What to read?

Lately I’ve been reading Raymond Chandler. His work is exciting and well-written, with prose that is often more fun than the meaning, like a present where you can entertain yourself for half an hour with the ribbon and the wrapping paper before you even get to the contents. He’s been an inspiration for many scifi/fantasy authors, and (important for a person with little money and less shelf space) you can find lots of it in the library.

A lot of stuff I’m ‘supposed’ to like has been disappointing, especially erotica. In some cases I end up feeling like I’m a better writer than 99% of the folks writing erotica. It’s nice to go swim in a pool that’s big enough that my fiction is nothing but a modestly interesting backwater and whereever I swim I have plenty to learn.

However, it’s only a matter of time before I run out of Chandler.

So where should I go swim next?