My main project at the moment is typing up a list of authors and books I have enjoyed. Your xombite on Harry Potter got my attention, because J. K. Rowling is one on my list. My husband couldn’t stand reading much of anything, but he took to the Potter series like a bee to honey. We listened to the audio books together, and I really appreciated the time we got to share together. I am putting some of the author summaries I have come up with in this comment, and please pardon, because I’ve not spell checked them yet; I’m going to do that when my document is complete, which will take another two weeks or so. I tried to list kid-friendly authors, as that seemed to be what you were doing, or at least keep the serious romance low. Some authors write in more than one genre, and I haven’t deleted any summary I wrote about the books by an author that did not fit in your reading category, so I wouldn’t spend all day writing this comment. Yolen, Jane: The Dragon Pitt trilogy, beginning with Dragon’s Blood, provides the science fiction tale of a teenage bond servant working in a dragon nursery. If he can steal a dragon egg, hatch the egg, and teach the dragon to fight, he might be able to raise the money to buy himself out of bond. The trilogy is very reminiscent of Mercedes Lackey’s Dragon Jousters series. It is the year 1306, and as English armies invade Scotland, spunky eleven-year-old Princess Marjorie, the daughter of King Robert the Bruce, is captured and put on public display, locked in an iron cage. Girl In A Cage tells the story of how Marjorie overcame her imprisonment and of her strange encounters with King Edward Longshanks. Williams, Tad: Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn is an adventurous fantasy trilogy - beginning with The Dragonbone Chair – telling the saga of the orphaned kitchen boy, Simon, who eventually grows into his true potential, under the guidance and friendship of princes, fairy folk, trolls, members of the League of the Scroll, and an entire cast of well-developed characters; Simon and his friends must save the medieval empire from the Storm King by uniting the three legendary swords: Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn. Follow Tailchaser, a cat on a mission, in Tailchaser’s Song; when many cats in his small town go missing – including his female friend – Tailchaser goes on a quest to find them, with an unwilling sidekick, finding out about the big wide world, meeting cat royalty, and coming face-to-face with ancient cat legend. Aiken, Joan: Though she concentrates on young audiences, this author’s works often appeal to all ages. One of her collections of fantastical short stories, Not What You Expected, includes stories in which a girl is put in touch with an ancient king through an out-of-order telephone booth and a dragon keeps a museum. Eliza’s Daughter is the “sequel” to Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, where an orphan girl, brought up in a home for the illegitimate children of noblemen, is brought into the household of the Dashwoods. Anthony, Piers: Science fiction and humor feature highly in this author's many works. Check out the Xanth series, where a fantasy land occasionally bumps up against the real world. This series takes puns and jokes to a new level and is not for persons who don’t absolutely love humor and can laugh at how funny as well as how stupid a pun was. Be sure to make the acquaintance of the Good Magician, the current King, the Muses, the sea monster, ogres, goblins, and the Gap Dragon. Start the series with A spell for Chameleon. Blaylock, James P.: In this book for young readers, thre orphan boys, best friends, in a California town, believe they can finally discover the link to the summer solstice and the strange happenings that occur around that date, in Land of Dreams. The unusual occurrences are greater this year: a boot and a pair of reading glasses fit for a giant wash up on the beach, the hermit crab population overflows the beach into the town, and an astonishing magical landscape often appears in the sky. Byatt, A.S: Elementals: Stories of Fire and Ice is a collection of fantasy short stories dealing with the human condition, and how capability with magical creatures might be a comfort or a problem. Card, Orson Scott: Seventh Son begins the Alvin Maker saga, an alternate history of the United States, set in the 1800s, where everyone has a magic talent. Alvin is the seventh sone of a seventh son, meaning he has an unusually strong talent, that, even as a yong child, causing him to have the enmity of the destructive force of the world. Dickinson, Peter: This author’s works of suspense, science fiction, fantasy, and adventure have spanned many decades. Most notable are - Annerton Pit: Chronicals a blind teenager and his brother’s search for their missing grandfather, leading them to an abandoned mine; A Bone from A Dry Sea: Two girls are linked by a scattering of fossils though born more than four million years apart – Li is an inventive semi-sea-dwelling hominid and Vinny, in the 20th century on an archeological dig with her father in Africa; Eva: Trapped in an irreversible coma, Eva’s brain patterns are transferred into a chimp named Kelly, creating a preteen with the body and instincts of a chimp for which everyone must adapt; Healer: Barry wants to discover if the young girl he once knew is being held against her will in a clinic, where it is claimed she can heal people; King and Joker: This spoof begins books awhere England is still a kingdom where the king has a live-in mistress (whith whom the Queen is best friends), Prince Albert is a vegetarian, and Princess Louise curiously observes everyone, providing entertaining commentary. Elliott, Kate: The fantasy seven-book cycle, Crown of Stars, is a fictional representation of the time just after the Holy Roman Empire dispanded. King Henry of Wendar and Varre is threatened by the Eika - a race of reptile-like men - to the north and by his half-sister Sabella's attempt at civil war within the realm. Liath – a sorcerer’s daughter, Alain – presumed son of a count, and the king’s bastard son – captain of the King’s Dragons – are just three of the characters whose personal struggles will effect the future of the kingdom. Begin with King’s Dragon. Jordan, Robert: The Wheel of Time epic is an absolute masterpiece on par with or possibly better than the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Set in its own world, the Wheel of Time series follows Rand and a group of his friends through a medieval landscape where magic, unusual creatures, and destiny are often helpful and often deadly. Rand’s destiny must be approached cautiously: The prophecy states he will save the world, only to destroy it. Begin with Eye of the World. Kerr, Katharine: The Dragon Mage is a fantasy trilogy, set in the kingdom of Deverry throughout a couple hundred years. A cast of reincarnated characters go about their lives, occasionally encountering a race of magical beings who, mostly good-natured, try to keep kingdoms from collapsing. The trilogy begins with The Red Wyvern. There is possibly more books based in the Deverry kingdom not yet encountered. Klause, Annette Curtis: Blood and Chocolate is the coming-of-age tale of Vivian, a female werewolf. When she is rejected by her human boyfriend after revealing her true nature, Vivian must come to terms with her place in the world. In The Silver Kiss, seventeen-year-old Zoe is trying to deal with the grief caused by the imminant death of her mother. When Simon, a vampire well over 100 years old, takes an interest in her, this gives Zoe a chance to talk to someone about loss that will truly understand; Simon is on a quest to revenge himself on his brother, the vampire who killed their mother and made Simon what he is. Krinard, Susan: To Catch A Wolf begins this authors supernatural romance series, set in the western territories during the late 1800s, where characters must come to terms with their werewolf nature and finding out you love a werewolf is not the worst thing that could happen to you. Kurtz, Katherine: There is a race of hard-to-kill sorcerers called Deryni living among the people, not just in the kingdom of Gwynedd. Few full-blooded Deryni are left, due to periodic crusades to kill them over the centuries. There was peace in the kingdom of Gwynedd for fifteen years, until the king was murdered. The hope of the kingdom now rests on young King Kelson, who, like his father, does not have a predjudice against the Deryni; this view will not hold him in good sted with the church of state, modeled on the medieval catholic church, as all Deryni or part Deryni are automatically excommunicat, and Kelson has kept his father’s half-Deryni adviser, Duke Morgan - but, Morgan may be the only friend Kelson has that can keep him alive long enough to be crowned. The series originally began with Deryni Rising, where Kelson gained the crown, but prequels were written; the entire group of novels now begins with Camber of Culdi, telling of the first Deryni, a bishop in the church, the populus blindly turned against. Lackey, Mercedes: This fantasy and science fiction writer’s most popular series is Valdimar, about a country in a world where magic and mental powers work. Begin with The Black Gryphon to get a feel for the history of this series or start with Magic’s Pawn to get to the meat of her genius. The Elemental Masters, begun by The Fire Rose, is a series involving magic in the most elemental sense. The elements are earth, fire, water, and wind; each element has it's own strengths and weaknesses, as well as it's own creatures on which to call (Knombs, salamanders, silphs.,…). She has created her own dragon series, based on ancient Egypt and how that dynasty would have been changed by the reality of dragons; the first Dragon Jousters book is Joust. McCaffrey: This author is an universally acknowledged master of science fiction and fantasy. Check out the PERN books for those of you that love the thought of good telepathic dragons helping humans survive on a newly colonized planet; start with Dragonflight. The Acorna series, beginning with Acorna the Unicorn Girl, highlights interspecies tension when a human-like unicorn girl, of a species never before encountered by humans, is rescued from a escape pod by humans; this series has also sponned a second generation of books about Acorna's children. The Ship series offers a look at a future where children that cannot live normally due to extremely severe physical handicaps, such as a severed spinal cord, have their bodies put into spaceships where their brain controls the ship's functions; through this connection with the ship, the person now has a form of arms, legs, and new appendages as well as a longed for roll in society - The Ship Who Sang, book #1. Schreiber, Ellen: In Vampire Kisses - first in the Vampire Kisses series -Goth teen Raven copes with her former fun hippie parents – now turned into responsible, normal corperate adults, nerdy brother, the school bully, and generally being an outcast in Dullsville. She falls in love with the idea that the new boy at school, Alexander, whose family has just moved into the town’s haunted mansion, is a vampire, as rumor has it; when the town’s suspizition about Alexander turns out to be true, Raven must decide between her loyalty to the boy she has come to love and the fear she feels when her goth dreams are proven reality. Also check out Margaret Weis’s Dragon Lance series, which I haven’t had time to write on yet. And… If you’re not bothered by extremely explicit romance, check out Laurell K. Hamilton at http://laurellkhamilton.org for her Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series and her Meredith Gentry Fairie Princess series, which, I make very clear here, are ABSOLUTELY not kid friendly and probably not so to many, many adults. Still, she is my favorite author, for, though she includes scenes that would make adult video stars blush, the story lines she uses are absolutely original and most often unpredictable, which is rare these days. I wish you luck in finding more books you’ll enjoy and wish you happy reading!!! With respect, Lori of shawnandlori Want to visit my best bites and blurbs?: - LEARN MY WINNING SCRABBLE STRATEGIES: AN INDEPTH LOOK AT HOW TO WIN THE CLASSIC BOARD GAME - ESSAY ON THERAPEUTIC RIDING: HOW HORSES HELP PEOPLE WITH PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL DISABILITIES - COINCIDENCE AND DÉJÀ VU DISCUSSION BLOG: DESCRIBE YOUR EXPERIENCES AND GIVE YOUR THEORIES - “THERE’S A CAT IN THE WAY”: A POEM INSPIRED BY REAGANNE, MY CAT - “THE SIGHT”: SPOOKY XOMBA SHORT STORY CONTEST ENTRY - VIEW A COLLECTION OF WEBSITES ON MCCAIN AND OBAMA TO LEARN THEIR VIEWS AND SEE THEIR PASSED VOTING RECORDS - HOW TO GET KIDS AND ADULTS TO EAT THEIR SPINACH: SPINACH CHEESE CASSEROLE - FIND OUT IF YOU HAVE THE INTELLIGENCE OF A LION, HYENA, GIRAFFE, GAZELLE, WILDEBEEST, KITE, OR MEERKAT BY ANSWERING THIS RIDDLE - A COLLECTION OF RESOURCES ON HURRICANE AND TROPICAL STORM EFFECTS, HISTORY, FORECASTING, AND PREPARATION shawnandlori