[nquixote]

Wow, this forum is really dead lately...time for a random list/poll thread!!! :D

Top 10 (or fewer) favorite sci-fi authors!

Here's mine, in no particular order:

Jack Vance
David Brin
Vernor Vinge
Lois McMaster Bujold
William Gibson
Ursula K. LeGuin
Neal Stephenson
Dan Simmons
Tony Daniel
Paolo Bacigalupi

[suciul]

For me as sf goes it's:

1. David Weber
2. IM Banks
3. PF Hamilton
4. A. Reynolds
5. N. Asher
(more or less in order from 2-5 since D. Weber is the unquestionably #1 author of mine of today)

Then from 6-8 in no particular order:

JC Grimwood
Gary Gibson
Jack McDevitt

Then at 9-10, maybe DK Moran and David Zindell, but also Ken McLeod and Liz Williams could be there; if I include the fantasy works of authors with a body of sf, Lois Bujold would be there in the top 6 now

[Westsiyeed]

In no particular order:

Dan Simmons
Robert Charles Wilson
Arthur C Clarke
Isaac Asimov
Robert Heinlein
Frank Herbert

There are also a few that are highly rated that I'm yet to read (but are on my list) - Stephenson, Gibson, Philip K Dick, Vinge.

[bearcatmark]

Dan Simmons, Iain M Banks, Orson Scott Card (though sadly a lot of junk amidst his good stuff), Vernor Vinge, Herbert (almost purely for Dune itself), D Adams.

Honorable mention
Stephenson- Snow Crash was great, Cryptomicion was only alright to me (have not read anything else yet)
Asimov- enjoyed foundation stuff, but not at the level of these guys

Haven't read Hamilton, Haldeman, Reynolds, McDevitt yet...list could expand.

[k1w1taxi]

William Gibson
David Weber
C J Cherryh
Alistair Reynolds
Isaac Asimov
Allen Steele
Vernor Vinge
Algis Budrys
David Brin
Elizabeth Moon

Cheers
Lee

[algernoninc]

quick list, prone to some changes in the next day or week:

1. Frank Herbert
2. Brian Aldiss
3. Ursula K Le Guin
4. Lois McMaster Bujold
5. Iain M Banks
6. Isaac Asimov
7. Robert Heinlein
8. Greg Bear
9. Daniel Keyes
10 Stanislav Lem / Arkady & Boris Strugatsky.

most of my SF reading was done in the 80's and early 90's so I don't have a clear image of the current SF landscape.

[owlcroft]

The first few are easy:

M. John Harrison (http://greatsfandf.com/AUTHORS/MJohnHarrison.php)
Cordwainer Smith (http://greatsfandf.com/AUTHORS/CordwainerSmith.php)
Jack Vance (http://greatsfandf.com/AUTHORS/JackVance.php)
Gene Wolfe (http://greatsfandf.com/AUTHORS/GeneWolfe.php)

After those, it is pick and choose. I'd say these:

Douglas Adams
Paul Auster
Iain M. Banks
Doris Piserchia
Christopher Priest
Brian Stableford

One that I'd include in the first run save that he has only one sf book (the remarkable Einstein's Dreams), is Alan Lightman. There is also the question of whether what the amazing R. A. Lafferty (http://greatsfandf.com/AUTHORS/RALafferty.php) wrote is "science fiction"--if so, he, too, is in the first rank.

[Andols]

Dan Simmons
Richard Morgan
Peter Hamilton
Neal Stephenson
Stephen Donaldson
Frank Herbert
some other bums

[Gizmo]

In no particular order:

Robert Heinlein
Dan Simmons
Jack Vance
Ray Bradbury
Cordwainer Smith
Alfred Bester

This could be added to in the coming months.

[nquixote]

Eventually I'll collate the results by hand and see who the overall favorite authors are!

Because I have nothing important to do in my life, like, say, dissertation-writing. Nooooo, not at all... ;)