h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

What do you recommend?

Tom Holt - Here Comes The Sun is very funny and I actually prefer him to Pratchett (if that isn't blasphemy!)

Tom Holt's Djinn Rummy is a brilliant book, definately one of the best I've read.

I haven't actually heard of the category "science fantasy" before, but I suspect it's the best place to put the works of Barry Hughart - the "novel[s] of an ancient China that never was". They combine history, fantasy, science and humour in a remarkable way, and are among the most readable (as measured by the numbers of times I have started to read one of these books in the evening and looked up to realise that the clock had turned around to 4 o'clock, and I would have to resign myself to being late for work in the morning again) I have ever read.

The three novels I am thinking of are:-

The bridge of birds

The story of the stone

Eight skilled gentlemen

I think Random is the publisher with rights to the book, and I know that the books themselves are almost impossible to get here in Australia.

It is blasphemy! Mind you, I would have to say that some of the Discworld series take more 'getting into' than others, while some are really accessible for first-time readers.

Early Anne McCaffrey books are good as science fantasy. She has written over 50 books, and some are quite good.

Read Dragonflight, Dragonquest, and The White Dragon for starters. If you are particularly interested in the science behind the books, read Dragonsdawn.

Please note that her more recent works suffer from recycled character syndrome and unresolved plot syndrome. Be especially wary of any book listing her as a co-author.

There.s the harper hall trilogy - Dragonsong, Dragonsinger and Dragondrums. I think they fit between Dragonquest and the White Dragon (as Dragonsong overlaps with Dragonquest, although it has different characters in)

You're right. Those are very good also.