Who are your top fantasy sci-fi authors?

[witchwolf]

For me my go-to authors tend to be:

Elizabeth Moon
Emily Gee
Kristen Britain
Mercedes Lackey
Maria v. snyder

At least thats the bulk of what fills my bookcase :)

[Doodlebug Anklebiter]

Hmmm. I'll stick with five, too:

J.R.R. Tolkien
Ursula K. Le Guin
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Alan Moore

and, for something a little more recent,

Joe Abercrombie.

But it could easily change tomorrow.

[Grond1969]

Jim Butcher (both his Dresden files and Caldera series)
George R.R Martin (I can only speak to his Game of Thrones series)
Robert Jordan (Wheel of Time)
John Ringo (prolific writer, I've read and enjoyed most of his work)
Joe Abercrombie (his books are dark and interesting twists in them)

[John Woodford]

Steve Brust (fantasy)
NK Jemisin (fantasy)
Glen Cook (fantasy & SF)
Terry Pratchett (fantasy)
Alistair Reynolds (SF)
Charles Stross (fantasy & SF)
Martha Wells (fantasy)

I'm sure I'm missing a few there.

[witchwolf]

ooh there are a few authors here I have not heard of will have to go and check them out!

[Numerian]

Joe Abercrombie, Steven Erikson, Jack Vance, Brandon Sanderson, China Mieville, Matt Stover, CA Smith, Paul Kearney, Guy Kay, Patrick Rothfuss
George Martin (before ADWD)
R. Scott Bakker (before The Judging Eye)

Gene Wolfe, Alistair Reynolds, Frank Herbert, Alfred Bester, Peter Hamilton, Dan Simmons, Chris Wooding, Robert Heinlein, Iain Banks, Terry Dowling, Charles Stross, Christopher Priest, John Crowley

25

[Sissyl]

In no particular order

Lois McMaster Bujold
Roger Zelazny
Charles Stross
Iain Banks
Neal Stephenson
George R R Martin
Alan Moore

Some of my favourites.

[Aberzombie]

Fantasy/Sci-fi?

Tolkien
Fritz Lieber
REH
Frank Herbert
Heinlein
Piers Anthony
Kuttner
Brackett

[Patrick Curtin]

Hmmmm.....

Tolkien
Martin
Cook
Zelazny
Stross
Stephenson
Heinlein
Farmer
King (for the Dark Tower series & several others that belong in the genre)
Turtledove
Stirling

[Lord Snow]

mine are:

George R R Martin (big time, for writing A Song Of Ice and Fire and many other awesome stuff)

Stephen King (for being one of the most productive engines of cool, original creation)

Robin Hoob (I love Fitz)

Dan Simmons (the Hyperion omnibus is just about unmathced in scale)

H. P Lovecraft (his creation made this possible - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxScTbIUvoA)

Patrick Rothfuss (based intirley on Name of the Wind)

[Doodlebug Anklebiter]

Doodlebug Anklebiter wrote:

But it could easily change tomorrow.

And it did!

C.S. Lewis
William Gibson
Jack Vance (all it took was The Eyes of the Overworld and he jumped into my faves list)
Daniel Abraham
Fritz Leiber

[Drejk]

Order depends upon mood. Changes possible with time.

Steven Erikson
Glen Cook
Roger Zelazny
Frank Herbert
George R. R. Martin (as fantasy and sf writer)
Feliks Kres
Neil Gaiman

[Alitan]

No particular order

Barry Hughart -- the Master Li novels (he's a little obscure, so I included the books)

Raymond Feist

Janny Wurtz

Frank herbert

Robert Heinlein

Steven Erikson

Jim Butcher (but just Dresden... I, personally, couldn't stand Alera...)

David Eddings

Roger Zelazny

Sharon Lee & Steve Miller (the Liaden Universe novels)

Gods, the list could go on, but I'm tired...

EDIT: Stephen Brust, dammit!

[Doodlebug Anklebiter]

Hello, Alitan. I've never seen you before, but if you're going to be posting all over the books pages, please answer the following question: What books are you currently reading?

[Drejk]

Alitan wrote:

Janny Wurtz

I got Janny Wurts book on my birthday. I have yet to start it - borrowed books have priority in reading than the ones I own.

[Doodlebug Anklebiter]

Oh, and today's list still has Vonnegut, but T.H. White has made a remarkable leap into the top five.

[Cintra Bristol]

Lois McMaster Bujold
James Alan Gardner
David Weber

[Hitdice]

Anyone who doesn't read Connie Willis is a sucker!

[Cornielius]

David Drake
Nina Kirikki Hoffman
Aaron Alston
Kevin Hearne
Michael Stackpole
Graham Masterton
Rob Thurman
Louis L'Amour
Paul Zimmer

If I had a better memory, I could go on all day.

[Alitan]

Doodlebug Anklebiter wrote:

Hello, Alitan. I've never seen you before, but if you're going to be posting all over the books pages, please answer the following question: What books are you currently reading?

Done.

Have you at least got a bandage for my ankle?

:P

[Alitan]

Drejk wrote:

Alitan wrote:

Janny Wurtz

I got Janny Wurts book on my birthday. I have yet to start it - borrowed books have priority in reading than the ones I own.

Her Keeper of the Keys trilogy is great, the collaboration she did with Raymond Feist (Daughter/Servant/Mistress of the Empire trilogy) also rocks. My favorite is Master of Whitestorm.

The War of Light and Shadow stuff has good moments, but is not, imo, her best work.

[SmiloDan]

CJ Cherryh
Jacqueline Carey
Steven Brust
China Mieville
Neil Gaiman
Jim Butcher

[Shadowborn]

Robert Lynn Asprin
Marion Zimmer Bradley
Steven Brust
Glen Cook
Robert E. Howard.
Neil Gaiman
Guy Gavriel Kay
Fritz Lieber
George R.R. Martin
Elizabeth Moon
Michael Moorcock
Andrew J. Offutt
Mickey Zucker Reichert
J.R.R. Tolkien
Karl E. Wagner
Gene Wolfe

[Ian Eastmond]

Glad to see many other fellow Steven K. Z. Brust, PJF fans here! He's my favorite author, I actually got the chance to talk to him on the phone while he was living in Vegas and made a complete idiot of myself.

If you like his stuff but haven't checked it out yet I recommend the Dragaera Wiki.

Others:
Neil Gaiman
George R. R. Martin
Michael Moorcock
Orson Scott Card
R. A. Salvatore
J. R. R. Tolkien
William Gibson
Stephen King
Terry Goodkind
H. P. Lovecraft
Clive Barker
Greg Keyes (his Elder Scrolls books are friggin' awesome)
James Luceno
...and a new favorite, even though I've only read his one novel I love reading his gaming supplements as well: James L. Sutter. Looking forward to the next one!!!

[Charlie Bell]

Tolkien
REH
C.S. Lewis
Moorcock
Heinlein (Starship Troopers is sublime, his other stuff much less so IMO)
Dan Simmons
William Gibson
Ursula K Leguin (except for Tehanu. disastrously bad)

[Kirth Gersen]

Jack Vance
Poul Anderson
Clive Barker
John Bellairs
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Steven Brust
Susanna Clarke
L. Sprague deCamp & Fletcher Pratt
Lord Dunsany
Alexandre Dumas (pere)
Frank Herbert
Robert E. Howard
Sterling Lanier
Fritz Leiber
H.P. Lovecraft
Larry Niven
E.E. "Doc" Smith
Manly Wade Wellman
Roger Zelazny

[messy]

my top 5 (in no particular order)-
1. grrm
2. robert e howard
3. gary gygax
4. tad williams
5. jo rowling

[Werthead]

For conciseness:

Peter F. Hamilton, Alastair Reynolds, Richard Morgan, Iain M. Banks.
Dan Abnett, Paul Kearney, Joe Abercrombie, Daniel Abraham.
George R.R. Martin, Steven Erikson, R. Scott Bakker.
Adrian Tchaikovsky, Chris Wooding, Bernard Cornwell.
Mary Gentle, Ursula K. LeGuin, Steph Swainston, Susanna Clarke.
China Mieville, Christopher Priest, Adam Roberts, Neil Gaiman.
J.R.R. Tolkien, Jack Vance, Robert E. Howard, Roger Zelazny.
Alfred Bester, Arthur C. Clarke, Brian W. Aldiss.

[SmiloDan]

Ian Eastmond wrote:

Glad to see many other fellow Steven K. Z. Brust, PJF fans here! He's my favorite author, I actually got the chance to talk to him on the phone while he was living in Vegas and made a complete idiot of myself.

If you like his stuff but haven't checked it out yet I recommend the Dragaera Wiki.

Others:
Neil Gaiman
George R. R. Martin
Michael Moorcock
Orson Scott Card
R. A. Salvatore
J. R. R. Tolkien
William Gibson
Stephen King
Terry Goodkind
H. P. Lovecraft
Clive Barker
Greg Keyes (his Elder Scrolls books are friggin' awesome)
James Luceno
...and a new favorite, even though I've only read his one novel I love reading his gaming supplements as well: James L. Sutter. Looking forward to the next one!!!

Gregory Keyes is like the Methadone version of GRRM.

That's a compliment.

[Sanakht Inaros]

Dan Simmons, John Shirley, Ramsey Campbell, Robert Bloch, Clark Ashton Smith, Richard Matheson, Robin Laws, Clive Barker (Martin has nothing on Barker when it comes to finishing a series), and William King.

[Shadowborn]

Whoops, didn't post my sci-fi list:

Douglas Adams
Ray Bradbury
Max Brooks
Orson Scott Card
Arthur C. Clarke
Phillip K. Dick
William Gibson
Robert Heinlein
Frank Herbert
Madeleine L'Engle
Julian May
Larry Niven

[Sanakht Inaros]

Harlan Ellison. How can anyone forget him?

[Hitdice]

Sanakht Inaros wrote:

Harlan Ellison. How can anyone forget him?

Forget him? I was hiding, I don't want to get yelled at or punched!

[Exocrat]

Guy Gavriel Kay
Glen Cook
Ursula K Le Guin
Cormac McCarthy
Lian Hearn

[ekibus]

Wow nobody posted David Gemmell??
anyways Michael Moorcock
R. A. Salvatore
Jim Butcher
Tad Williams (Memory, sorrow and thorn)
Brandon Anderson (his own stuff not wheel)
William King and Nathan Long (Slayer series)
Brent Weeks
Peter V. Brett (Demon war Trilogy)

Are the ones that come up right away to me

[Wyrd_Wik]

Asimov
Zelazny
Bradbury
Lovecraft
Douglas Adams

REH and Leiber too depending on my mood.

[Rebis Ouroboros]

Lawrence Watt-Evans.
NOBODY does low fantasy like him. (see the Lords of Dus series for that).

Joel Rosenberg
Guardians of the Flame series

George R.R.Martin
Everybody talks about Game of Thrones (which IS great), but has anyone read the Wild Cards series that he edited?

[SmiloDan]

Dan Simmons has an awesome hardboiled detective series based in Buffalo.

GRRM's Wild Cards series is pretty good.....but not worth 5 year delays in the SoFaI!

[Drejk]

Have you noticed that time between SoFaI books grows from book to book?

[Kip84]

ekibus wrote:

Wow nobody posted David Gemmell??

anyways Michael Moorcock
R. A. Salvatore
Jim Butcher
Tad Williams (Memory, sorrow and thorn)
Brandon Anderson (his own stuff not wheel)
William King and Nathan Long (Slayer series)
Brent Weeks
Peter V. Brett (Demon war Trilogy)

Are the ones that come up right away to me

Yeah David Gemmel is awesome!

[3ntf4k3d]

I am shocked that nobody mentioned Stanisław Lem!

Where else can you find a fairy tale with a robot tyrant who is blown up by uranium-minted coins that exceed the critical mass in his treasury?

;)

[Drejk]

3ntf4k3d wrote:

I am shocked that nobody mentioned Stanisław Lem!

He was very good but lost to those I like more.

Also, he got negative points for arguing with my grandfather which led to them stopping talking to each other which prevented me from meeting him in person. To be just, knowing my grandfather stubbornness it is quite possible that it was my grandfather's fault. Almost sure, in fact.

[Sanakht Inaros]

Hitdice wrote:

Sanakht Inaros wrote:

Harlan Ellison. How can anyone forget him?

Forget him? I was hiding, I don't want to get yelled at or punched!

Despite all that, he is a pretty stand up guy. He fights really hard for the writers to get their due. There is a story about a lat-night radio DJ who was doing a sci-fi themed week and wanted to use an Ellison short story so he contacted H.E. Not only did he get a written letter back from Ellison's lawyers, but Harlan himself called and gave him his blessing. All the guy had to do was pay a penny. For Ellison it's all about the principal of the matter and his lawsuits, while commonplace today, were precedent setting.

[Sanakht Inaros]

Rebis Ouroboros wrote:

Everybody talks about Game of Thrones (which IS great), but has anyone read the Wild Cards series that he edited?

They were...meh...Some really good stories just not enough for my taste.

[entropyrat]

witchwolf wrote:

For me my go-to authors tend to be:

Elizabeth Moon
Emily Gee
Kristen Britain
Mercedes Lackey
Maria v. snyder

At least thats the bulk of what fills my bookcase :)

WOMAN AUTHORS.

I assume you've never read anything by a man.

Glen Cook
William Gibson
China Mieville
Margaret Weis
Brandon Sanderson
Iain M. Banks
Dan Abnett

[Waiwode]

From the New School:

Glen Cook, for The Black Company, and for unknowingly starting it off.

Brust, mentioned often above, and for being part of it, even if he was unaware.

Steven Erikson, for The Malazan Book of the Fallen

Joe Abercrombie, for The First Law Trilogy and every new book in that world. My favourite author.

Scott Lynch, for the Gentlemen Bastards.

R Scott Bakker for the Prince of Nothing.

From the rest:

Lois McMaster Bujold for The Curse of Chalion and The Paladin of Souls.

David Gemmel for Legend.

Patrick Rothfuss, for Kvothe and The Name of the Wind.

[Tiny Coffee Golem]

dot

[Maccabee]

-For fantasy:

Steven Erikson - for the Malazan series

David Gemmel - for Legend and Waylander (was crushed when I found out he died)

Fritz Leiber - for Lankhmar

Tolkien

David Eddings - for the Belgariad and the Mallorean

Paul S. Kemp - all the Erevis Cale books

Mercedes Lackey - for the Valdemar series

Elizabeth Moon - for her fantasy version of her time in the Corps

-For Sci Fi:

William Gibson - for all the sprawl books

[Leo_Negri]

entropyrat wrote:

witchwolf wrote:

For me my go-to authors tend to be:

Elizabeth Moon
Emily Gee
Kristen Britain
Mercedes Lackey
Maria v. snyder

At least thats the bulk of what fills my bookcase :)

WOMAN AUTHORS.

I assume you've never read anything by a man.

Glen Cook
William Gibson
China Mieville
Margaret Weis
Brandon Sanderson
Iain M. Banks
Dan Abnett

Entropyrat, I assume you are aware that Margaret Weis is, in fact, a woman.

[Hitdice]

Leo_Negri wrote:

entropyrat wrote:

witchwolf wrote:

For me my go-to authors tend to be:

Elizabeth Moon
Emily Gee
Kristen Britain
Mercedes Lackey
Maria v. snyder

At least thats the bulk of what fills my bookcase :)

WOMAN AUTHORS.

I assume you've never read anything by a man.

Glen Cook
William Gibson
China Mieville
Margaret Weis
Brandon Sanderson
Iain M. Banks
Dan Abnett

Entropyrat, I assume you are aware that Margaret Weis is, in fact, a woman.

But not Tracy Hickman? So confusing!