jaxx6166: Geez, I don't know why he was shocked about that. Sword of Shannara is one of my top ten favorite fantasy books. I even took one of my short stories and used it as an experiment to see if I could write a short fantasy piece using his writing style. I didn't get very close to his true style (although you can see hints of his form in the story), but it helped me focus my writing well enough that it's turned out to be one of my highest rated short stories.
So I give him huge props, not just for his writing style, and stories, but for the fact that he helped make me a better author.
BillSmithBooks: Thanks. That link will be hugely useful to me.