Top 5 Favorite Authors!!

[Tickle]

Well my 5 favorite are (no particular order):

Anne Bishop
Michelle West
Elizabeth Haydon
Melanie Rawn
Jacqueline Carey

I would also have to say Frank Herbert - I love the Dune Series.

 

[Mechaniik]

I love this kind of thread.

1. George RR Martin
2.Robin Hobb
3.Jack Vance
4.Terry Pratchett
5.Tolkien

 

[STHayden]

1. Philip Reeve
2. China Miéville
3. JK Rowling
4. Jonathan Stroud
5. Neil Gaiman

 

[kansasbarbarian]

1. Robert E. Howard
2. R. Scott Bakker
3. Karl Edward Wagner
4. J.R.R. Tolkein
5. G.R.R. Martin

 

[Mistress Maerad]

1. Alison Croggon
2. JRR Tolkien
3. James Patterson
4. JK Rowling
5. Frank Peretti

(umm, there's really no order, except Alison Croggon is definetely number 1! )

It's so hard to do this. I love so many books and so many authors....lol

 

[PeterWilliam]

1. J.R.R. Tolkein
2. Stephen R. Donaldson
3. Robin Hobb
4. Tad Williams
5. Stephen Erikson

Although I like GRRM, and he probably is top 5 (or top 1 with many), these are my favorite five, future book reads not withstanding.

 

[Nepenthe13]

Hmmm, these are my top 5 favorites at the moment, but I am sure it could change.

1. Gene Wolfe
2. Ray Bradbury
3. Patricia McKillip
4. Stephen R. Donaldson
5. John Crowley

 

[Munin]

This list will definitely change over time but currently I'd have to go (in no particular order):

1- R. A. Salvatore
2- James Barclay
3- Terry Brooks
4- George R. R. Martin (finish the damned books, will you!)
5- David Gemmell

No doubt I'll come up with a different list in 10-15 minutes...

 

[Werthead]

Interestingly, I think I'd have to bump Erikson from my Top 5 list. I've been somewhat disappointed by the 3 Malazan Book of the Fallen novels I've read since then.

My current list would probably be more along the lines of:

1) George RR Martin
2) Peter Hamilton*
3) JRR Tolkien
4) Jack Vance
5) Neil Gaiman


Almost tied with GRRM. I was wondering if PFH might unseat GRRM, but in the end I had to acknowledge the much greater variety in GRRM's career and that he hasn't written a book as weak as Misspent Youth.

 

[suciul]

My list is top heavy sf so I hesitated to put it here. As usual my list evolves in time

1: David Weber
2: Peter Hamilton
3: Neal Asher
4: Lois Bujold
5: Neal Stephenson

 

[owlcroft]

Five is cutting it mighty thin....

Alphabetically:

• Borges, Jorge Luis
• Bramah, Ernest
• Cabell, James Branch
• Calvino, Italo
• Carroll, Lewis
• Eddison, E. R.
• Lafferty, R. A.
• Dunsany, Lord
• Peake, Mervyn
• Tolkien, J. R. R.

That makes five, right?

I mean, it's awfully hard to throw away half of that list: subtract the work of any one and the world of letters would be the poorer for it.

And in itself, it was a painful extraction: there are more than two dozen others whom I could as well have listed as some of those (not a few of which others have been named elsewhere on this thread).

 

[Rob B]

Lately, I've been considering the following 5 writers my Top 5:


Jeffrey Ford
Neil Gaiman
Matthew Woodring Stover
George R.R. Martin
Gene Wolfe

Since I posted that almost 3 years ago, here's the latest version:

Matthew Stover
Neil Gaiman
George R.R. Martin
Greg Keyes
Michael Moorcock

Of course, that will change the next time I post.

 

[...]

Top five as of right now:

1. Steven Erikson
2. Joe Abercrombie
3. Scott Lynch
4. Patrick Rothfuss
5. Brandon Sanderson

All time:

1. George R.R. Martin
2. Steven Erikson
3. Raymond Feist
4. Robert Jordan
5. Robin Hobb(Farseer world)

I could probably see Abercrombie and Lynch moving into the all time top five replacing Jordan and Feist due to their subpar works over the past 5-10 years.

 

[ThornofCamorr]

1. JK Rrowling. Shut up Harry Potter is amazing.

2. GRRM. He may fall further yet, depends how many more years Dance gets pushed back.

3. Stephen King. I just love his work and his style. He's not the best but just so damn cool.

4. Scott Lynch. I seethe with envy when I read his books and his blog. He hasn't blogged in like a year though, hopefully he's not dead.

5. Goodkind and Jordan share 5. I know Goodkind is unpopular and many people don't like Jordan but they really got me into fantasy and writing in general.

 

[algernoninc]

1. Tolkien -
2. George R. R. Martin -
3. Robin Hobb -
4. Tad Williams -
5. Patricia McKillip -

i've read some books since this post, right now i would put:

1. Robin Hobb
2. George R R Martin
3. Guy Gavriel Kay
4. Terry Pratchett
5. K J Parker

these are buy on apparition, without checking reviews on the forum
"almost in" the top 5 : R Scott Bakker, Orson Scott Card, Paul Kearney, Patrick Rothfuss, Patricia McKillip.

 

[ThornofCamorr]

Crap I forgot Pat Rothfuss. Slide him on #4 next to Lynch; Rothfuss' book and blog are also very well beloved and enviable.

 

[PeterWilliam]

bump - update

1. Tolkein
2. Kay
3. Donaldson
4. Williams
5. Hobb

honorable mention - Gemmell, GRRM, Erikson

 

[ObtusePunubiris]

I posted the below list to this thread back in 2003:

1. G.R.R. Martin
2. Janny Wurts
3. Robert Jordan
4. Robin Hobb
5. Terry Goodkind or LE Modesitt (can't decide)

So here is how that has changed:

1. Steven Erikson
2. G.R.R. Martin
3. Janny Wurts
4. Robert Jordan
5. Robin Hobb

Also note that not only did Goodkind fall out of the top 5, he is no longer anywhere near it. A lot can happen in 5+ years.

I expect this list might change even more once I read some of the more recently published and highly hyped author such Abercrombie, Lynch, Rothfuss, Sanderson and Stover. Assuming the hype is deserved, that is.

 

[jamieem]

Dan Simmons
George R. R. Martin
J. R. R. Tolkien
Richard Morgan
Richard Matheson

 

[Bear]

This is an ever-changing thing, but I think for fantasy I'd currently be at:

Neil Gaiman
Graham Joyce
Jeffrey Ford
Robin Hobb
Michael Swanwick
China Mieville
Jonathan Carroll
Gene Wolfe

Five of those.