Top 5 Favorite Authors!!

[Farm Ur-Ted]

In no particular order:

SR Donaldson
GRR Martin
Katherine Kurtz
Connie Willis

I'm still trying to find a good #5. It may turn out to be Erickson, but I'm a little ambivalent after the first 2 books. I guess I'll go for book #3 in the next year or so. I read Bakker and the PoN series and liked it, but I doubt I'll be reading the next series. I just started Hobb, and maybe she'll slot in to the top 5. I've read a lot of other fantasy/sci fi novelists over the years, but I've forgotten more than I remember. I've been reading Donaldson and Kurtz since I was about 12 (uh, 25 or so years ago) and still enjoy their books, and always look forward to new installments. I really can't say the same about anyone else. I read the first 6 or so Shannara books, but can't read them anymore. I read the first 6 or so Eddings books, with the same result. I've probably read 30+ books by Piers Anthony (not sure why), and he definitely doesn't get a sniff of the top 5. I loved the first two xanth books (when I was 12), and the first Split Infinity series, and Macroscope is one of my favorite sci-fi novels. But he's shoveled out an awful lot of garbage that I've had the misfortune (and poor taste) of reading.

Edit: What the hey, I gotta put Steven Erikson in as my final favorite author.

 

[tabitha-tinker]

Got to be for me:

1-Robin Hobb (just compulsive reading and wonderful characters)
2-Raymond E Feist (my nostalic first venture into fantasy)
3-Robert Jordan (fairly obvious but Ive grown up with wheel of time)
4-Susan Cooper (again, read her as a youngster, shes very insipring and under-read)
5-Neil Gaimen (Good Omens just has me in fits of laughter even after having read it too many times..)

There lots of other very good authors hitting the scene so I look forward to my list adjusting over time

 

[Kolyei]

Top 5 Fantasy Authors

1. Mercedes Lackey
2. Cherry Wilder
3. Anne McCaffrey
4. Trudi Canavan
5. Elizabeth Moon

Am I odd ... nobody else seems to have chosen these?

 

[Manowar]

Top 5 Authors

George RR Martin- I love the fact you never know who is going to die next.

Robin Hobb- Fitz

Tadd Williams- Memory Sorrow and Thorn is just an amazing series.

Charles De Lint - I was so happy to see someone else mentioned this great author.

David Gemmell - He has currently captured my interest.

 

[FitzChivalry]

My 5 favorite fantasy authors (i don't include SF authors here) are:
1. Roger Zelazny
2. George R.R. Martin
3. China Mieville
4. Neil Gaiman
5. Hard to say, probably Robert Jordan or Glen Cook, maybe Paul Kearney or Michael Moorcock. Few years ago this position was occupied by Raymond E. Feist and Robert Jordan was higher on the list, but they wrote some below average books since then.

I must say that years ago, when i was more active on this board, Tolkien starred in those kinds of lists threads, what happened?

 

[Shehzad]

Here, for old time's sake, FC:

Matthew Woodring Stover
China Mieville
George RR Martin
JRR Tolkien
Stephen R Donaldson.

Happy now?

 

[Decado]

Letsee. Changed a little bit since last year, I think (don't know if I posted it):

1) Steven Eriskson
2) David Gemmell
3) Joe Abercrombie - best new author since #1
4) George R. R. Martin - dropping rapidly (from #1)...latest book was easily the worse of the series and it takes him forever to write them
5) Guy Gavriel Kay - Dull latest effort, hope he stays away from contemporary fantasy in the future

Gone from list:

Terry Pratchett - Gotten bored of Discworld
Robin Hobb - Dull latest *series*

 

[FitzChivalry]

Ah, just when i thought the Tolkien Wars were won, 6 years after they started, Shehzad arrives and saves the day for tolkienites.

Nice seeing you again Shehzad.

 

[Shehzad]

Good to see you too, FC. I bet there aren't too many here who remember the good old Tolkien Wars. Besides, Peter Jackson won them for us Tolkienites a couple of years back!

To be fair, I've been embroiled in the Stover wars of late!

 

[FitzChivalry]

There are Stover Wars? seems to me that everyone here is pretty much a fan.
In a case of such war i might have to take the other side though, i read only Heroes Die, it was ok, but nothing to write home about, didn't make me read the sequels.

 

[Shehzad]

The Stover wars consist of me yelling loudly and stridently to read Stover.

As for Heroes Die, you really should try the sequel; it's a much richer and better written novel, expanding immensely on the first.

 

[thrinidir]

shehzad...i like your enthusiasm I've been meaning to read stover for quite some time now but I never seem to be able to procure his books since our book stores are shamelessly underprovisioned :/

 

[TarotGaladriel]

This seems to change year to year and I read more authors, obviously LOL

For now, these are my current fav's

Masters deserving of top places....

1) Robin Hobb

2) Steven Erikson

Absolutely LOVE these two, amazing authors who produce such deep emotional impact upon you. Great worlds and fab characters you really care about.


to a lesser degree.....

3) Stephen King (Dark Tower series)

4) Anne Rice (sorry, but I just love those Vampire Chronicles)

5) Mark Chadbourne (adored the Age of Misrule)


Having said that I have some fab ones on my 'to read' pile......
George R R Martin, Scott Bakker, Jacqueline Carey, Guy Gavriel Kay, Juliet Marillier so this could all change once they have been read, I suspect one or two may move to the top 5 list LOL

 

[Shehzad]

shehzad...i like your enthusiasm I've been meaning to read stover for quite some time now but I never seem to be able to procure his books since our book stores are shamelessly underprovisioned :/

That does seem to be a problem-- I have had some luck getting the stores to order some of his books, otherwise there's always Amazon.

 

[The_Declaration]

this is my top 5 for fantasy writers (1st post!):

1. Roger Zelazny
2. Robin Hobb
3. J.R.R. Tolkien
4. Fabrice Colin
5. Michael Moorcock

 

[Smogz]

My second thread....loong time since last one wrote here.

1. Tad Williams (Memory, sorrow...)
2. Nic Perumov (Russian fantasy master).
3. Feist (Magician, a darkness...)
4. Eddings (Belgariad).
5. Charles DeLint (almost fantasy).

And from the fantasy genre but based on SF-books

Stephen Donaldson - for the gap series - amazing..he is the king.

 

[NO-F.X.]

Terry Goodkind
Terry Brooks
Margaret Wies/Tracy Hickman
Robert E. Howard
Elizebeth Haydon


Sara Douglas is working her way in there while I become more and more disenchanted with Goodkind.

 

[BrightStar]

In no particular order

Louise Cooper
Robin Hobb
Anne Bishop
Carol Berg
C. S. Friedman

 

[Numenorian]

In order

1. J.R.R. Tolkien
2. Steven Erikson
3. R. Scott Bakker
4. Guy Gavriel Kay
5. K.J. Parker

No.s 1-4 were fairly easy.

LOTR was the first fantasy I ever read and still my favourite. I was instantly hooked on fantasy. We are all of us still playing in Tolkien's sandpit.

Erikson for the scale, vision, verve, excitement and sheer plausible weirdness of his world. I also love the fact you have to figure out what's going on yourself, connecting the dots as you go from book to book. Oh, and the Chain of Dogs. I mean, wow.

Bakker for the scale of the PON world, the mixture of Tolkienesque history and alternate-earth present day, and also the intellectual depth to the books.

Kay for fantastic stories and the most beautiful writing you'll find anywhere. Reading the end of Lord of Emperors, where Crispin surveys the mosaics he has made on his return home and remembers what has happened to him and others left me with a big lump in my throat.

No. 5 was much harder. G.R.R.Martin is a wonderful writer, but ASOFAI hasn't quite gripped me like it so clearly has many others. Ten years ago Robert Jordan would have been no.2 on the list but I can't ignore how badly WOT has declined. Parker, however, is an author that has impressed with every book, favouring plot lines that feature a deep sense of home, and that often revolve around the protagonist's career as the driving force of the story, a much better concept than this sentence would suggest. For example, in the latest trilogy the protagonist, Ziani Vaatzes, is an engineer, and he sees the people he must use to achieve his goals as merely components in a human machine. Parker is also the most unpredictable author I've read: characters both large and small are killed off almost at random, often 'off-screen', and unlike most authors you can never be sure how the story will end.

Two final things, if that's not an oxymoron. Firstly I haven't yet read Joe Abercrombie but by all accounts he seems the most likely new author to make me revise my list. Secondly, this is a list of fantasy authors but I've got to give a mention to Iain M. Banks. Anyone who can name a warship 'It's My Party And I'll Sing If I Want To' is a bona fide genius.

 

[Pellinore]

Lets see...

In order:

1. J. R. R. Tolkien
2. Patricia McKillip (for the Riddlemaster trilogy)
3. C. S. Lewis
4. L. E. Modesitt (for the Corean Chronicles
5. Roger Zelazny (For The Chronicles of Amber)

I've got to pay homage to the master- Tolkien was my first fantasy and I shall always love Lord of the Rings dearly. The rest I just love their works. Also a note about Modesitt- I'm not much of a fan of Recluce, but the Corean Chronicles make up for it.