[jandancer33]

hi all,

looking for help in splitting authors into two categories, sci fi writers, and fantasy writers.

i've already done a few myself, and would love your opinions on my decision for those, and help splitting the rest.

i know some authors 'cross-over' and write both, so those i'll place in both categories, but if an author is known mainly for one or the other, then what they are best known for, is where i need the name.

the authors that still need sorting are:

Katharine Kerr
Keith Baker
L. E. Modesitt
Margaret Atwood
margaret weis
melanie rawn
Mercedes Lackey
Michael Moorcock
Orson Scott Card
P. D. James
Patricia Briggs
paul s kemp
Philip K. Dick
Piers Anthony
R. A. Salvatore
Ray Bradbury
raymond e feist
Richard Lee Byers
robert jordan
robin hobb
Sarah Ash
Stephen Hunt
Stephen R. Donaldson
Steven Erikson
Steven Gould
Steven Harper
terry brooks
terry goodkind
Terry Pratchett


and in FANTASY i have placed.

Anne McCaffrey
Alan Campbell
alex irvine
Alison Sinclair
Allan Cole
Amanda Downum
brandon sanderson
brent weeks
brian pratt
C. E. Murphy
Christopher Paolini
david eddings
david farland
Deborah Chester
Don Bassingthwaite
Donita K. Paul
Elizabeth Moon
Eoin Colfer
Eric Flint
Garth Nix
Gene Wolfe
George R. R. Martin
Glen Cook
Gregory Maguire
Guy Gavriel Kay
Ian Irvine
J. R. R. Tolkien
j v jones
Jack L. Chalker
james maxey
jean m auel
jim butcher
Joe Abercrombie



in SCI-FI i have placed

Simon R. Green
Stephen Baxter
A. Bertram Chandler
Aaron Dembski Bowden
alan dean foster
Alex Archer
Alfred Bester
arthur c clarke
Brian Herbert
Brian Stableford
Carl Sagan
Connie Willis
Dan Simmons
David Gerrold
David J. Williams
David Sherman
douglas adams
Eric S. Nylund
frank herbert
Greg Bear
h g wells
Harry Turtledove
Iain M. Banks
Isaac Asimov
Joe Haldeman
jules verne

any help would be greatly appreciated, and if you think ive made the wrong choice in any i have already sorted, please let me know.

many thanks,
jan x

[Hobbit]

Perhaps the biggest difficulty here, Jan, is that of course authors, impudent creatures that they are, don't always don't stay in one convenient category.

Anne McCaffrey, to take one example, has always insisted that her Pern novels are SF, though with 'dragons' many see her books as Fantasy.

Pratchett is Fantasy, though his first published book, The Dark Side of the Sun, was SF.

Robin Hobb, Sarah Ash are Fantasy.
Donaldson has written both: Fantasy (Covenant) and SF (The Gap series).

See the problem?

Mark

[jandancer33]

i do mark, ive been seeing the problem for weeks, hours and hours a day, trying to sort them out ;) lol
i would have put robin hobb in fantasy every time though?? farseer? ships? fools?
i think i split them by (outer space: sci fi), (fantasy:magic/dragon/other world)... i'm a straight forward kinda girl lol.

if an author is well known for both, then they can go into more than one category. i do have the list of books for each author, so that would effect the answers, but i thought bringing that into it was asking a bit much of you all.

thanks for your reply mark, and nice to meet you :)

[Hobbit]

Thanks Jan. Does this mean you're trying to sort your books into two piles/bookshelves?

OK: let's have a go at these:

Katharine Kerr: Fantasy mainly but her Polar City books are SF, so both.
Keith Baker: Fantasy but has written contemporary novels too
L. E. Modesitt: both
Margaret Atwood: though she's not keen on the label herself, SF.
margaret weis: both but mainly Fantasy.
melanie rawn: Fantasy
Mercedes Lackey: Fantasy
Michael Moorcock: Tough one, but mainly Fantasy.
Orson Scott Card: both
P. D. James: Fantasy (Horror really), though Children of Men is often seen as SF
Patricia Briggs: Fantasy
paul s kemp: SF
Philip K. Dick: SF
Piers Anthony: Both
R. A. Salvatore: Fantasy?
Ray Bradbury: Another tough one as some would say he's not, but Fantasy
raymond e feist: Fantasy
Richard Lee Byers
robert jordan: Fantasy
robin hobb: Fantasy
Sarah Ash: Fantasy
Stephen Hunt: clockwork robots? SF, but there are Fantasy elements marginally.
Stephen R. Donaldson: Both
Steven Erikson: Fantasy
Steven Gould: SF (Jumper, for example)
Steven Harper: SF
terry brooks: Fantasy
terry goodkind: Fantasy though his recent books are more contemporary.
Terry Pratchett: Fantasy (but see example earlier.)

How's that?

Mark

[jandancer33]

mark, you are a grade one, absolute star!!!
thank you, thank you, thank you x x

its a project i took on for a friend. i started with a list of about 5000-6000 authors, and managed to break them into genre, general stuff like horror, romance, scifi& fantasy, crime& mystery.

my problems started splitting sci-fi from fantasy, and my biggest problem, trying to slpit up the murder, mystery, crime, detective. i've ended up with it all in one list, and its way too long. and as i've never read this genre, i'm not even sure 'how' to split it, what are legitimate genres, and then what author goes into what.
massive headache!!

anyway, again, thank you, you've been a massive help, and it is very much appreciated
jan x

[Hobbit]

No problem, happy to help, got me thinking!

The issue of 'genre' is always a thorny one: as readers, we like to compartmentalise, but SF/Fantasy/Horror is so sub-divided (not to mention crosslinked) that it's often a debatable thing to do. Some would say impossible!

Hope it does the job, though: 6000 authors is a pretty impressive list to work through...

Mark

[Loerwyn]

With Modesitt, you're likely best putting him in Fantasy - if you have to - as that's where the majority of his work is. He does write sci-fi, but largely he's a fantasy author.

Mark was right though, R.A. Salvatore is a fantasy author.

[jandancer33]

thanks, and thanks Loerwyn, i'll go through now and edit my lists.
i do read, a lot, lol, but half the authors i'd never heard of (not so much the sci-fi/fantasy, ive been reading that my whole life, but the detective/thriller/romance, most were unknown, other than seeing them on the shelves in the book shops lol), and used google books to choose genre for each.
i found a lot of cross over with them, but as i said, i also had the list of what books i was categorising, so using those, i managed to get through most of them.
just to update, the murder/mystery/crime/suspence, category, i posted a similar message to that i posted here, on a web site concentrated on those books, and despite the lady who owns the site being a massive suspense etc fan, it looks like i cant break down that category into smaller lists. no matter tho, i've managed quite a feat in what i've done lol.

anyway, again, massive thank you's for all the help. going to do my lists, then i think i'll take an hour 'jan' time and have a look around your amazing site :D
jan x

[Loerwyn]

Any questions, just ask :)

And best of luck!

[jandancer33]

lists edited, thanks guys :)