A pagan USAF captain gave me The Elementals, by Morgan Llywellyn. He wore a little wooden pentacle on a leather string under his uniform. This book, with its four stories linked by Earth's elements of water, fire, air, and earth, spans thousands of years and delivers an ecological warning. Worth it for the terrifying last story alone, though they're all good.

My black dog ate my paperback copy of Dune, by Frank Herbert. I was re-reading this astonishingly good science fiction book, as I periodically do, and made the mistake of leaving it too near the edge of the kitchen table. Next thing I knew tiny slivers of paper Dune littered my backyard until it rained, when the pieces presumably settled into the soil. I thought I'd plant trees in the soil-pieces and they'd nourish the growth of foliage unknown on the planet Arrakis. Instead I moved to a new house. I also acquired a boxed set of the Dune books.

The Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand. Years ago at my first post-college "real job" I told an older colleague this book was a Top-3 Favorite of mine. His response was to smile cynically and say it used to be one of his favorites too, but he grew out of it. It's still a Top-3 Favorite of mine. I don't know what happened to him.

Watchers, by Dean Koontz, is this author's best work, followed closely by two more favorites Midnight and Lightening. It's a suspenseful story about a hero who meets a dog that's smarter than any canine could possibly be, only to be pursued by monsters both human and genetically altered. There is romantic love, though its tension pales to near nothing next to the story's nerve-twanging complications. Actually it's the hero's relationship with the intelligent dog ("fur face") that emotionally speared me by the novel's extremely satisfying end.

Clive Barker's dark Cabal (the movie "Nightbreed" is based on it) is one of his many great tales. I'm almost as impressed by this author's economical writing power and his obvious grasp of human nature as I am with his original stories. This one's a horror love story that begins with a trusted but secretly psychotic psychiatrist convincing the hero he's a murderer. Hunted, the hero seeks a safe haven with the shape-shifting Nightbreed.There's one gorgeously direct sex scene in Cabal that should be read by any romance novelist as an inoculation against purple prose.

I can't decide between It or The Stand by Stephen King, or maybe even his short story collection Skeleton Crew. Guess I'll go with It because the movie was so awful in comparison, and because my copy is so tattered, and because it's a super long novel that forces you to care and worry about the characters, and remember exactly what it's like to be a kid. This book was my all-time favorite for many years. Its addictive story did mean things to my heart. All that wrenching and pounding.

Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. Frighteningly believable, this is a lyrical and honest story told by Offred, about her experience in a not-that-far-in-the-future society where women's bodies are controlled by men. Creepy and fascinating. Skip the fictional "historical notes" after the end. They overexplain without giving additional resolution.

Silence of the Lambs, by Thomas Harris, is a tightly-written masterpiece of a thriller. It happens to be one of the very few movies I've seen based on a book that succeeds almost as much as the book. But, the novel offers more. More style. And a heroine who's just that little perfect bit more complex than Jody Foster. A well-constructed work, accessible and brilliant.

Strange Wine, a collection of short stories by Harlan Ellison. I once heard this man speak, and it's true that his voice is "liquid lava." His writing style is contagious and inspires funky brain trips. I felt compelled to write my short story "Her Sharp Little Straw" after reading Ellison.

Uglies, by Scott Westerfeld: "In a world of extreme beauty, anyone normal is ugly." Fascinating idea makes for fun science fiction. A well-told tale. Good by itself, but will also make you itch for the sequel: Pretties.

The character's voice in Expendable makes this book a treasure. James Alan Gardner invented a world where birthmarks have military value, and then plopped a rootable, "Expendable" heroine in the middle of an imaginative adventure that has one of the more satisfying climaxes I've ever read.