When I was growing up, my library at home (well, my Mum's library ... I never had much hope of not being an SF/Fantasy fan :) ) was a mix of Ann McCaffry, Andre Norton, and E.E. "Doc" Smith.

So I grew up with Pern, the Witch World, Kimball Kinnison, and the Family D'Alembert (yes, I know it mostly wasn't written by Smith) ...

It's sad to think that all of them are dead now ...

-- Brett