These are some of the many authors and books that have been recommended to me (they've been cited as inspiring D&D), and that I've never had time to read. I can't pretend that I have time to read them now, but if I had some of them around, maybe I could look at them, say, in the 2.8 seconds each night between going to bed and falling asleep. <wry grin>

• Anderson, Poul.
  • The Broken Sword
  • The High Crusade

• Bellairs, John.
  • The Face in the Frost

• Brown, Fredric.

• de Camp, L. Sprague.
  • Lest Darkness Fall
    
  • Fallible Fiend

• de Camp, L. Sprague, and Fletcher Pratt.
  • Harold Shea Series
    1. The Incomplete Enchanter
    2. The Castle of Iron
    3. Wall of Serpents
    4. Sir Harold and the Gnome King (de Camp alone)
    5. The Enchanter Reborn (de Camp alone)
    6. The Exotic Enchanter (de Camp alone)
  • Carnelian Cube

• Derleth, August.

• Dunsany, Lord.

• Offutt, Andrew J., ed.
  • Swords Against Darkness III

• Saberhagen, Fred.
  • Changeling Earth

• St. Clair, Margaret.
  • The Shadow People
    
  • Sign of the Labrys

• Vance, Jack.
  • The Dying Earth
  • The Eyes of the Overworld

• Weinbaum, Stanley.

• Wellman, Manly Wade.

• Williamson, Jack.