The WHBooks community whbooks@yahoogroups.com is a forum for discussing William Horwood's novels and where I announce updates to WilliamHorwood.net. WHBooks is an e-mail list which can also be accessed on the web.
The group began March of 2001 when the previous forum, an online message board, could no longer be continued. WHBooks is a small group (around 50 members) but there is a fair amount of activity, and sense of community.
An introduction when a new member join the list is appreciated, but anyone is also welcome to just lurk and not post.
Not everyone on the list will have read all of William Horwood's books, so members are expected to note if their message contains spoilders. This can be done by putting [Spoilers: DW] (for Duncton Wood or something similar in the message subject is a good way to do this, as putting "this containers spoilers for Duncton Wood" in the first couple of lines of the message body.
Poll
In answer to the poll question "Which of Horwood's books did you read first?" the majority, from 442 replies, was Duncton Wood, 284 responses or 64 percent. The other replies were:
Skallagrigg 48 (11 percent)
Journeys To The Heartland 35 (8 percent)
The Willows in Winter 20 (5 percent)
Duncton Tales 18 (4 percent)
The Stonor Eagles 15 (3 percent)
Callanish 12 (3 percent)
and 'other' 10 (2 percent).
The hit count statistics from the discussion board, which existed from December 1997 to February 2002.