Books

My first love is reading. I've been doing it since I was 4 and I've always got a book (or two) lying around, waiting for me to finish it off.
I've gone through genre phases, but my biggest, and longest lasting, is Science Fiction. I love the idea of something so obviously unreal, yet possible attainable.
I have around 600 books in my current collection. Of all the authors on my shelves, my favourites are Robert Heinlein and John Marsden.

Heinlein was considered a Grand Master of Science Fiction for good reason. For 50 years he imagined whole universes, thought up the most amazing and enduring characters, and even kept writing on his sick-bed. I have used the Robert Heinlein Opus to try and collect all of his published works and have managed to get a fair number of them - I've had books imported from all over the world in order to complete my collection. I need to start on his non-fiction now.

Of all the characters that Heinlein created, I especially love Lazarus Long and Mama Maureen. Strangely enough my favourite book., The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, doesn't even star them.

John Marsden is an excellent Australian author, who although classed as a writer for Young Adults, is enjoyed by all ages.
His most famous series is Tomorrow When The War Began, a 7 book series dealing with a group of teenagers and how they dealt with their lives after Australia was invaded and a war declared.
He has almost finished a follow-up trilogy, focussing on the original series' main character Ellie.

His first book, So Much To Tell You, is still one of his best and his poem, Prayer For The 21st Century, is beautiful and quite moving.

Comics

I was never much into comic books when I was a kid, mostly because they were almost impossible to get in my small town. Gaining access to the internet meant I was able to finally indulge myself :)
I have a huge list of comic titles and characters that I love, many of them carried over from my love of cartoons.
Some of the titles I currently follow include Batman, Robin, Runaways, Ex Machina, Legion of Super-Heroes, Flash, Birds of Prey, Cable & Deadpool and Gargoyles. I mostly follow super-hero comics, but anything that has an interesting story or eye-catching art often gets put on my list.
From getting into comics, I have been drawn into various fandoms, joined forums and made new friends.
The best part about being into comics (apart form the books themselves) has to be the fan creations. I love coming across new and wonderful fan-art and fan-fiction. I'm a Moderator at a comic discussion forum, and in addition to the discussion that goes on, there are plenty of creative people there (and a few silly ones ^_^).

Gargoyles

I'm mentioning this separately, simply because, without Disney's Gargoyles I wouldn't be anything like the person I am today.
Gargoyles is what drew me into fandom in the first place - I'd loved the cartoon, and when I discovered the online fandom, I immersed myself in it, making a tonne of friends along the way. Fanworks have kept me entertained, and the annual Gathering of the Gargoyles Convention is what got me to go on my first overseas vacation (check out Holidays to read about it). I even have my own gargoyle character, named Chameleon (check out Gift Art for pictures).
I adore the cartoon, which was well written, with great characters and situations. It's out on DVD now and the series is being continued in comic format, so I expect to get many more years of enjoyment out of it :)

Cartoons

I've loved cartoons since forever. Looney Tunes, Disney, Transformers, She-Ra, Spider-man, Batman, Gargoyles, Justice League ...
A long long list of toons that I have loved and still love. I've managed to get my hands on DVDs for some of them (others are on my list of 'Things to Buy When you Get Rich').
I miss watching cartoons on the television, they just don't play the good stuff anymore.