In no particular order, these books or series served as the foundation of my life as a hardcore fanboy.

1 - Tom Sayer & Huckleberry Finn - I lump them together because they were the beginning of a series. (We don't talk about Tom Sawyer Abroad.)

2 - The Chronicles of Narnia - When I was a kid, this was pretty much everyone's gateway into fantasy.

3 - The Lord of the Rings - This one changed everything.

4 - The Hardy Boys - I devoured these books. And Chet is the MAN!

5 - Myth Adventures - I got to these in high school, and they changed every preconception I'd made about what was possible within fantasy storytelling.

6 - Shannara - I didn't go far with these books, but the early ones I read had a profound impact on me. Yes, they were kinda Tolkien clones, but different enough to get me thinking in different ways. Elfstones was the first book that made me cry.

7 - Thieves World - My introduction to Sword and Sorcery and shared world storytelling. As I think back on these, I think they have more influence on Tears of Rage than I realized.

8 - The Belgariad - The natural next step after Shannara back in the 80s. This was a different kind of epic fantasy with a much different flavor of magic.

9 - The Vlad Taltos books - Got into these about the same time I start doing ren faire, and I eagerly dove into the world of Dragera and all those rapiers and assassins and sorcery and tiny winged lizard familiars. Still pretty cool that I've become friends with Steven Brust. While he didn't make my top 10 fanboy moments, he definitely gets an honorable mention. Tears of Rage has these fingerprints all over it.

10 - The Stainless Steel Rat - Slippery Jim Digriz is the galaxy's greatest thief. This is the first written science fiction I fell in love with.