Oh, the Cotswolds are gorgeous. But I'm an ex-Londoner who commuted to Oxford on a semi-regular basis, and when I escaped, I headed southwest.

Hell, with the exception of the celtic fantasy I wrote at an editor's request, all my books are set in the west or southwest of England.

I'm almost afraid to tackle Cornwall, though. Who could Daphne Du Maurier's House on the Strand?

The first was about a group of kids that were isolated in this weird labyrinth thing. I seem to remember all the walls being white. They were conditioned - I feel like it was a Pavlov type experiment or something. They were forced to eat these synthetic food pellets, they did odd movements when they saw red or green lights. The only reason I remember that is because at the end they somehow escaped, but when they were on the street they saw a traffic light and they all started doing the movement....creeeeepy.

read it -- the were in some sort of a maze -- all stairs or something. There was one girl who ended up there from a richer family -whe knew what real meat was - the rest were orphans. -- the ideas was an experiment that was suposed to be a conditioned response thing... DH know the title, I always forget it. It was one of the first SF books I remember reading. Creeped me out enough that I stayed away from the genre for a long time.

Hey all, thanks for the suggestions... I'll definitely check out Drake's book... although the name sounds familiar so I may have read it already, although maybe I'm thinking of Dave Duncan (who I don't think has written any merlin/arthur stuff). Anyway, regarding Lee, I do remember the books being YA and definitely lighter than her more recent stuff (which is why I wasn't sure at first if it was the same author). I actually have a copy of Mists, my mom gave it to me a few years ago, but haven't read it yet... there's something about the Guinevere angle that puts me off... I did love Guy Gavriel Kay's trilogy which had a bit of the Guinevere story, but it wasn't the main focus. I can't remember the name of them at the moment...

Vivia is a vampire novel that asks the question, is immortality a curse? I keep forgetting to ask Jilli if she’s tried that one.

Yep, and I like it lots. But the Scarabae family are still my favorites.

I did love Guy Gavriel Kay's trilogy which had a bit of the Guinevere story, but it wasn't the main focus. I can't remember the name of them at the moment...

The Fionavar Tapestry.

t /Bob likes GGK

Rhiannon - I love The Changeover and have had a huge crush on Soren ever since I first read it ten years ago.

Have you read her Alchemy yet? It sounds very similar in some ways.

I preferred the Scarabae family to Vivia myself. Now let's start a book review campaign on Amazon that will force Tanith Lee's publisher to give us Blood Opera #4, dangitall.

Now let's start a book review campaign on Amazon that will force Tanith Lee's publisher to give us Blood Opera #4, dangitall.

I'm up for it. I have no idea how to go about doing so, but I'm all for it.

The best Arthur book to me, aside from Mallory, is Rosemary Sutcliff's Sword at Sunset, with Arthur as a chieftain trying to hold civilization together in post-Roman Britain. Rosemary Sutcliff is one of my favorites anyway; her books set me off on my adolescent obsession with Roman Britain. Yes, other children become obsessed with dinosaurs or horses or professional wrestlers. For me, it was Roman Britain.

Dani - no, I haven't read that one yet, but I think I may have to pick it up!!