Site for placing authors on a map, but how accurate is it?

[Nikitta]

It is obvious that there several people on this forum who are much more well read than me, so I'd like to hear you opinion of this site I found and also tell you about it, in case you didn't know it.

The site works in the way that you type in the name of an author and it will show you which authors remind of him or her and how close they are. The idea being "If you like X, you might want to check out W and Y"

The link is Literature-Map - The tourist map of literature

 

[j d worthington]

It's a very interesting site, but I do see some problems... for example: when you type in Robert E. Howard, you get Howard himself floating around Howard in about three or four different places... And what the heck does Leon Trotsky have to do with H. P. Lovecraft? And, from what Moorcock has said (and my own heavy reading of same) the connection between HPL and Moorcock is extremely dubious...

Nonetheless, it does have an awful lot of very astute connections, many of which seem to be right on the nose. A few bugs, but I can see where it would be massively helpful for someone reading a particular writer who's curious about who influenced that writer or whom they have influenced in turn.

Thank for posting it...

 

[Alurny]

Wow nice site!

I typed in Terry Brooks and it came up with Feist as closest. Surprised Tolkien wasn't lingering (due to the apparent similarities between the Sword of Shannara and LOTR)

 

[jackokent]

What an excellent find Nikitta.

Not sure I see all the connections for instance Kafka being next to Nick Hornby. Doesn't mean they're not there just cause I can see them. Brilliant fun. Thanks

 

[Pyan]

Very clever site! I entered L.McM. Bujold, and it brought up Dorothy L. Sayers quite near. There's very close parallels between Miles Vorkosigan in A Civil Campaign, and Lord Peter Wimsy in Gaudy Night, but I'm extremely impressed that it recognised them, especially as DLS is about as far from SFF as you can get.

 

[Kitera]

Hey,

This site is cool. I've got to admit, some of the authors that popped up I've never heard before, but the few I do recognise, do correspond. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Rane Longfox]

Very cool, but a few problems... when, for example, you go for China Mieville, it puts Al Reynolds as very close, which I would dispute, but, more importantly, when you search for Reynolds, Mieville isn't even on there...

 

[HoopyFrood]

I typed in Douglas Adams and couldn't find P.G Wodehouse anywhere...tut...But other than that, it is quite an interesting site.

 

[Aleksei]

It is quite strange. I wrote David Weber, and got Rudyard Kipling as one of the possible choices.

 

[Saolta Oiche]

That really is an amazing site, cleve You could use it in conjunction with this site I know of...

Fantastic Fiction

e.g you see a name you don't know of and look it up on this one.

 

[Mark Robson]

Very clever! I typed in Mr Tolkien and was surprised to find the nearest author listed as Isaac Asimov, but then they both wrote expansive works with depth and detail, so I suppose I can see why people who liked one would like the other.