BYBS:The Works of Steven Brust

The Man in Black.  Image from Wikipedia

Steven Brust writes a swords & sorcery series about a fellow named Vlad Taltos.  Vlad, and his wisecracking lizard sidekick Loiosh, go about on various adventures through the world of Dragerea.  One of the reasons I like the books in the Taltos series is that Dragerea seems like a well thought-out place with its own rules and history that give the impression that the story is larger than the glimpse that you get through the books.

Another aspect of Brust's work that I appreciate is that he tends to avoid creating huge, 500+ page novels that so many other authors fall prey to.  Maybe I'm just lazy, but I prefer books without quite so much fluff.

Brust also has a good sense of humor.  For example, he has a number of "deleted scenes" in his book Iorich.  In one scene Vlad has an argument with the author.  In another Vlad is just so happy then he ends up skipping through clouds of butterflies.

According to Mr. Brust, he has 19 novels in mind for the series.  To date, 13 have been printed, so I estimate that I should be OK for the next 6 years or so.  My plan is to promise that as long as he keeps writing, I won't try to write a novel.  And that way everyone's happy :-)