Nice work, Garg.

Since someone else has broached Stephen King, I'll own up to liking his stuff too. His short stories are a bit spotty, but the "Diff'rent Seasons" collection is brilliant (not supernatural horror, more "character horror" like Dolores Claiborne). Green Mile is pretty good too, but not a patch on the similar story in Diff'rent Seasons. For supernatural, "Firestarter" is OK. Most other horror writers (James Herbert, Dean Koontz, etc) can safely be ignored.

One other horror writer worth reading though is Richard Matheson. "I am Legend" is amazing, and many others worth reading too. Don't bother with "Hell House" though, stick to the original story (by Shirley Jackson I think?).

If you're a *very* fast or dedicated reader, the "Gap" series by Stephen Donaldson is worth a go. He's a pretentious SOB and the writing is often slow, but the scope of the series is seriously impressive. Similarly a bit slow but over a grand scale (and less pretentious) is Tad Willams' "Memory, Sorrow and Thorn" series. The former is space-opera S/F (loosely themed on Wagner's Ring), the latter is traditional fantasy.

Changing theme, a book to be appreciated by singers and drinkers is "Whisky Galore" by Compton Mackenzie. Very funny.

Back to S/F, John Wyndham. Nuff said. Although I will mention a few for Garg's spreadsheet ("Day of the Triffids", "The Chrysalids", "The Midwich Cuckoos").

Graham.

PS. I must confess to not seeing the attraction of Ian Banks. I read them and think "So what?" - it feels like a mental McDonalds meal.