looking for a few good authors

How do you choose what you read?

Publishers put out so many books these days, and of course there are an awful lot of small press publishers, and I wonder how you find a new author or book to read?

I'm always looking for a new author whose books I can look forward to, but making that initial discovery is often difficult.

I often listen to recommendations by people who's taste in literature I respect. I also tend to scan more than a few on-line 'zines and if an author's work catches my eye I'll search out his/her books (a recent discover for me in this fashion is Steve Almond). I will occassionally pick up a book of collected essays or stories, hoping that one of them will hit me in just the right way. And finally, I will also just scan the bookshelves in the stores and the libraries for something the strikes me as interesting.

I am wondering if any of you out there have any other means of searching out authors/books. Do you have any recommendations? Do you read any magazines/journals that you've found to consistently supply the kind of writing that you like to read?