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Who are the best science fiction/fantasy authors?
5/22/ | Myself

Posted on 05/23/2008 10:02:34 AM PDT by GSWarrior

There must be a lot of SF fans here. Who are you favorite authors or books? What are you currently reading?

I enjoy SF books that focus on character development over hard scifi themes. Robert Silverberg, IMO, is about the best there is. I also enjoy Gardner Duzois' short stories--some gut-wrenching stuff. Jack Vance's are also very entertaining. Orson Scott Card is pretty good too.

I am currently reading Altered Carbon, by Richard Morgan...it's kind of slow and hard to follow. Not likely to read his other novels.

I have enjoyed some, but not all, of Niven and Pournelle's works.


TOPICS: Books/Literature
KEYWORDS: fantasy; fantasysf; literature; scifi; sf
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To: GSWarrior

Any of the “Bolo” series.
For reading material go...

http://www.baen.com/library/


101 posted on 05/23/2008 11:11:26 AM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: GSWarrior; AD from SpringBay

Dittos on George R.R. Martin & William Gibson.

And perhaps this falls into the juvenile category, but I was entranced many years ago by Zenna Henderson. Many write somewhat in her genre now, but back in the 70’s, her style was refreshing and new to me.


102 posted on 05/23/2008 11:12:00 AM PDT by ironmaidenPR2717 (They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night. Poe)
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To: GSWarrior
Larry Niven

Jerry Pournelle

Ben Bova

William Gibson

103 posted on 05/23/2008 11:13:53 AM PDT by Hacksaw (I support the San Fran tiger.)
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To: GSWarrior
Just to echo some others, Heinlein is my favorite of the Big Three. Philip K. Dick, of course, and Ray Bradbury are essential. Clarke's Childhood's End has had echoes in more works than one might imagine. John Brunner is wonderful. William Gibson is brilliant, the more so if you were actually into computers when Neuromancer came out in '84. Neal Stephenson is my current favorite, The Diamond Age being my favorite among his books. Snow Crash is pure fun. Anyone with the brass big 'uns to name his principal character "Hiero Protagonist" and still get it published is my kind of author... ;-)
104 posted on 05/23/2008 11:14:34 AM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: wideawake

Well I do my best!

But it’s almost impossible to define what SF is and what it is not historically. With that in mind I nominate Homer, Dante and Milton. With a shout out going to Nabokov’s Pale Fire


105 posted on 05/23/2008 11:15:17 AM PDT by Borges
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To: All
Top 100 Sci-Fi Books

1 1 Frank Herbert Dune [S1] 1965 Shop at ammmmm USA Shop at ammmmm UK
2 2 Orson Scott Card Ender's Game [S1] 1985 Shop at ammmmm USA Shop at ammmmm UK
3 3 Isaac Asimov Foundation [S1-3] 1951 Shop at ammmmm USA Shop at ammmmm UK
4 4 Douglas Adams Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy [S1] 1979 Shop at ammmmm USA Shop at ammmmm UK
5 5 George Orwell 1984 1949 Shop at ammmmm USA Shop at ammmmm UK
6 6 Robert A Heinlein Stranger in a Strange Land 1961 Shop at ammmmm USA Shop at ammmmm UK
7 7 Ray Bradbury Fahrenheit 451 1954 Shop at ammmmm USA Shop at ammmmm UK
8 8 William Gibson Neuromancer 1984 Shop at ammmmm USA Shop at ammmmm UK
9 9 Isaac Asimov [C] I, Robot 1950 Shop at ammmmm USA Shop at ammmmm UK
10 10 Arthur C Clarke 2001: A Space Odyssey 1968 Shop at ammmmm USA Shop at ammmmm UK
11 11 Larry Niven Ringworld 1970 Shop at ammmmm USA Shop at ammmmm UK
12 12 Robert A Heinlein Starship Troopers 1959 Shop at ammmmm USA Shop at ammmmm UK
13 13 Philip K Dick Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? 1968 Shop at ammmmm USA Shop at ammmmm UK
14 14 Aldous Huxley Brave New World 1932 Shop at ammmmm USA Shop at ammmmm UK
16 15 Arthur C Clarke Rendezvous With Rama 1973 Shop at ammmmm USA Shop at ammmmm UK
15 16 H G Wells The Time Machine 1895 Shop at ammmmm USA Shop at ammmmm UK
17 17 Robert A Heinlein The Moon is a Harsh Mistress 1966 Shop at ammmmm USA Shop at ammmmm UK
18 18 H G Wells The War of the Worlds 1898 Shop at ammmmm USA Shop at ammmmm UK
19 19 Dan Simmons Hyperion [S1] 1989 Shop at ammmmm USA Shop at ammmmm UK
20 20 Arthur C Clarke Childhood's End 1954 Shop at ammmmm USA

106 posted on 05/23/2008 11:16:06 AM PDT by Tanniker Smith ("We have top men working on it." "Who?" "Top. Men.")
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To: GSWarrior

L. Ron Hubbard, founding father of Scientology.


107 posted on 05/23/2008 11:16:26 AM PDT by SouthDixie
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To: GSWarrior

Great thread. It’s like walking through a used bookstore and nodding at my favorite authors.

Some names I haven’t seen mentioned yet (most of my favorites have been listed):

Connie Willis - best author writing “currently” hands down - but her output is sooo slow, it’s been eight years since her last novel though she’s written some novellas since. Try “To Say Nothing of the Dog” for a wonderful light comedy about time paradoxes, cats, the Blitz, and it’s a Victorian comedy of manners as well. Or “Doomsday Book” for a truly wonderful tragedy.

Keith Laumer - Baen’s been reprinting his great old stuff. Try the “Retief” stories, or just pick up a collection. Conservatives should love his things.

C.L.Moore - haven’t read enough of hers but she wrote such lovely old stories.

Cordwainer Smith - ditto

James Blish

Roger Macbride Allen’s Time trilogy.

Jack McDevitt, Robert Sawyer, Allen Steele - all current authors that are as good storytellers as the old masters, but writing with a more modern viewpoint. Sawyer especially, while I don’t always like his viewpoints, takes on issues that I think will actually be issues for the next century - questions about what is human and where the edges of humanity are.


108 posted on 05/23/2008 11:18:32 AM PDT by JenB
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To: americanophile

Niven/Pournelle, Heinlen, Asimov, Clark


109 posted on 05/23/2008 11:22:29 AM PDT by BnBlFlag (Deo Vindice/Semper Fidelis "Ya gotta saddle up your boys; Ya gotta draw a hard line")
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To: All

What about:

* Andre Norton?

* Poul Anderson?

* H. Beam Piper?

* A.E. Van Vogt?

* Norman Spinrad?


110 posted on 05/23/2008 11:26:14 AM PDT by Lysandru
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To: GSWarrior
Ah, one of my favorite topics. A great topic to start the Memorial Day weekend.

I consider SF and fantasy different genres, so I'll make a list for each.

Fantasy

1. Tolkien - He didn't start fairy tales, but he made the genre popular and respectable. I've read through LOTR at least four times, once out loud to my children. Reading it out loud really impressed me with the beauty and variety of language he used. He has different vocabulary and style for elves, hobbits, orcs, and men. He also used his Anglo-Saxon and ancient Finish studies to create elvish and dwarvish. No one else really comes close with their quality of writing.

2. Patricia McKillip - Patricia is perhaps the most consistently, lyrically, beautiful writer alive today in any genre. The Riddlemaster trilogy is great and still makes me want to read it again. “The Forgotten Beasts of Eld” I enjoy just as much. Her recent books, “Alphabet of Thorn”, “Od Magic”, etc. are like individual gems. She is beautifully descriptive and plots her books as mysteries to be unlocked.

3. Robert Jordan - The Wheel of Time series is exasperating because of its immense length and rambling descriptions, but it has scenes that are better than anything except the high points of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. I love his complex plotting—in his twelve books of the Wheel of Time, there are over 2400 characters and hundreds of points of view. He has at least nine (!) main characters and typically has four or more main plot threads in each book, plus dozens of subplots. He also extensively uses prophecy and foreshadowing—many prophecies and visions from the first book are fulfilled two, three, six books later. Some are still to be fulfilled. He has created dozens of nations and cultures and maintains their consistency throughout the series. If you want complexity, he's your man.

4. Tad Williams - Many will argue he should be higher than this. Certainly his portrayal of elves in the series “Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn” is as good as Tolkien’s. When I think of elves I think of his vision as readily as Tolkien’s. His major drawback is his slow plotting. He took a hundred pages to get the plot moving in “The Dragonbone Chair.” If you're a patient reader, Tad will always reward you.

5. CS Lewis - Obviously the Narnia series is his major fantasy work. In it he blends legend and Christian allusions skillfully, while making a very entertaining an original series of stories that are accessible to the young and old. Had he specialized in this genre, I suspect he would rival Tolkien.

6. Stephen Donaldson - The White Gold weilder series is at times beautiful and then despairingly dark. Many will put him higher than I do. If you read nothing else of his, read his Chronicles of Thomas Covenant.

7. CJ Cherryh - Equally known for her SF, her fantasy is excellent. The “Fortress” series has layers upon layers of reality, moving through space and time.

8. Evelyn Nesbitt - I've only read “The Windboy” and that alone puts her on this list.

9. George MacDonald - “Back of the North Wind” is one of many great stories. He was the inspiration for CS Lewis and many others.

Gotta go. More later.

111 posted on 05/23/2008 11:28:47 AM PDT by Forgiven_Sinner (For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son that whosoever believes in Him should not die)
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To: GSWarrior

Some good ones already on the list. Some others who caught myt attention and interest,

Charles Stross (should I say the Great Charles Stross)
Robert Anton Wilson (Schroedingers Cat [sp?])
Rudy Rucker
Bruce Sterling
Douglass Preston and Lincoln Child, together and separate works, not all of them S.F.

But lo, I remember Edgar Rice B. fondly from high school, taking me to Mars and back. Bradbury says Burroughs is the best writer, in terms of word usage, of the 20th Century.


112 posted on 05/23/2008 11:29:05 AM PDT by BlueStateBlues (Blue State for business, Red State at heart..)
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To: GSWarrior

You’ve got my vote for “moon” also; as well as for “Starship Troopers”!


113 posted on 05/23/2008 11:33:00 AM PDT by catman67
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To: Tanniker Smith

I think Walter Miller’s seminal work , “A Canticle for Liebowitz”, deserves mention. It is often overlooked.


114 posted on 05/23/2008 11:33:58 AM PDT by Old North State
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To: Tanniker Smith

Yes, but he gets points for being a Dirty Old Man. Also for being quick with witty limericks.
______________

I got a kiss and an autograph when he was in his Dirty Old Man phase - as did a few thousand other girls.


115 posted on 05/23/2008 11:34:33 AM PDT by heartwood
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To: Forgiven_Sinner
If you like fantasy, you must read Jack Vance.

Tales of the Dying Earth is a great place to start; The Last Castle is a classic.

116 posted on 05/23/2008 11:34:33 AM PDT by GSWarrior
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To: GSWarrior

I will point to a book that has not been mentioned. I was always fond of Harlan Ellison’s A Boy and his Dog. If anyone has ever seen the movie, do not hold that against the book. It was a God awful movie with Don Johnson who was a complete unknown at the time.


117 posted on 05/23/2008 11:43:27 AM PDT by Biblebelter (If the big blue states got to choose the Republican nominee, I say let them elect him in the fall)
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To: Forgiven_Sinner
I always found Cherryh dry, dry, dry.

How about fantasy in the linguistic style of Jane Austen? There's Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke. She wrote at least one novella in the same style, set in the same world, if you want to try that before embarking on a thousand page - but it's done very, very well, in language, creativity, and evoking of a strange alternate history.

118 posted on 05/23/2008 11:45:54 AM PDT by heartwood
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To: Biblebelter

I saw A Boy and His Dog. It was a long time ago, but I remember not being terribly impressed.


119 posted on 05/23/2008 11:51:13 AM PDT by GSWarrior
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To: GSWarrior
Is Terry Pratchett worthwhile? I get a sense he is anti-religion. Not sure I want to read him.

My sense is more that he comments on the human tendency to corrupt religion (and, frankly, just about everything else) to serve human ends rather than divine ones. Some of his most sympathetic characters have been priests who have gone up against "the establishment" of their church/religion/whatever which have lost the true meaning of things.

(It is fiction and fantasy, after all . . . A setting consisting of a flat disc-shaped world on the back of four gigantic elephants all standing on the back of an enormous turtle swimming between the stars should be your first clue of that .)

I'd have to say that Pratchett is probably my most favorite current author--I'd second the recommendations of most of the modern military science fiction writers (David Drake, Weber, etc.) Most of Pratchett's early work especially is better enjoyed however if you have a grounding in classic science fiction and fantasy--the works of Fritz Leiber, etc.

120 posted on 05/23/2008 11:52:06 AM PDT by filbert (More filbert at http://www.medary.com)
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