Of course it was obvious it was a joke... As was my playing along... Sheesh! lol.

One obvious one I should have remembered (back on topic) are the various series by Raymond E. Feist. Most people are fanboys of the Magician series, but my personal favorite is the Serpentwar Saga (I think I have the right set in mind, there's quite a few to pick from, and I don't have one in front of me to verify EDIT: just verified lol). Of that series, I find myself re-reading Rise of a Merchant Prince most often. I find the way Feist describes early market trading/speculating/investing to be incredibly fascinating; and beyond that I find Roo to be my favorite character (and his buddy Luis de Savona) of any he created in any of the books. Aside from that one book he stars in, it feels like he gets a little overlooked elsewhere.

My next favorite would be the Riftwar Legacy, as it's the series that got me into Feist in the first place. His best writing, and most fleshed-out characters of any of his books, in my opinion. Particularly the interactions between a young Jimmy the Hand and Prince Arutha, that relationship is one that jumps off the pages.

As much as I enjoy his work, unless you really find you like the early series, avoid the later ones; namely the last two - the Demonwar Saga and the Chaoswar Saga. Maybe I just haven't re-read them enough, but something about them doesn't grab me the way the other do.

Let's see... Beyond Feist and the others I mentioned... Piers Anthony, Terry Goodkind, Robin Hobb, Jack Whyte, David Eddings, his wife Leigh Eddings... All I can come up with at the moment.

A good book I read was Amity by Micol Ostow. The basis is this: there is a house in New Orleanes you call...Oh forget it

Anydangway, it's like this: there was the burial ground of a shamanistic Native American tribe. They built a house on top of that that was used as a safe house during the Salem witch trials. And then they used that as an insane asylum.

Nice place huh?

The book chronicles two teens 28 day stay in the house, named what the fuck do you think. There's Connor, a kid with sociopathis tendencies who Amity reaches out to. 10 years later, Gwen comes, a girl who has a history of mental health issues that might actually have magic powers. (And for some odd reason, I picture as Toph from Avatar: The Last Airbender).

Ostow really writes the story well, going back on forth between two time periods. Also, there's an obvious Stephen King influence, especially in Gwen's chapters.

scruffy said
it seemed odd, so i looked it up.  

says new orleans was founded twenty-five years after the salem trials.  

  

...It was a joke. Like the song The House of The Rising Sun. And if the house was used during the Salem with trials that would imply that the house was in New England