow
This Salzburg, Count Ferdinand Czernin
Thoughts on Harry Potter
A Thousand Acres, Jane Smiley
Ticket to Latvia, Marcos Tanner
To Say Nothing of the Dog, Connie Willis
The Tooth Fairy, Graham Joyce
Top Ten, Alex Ogg
The Tough Guide to Fantasyland, Diana Wynne Jones
Towing Jehovah, James Morrow
A Traveler's Guide to the Galapagos Islands, Barry Boyce
Trillion Year Spree, Brian Aldiss and David Wingrove
Trio for Blunt Instruments, Rex Stout
The Tunnel of Love, Peter De Vries
Turn Signals are the Facial Expressions of Automobiles, Donald A. Norman
The Turquoise Lament, John D. MacDonald
Two Books on Sleep
Two by Fry
Two by McPhee
Two Novels by Nancy Mitford
Two One-Act Plays by Durang
The Ultimate Egoist, Theodore Sturgeon
Ulysses, James Joyce
Uncharted Territory, Connie Willis
Unconquered Countries, Geoff Ryman
Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud
Understanding Europeans, Stuart Miller
Uneasy Money, P.G. Wodehouse
Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink, Elvis Costello
The Urth of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
Use of Weapons, Iain M. Banks
Veronica, Nicholas Christopher
Virago Book of Fairy Tales, ed. by Angela Carter
Virtual Tourists
A Voice from the Attic, Robertson Davies
Voyage to the Red Planet, Terry Bisson
The Wall of the Sky, The Wall of the Eye, Jonathan Lethem
Walter Jon Williams: The Evolution of a Novelist
The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts, Louis de Bernieres
Warm Worlds and Otherwise, James Tiptree, Jr.
The Warrior's Apprentice, Lois McMaster Bujold
Watch Your Mouth, Daniel Handler
We've Got Blog
Wealth 101, John-Roger and Peter McWilliams
The Weblog Handbook, Rebecca Blood
The Westing Game, Ellen Raskin
What They Did to Princess Paragon, Robert Rodi
What's Going on Here? ed. by Colin Harrison
Whit, Iain Banks
White Apples, Jonathan Carroll
The White Deer, James Thurber
Why Christianity Must Change or Die, John Shelby Spong
The Wild Shore, Kim Stanley Robinson
Wild Things, Mike Capuzzo
Will the Real Sydney Harbour Please Stand Up, David Baboulene
Wired 1.2
Wired 1.3
The Wisdom of Crowds, James Surowiecki
Woe Is I, Patricia T. O'Conner
A Wolverine is Eating My Leg, Tim Cahill
The Women of Brewster Place, Gloria Naylor
Words are My Matter, Ursula K. Le Guin
Words Fail Me, Patricia O'Conner
The Writer's Journey, Christopher Vogler
Writing the Natural Way, Gabriele Lusser Rico
Writing the Novel, Lawrence Block
Wry Martinis, Christopher Buckley
Wyrd Sisters, Terry Pratchett
A Year in Provence, Peter Mayle
You Are a Writer, Jeff Goins
The Year of Reading Pratchett
The Year's 25 Finest Crime & Mystery Stories: First Annual Collection
The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Fifth Annual Collection, ed. by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling
The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror: Sixth Annual Collection, ed. by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling
The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Seventh Annual Collection, ed. by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling
The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Eighth Annual Collection, ed. by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling
The Year's Best Science Fiction: Ninth Annual Collection, ed. by Gardner Dozois
The Year's Best Science Fiction: 10th Annual Collection
You're Not Fooling Anyone When You Take Your Laptop to a Coffee Shop: Scalzi on Writing, John Scalzi
Zami, Audre Lorde
Zod Wallop, William Browning Spencer
About the Author
Index of People Mentioned
Chronology of Original Publications
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First Impressions Copyright © 2016 by Glen Engel-Cox is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.