There's probably something wrong with me, but I find myself wanting to read both Dust and the other book now, to see if they really are as bad as they sound. XD

Also, yes, I want standalones too. What I particularly hate is getting to the end of a nice long book and then finding that it has no real ending because it's actually the first in a trilogy -- a fact they don't include on the jacket copy or anywhere else but the very last page of the book.

Then again, maybe I'm just jealous because I doubt my ability to ever write a massive trilogy, no matter the genre. :)