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.

[Tao Yin]

Too bad [Asmiov] was a raving, Kool-Aid drinking leftist... atheist!!!

Not sure I can agree. I haven't studied the man enough, but my recent reading of his history books "The Greeks: a great adventure", "The Roman Republic", "The Roman Empire", "The Land of Canaan", and others don't exactly correspond with your assessment. He was also heavily involved in the Great Books project.

From these sources, I can believe the atheist part, but raving kool-aid drinking leftist doesn't ring true. Hmm. Perhaps I'll have to reconsider.

[Malsua]

I’m all over the place, but among my favorites:

Larry Niven / Jerry Pournelle
Heinlein
Asimov
Jack Chalker
Phillip Jose Farmer
David Drake
Dan Simmons (The Hyperion books are superb!)
Stephen R Donaldson
Tolkien (goes without saying)
Orson Scott Card
Dennis L Mckiernan
Stephan Baxter

For easier, lighter reading like when I’m flying, I tend towards:
Terry Brooks
Piers Anthony
Gardner Dozois and his various short compilations

For unreadable Dreck, any book by:
Kim Stanley Robinson

[NewJerseyJoe]

> You forgot Mohamed (piss be upon him).

Piss be upon him indeed. I wasn't sure whether to classify him as a fantasy writer or as more of a plagiarist.

[Chances Are]

The aforementioned Stephen R. Donaldson (his Final “Trilogy” will really have 4 books) and Terry Goodkind, whose “Sword of Truth” series is coming to television!

Lots of good names being bandied about here, tho. You can't go wrong with any of them!

CA....

[montyspython]

• Philip K Dick: A master
• L. Ron Hubbard: (Battlefield Earth) I know he's a loon but the book was fantastic
• Greg Egan: One of the finest, really need to put your thinking cap on to wrap your head around his stuff. He's a mathematician and the complexity of his narratives shows this.
• Orson Scott Card: Classic.
• Azimov: Classic.
• Clarke: Classic.
• Tolkien: Absolute master.

[Dead Corpse]

L. Neil Smith. Heinlein. Herbert. Weber. Simmons.

[GSWarrior]

I wish Dozois was more prolific.

[mollynme]

For Fantasy, I loved all the original Robert Aspirin "M.Y.T.H Adventures" books. I just looked him up on Wikipedia and discovered that
1 - he started writing them again in 2001 and
2 - He died yesterday!

I was also a big fan of the Andre Norton "Witch World" novels when I was a teen.

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

Heinlein, hands down. And Glory Road is my favorite.

[Tao Yin]

The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb is amazing character driven fantasy. My wife and I were fighting over the books constantly. It starts with “Assassin’s Apprentice”. The original trilogy is followed by an additional trilogy. I found the second trilogy years later. It was great to go back and it didn’t disappoint.

[GSWarrior]

There is a thread here today about Asprin that prompted me to start this thread.

[heartwood]

Asimov was a convinced atheist but not proselytizing about it. His politics were likely typical of his background, secular New York Jewish intellectual. I remember reading something about his being turned off by Heinlein’s libertarian/militaristic views.

I would be real curious to see what Asimov would say when science intersects politics - i.e. global warming. I remember one essay of his about the global climate - that we were lucky that we had mostly ocean at the high altitudes rather than large land masses, and that you might avert another ice age by sprinkling graphite dust on the glaciers.

[Grizzled Bear]

I really enjoy David Gemmel’s work. He died around July 2006. Look for “The Rigante” series. You won’t be dissapointed.

[NewJerseyJoe]

I probably should have included a :-)

I meant to imply that each is a fake/phony/fraud

[RikaStrom]

David Weber, John Ringo, David Drake, Heinlein, Asimov, Spyder Robinson, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller...

Ok, now I need to go buy another book!

RS

[Grizzled Bear]

The three greatest fantasy authors of all time, without question, are:

You're supposed to name SF Writers. Not BS Artists.

;-)

[Tanniker Smith]

Too bad the man was a raving, Kool-Aid drinking leftist... atheist!!!

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

[montyspython]

"Yes, but he gets points for being a Dirty Old Man."

:-D

[pillut48]

Interesting to discover, since one of my favorite non-fiction books of his (never really got into his sci-fi stuff too much) was his Asimov's Guide to the Bible! Never knew he was an atheist, you wouldn't know it from the guide!

[AZWest]

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss is *excellent* fantasy.