Who are the best science fiction/fantasy authors?

5/22/ | Myself

[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.

[HamiltonJay]

In terms of Fantasy..

Weis & Hickman and Tad Williams

[chesley]

Al Gore isn’t in the same class as the other two. They made their stuff up by themselves. Al Gore just hitched a ride on a wagon already moving, and became the driver.

[The Louiswu]

A new player with a nice old style
Orphanage by Robert Buettner - this is now a 3 book series with the 4th coming in November.

[GSWarrior]

Is Terry Pratchett worthwhile? I get a sense he is anti-religion. Not sure I want to read him.

[heartwood]

Lois McMaster Bujold - the Vorkosigan books. Start with Shards of Honor then Barrayar. Work through in order. The Chalion books are fantasy, pretty good but not as good as the Vorkosigan books, and the Sharing Knife series is merely competent fantasy.

I love the Man-Kzin War series.

And Prayers for the Assassin by Robert Ferrigno. Sequel was good and a third is coming out.

Orson Scott Card's Alvin the Maker series.

And I still have a soft spot for Podkayne of Mars.

Here's a question - what are the biggest unanticipated changes in SF, from 70, 50, 30 years ago? I vote for the changed role of women, and the ubiquity of computers, as opposed to robots.

[Question_Assumptions]

Another vote for Niven and Pournelle, particularly their early stuff (e.g., Niven's Known Space, The Mote in God's Eye, Pournelle's King David's Spaceship). I tend to read oddball stuff by second-tier authors so I'm not sure I can give you a useful list, but I do enjoy character development so maybe this will be useful. Some authors I've enjoyed include Cynthia Felice, Wayland Drew, Paul O. Williams, Richard S. McEnroe, Margaret Davis, and George R. R. Martin and Lisa Tuttle's book Windhaven. Most of those authors are out of print, though Windhaven was recently republished, as was Paul O. Williams post-holocaust Pelbar Cycle. From a fantasy angle, take a look at George R. R. Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice series and Holly Lisle.

[latina4dubya]

anybody here ever read The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov? very strange... very Russian...

[Species8472]

All of them! :)

[chesley]

I used to like Turtledove until I read his World War series. I haven’t read anything by him since.

Was there ever a more loathsome protagonist than Sam Yeager?

[Rocko]

R.A. Lafferty, Theodore Sturgeon, Robert Aickman.

[SunkenCiv]

:’D

[Unassuaged]

I read Diskworld a long time ago, but I never pick up any other of his books, so I cannot say..

[swarthyguy]

OK, Asimov and Clarke are superlative, if you like the hard edged type. Clarke’s City at the End of Time, and Asimov’s Foundation and Robot series, with the last few books merging the themes, though his later work didn’t have the fullness of the earlier stuff.

Another honorable mention, mostly forgotten, is Brian Aldiss’ Trilogy of a planet subject to climatological extremes - Helliconia Spring, Summer and Winter, the first being the best, IMO.

Haven’t read much of it lately.

[Question_Assumptions]

I haven’t read Gripping Hand because it got horrible reviews. I recommend Niven’s Known Space books (particularly Ringworld, Ringworld Engineers, A World of Ptaavs, and various short story collections) and Pournelle’s King David’s Spaceship, also set in the same universe as Mote. Legacy of Heorot is pretty good but I’ve heard mixed things about the sequel.

[swarthyguy]

Consider a recent book called Zig-Zag translated from Spanish.

James Hogan has a series of books and a website. And they are great!

[SunkenCiv]

Philip K. Dick.

[AD from SpringBay]

William Gibson

[The Louiswu]

Mote in God’s Eye..one of the best. I agree with Gripping Hand..not too good, loved Footfall, never met anyone else that had ever read it.

[hoagy62]

J. Michael Straczynski

However, he’s more of a writer than an author.

Only writer in the history of TV to write EVERY show for an entire season (I believe Season 3, “Babylon 5”).

[lesser_satan]

You forgot Mohamed (piss be upon him).