My Top 100 Authors, comments requested

[Stevenator]

I agree with MZB, I already have Orwell somewhere in the 70's, and as soon as a come across a book with the author title "Shanara74" I will pick it up (though I would suggest using an alias to gain seperation from Brooks. lol.)

[shanara74]

If I told you my name, that would be telling. Sorry, dude.

[DrakeDouay]

Dear Stevinator & Associates,

 

Your remarks are observed.

I am pleased to inform you that they have filled me with impotent rage....

:evil:

[Stevenator]

"Truth is not hurtful, not unless you are looking for deceit."

 

I had a period of 'painful acceptance' myself.

[AtheistMonk]

2nd post on this forum!

 

Hm... I've probably not even heard of around a fifth of the authors on your list.

 

But here's my top few, with literary merit combined with uniqueness and enjoyability:

 

1. Terry Pratchett

2. Ursula LeGuin (just for the Left Hand of Darkness, that book got me into the whole genre)

3. J. R. R. Tolkein

4. Calvino (not sure if he necessarily fits the genre)

5. Vance

6. Heinlen

7. Frank Herbert

8. Robert Jordan

 

Personally, I agree that Robert Jordan writes stuff that can never be thought to be literature, but I have really enjoyed large sections of it. The other books all have quite a bit of literary merit to them, especially Terry Pratchett, who I feel is often underrated due to the fact that he writes humorous fiction.

 

Yes, I think he should be number one, if you disagree, pah to you.

[Angel of Death]

erm' date=' no RJ then, unless i missed him?[/quote']

 

I thought this exact thing, i just thought that he was left out cos no one here really needs to be told about him. Well shouldn't need to be told about.

[AtheistMonk]

erm' date=' no RJ then, unless i missed him?[/quote']

 

I thought this exact thing, i just thought that he was left out cos no one here really needs to be told about him. Well shouldn't need to be told about.

 

No, he did it intentionally, for reasons that fit in with his purpose - he wasn't saying which ones he liked best, but rather the most significant ones because of literary and other criterions. While I really like Robert Jordan's works, I feel that they are completely devoid of any real literary merits, and thus by those criteria, should not be included.

[Sillmarillion]

I didn't read all the 4 pages, but from my slight overview I would say that there is one author missing - E.A. Poe.

He is one of my favourites and fits in the categories discussed in this thread.

 

There is a german author called Wolfgang Hohlbein, but I think you do not know him. But he would be definitly in my Top 100 :)

 

Adam

[AtheistMonk]

I didn't read all the 4 pages' date=' but from my slight overview I would say that there is one author missing - E.A. Poe.

He is one of my favourites and fits in the categories discussed in this thread.

 

There is a german author called Wolfgang Hohlbein, but I think you do not know him. But he would be definitly in my Top 100 :)

 

Adam[/quote']

 

Edgar Allen Poe's fitting into the genre is a bit debatable.

 

Unfortunately I don't know much about German literature, so I haven't heard of your Wolfgang Hohlbein.

[Sillmarillion]

Yeah, E.A. Poe might be debatable. I thought it is thrill as well, but in fact its just sci-fi and fantasy.

On the other hand Lovecraft and Poe wrote similar fiction, so who includes the one can include the other as well.

 

There is a polish fantasy-writer called Andrzej Sapkowski. Have you heard of him?

 

Adam

[Hannibal King]

Uhhhh..... Stevenator..... Where is Terry Goodkind on that list?

[Werthead]

You need to ask? :shock:

[Hannibal King]

What is that supposed to mean? :evil:

[WilderofKingston]

Went over the list not bad not bad, dont remember seeing Aldous Huxley , but to each his own, anyway not the point of my post.

 

If you like alot of the authors on his list you should check out Masterpieces : The Best Science Fiction of the Twentieth Century edited by Orson Scott Card. It has some of the best short stories I have ever read, and thats saying alot considering I have made it a small quest to collect all the sci-fi/fantasy short story collective novels I could get my hands on.

 

It features...

Isaac Asimov

Arthur C. Clark

William Gibson(neuromancer is the bomb)

Ursula K. Le Guin

Frederik Pohl

Robert Silverberg

and my favorite of course....George RR Martin

and others

[David Boyle]

I may be a bit late in posting this but i got bored after reading 3 of the 5 pagesso here is my opinions and recomendations.

 

Well to start off: Robbin Hobb?????? why? her style is incrediably iritating, so much so that i only got through one of her books 'assisins apprentice' i think it was

 

I cant really make a comment on RJ considdering im only on book 2 at the moment

 

Now for my recomendations:

 

Raymond E Feist: Mabye not deserving of the top 100spaces but his books are verry interesting and full of intresting charachters if a bit 2dimentional

 

Ian Irvine: In my opinieon he is definatly worthey of a top 100 position. his 2 fantasey series 'A shadow on the glass' and 'the well of echoes' are both 4 books long and had every on ththing i could want in a fantasey novel i.e. interesting, well rounded charachteers a great believable setting, plenty of drama that you would expect from adults who are in prolonged exposure to each other ana a great storyline which seems to move at varying paces at different times in the novel depending on the setting at the time. Irvine has also put a twist on fantasy with many of the female charachters being in controll of events moresow than the men. and his scientiffic background is evident in his explanations of how magic works in his world.

 

 

Phew that was hard

[Werthead]

What is that supposed to mean? :evil:

 

Terry Goodkind is one of the worst writers in modern fantasy, IMO. Paper-thin characters, a rather fascist point of view (especially from the POV of Richard Rahl, who is rapidly becoming fantasy's equivalent to Adolf Hitler) and zero writing ability mean that I wouldn't put him a Top 1,000 list, never mind a Top 100 list. Among the writers I have read, the only author who is less talented is L. Ron Hubbard (although I'm reliably informed that Chris Paolini and Robert Newcombe are both even worse than Goodkind, I have not as yet investigated for myself).

 

As for the other writers commented on:

 

Ian Irvine: great ideas, troubled execution. Irvine is superb at rendering landscapes and scenery. His semi-steampunk setting is interesting. The fact that his Evil Dark Lord is a misunderstood semi-good guy is fascinating (if done before by Tad Williams, among others). However, his characters are rather drab and boring, possibly because of Irvine's desperate desire to make them all grey rather than good or evil means draining them of colour and passion. At the moment I'd list Irvine as interesting but with a great deal of unfulfilled potential.

 

Hobb: I am not a fan either, but she does have a good writing style and her characters are pretty good.

 

Feist: Worth putting on the list for Magician, Honoured Enemy and The Empire Trilogy at least. A very good writer of the traditional fantasy novel, and with Magician at least, does a good job of subverting genre expectations.

[Sirayn]

I can categorically state that Robert Newcomb is the worst fantasy writer in the world ever. I exaggerate a bit, but honestly, the extent of his badness is beyond the ability of words to convey. I point you to the Robert Newcomb Fan Page, where the author says:

 

"... what's he's accomplished is no minor feat. Thousands of bad fantasy novels have been written. Some are so agonizingly awful that they've caused readers to recoil in horror, experience physical pain, and/or repeal their long-held opposition to book burning. But when Newcomb's debut effort The Fifth Sorceress was published in 2002, virtually every critic and audience member who read it immediately declared it to be worst novel ever written. The achievement of such a title does not come easily. It requires a peculiar mix of bad ideas, a unique absense of inspiration, and an utter lack of writing skills. Thus, in tribute to this unequaled attainment, I present this web site."

 

To illustrate his point he highlights this classic quote from The Fifth Sorceress by Robert Newcomb, in which Newcomb manages to convey a homophobic, misogynist authorial voice through his incredibly bad writing, in one fell swoop:

 

"And then, surprisingly, the acute unfulfilled desires had come. One day, while struggling to understand one of the more arcane passages of the Vagaries, [the villainesses] had all felt the unexpected stirrings of their loins. The hugely sexual, needful longings had been intensified by an insanely irresistible desire to inflict those same sexual needs upon others.

 

Of both genders."

 

I could rant about Newcomb all day ... I will relax. :shock:

[Hannibal King]

Terry Goodkind is one of the worst writers in modern fantasy' date=' IMO. Paper-thin characters, a rather fascist point of view (especially from the POV of Richard Rahl, who is rapidly becoming fantasy's equivalent to Adolf Hitler) and zero writing ability mean that I wouldn't put him a Top 1,000 list, never mind a Top 100 list.

 

That is the worst opinion I have EVER heard in my life! Richard Rahl is one of the most heroic and intelligent characters ever to be written in modern fantasy. And when you say he is fantasy's equivalent of Adolf Hitler, did you know that Terry Goodkind's Imperial Order(Rahl's enemy, and the great evil of the series) is based on communism and nazism? And FOR YOUR INFORMATION the characters are NOT one dimensional. Did you also know that Goodkind is loathed by critics because he attacks communism and fascism in his books???? Obviously not! Goodkind is not only THE best author since Ayn Rand, He is also one of the smartest human beings on this earth!

Terry Goodkind's style and skill goes completely unrivaled.

[Werthead]

Ridiculous. Richard Rahl's armies were too weak to face the IO in battle, so he ordered them to instead sack the IO's cities and murder the unarmed civilians within them and burn and salt their fields. The only people this kills are unarmed civilians who have as much choice about living in the IO as the Polish did under Hitler or the Russian Jews under Stalin. This is the equivalent of George Bush nuking every city in Iraq to wipe out the terrorists regardless of the twenty million innocent people who'd die as well. This is utterly, morally unjustifiable under any circumstances.

 

Goodkind is smart? Right, you mean when he said he doesn't write fantasy? Or that he thinks Ayn Rand is the greatest 'living' writer (she died over 20 years before he made that comment)? Or when he attacked Canada as being a police state?

 

You may like the SoT books. Good for you. Other people dislike them, probably based on much greater experience of other writers. What is surreal is when Goodkind fans hold him up as some kind of modern-day Proust or Camus. He isn't. He's a writer of cheesy hack fantasy who tries to inject a rather outdated philosophy into his works with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. That's it.

[Hannibal King]

No. He said Rand was the greatest philosopher since aristotle. He never said she was living. And Richard's decision to lay waste to the old world was no different than General Sherman's sacking of the south in the Civil War. He also only mentioned canada as an example that the US was the only FREE nation. ALSO, who cares if he said he doesn't write fantasy. He said that he chose the genre because it is the one in which he could write about heroes most effectively. HE WAS RIGHT. ALSO, objectivism IS NOT an outdated philosophy, it's been around since Rand created it and it is still around today.

So, What were your objections?

[Dylanfanatic]

Well, I followed this link from other parts and interesting, quite interesting...I'll ignore the plea for G--dk-nd (BBNC)'s inclusion and instead talk about the list itself.

 

It's a fairly good list, better than many that I've seen on the web in recent months, but then that pesky question of "How does one define X as belonging in spec fic and Y not being considered so" comes to mind. Also, the various 'spots' of course are going to be debatable, which I think is one of the two main points of any list, the other being to get others curious about the ones included on said list.

 

Now I posted the full list of 50 personal favorites over at wotmania's OF section and on my personal blog, but I will explain my rationale for some of these. I chose works that I considered to be imaginative, entertaining, well-written, and written in a style that appealed to me. To say otherwise would be misleading for some. Also, there is a heavy tilt toward realismo mágico and that is because I greatly enjoyed reading those authors in their original language and not in English translation. There is something that is added to the effect when read in Spanish, I guess.

 

But for those who didn't come to listen to this guy blab on and on (and also for the mercy of those who recognize my SN from elsewhere ;)), here's the Top 10 part of my Top 50 list:

 

1. Jorge Luis Borges, Ficciónes (Spanish)

2. Borges, El Aleph (Spanish)

3. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

4. Gabriel García Márquez, Cien años de soledad/One Hundred Years of Solitude

5. Ben Okri, The Famished Road

6. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion

7. Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow

8. Gene Wolfe, The Book of the New Sun

9. Umberto Eco, Foucault's Pendulum

10. Italo Calvino, If on a winter's night a traveler...

 

One book that might crack that list in the near future is Hal Duncan's debut novel, Vellum. It certainly is up there with my all-time spec fic favorites, but I'll wait until Ink is published before I decide if it'll make that list. Just thought I'd toss out that little nugget for people here.

 

Anyways, blabbed too much, as always.

[Werthead]

No. He said Rand was the greatest philosopher since aristotle. He never said she was living. And Richard's decision to lay waste to the old world was no different than General Sherman's sacking of the south in the Civil War. He also only mentioned canada as an example that the US was the only FREE nation. ALSO' date=' who cares if he said he doesn't write fantasy. He said that he chose the genre because it is the one in which he could write about heroes most effectively. HE WAS RIGHT. ALSO, objectivism IS NOT an outdated philosophy, it's been around since Rand created it and it is still around today.[/quote']

 

"Who is your favourite living author?" - "Ayn Rand"

Seems pretty cut-and-dried.

 

The US is not the only 'free' nation in the world. Saying that it is merely displays total ignorance of the rest of the world.

 

Objectivism is outdated because it is virtually unknown outside the United States, but within it is regarded as something of a joke by philosophy professors and rarely teached by reputable universities, unsurprising considering that it clashes with elements of Christian doctrine, the predominant religion of the country, but that's more Dylanfanatic's area of expertise than mine.

 

At the end of the day, it's a series of books. No need to get so wound up that other people have different views to you.

 

Good list, Larry. I do need to get into Borges considering how often you recommend him. Are there multiple English translations, and if so, is there a good edition to look for? My ability to read other languages is sadly completely lacking

[Gandaal]

In no particular order:

Sara Douglass (mainly for the Battleaxe trilogy)

David Eddings (when I was younger anyway)

Robert Jordan (even if its all gone downhill since Crown of Swords)

Terry Goodkind (Richard is the best central fantasy hero ever)

Reymond E Feist (Magician is close to my favourite book)

David Farland

J.K Rowling

Traci Harding

[Gandaal]

Ridiculous. Richard Rahl's armies were too weak to face the IO in battle' date=' so he ordered them to instead sack the IO's cities and murder the unarmed civilians within them and burn and salt their fields. The only people this kills are unarmed civilians who have as much choice about living in the IO as the Polish did under Hitler or the Russian Jews under Stalin. This is the equivalent of George Bush nuking every city in Iraq to wipe out the terrorists regardless of the twenty million innocent people who'd die as well. This is utterly, morally unjustifiable under any circumstances.[/quote']

When did this actually happen in the series?

[Isabel]

In Phantom. Do you want a quote?