Steven Brust

[davedoty]

I was curious how many fans of Steven Brust's books are in these parts.  He and Terry Pratchett are the only two contemporary writers I enjoyed in my teens in the 80s and have continued to follow continuously into the present.

I particuarly enjoy Brust because he is so clearly fascinated by the formal aspects of the craft.  Almost every new project he undertakes, especially those outside his main Vlad Taltos series, attempt to find a new story structure, or a radically different authorial style, or something to make it completely unlike his previous books.

To be candid, I'm not certain how well his career has been served by making the Vlad Taltos novels the backbone of his body of work.  I deeply enjoyed the first couple of novels in the series, but they were rooted in a brief infatuation with the mafia, and ever since, there's been a certain level of discomfort in later novels as Brust's life takes him and his interests in a radically different direction than the character was really well-designed to go.  Still, after several mediocre-to-disappointing novels in the middle of the series, the last few volumes seem to have found their feet again, and I am once again enjoyihg the series, even if there's still a big part of me that would be more interested to see what he would produce if he were writing more outside of his main series.

Are there any other fans out there?

[sirana]

Big Brust fan here. I agree that the mafia-type Taltos novels are better than the non-mafia ones, Phoenix beeing my (close) favourite. 
I am always surprised how much his style varies even within the Taltos series, but the non Taltos ones are so different you can't believe they are written by the same author ;-)
How much of his non Taltos stuff have you read?

[sirana]

Oh, and of course Jhegaala comes out July, 8th. Can't wait...

[davedoty]

I've read all of his novels, and whatever short stories I've been able to find.  (Mostly the Vlad-related ones that are on the net.)

I would probably pick The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars as a favorite, but then I read it when I was a pretentious teenager.  The epistolary novel and the Dumas-inspired Phoenix Guards trilogy are also particular favorites.

[davedoty]

Oh, and Brokedown Palace.  See what I mean about liking his experimental non-Vlad stuff more?

[DKT]

I've read a little bit of his stuff -- the first Taltos book which was entertaining and Cowboy Feng's Space Bar and Grille (which admittedly, I bought for the title and cover illustration).  I didn't enjoy Cowboy Feng's as much as I wanted to, but I would like to read more of his stuff. 

[davedoty]

I think Cowboy Feng was one of his weakest books: a generic story built around a twist I was able to guess.

If someone wanted a single volume to display him at his best, I would probably recommend Brokedown Palace, or possibly the first volume of The Phoenix Guards series.

Or The Sun, the Moon and the Stars, but that's not really SF, although one of the characters tells a fantasy story in pieces throughout.

[sirana]

The Sun, the Moon and the Stars is probably my favourite non-Taltos, too, but "To Reign in Hell" has much going for it as well.
I really liked Cowboy Feng's as well, though probably more for the characters than the story (honestly that is true for me for all of his books with the exception of "To Reign in Hell".

The Gypsy and Brokedown Palace didn't do as much for me, probably because I am not one for classical folk tales, Gypsy struck me as badly told as well.

The Kaavren Books I like for the ballsiness of writing a Dumas tale in the end of the 20th century and for Tazendra. They could get a bit lengthy, though, they are the only ones of his works that I didn't read more than once.

Agyar was a strange, sweet little story which did the difficult job of telling a vampire story without resorting to clichee very well.

Freedom and Necessity  I layed down several times before finishing, but in retrospect I like it, though it is not under my favorite.

I've read a couple of his short stories, but to be honest short stories are not Steven's strong point imho.

[shwankie]

Big Brust fan here, too. Working on getting Thaur to read the Kaavren books and then the Taltos series. I haven't read all of his stuff, but most of what I haven't is on my Amazon list :-)