Beginnings and Endings

Some recent events have got me looking back upon how I got started in this field.  I first read Tolkien in the summer of 1973, and for the next few years I looked for anything similar to Tolkien to read.  There were some notable successes, like Lord Dunsany, Ursula K. Le Guin, Clark Ashton Smith, and Patricia A. McKillip.  I relished what I could then find of the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series,