Best SF&F Author

I voted for Tolkien, he's my favorite of all time.

I also enjoy books by Robert Jordan, R.A. Salvatore, Robin Hobbs, Anne Macaffery, Mercedes Lackey, Stephen King, & Dean R. Koontz as well as the Anita Blake series. There are so many authors I like. It is really hard to pick a favorite, but LOTR is my all-time favorite story and really is the Grandfather of the Fantasy genre.
 
Think the best of the writers listed is Herbert. Comes amongst the top three all time SF authors.

Scott Cairdd is one of the better modern writers, but not quite up there
 
Gotta be Tolkien! I like toehrs too, but they aren't in the list and I cant remember them either, but look at my name for a reason why! :D
:flash:
 
Robert Holdstock Mythago Woods a superb Fansy novel one once of several in the Ryhope wood series
Clark Ashton Smith The City of the Singing Flame and Its sequel Beyond the Singing Flame But he wrote so many great stories those two are by far my favorite .

Jack London The Star Rover This one while not strictly a fantasy has may fantastic elements. It's a great book. I wish more people knew about this one.:)

I have other which I will list.:)
 
Wow, a lot of Orson Card votes. I'm surprised, because as far as I know the only notable works of his are the Ender books, particularly Ender's Game and Speaker For The Dead.

Not complaining, because I actually prefer his writing over guys like Banks and Reynolds, I just wish he wrote some more big SF. Speaker For the Dead is one of the best space operas I've ever read.

But personally, the best SF author is Philip K Dick. There's no one like him. But I will say that one of the best SF novels of recent years is Embassytown by China Mieville, flkr what its worth.
 
tylenol4000 said:
Wow, a lot of Orson Card votes. I'm surprised, because as far as I know the only notable works of his are the Ender books, particularly Ender's Game and Speaker For The Dead.
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Ender's Game is his best known, but far from his best. Songmaster is a great book but, really, to explore Card you need to read Maps in a Mirror - his collected short work. It's fabulous. :)
 
I'm taking the question to read: "Who is the best writer of science fiction and fantasy?" Some might propose Poul Anderson or Fritz Leiber, Jack Vance or Ursula Le Guin. My nomination is C. S. Lewis, for, on the one hand, the trilogy of Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength, and, on the other hand, the Narnian books for children and Till We Have Faces for adults. He wrote shorter works in both genres as well. Moreover, he was a discerning critic of both sf and fantasy.
 
Extollager said:
I'm taking the question to read: "Who is the best writer of science fiction and fantasy?" Some might propose Poul Anderson or Fritz Leiber, Jack Vance or Ursula Le Guin. My nomination is C. S. Lewis, for, on the one hand, the trilogy of Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength, and, on the other hand, the Narnian books for children and Till We Have Faces for adults. He wrote shorter works in both genres as well. Moreover, he was a discerning critic of both sf and fantasy.
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Well, if the question was meant to be taken that way, then my answer would be Ursula K Le Guin. I'm not huge on fantasy, but the fantasy she's written is quite great, and of course her science-fiction is amazing.

Her Earthsea books are great and laid the groundwork for so much to come while still being better (better than Harry Potter, for example).
And her SF is awesome. Left Hand of Darkness is definitely one of the best SF novels ever written. It even inspired Embassytown, one of my absolute favourites. Haven't read Lathe of Heaven, but I have a feeling I might like it even more because of the concepts its supposed to explore and the more traditional narrative style. We'll see.

China Mieville is a contender. But he's only written one sci-fi novel so far. He's written plenty of Fantasy, which I admire because his Fantasy is different then most, he realises there's more to it than elves and knights in shiny armour. Unfortunately he's only written one SF novel, hope he does more.
 
Karl Edward Wagner's Kane the Mystic Swordsman sage. Great stuff , In addition he did a terrific Conan and Bran Mak Morn pastiche

Killer which he co co wrote with David Drake. (y)
 
Fred Saberhagen . The Berserker Saga , Empire of the East, Book of Swords, Holmes/Dracula file, The Veils of Azlaroc and many other wonderful books and stories (y)
 
Extollager anticipated me. From my reading, I'd be torn between Leiber and Le Guin.


Randy M.
 
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