[RCypher]

Some people think Robert Jordan and J.K. Rowling and all those other new day authors are the best. Shure I like them too but J.R.R. Tolkien is the best fantasy writer ever he is the one who started it all, he had his own world full of different places and creatures.

[Alucard]

Glad you think so, But I myself am not much of a tolkien fan. I'll give him his due credit; he was one of the first, he had a very detailed world, he was undoubtedly the genre's greatest influence. That being said, I wouldn't place him in my top ten authors list. Well, not even my top twenty to be honest. I enjoyed the hobbit, but lotr didn't grab me. I found it to be very poorly paced with a very minor amount of characters worth reading about. And, this was the only book to this date that I actually liked the film better than the novel, for whatever that's worth. But, of course, this is only my opinion and I'm more than sure that I'm a minority on this particular issue.

[allanon]

Tolkien is great...but the best? It's a matter of taste.

[Bond]

Mithfanion, need more evidence? http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/wink.gif

[Asraloth]

But, RC, that begs the question, does first always mean best?

Sherlock Holmes was perhaps the first mystery/detective story, and after that many people do not think Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is the best the genre has produced; Agatha Christie and others are major contenders.

same goes for sci-fi; is jules verne the best cause he was the father of the genre? (i think he was the first) maybe, but many regard Arthur C Clarke as the best.

its all a matter of opinion.

by the way, i agree with you, tolkien is the author that set me onto fantasy, and i venerate him as one of the kings of the genre.

[This message has been edited by Asraloth (edited January 19, 2002).]

[Bond]

From what I recall Edgar Allen Poe may be deemed one of the main instigators of the mystery genre: Murders in the Rue Morgue.

[Shadowen]

I thought Iron Maiden wrote that! http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/wink.gif

[Asraloth]

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"From what I recall Edgar Allen Poe may be deemed one of the main instigators of the mystery genre: Murders in the Rue Morgue."
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really? i must brush up on my EAP. Ive only read "the raven," but i love it.

but regardless of who it was, my point was that first doesn't nessecarily mean best.

[JohnH]

Well true scholars would likely argue Tolkien being the 'first'. But he was in enough ways, that I won't quibble.

But it is rather silly to say precursors define a genre and establish unsurpassable benchmarks for quality. That is much like saying Edison is the best when comparing today's technological improvements on his original design.

After all in many ways the argument that fantasy exists because of Tolkien can be countered with the argument that fantasy exists in spite of him.

[Shehzad]

"Oh boy!"