The original meme was “Name 15 books that will always stick with you.” I’m doing “15 books that were important to you in your protean formative years as a scribbler.” They are, in no particular order (and yes, I will cheat and group some books together):

The Lord of the Rings
Citizen of the Galaxy
The Face in the Frost
The Weirdstone of Brisingamen
Perilous Dreams
Something Wicked This Way Comes
The Last Unicorn
Waiting for the Galactic Bus
The Book of Three
The Last Rainbow
The Earthsea Trilogy
Night’s Black Agents
Conjure Wife
The Best of Fritz Leiber
The Martian Chronicles
The Alien

Astute readers (or just those who can count) will note that there are 16 books/Sets listed, not 15. Actually, I could have gone a lot more than fifteen easily, but I’ve included one, The Alien, because it has a special place in my heart and always willt–it was the first book I ever read where I announced to myself, knowing it was true, “I can write better than that.”