Beyond Reality discussion

Can you pick a favorite SF/F author, or narrow it down to 5 or fewer? Who would you choose?
What about your favorite author outside the genre of SF/F?

I find it difficult to choose my favorite authors. I like a lot of them. I'd better be able to choose my favorite series (but that might also be a long list).
If I were to choose off of the top of my head, however, they would be:

Ilona Andrews
Jim Butcher
Stephen King ( I know, weird for one who is not a big fan of horror, but he helped me get through my junior and senior years of high school).

This is always a hard question! Within SF/F:

Guy Gavriel Kay
N.K. Jemisin
Seanan McGuire
Neil Gaiman
Gail Carriger

Although I'd probably have a slightly different list if you asked me on a different day. (Kay is always at the top though. Definitely my all time favorite)

Outside of the genre -
Dorothy Dunnett for historical fiction
Tana French for mysteries
Mary Roach & Sam Kean for science nonfiction

To stay at 5 or fewer, I'll limit it to my automatic pre-order list:
Brandon Sanderson
Naomi Novik
Mary Robinette Kowal
Robin Hobb
C.S. Friedman

I'm slowly devouring the backlist of Juliet Marillier, Jim Butcher, R.F. Kuang, N.K. Jemisin, Nnedi Okorafor, Brent Weeks, and Seanan McGuire (who will likely join the automatic pre-order ranks once I catch up).

Out of genre:
Deanna Raybourn (historical mystery)
Steven Johnson (history, especially history of tech and science)
Alison Weir (biography; her historical fiction is hit-or-miss)

I'll keep it simple. Favorite SF author: Alastair Reynolds

Favorite non-SF author: Craig Johnson (He of the Walt Longmire tales).

Definitely Tad Williams, followed closely by Brandon Sanderson, Robin Hobb, Robert Jordan and Susan Dennard.

Outside of SF/F, I'm not sure I have a favorite. I do like Tami Hoag and Janet Evanovich.

Favorite Authors (Basically this is a list of authors whose work I will buy immediately)

1. Tana French (mystery)
2. Peter F. Hamilton (sci-fi/space opera)
3. Richard K. Morgan (Sci-fi)

Other authors whose work I like tremendously (who I go out of my way to either buy or borrow from the library)

4. Adrian Tchaikovsky
5. Val McDermid / Jane Casey / Sarah Hilary / Louise Penny (mystery/thriller)

Lately I seem to be buying from Adrian Tchaikovsky and T. Kingfisher(Ursula Vernon) the most. But of course anything from Sanderson, Scalzi, Jemisin, Cherryh get a close look too . There are many up and coming author me that may climb up once they produce more.

I definitely have favorites, but those favorites change over time. Lately, my top SF/F authors have been:

Naomi Novik
John Scalzi
Erin Morgenstern
Robin Hobb
Alix Harrow

In other genres, I tend to snap up new books by
Louise Penny
Christopher Fowler
Attica Locke

So my favorite top 5 SF/F authors.

Well, that would likely be . . . but wait. there's also . . . but if I'm in another mood it might be . . . um . . . oh yes, absolutely I would have to add . . . but I can't forget . . . oh, and when I was younger I absolutely adored . . . um . . . there was that winter night we lost power and my husband, myself, and our cat . . . there was that long bus ride to Chicago where I discovered . . . um . . .

You can't make me choose!

:D

Usually I just say my favorite is whichever author I'm currently reading, but I'll try to narrow it to five long-time favorites.
Terry Pratchett
Mercedes Lackey
Guy Gavriel Kay
Lois McMaster Bujold
Robin Hobb

Out-of-genre favorite authors:
Bernard Cornwell--historical fiction
Greg Iles--mystery/suspense
Morgan Llywelyn--historical fiction/Celtic mythology

Louise Penny has been recommended to me by other people and I see her name on a couple lists here, too, so maybe I should give her a try!

my favorite sf authors (who are still writing) would be al reynolds, adrian tchaikovsky, emma newman, kameron hurley and arkady martine.
non sf authors i love will have to include christopher moore, carl hiaasen, caimh mcdonnell, ken bruen and ben aaronovitch,

Random wrote: "So my favorite top 5 SF/F authors… You can't make me choose!

;-D No, we can’t. And I’m right there with you! There are so many more I’d like to mention. And there are several authors I’m just now starting to read who may well become faves!

I should have listed 5 for Sf and 5 for Fantasy… I just remembered C.J. Cherryh and Janny Wurts! Ooh, there are too many to list!

I always like picking favorite authors over "best" authors. Best seems too pretentious and favorite lets me change my mind over time.

My current go-to favorites are Claire North, Adrian Tchaikovsky, and Charles Stross. 35 or 40 years ago it would have been Kurt Vonnegut, Philip K Dick, and HP Lovecraft.

My out-of-genre favorites are now Bernard Cornwell, Christopher Moore, and Emily St. John Mandel.

It's nice to see some of these names on other people's lists.

Greg Iles is great (especially the Penn Cage books) but has he written anything new lately?

I should have included James S.A. Corey but it’s unclear what they are doing after The Expanse.

SFF: Adrian Tchaikovsky and Emma Newman

outside of SFF: Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Brandon Sanderson for sure!

Leticia wrote: "SFF: Adrian Tchaikovsky and Emma Newman

outside of SFF: Silvia Moreno-Garcia"

Interesting - I would consider Silvia Moreno-Garcia's books fantasy! In fact, we read Gods of Jade and Shadow for our monthly fantasy discussion just two years ago. :)

MadProfessah wrote: "Greg Iles is great (especially the Penn Cage books) but has he written anything new lately?

I should have included James S.A. Corey but it’s unclear what they are doing after The Expanse."

I think Greg Iles’s latest book was 2019 (Cemetery Road) but according to Wikipedia, he has something coming out next year.

I would add Daniel Abraham (half of James S.A. Corey) to my list for both The Expanse and his fantasy books.