What is your favorite Science Fiction/Fantasy author?

[Freebird]

Speaking of Gary Gygax SF authors, I was wondering what people's favorite SF/Fantasy authors are?

Multiple Choice Poll - choose more than 1 if you want.

Anybody else list Bradury's "The Veldt" as inspiration?

 

[magnocain]

Robert Jordan

Too bad he died before he could finish his 12 book series!

 

[Njaco]

THX Freebird! Mine, of course, is Ray Bradbury. Best description is he paints with words.

For fantasy (if its such) is the master before all the hype - John Ronald Ruel Tolkien.

 

[Freebird]

Sorry it took me some time to do all the poll options Njaco. I listed 24 authors, many more that were left out...

 

[Njaco]

No need for apologises Freebird. After all this time here it never occured to me anyone else would like SF. I tend to the older type of writers - Tolkien, Lovecraft, Welles.

Ought to add Lord Dunsany to that list. Talk about ahead of his time. He influenced Lovecraft and if you read him you can see why.

 

[HoHun]

Hi Freebird,

>Speaking of Gary Gygax SF authors, I was wondering what people's favorite SF/Fantasy authors are?

Science Fiction I'd have to think long and hard ... Fantasy is spontaneous: George RR Martin.

George R. R. Martin's Official Website

Regards,

Henning (HoHun)

 

[Marcel]

Fantasie: Robin Hobb. She writes books that I never can put down, but I'm also a Tolkien fan.
I don't read that much SF, but I like Arthur C Clarke and I'm a fan of Startrek, so Roddenberry is also a favorite

 

[Konigstiger205]

I gotta go with Jules Verne, that man probably foresaw the future with its books.I read them all and I read them again and again if they where mine.

 

[A4K]

J.R.R Tolkien, and Terry Pratchett. Colin Wilson also wrote a good book called 'The space Vampires' - title sounds corny, but it's an interesting read into human nature.

 

[Heinz]

None.

Im currently doing a journalism course, non fiction is my thing. However I am enjoying George Orwell and also Matthew Reiley.

 

[Lucky13]

Riiiiight....as Tolkien is the only one that I've heard about, what kinda sience fiction/fantasy do the others write??

 

[Njaco]

I've always had a tendancy to serperate alot of the Authors. To me, Bradbury, Asimov, Verne and Welles were sci-fi. Tolkien, CS Lewis and those with dragons and such are Fantasy and Lovercraft and Dunsany are horror (though Lovecraft did have a great sci-fi story "In the Walls of Eryx" - how do you get out of a maze when the walls are transparent and moving?)

Of course, this is just IMHO.

 

[Parmigiano]

Don't have a number one, but Verne, Orwell, Asimov, Lovecraft and Douglas Adams above the others

 

[HoHun]

Hi Lucky,

>Riiiiight....as Tolkien is the only one that I've heard about, what kinda sience fiction/fantasy do the others write??

H.G. Wells - Genre-defining Science Fiction like "The Time Machine".
J.R.R. Tolkien - Linguistically sophisticated adoption of ancient myths into a greater whole.
Ray Bradbury - Poetic rather than technology-driven Sci Fi.
Jules Verne - Genre-defining stories on realistic future technology.
Edgar Rice Burroughs - You might have heard of one character he invented ... "Tarzan"
Robert Heinlein - "Starship Troopers" ... more a political manifest than a science fiction novel
Robert Howard - "Conan the Barbarian"
C.S. Lewis - "Chronicles of Narnia" ... slightly strange but very atmospheric
Isaac Asimov - strictly scientific Sci Fi, robot stories, invented stricly logical laws of robotics and outlined the consequences of these laws to human society
Arthur C. Clarke - WW2 radar nerd, scientifc Sci Fi, pointed out the usefulness of the geostationary orbit for communciation satellites.
H.P. Lovecraft - old stuff, the attack of ancient and unconceivable forces on normal life
Roger Zelazny - very rich and brilliantly written adventure/escapism fantasy
Michael Moorcock - grim stuff, his "Elric of Melnibone" is sort of Conan backwards. He deliberately broke the mold of the old "sword and sorcery" stuff.
Larry Niven - a master of technological visions that often make his stories pale in comparison. Often works with co-authors (unfortunately?)
Frederick Pohl - I only know him as one of Niven's co-authors.
Ursula Le Guin - I've only read a few short stories, but they were sort of a thoughful Fantasy/Sci Fi mix I like quite well.
George Orwell - "1984" ... a great description of totalitarism and the capability of humans to deceive themselves despite seeing through their own deception
Poul Anderson - Good old-fashioned Fantasy/Sci-Fi mix. I don't remember anything specifically, but most of it was quite good.
L. Ron Hubbard - Founder of scientology. Supposedly his books echo their ideology.
Douglas Adams - "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". Brilliant, funny re-definition of Science Fiction in the 1980s.
Fred Saberhagen - Hm, must have missed this guy.
Piers Anthony - Best known for his "Xanth" Fantasy series which features a lot of unique characters and interesting stories despite not being too serious and actually relying on puns as one of the major story devices. Good stuff.
Frank Herbert - "Dune" series. Great scenery, thousands of pages, little action.
Gene Roddenberry - I didn't know he wrote books, too.

Regards,

Henning (HoHun)

 

[Njaco]

Great synopsis Hohun!

 

[Lucky13]

Cheers mate!

 

[Freebird]

Robert Jordan

Too bad he died before he could finish his 12 book series!

What kind of story is it? Who would you compare it to?

I've always had a tendancy to serperate alot of the Authors. To me, Bradbury, Asimov, Verne and Welles were sci-fi. Tolkien, CS Lewis and those with dragons and such are Fantasy and Lovercraft and Dunsany are horror (though Lovecraft did have a great sci-fi story "In the Walls of Eryx" - how do you get out of a maze when the walls are transparent and moving?)

Of course, this is just IMHO.

True enough, but sometimes there are "crossover" authors. I particularly like Zelazny Moorcock. Moorcock is most famous for his "Elric" saga, which is Fantasy, except that some of the charachters are rather "dark", not easy "black white" like in Tolkien. He also wrote a rather {shocking} story about a researcher who goes back in time to find out what Jesus was like.... Totally unexpected. {condemned by the church of course!!} If you have heard the "Blue Oyster Cult" songs "Black Blade" or "Vetran of the Psychic Wars" they were both written about Moorcock's characters. {Black Blade is about the Demon Sword "Stormbringer"}

Often this type of fiction explores "alternate realities" which is why there is some fantasy element

Riiiiight....as Tolkien is the only one that I've heard about, what kinda sience fiction/fantasy do the others write??

I particularly like Larry Niven's "Ringworld" series, an facinating idea about an advanced race that "terraformed" their planet if you will, instead of a sphere, it is a thin "ring" that rotates around the sun at the same orbital distance as the planet did. {obviously using some pretty advanced compounds engineering!} The total mass would be the same as the planet, but the available usable surface area would be something like 1,000,000 times larger!

Has anyone else besides Comiso read Larry Niven? One of the few authors that can write books that I cannot put down until I've finished it!

 

[HoHun]

Hi Freebird,

>Has anyone else besides Comiso read Larry Niven? One of the few authors that can write books that I cannot put down until I've finished it!

Sure I like the Ringworld universe best, too.

Who was is who said "In Science Fiction, you are allowed to make one major deviation from reality at the beginning of the story, then everything else has to follow logically"?

Poul Anderson perhaps? Anyway, Larry Niven is great at that stuff, drawing a mind-boggling scenery that is completely consistent and logical in itself.

Regards,

Henning (HoHun)

 

[Cota1992]

Wow, I am surprised no one has mentioned David Drake. Not only is he my favorite SF writer but also his Hammers Slammers stories to me are also some the best military themed fiction I have read anywhere. I read David Drake even when I go through my total nonfiction stages.

David Drake

Art in DC

 

[Freebird]

Lucky you probably know the movies, I think at least half of these authors have had movies made from their books.

H.G. Wells - Genre-defining Science Fiction like "The Time Machine".
Also wrote "War of the Worlds", been made into a movie more than once

J.R.R. Tolkien - Linguistically sophisticated adoption of ancient myths into a greater whole.
Lord of the Rings of course

Ray Bradbury - Poetic rather than technology-driven Sci Fi.
most Famous for "Martian Chronicles" made into a Movie about 25 years ago with Rock Hudson

Jules Verne - Genre-defining stories on realistic future technology.
His book Journey to the Center of the Earth was made into a movie

Edgar Rice Burroughs - You might have heard of one character he invented ... "Tarzan"
He also had a SF series "John Carter of Mars"

Robert Heinlein - "Starship Troopers" ... more a political manifest than a science fiction novel and made into a movie

Regards,

Henning (HoHun)