Posted to (St. Paul Pioneer Press) Bulletin Board, August 22, 2003

THE HIGHFALUTIN PLEASURES

Poet X of PDX: "I've always dreamt of a 'search engine' where one could enter the names of, say, three favorite authors and get a list of 'suggested authors' — and here it is: the Global Network of Dreams, at www.gnod.net. Fun for hours. I'm especially impressed that it's finding authors I like but aren't part of my 'search group.' (When I typed in Vonnegut, Robbins [Bulletin Board wonders: Harold — or Tom?] and Austen, for example, Gnod suggested Italo Calvino and Kafka and Raymond Carver, three authors I already enjoy.

"You can also go to each author's page individually and see a 'suggested' list. I was curious what could possibly be suggested after William S. Burroughs — besides a frontal lobotomy (just kidding). Anne Rule, a true-crime writer who gained fame with her account of serial killer Ted Bundy, was on the list. She got her start in the Pacific Northwest, and her name has cropped up often enough in the past year that she'd recently been added to my 'to read' list already. I'm still flabbergasted that she's on the list of writers one might like if they like Burroughs.

"After a half-hour of playing around with different combinations of three authors, I haven't even started playing with this dream-come-true! I hope you find it half as fun as I do.

"P.S. There's also a section for music: Enter three bands you like, and presto! A 'try this' list. My first two sets of three very disparate artists gave me the same unheard-of-before suggestion. I'm going out to find some Nickel Creek music ASAP."