My Terrible Addiction
by J. Andrews

"Hello, my name is J, and I'm a bookaholic." Who do I blame for my addiction? Well, I could blame my teachers for teaching me to read. I could blame my parents for encouraging this nasty habit. But I think I must ultimately blame the authors. The good ones ensured that my fixes were strong and overpowering. That just led to me needing more of them, more of the same quality. It's the quality that's difficult to come by. I've read countless boring, tedious, trite books, trying desperately to find something good. Oh, it was horrible.

It still is horrible, but I've done pretty good the last few months. Lately I've read Luck in the Shadows and Stalking Darkness by Lynn Flewelling and Voices of Hope and Patriarch's Hope by David Feintuch. Feintuch's a fairly recent addiction of mine. It began with The Still and then branched out into his Seafort Saga books. Horrible, horrible. Good books like these just feed my addiction.

So after I finished those four books, I needed some more fixes. My preferred method of procuring them is buying online. So I placed an order. Psi-Man #1 and #2 by Peter David (originally published as David Peters), Traitor's Moon, the third and last in the Lynn Flewelling series I was reading, and Star Trek: New Frontier #9 and #10 by Peter David, due out in 2 weeks. Well.

All well and good that. I'd have a few fixes and then in two weeks, I'd have a couple more. So then I get put in charge of ordering books for my mother's book club. In order to use the coupons most effectively, I have to put in a couple different orders, and throw in some books of my own. Of course. So then I picked up Star Trek: New Earth #1 by Diane Carey, I believe, and the third in Robin Hobb's Liveship series. Bad. Very bad. That last was hardcover. You know your addiction to an author is bad when you're unable to wait for the paperback.

So I have all these books arriving. Three are in the mail already. But what to do until then? Well, I'll have to read one of the books I have sitting around. But to read one I haven't read yet is risking reading something horrible. So, instead, I'm rereading Robin Hobb's Assassin's Apprentice, which will just lead to having to read the next two in that series. Lesigh.

And what do I do once I read all those books on order? Well, there are four other Psi-Man books if I decide the first two are any good. Then there's the out of print book Analog's Children of the Future that I've been wanting to get. I first read that in the library.

But after that? I don't know.. Feintuch won't have one out soon. Robin Hobb certainly won't. Peter David.. well, he might, but probably not for a couple months and then it might be Incredible Hulk or something. I could branch out into more Peter David books, I suppose. I could read the chapters Orson Scott Card has put up online from his new books coming out. But that would make it so much more difficult to wait for their release.

What to do, what to do.. if anyone reading this can suggest some good science fiction or fantasy books, I'd much appreciate it. If it's got yaoi or yuri themes, so much the better. Must. Get. Fix.

If this has woken up your own addiction, then let me plug Barnes and Noble. (Go to dealcatcher first and get yourself a coupon.)