I liked King, especially his earlier stuff. But he's completely run out of steam now, and whilst the earlier Dark Tower stuff was stunning, the later additions just dissolved into a self-plagiarism wankfest.

Thomas Covenant isn't without hope, but yes, the first series does get a bit much at times. Second series works better, I think.

Gormenghast I'll throw away without hesitation - what a hopeless waste of paper.

Also any novel by Arthur C Clarke - the man is incapable of writing well over a novel, in spite of his good ideas (although some of his short stories are OK). Don't even think about reading the Rama series.

Also on sci-fi, the three Ringworld novels by Larry Niven, especially the third.

Early Tom Clancy was OK. But forget any Tom Clancy books after "Clear and Present Danger", when he makes it clear that his political position is somewhere to the right of Ghenghis Khan. Especially the "Rainbow 6" crap. Thanks, but "the bad guys are bad, so the good guys can kill and torture them at will" isn't for me.

Hunter S Thompson's "work" is all one long wankfest as well. OK, you've taken loads of dope. Why should we pay to hear about it?

That's my hit list, or as much as I can bear to remember for now anyway. :-)

Graham.