Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

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
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 161-180181-200201-220221-239 next last
To: GSWarrior

Not big on SiFi, but fantasy I can’t pick one since I get a certain something from many.

Terry Goodkind
J.R.R. Tolkien
C.S. Lewis
Robert Jordan
Jack Whyte
George R.R. Martin
Colleen McCullough
L. Dean James


201 posted on 05/23/2008 9:53:27 PM PDT by neb52
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Darkwolf377
Almost every talented artist is a completely inept philosopher, because artists mistake their own idiosyncratic emotional landscape for objective, reasoned analysis.

Ligotti, in real life, is probably clinically insane. Not psychotic - simply not in touch with reality.

202 posted on 05/23/2008 9:56:47 PM PDT by wideawake (Why is it that those who call themselves Constitutionalists know the least about the Constitution?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 196 | View Replies]

To: Chances Are

The thing about Goodkind’s SoT series that I constantly was throwing the books across the room. The decision making of the main characters would just infuriate me!


203 posted on 05/23/2008 10:02:02 PM PDT by neb52
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 64 | View Replies]

To: MarkL

Gene Wolfe rules. According to his bio he not only is an awesome writer, but helped invent the machine that makes Pringles, if you can believe it. His most famous books are the tales of Urth, which is earth millions of years from now, sorta like Jack Vance’s Dying Earth series.

He uses this literary device called the ‘the unreliable narrator’ in a lot of the books I have read from him, which makes his novels a lot of work, but very, very rewarding. He is also a Catholic convert who incorporates Catholic imagery into his work which I dig.

Sir Doyle wrote the Lost World, I think.

Freegards


204 posted on 05/23/2008 10:06:19 PM PDT by Ransomed (Son of Ransomed says Keep the Faith!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 198 | View Replies]

To: allmendream

In Martin’s Game of Thrones series. I have decide not to continue it. The part some supposedly dead noble is bringing the Starks back to life is just way underdeveloped that I can’t understand it. I don’t know, I may read the next one that just came out if nothing else just to find out what happen to Little Finger and the eldest Stark daughter. At least that thread is clear and interesting. Well that and John Snow(Stark).


205 posted on 05/23/2008 10:06:34 PM PDT by neb52
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: Ransomed

Simmons is good. I drop by his website occassionally, and he posts excellent essays. I’m not sure of his political affiliation right now but he’s stated that he used to be a Democrat, and now he seems to be the only sf writer to have a clear bead on the Islamofascist threat. His short stories are good, too.


206 posted on 05/24/2008 2:22:22 AM PDT by Darkwolf377 (Republican "Suicide Voters" need to repeat: SCOTUS...SCOTUS...SCOTUS...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 200 | View Replies]

To: wideawake

That’s a fair analysis. The interviews I’ve read with him show a guy who’s a bit strange, and insulated from the real world. It’s easy to think you’ve got it all figured out when you’re that isolated, with no one to question your assumptions.


207 posted on 05/24/2008 2:24:12 AM PDT by Darkwolf377 (Republican "Suicide Voters" need to repeat: SCOTUS...SCOTUS...SCOTUS...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 202 | View Replies]

To: wideawake

Ever read George Macdonald? He was supposedly a considerable influence on both Lewis Carroll and C.S. Lewis.


208 posted on 05/24/2008 8:55:51 AM PDT by Borges
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 202 | View Replies]

To: Maigrey

Did you know that Frederik Pohl is still alive? He'll turn 89 in November.
209 posted on 05/24/2008 9:01:52 AM PDT by Borges
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 167 | View Replies]

To: GSWarrior

Octavia E. Butler


210 posted on 05/24/2008 9:03:27 AM PDT by cyborg (Living Strong every day since March 12, 2008)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Borges
Sure did. He lives in Palatine, Il, which is one 'burb over from my B-I-L....

He still occasionally publishes also....

211 posted on 05/24/2008 9:13:12 AM PDT by Maigrey (Fat makes the World Taste Better! - personal motto)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 209 | View Replies]

To: GSWarrior

My favorite sci-fi book.

http://www.amazon.com/Midnight-Well-Souls-Jack-Chalker/dp/0743435222/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1211646133&sr=1-1


212 posted on 05/24/2008 9:24:51 AM PDT by chasio649 (sick of it all)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GSWarrior

My favorite fantasy book..

http://www.amazon.com/Illusion-Paula-Volsky/dp/0553560220/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1211646353&sr=1-2


213 posted on 05/24/2008 9:27:29 AM PDT by chasio649 (sick of it all)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: PapaBear3625; GSWarrior
If you liked Pournelle's military SF, you will probably like David Drake and John Ringo

Or you could consider some girly fantasy by Gentle, Mary

Why has there been so little fantasy written from the viewpoint of the Orcs?

214 posted on 05/24/2008 10:02:26 AM PDT by Oztrich Boy (Holy State or Holy King - Or Holy People's Will - Have no truck with the senseless thing)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: latina4dubya

Yes. The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov is absolutely wonderful.


215 posted on 05/25/2008 5:20:06 PM PDT by Tolik
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 47 | View Replies]

To: hoagy62

Agree. J. Michael Straczynski’s Babylon 5 is a masterpiece.

some books were written in the same universe by others. The “during the series” books are so-so. But then there were 3 trilogies that are brilliant compliments to the Babylon 5.

The Psi Corps Trilogy written by J. Gregory Keyes.
The Centauri Trilogy written by Peter David.
The Technomage Trilogy written by Jeanne Cavelos

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylon_5_Novels,_novelizations,_short_stories,_and_comic_books


216 posted on 05/25/2008 5:27:07 PM PDT by Tolik
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 59 | View Replies]

To: GSWarrior
Mentioned only once so far, I liked Fred Saberhagen's Berserker series.

Not mentioned at all, I also liked A. Bertram Chandler's Rim World series (John Grimes).

-PJ

217 posted on 05/25/2008 5:31:50 PM PDT by Political Junkie Too (Repeal the 17th amendment -- it's the "Fairness Doctrine" for Congress!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Rev DMV

I wish that he had written more Riverworld books.


218 posted on 05/25/2008 5:34:56 PM PDT by Controlling Legal Authority
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 88 | View Replies]

To: All

Late to the party (as usual), but here are my thoughts:

SCI FI:
“Starship Troopers” is a *must* read for any conservative Sci-Fi fan. I avoided Heinlein for years after reading “Stranger in a Strange Land,” but “Troopers” is great. Charles Sheffield is good for “hard” sci-fi. I like Orson Scott Card’s Ender work, but haven’t read anything else.

STAR TREK:
Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens are can’t miss, even the stuff they write with Shatner. I have a soft spot for Diane Duane, Vonda McIntyre, and Diane Carey. Peter David is the exception to my Uncle’s rule that “chicks can’t write Star Trek books,” although you have to watch out for cutesy in-jokes. Avoid Michael Jan Friedman at all costs.

STAR WARS:
Timothy Zahn is a can’t miss here. James Luceno is also pretty good. You have to watch out, though, for stuff that was written before Episodes I-III if you are a “continuity cop.”

FANTASY:
My brother says that the first two Dragonlance trilogies from Weis and Hickman rival Lord of the Rings. I’m not saying they’re that good, but they are close.


219 posted on 05/30/2008 3:15:20 PM PDT by MikeD (We live in a world where babies are like velveteen rabbits that only become real if they are loved.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Borges
Not to be a spoiler, but from his Wikipedia page, Frederick Pohl was a member of the Young Communists League.
220 posted on 05/31/2008 6:57:50 PM PDT by Sawdring
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 209 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 161-180181-200201-220221-239 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson