Your Favourite Author ?

Yo Mamma

Well I have to Admit that I have a couple of favourites, the first being the most famous Fantasy Author of modern history, JRR.Tolkien, and the other being, imho, the best Science-Fiction writer of our time, Ian.M.Banks.

Frodo@work

Its a tie between George R.R Martin who wrote the 'A Song of Ice and Fire' series and other sci-fi books and Robin Hobb whos six books in the 'Farseer' and 'Liveship' trilogy's are just rockin.

[This message has been edited by Frodo@work (edited 11-04-2001).]

Trojan

In no particular order, Asimov (aka God), Banks, Heinlein, Niven, Pournelle, Bear, Clarke, Vernes (yeah, Jules), the granddaddy of them all, H.G. Wells, etc. etc. And that's just sf.

How can you possibly pick one? Gotta be more specific regards genre...

Al.

Clintons Cat

Asimov,

plastic membrane

James Ellroy, Iain Banks. Genius...

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Damn it Jim, im a doctor, not a Beefy King !

Jim Daniels

Paul Auster.

New York Trilogy
Moon Palace
Music of Chance
Timbuktu
Etc

He rules.

Cake Fiend

pTerry

Favourite book: Good Omens

Blitzkrieger

Raymund E Feist is my favorite at the moment. He's a genius at telling an epic story from a human perspective.

metalchicken

In no particular order:
Terry P, William Goldman, Bernard Cornwell, Louis De Bernieres, Helen Fielding, Jung Chang, John Wyndham, Tolkein, and about a billion others.

It's too hard to choose.

neuro-praxis

If I was trapped on a desert island and could only have the books of one person, it would be CS Lewis, although a few others would run up close.

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Give me back my towel. I'll sue.

GreenHell

Terry P - King atm out of the 8 dw books I've read I'm at a loss to pick a favourite


[This message has been edited by GREENHELL (edited 12-04-2001).]

Celt

Robert Jordan/Robin Hobb

Cake Fiend

Heh, GH, of the 25 or so that I've read I'm at a loss to pick a favourite

It would probably be between Guards! Guards!, Men at Arms, Interesting Times and Mort.

OSiriS

Fredrick Forsyth, Jeffery Archer, Craig Thomas, Tom Clancy.

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Redesigned

Manach

In Random Order:
David Gemmell
Patrick O'Brian
Lois Bujold
Peter Hamilton
John Keegan
GK Chesterton

FreaK_BrutheR

Jean-Paul Sartre, Jame Ellroy, Paul Austre, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Tolkien, Iain Banks to name few

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<A HREF="http://homepage.eircom.net/~cullenm&quot; TARGET=_blank>

</A>
http://run.to/pile

whitetrash

I'd have to go with these two, simply because of one of the books each has written, both of which have changed my outlook on fiction in general:

Jeff Noon (for Pixel Juice)
and
Mark Z. Danielewski (for House of Leaves)


...and I suppose Heller aswell for Catch-22, I didn't think comedy could be done properly in a novel format until I read that book (On a 13 hour bus journey through North Africa of all places. Christ.)

:P

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I Live (in a dream world)

whitetrash

I'd have to go with these two, simply because of one of the books each has written, both of which have changed my outlook on fiction in general:

Jeff Noon (for Pixel Juice)
and
Mark Z. Danielewski (for House of Leaves)


...and I suppose Heller aswell for Catch-22, I didn't think comedy could be done properly in a novel format until I read that book (On a 13 hour bus journey through North Africa of all places. Christ.)

:P

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I Live (in a dream world)

mewso

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Blitzkrieger:
Raymund E Feist is my favorite at the moment. He's a genius at telling an epic story from a human perspective.</font>

I'm a Feist nut myself but I don't think he pioneered the Human Perspective. How many writers write form a Tree's perspective. Oh yeah and I have to fo with Isaac Asimov, the MAN on this little vote. Banks is cool but I'll hail him as a great writer when he has more Sci-Fi written.

M

Talliesin

Non-fiction: Andrea Dworkin
Fiction: Martin Amos

May seem strange to have a Feminist and a writer who's been accused of misogyny together like that, but they're both bloody good writers. (And Dworkin's fiction and Amos' non-fiction are also very good).

Celt

Oh crap0rs i forgot Peter F Hamilton !

Excelsior

Fantasy and sci-fi: CS Lewis.
Otherwise, Doulas Coupland

amp

William Gibson. Yeah yeah he invented the term cyberspace, but the mix of urban decay with advanced technology and his unique perspective on the human condition is simply superlative.

My favourite book of his jointly written by Bruce Sterling is actually set in an alternative past were the finished Babbage machine changes the world. Excellent.

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Lunacy Abounds! Play GLminesweeper!
art is everything and of course nothing and possibly also a sausage

Belisarius

Hunter S thompson comes to mind , odd he hasnt been listed yet.

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Shrewgar!

JustHalf

Orwell, Pratchett, Adams. Tolkien is great too. My dad got the Hobbit recently on cassette, and even though it's a "kids book", hearing those words again rekindled a sense of awe.

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It rained in San Francisco Wednesday evening, but the penguins were
still there Thursday morning, smiling broadly.

Evil Phil

Iain Banks (with and without the 'M'), Gore Vidal, Terry Prachett.

When I was a kid:
Alfred Hitch**** ~ The Three Detectives series
Enid Blighton ~ Famous Five, Hurraw for ginger ale!
Margaret Weis and Tracey Hickman ~ The Drangonlance chronicles/tales/etc. actually they're still pretty good now.

Highnoon

T'would ave to be David Gemmell for meself. I believe he has a book out at the moment- Raven(something-or-other).

Haven't had much time to read that many books lately, what with college an all.

But I think I may try some Sherlock Holmes stuff, when I get the chance?

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dyin ain't much of a livin

Canaboid

Orson Scott Card.

Corinthian

Kurt Vonnegut
Neil Gaiman

Bob the Unlucky Octopus

In no particular order...
Tolkien, Kafka, Asimov, George Orwell, Albert Camus, JP Sartres, Frederick Nietzsche, Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Jules Verne, Fyodr Doestoyevsky, Robert Jordan and Frank Herbert.

Let's not forget Douglas Adams- perhaps one of the best comedy writers the world has ever known- at least until that world becomes obliterated to make way for a hyperspace bypass

Feist is a competent rather than an amazing writer. He tells good stories, but the mythos is basic, the characters shallow and single-minded, and the plot-lines simple/predictable in truth. Most of the backstory behind Kelewan for instance, has been lifted directly from pre-Meiji Japan. The entire plot-line of Silverthorn was a parodical re-hash of Sleeping Beauty. The stories he tells are good ones because they aren't original in the least- they are derivations of already-popular and successful fiction.

The worlds of Tolkien, Jordan, Frank Herbert and RA Salvatore are a good deal more original and better-explored than that of Feist. Fritz Leiber too, is an amazing writer- described as the best fantasy author of our time.

I'm sure there are loads of authors I've left out- but those are all I could think of for the moment.

Miguel_Sanchez

Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Jay McInerney, Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett, Salinger - and there's a guy I used to be in school with who can write brilliantly - I've loved everything I've ever read by him. When he makes it big I'll be able to name drop him all over the place and recount our drinking exploits.

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I'm the Dude

Bob the Unlucky Octopus

Oh God...where to begin...

Fantasy writing: Tolkien(of course), Fritz Leiber, RA Salvatore, Weiss/Hickman and Robert Jordan.

Terry Brooks lacks imagination in his writing- Eddings is too repetitive- Goodkind though looks like a genuine talent, as does Modsett Jr.

Raymond E. Feist is a good rather than a great writer. Most of his source material is blatantly plaigarized (eg Kelewan is a ripped-off pre-Meiji, zaibatsu Japan), while Silverthorn is a paroxysmic recounting of Sleeping Beauty. His characters tend to be two-dimensional and single-minded- he prefers to tell rather than show the reader what is happening. The three authors I mentioned up there are far more able writers than Feist (though Feist is capable of some brilliant set-pieces).

Sci-Fi: Asimov, Frank Herbert, Arthur C. Clarke, Jules Verne, Ian M. Banks and Timothy Zahn(so no surprises there)

Classics: Dickens, Kafka, Camus, Doestoyevsky, Tolstoy, Hesse, Homer, Orwell

Humor: Douglas Adams, Eddie Izzard, Cervantes(how could we forget Mr. Don Quixote himself?)

Those are the authors that I really enjoy- the sort of author that allows me to pick up any of their books in the genre and read it more than once, all the way through. Smashing stuff.

Bob the Unlucky Octopus
=Veni Vidi Vici=

Yo Mamma

Well I just want to add another one to my favourits list, George RR.Martin, and the best thing is that it was sombody on these here boards that pointed me in the right direction !!Thx

[This message has been edited by Yo Mamma (edited 08-05-2001).]

Bloody Drunkard

Jimmy Burns or Nick Hornby

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Lets get back to basics Niall, the ball is round

syringe

I haven't read much of his stuff, but Ed McBain's stuff really keeps my attention. Maybe cos I'm a teeny bopper and have no taste, but each to their own.

RopeDrink

Terry Pratchett - He's one of the most Imaginative and funny authors around...

The DiscWorld Novels are top notch!

ConUladh

It's been a good few years since I've read the Riftwar Saga but I ended up wanting all the good guys to be slaughtered, if I recall correctly I found it predictable, I like the Empire trilogy that Feist wrote with Janny Wurts though(been a few of years since I've read that as well must give it a go again), Janny Wurts own books were a bit poor though some of them were readable enough

Gemmell's books seem to repeat the same theme again and again but I like them
anyway, Legend was one of the first Fantasy books I read

Robert Jordan is probably my favourite at the moment, prob cause I spent the best part of the last 4 months rereading them so I could move on to Book 9

Reading Barbed Coil by JV Jones at the moment, alright so far

ConUladh

For a laugh there's no-one better than Terry Pratchet

[fist]Pi$$er

Hrm, best author is hard to call. There are books I will buy merely for the author because I am confident I will enjoy it. But surely the best books of all time were written by the best authors? The books I would classify as being one of the best ever written are mostly written by people who only ever wrote one good book.

I'm sure ill regret this list when I get reminded bout others but here goes:

Robert M. Pirsig
Jung Chang
JRR Tolkien
JD Salinger
Iain Banks
Margaret Weis
Tracy Hickman

Bard

Rob Grant & Doug Naylor, William Shakespeare, Frank McCourt, Roddy Doyle, Douglas Adams (regardless of the current sad news), and Spike Milligan, to name but a few.

{EDIT:} How could I forget!?!? ... STEPHEN KING!!!

Never really got into Pratchett, personally.

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Bard

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"We do know it was we who scorched the sky..."

[This message has been edited by Bard (edited 13-05-2001).]

Neil3030

Elmore Leonard

ConUladh

Extract from an e-mail I sent to someone as a list of (fantasy)recommendations, sure I've left out a few but there you go

Robert Jordan's Wheel Of Time (9 books and counting)
Terry Pratchett's Discworld Novels
Bernard Cornwell's Arthur books (starting with The Winter King)
Julian May's Saga Of The Exiles (haven't read it in a couple of years but remember it as being very good) and the Galactic Mileu Trilogy
Tad William's Memory Sorrow and Thorn (been a couple of years as well)
The Empire series by Raymond E Feist and Janny Wurts (Daughter Of The Empire etc.)(again, been a while)
All David Gemmell's fantasy books (Legend first)
Lord Of The Rings (Obviously)


[This message has been edited by ConUladh (edited 15-05-2001).]

Kev

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Belisarius:
Hunter S thompson comes to mind , odd he hasnt been listed yet.

</font>

yes HST is my favorite author, he rocks.
reading generation of swine at the moment.

Sean

my best author is;
dave pelzer
as a kid he was betten by his evil mother
and got away and found a family that loved him. and then he joined the US air force
and had a Great life and so on .........
the booksare a child called it , the lost boy
and a man called dave

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Sean ownz j00 all!!

[This message has been edited by Sean (edited 24-05-2001).]