debut authors destined to be ' greats '

[Fred C. Dobbs]

Good morning all !

Yesterday I picked up a book called scar night by a british author called allan campbell - I noticed that it was his first novel and as a new poster I wanted to get a thread going about authors who have had just the one or two books published who are destined for great things.

I havent started Campbell yet as I'm finishing some of John Wyndam's early stories. I am new to the genre but have read Tolkein, H G Wells, Wyndham. I stumbled across this site and knew straight away I'd found something good and well worth registering.

regards
Dobbsey

 

[Brys]

Alan Campbell's pretty good. I have (but haven't yet read) the sequel to Scar Night and am looking forward to it. He's a talented author, just short of the top 3 of epic fantasy (which is where I'd probably place the book, though it does blur genre boundaries a little).

Others I can think of are:
Scott Lynch is the first that comes to mind. The Lies of Locke Lamora was easily one of the best debuts in years.
Hal Duncan's Vellum was very good as well, though quite challenging in parts.
K J Bishop, if she counts (written a lot of short stories, but only one novel so far). The Etched City was a great book and if she keeps writing novels could be one of the greats in fantasy. Unfortunately, she's only published the one novel.
Sarah Monette's pretty good as well, but is becoming a bit more established as a writer (on to her fourth book I think).
Patrick Rothfuss is one of those who could be really great - I think potentially he could be better than any of the others I mentioned, though he hasn't got there yet. I also can't work out why - the actual plot and background of his story and anything especially new or original, yet somehow he makes a brilliant novel out of a very cliched setting. His writing is some of the strongest in the epic fantasy genre though.

There have been quite a few new debuts in epic fantasy in the last couple of years, which may fall into this category - Mark Charon Newton, David Anthony Durham, Adrian Tchaikovsky. Brent Weeks is another one, but I don't think he's really got the potential to be a great author. The Painted Man was a good, enjoyable novel, but nothing special. Not really going to compete with the better stuff being written in epic fantasy.

 

[GOLLUM]

K J Bishop, if she counts (written a lot of short stories, but only one novel so far). The Etched City was a great book and if she keeps writing novels could be one of the greats in fantasy. Unfortunately, she's only published the one novel.

Well she's been working on another novel for the past couple of years and has recently got a hurry on with it. She's also near to completing a collection of stories in a 2 volume set that will be Weird with a capital W...SO....watch this space in 2010.

Might add R. Scott Bakker to the list, although he's more established now I suppose much like Joe Abercrombie.

 

[SpaceShip]

Have you introduced yourself in the introductions thread yet Fred. I can't remember seeing you - but if you haven't well, welcome anyway. You'll probably find that this site is full of the authors that you could be talking about and will be clamouring for your approval - no doubt!

 

[chopper]

There have been quite a few new debuts in epic fantasy in the last couple of years, which may fall into this category - Mark Charon Newton, David Anthony Durham, Adrian Tchaikovsky. Brent Weeks is another one, but I don't think he's really got the potential to be a great author. The Painted Man was a good, enjoyable novel, but nothing special. Not really going to compete with the better stuff being written in epic fantasy.

Painted Man was by Peter V. Brett - Brent Weeks wrote the Night Angel Trilogy. Easily confused though, it would seem...

 

[Fred C. Dobbs]

OK spaceship - I have the day off and intended spending a lot of the day pottering about on the computer so I will definately introduce myself. Thanks to all the above suggestions !

 

[Rosemary]

I agree with Brys. Patrick Rothfuss is surely going on to become a great author. His first book The Name of the Wind was marvellous and looking forward to his next book.