SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Definitely a tough pick. But if I was banished to a deserted island and could only take one author's work with me, it would be J.R.R. Tolkien.

You Philistines! How could you forget me...Dennis Pennefather..author of the potential cult classic 'The Understanding'........See where this is all going now Vlad..?

Vlad wrote: "In the direction of one young greek guy who rejected the love of some nymphs?"

LOL!

Dennis, your coffee is getting cold!

Well, the one whose books I have reread the most is Lois McMaster Bujold. And every time I reread them I get more from the stories. So I suppose she's my favorite. :)

I mean, there are probably single novels I love more than her work, but if I'm judging based on the author's whole cannon, that's who it'd be.

Pat said, "Dennis your coffee is getting cold"

Right on Pat...So it is! But you see my point.
Vlad and Kevis even forgot to mention your stable of stunning titles.

Of course you probably sussed that I am merely trying to justify my existence on this net at present, with a little lighter than air humour. Been busy doing mutual ego stroking on a poetry net and writing a few more as well. You get awarded coloured jugs, but no beer when you place in their competitions.

Favorite sci-fi i guess would be Douglas Adams the Hikers have long been ny fav's. And for Fantasy i'd have to say either Jim Butcher or Clive Barker (fantasy/horror)

You are limiting us to ONE?

I've got too many.

Love each of my toplist for a different reason.

Asimov, Clarke, Robert Silverberg

J.R.R. Tolkein
Peter F. Hamilton

J.R.R. Tolkien, forever and always.

More recently, Lois McMaster Bujold.

Asimov.

Asimov, if I had to pick one. A toos up between him and Heinlein.

Frank Herbert, Larry Niven, Gordon Dickson for SF

Tolkien, China Mieville and Stephen Donaldson for fantasy.

Although there are so many other great authors I read and reread, that it's hard to narrow it down to a top three.

My absolute favorite fantasy author ever is Terry Pratchett. As soon as a new book is published, I have it.

I don't read much SF, but I do like Arthur C. Clark and Asimov.

Harlan Ellison

My top three for fantasy are J. K Rowling, Garth Nix and Neil Gaiman.

I don't have a top three for sci-fi because I don't read nearly enough sci-fi to have any faves. :-S

At the moment...Neil Gaiman, Juliet Marillier, and Robin McKinley. I love fairy tales so these authors always draw me in. Although, I'll always love David Eddings's Belgariad for nostalgia's sake.

I've only read one SciFi book, Ringworld, but I don't have anything to compare it to. So, I didn't include any SciFi in my top three.

My favourite SF author has for a long time now been Cordwainer Smith. Almost all his stories belong to a single future history, and are weird, beautiful and moving all at once. Oh and quite often very clever as well.
Fantasy still has old J.R.R at the top of my list. Sorry for being so boring and predictable, but his writing still leaves a lump in my throat or a thrill of excitement in all the right places.
That said, a quick glance at my fave writers on my profile will show how I can't make up my mind, there are so many great authors out there.

I can't limit them to just one because the authors I like I like for their unique styles and stories. I read certain authors at certain times because of the mood I'm in at the time, or because the author's style caught my eye and I can't put the book down.

Current favorites are Brust, Sanderson, and Priest, but that will change as I move away from my current fantasy thread to science fiction again. I've got a re-read of Hyperion on my schedule.

Richard wrote: "My favourite SF author has for a long time now been Cordwainer Smith. Almost all his stories belong to a single future history, and are weird, beautiful and moving all at once. Oh an..."

I'm stoked that people are still reading Cordwainer Smith! His stories are wonderful, so imaginative, such an interesting writing style, narratives that are full of empathy and tragedy...and just really strange too. I also love his full-length novel Norstrillia.

id say clive barker.. im not that big in SYFY yet so i do like the tv channel SYFI tho.. lol im real big in horror like ahh steven king..stuff..

Vlad wrote: "Janny wrote: "You are limiting us to ONE?"
Ok, go for three :)"

Vlad, three is still inordinately difficult!

I will limit this to SF and Fantasy only. I'll try to back up my reasons. These are NOT in order of precedence.

Realize this list is - completely too short!

For unparalleled imaginative originality, hands down, no competitors - Roger Zelazny

For best use of archetypes, unequaled yet, J R R Tolkein

For most gorgeously poetic prose - Patricia McKillip, closely followed by Guy Gavriel Kay and Barbara Hambly.

Oops - that is more than 3. Tough nuts.

For most number of books that consistently satisfied: C. J. Cherryh - fantasy or SF, doesn't matter, she's a wizard.

For the most awesomely written, unpredictable and well fashioned plot I have RECENTLY read:

Carol Berg, for her Lighthouse duology.

For the hardest laugh, ever, The Myriad series by R.M. Meluch.

For the SF universe I'd most like to live in, one of the worlds under Clan Corvall from Sharon Lee and Steve Miller.

There are so many exceptional works and authors not yet on this list, I'm starting to get irritable. My love of storytelling is so deep I truly could keep on listing all day.

I dearly love both Brandon Sanderson and Guy Gavriel Kay for fantasy, and John Scalzi for Sci Fi. I could easily list another 10! I think we're experiencing an embarassment of riches for fantasy/sci fi. Has there ever been another time with so many talented authors producing their best work?

At this moment: Jim Butcher. I'm loving both the Dresden Files and, to a lesser extent, Codex Alera.

However, I have a ton of respect for Tolkien and Rowling. It wouldn't be right not to mention them in this post.

Roger Zelazny, Tad Williams, Terry Pratchett.

Connie Willis

Ian MacDonald

Brandon Sanderson

Probably Heinlein, S. M. Stirling and Tanith Lee

Simon R Green

I have two: Guy Gavriel Kay and Neil Gaiman!

Heinlein and Niven, since I was knee-high to an Old One.
(Wait, I still am...)

Caitlin R. Kiernan is getting up there too. Some of my fave books of all time I don't count as fave authors since they wrote little or I have read few (the author of Little,Big and Doris Egan's Ivory trilogy and Robin McKinley 'cept I'm mad at her for not immediately writing a sequel to Sunshine!!)

Once upon a time I would have definitely said Harlan Ellison, Orson Scott Card or Katherine Kurtz (Depending on which once-upon-a-time we were talking about).

Now I'm not sure if I have a single favorite ... too many to choose from ...

Gene Wolfe. He's an author that can write books that change on a reread. At face value some of his work is fantasy, but with investigation you'll find it to be scifi after all. His stories are often original, multilayered and his characters realistic (though not always sympathetic (in a good way! :P)).

Gene Wolfe has a lot to offer aspiring writers and readers alike. I consider him worthy of canon consideration.

Kurt Vonnegut

I always wondered about that ... Sirens of Titan, Slaughterhouse Five, and to some extent Cat's Cradle get Vonnegut classified as science fiction, but so little else of his work is really within the genre. I don't remember ever finding Vonnegut in the SF/F shelves in any bookstore ... he's over hanging out with the mainstream fiction. Now Kilgore Trout, he's a science fiction author, although, admittedly, not a good one ... ;)

Player Piano, Sirens of Titan, Cat's Cradle, Slapstick, Galapagos, and Timequake all fit the definitions (posited by various people over time) of science fiction. Many of his short stories, like the notable "Harrison Bergeron" are and were widely praised in the sci-fi community.

He's a Science Fiction author to me.

Arthur c clarke, Harlan Ellison, Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein, Neil Gaiman, Piers Anthony, Orson Scott Card

My favorites:
Sci/Fi -> Lois McMaster Bujold
Fantasy -> Brandon Sanderson, atm :P

Not sure I quite believe in the concept of a favorite author. For one thing, science fiction & fantasy are both so big, incorporating parts of so many other genre, that it can be quite unfair to compare one author to another. For another, how do you compare authors writing 100 years apart? or even 50 years? Thirdly, you might enjoy one series from an author, but not a different series. Fourthly, you might enjoy the beginning of a series, but not the rest, or get bogged down in the umpteenth volume of a series (really enjoyed the first Rama book, but each sequel got less enjoyable until I finally quit reading part way through #4 I think; and I found Dune, top of many people's lists, quite enjoyable until about the 4th book, Dune Messiah I think).

That being said, I think I have enjoyed everything I have read by Isaac Asimov (the robot theme that ends up being central to his universe is a favorite of mine) and Larry Niven (most of his Known Universe as well as others like Destiny's Road and Integral Trees, and even most of his collaborations).

I am not a fantasy fan per se, but there are some series I am fully committed to, including Robert Jordan / Brandon Sanderson Wheel of Time, Harry Potter, and the Belgariad. But having just discovered that Jordan was also the author of the Conan stories, I am not sure I would want to say I am a Robert Jordan fan! (unfair since I have neither seen the movies nor read the books, but Arnie definitely ruins the image!) I have not tried any of Sanderson's own series, but I think I will soon get started on Mistborn - having joined Goodreads recently I was a little late to get going for the Group reading.

The Conan stories were actually Robert Howard, I think, from a few generations ago - also wrote some Lovecraftian horror.

Ruby wrote: "The Conan stories were actually Robert Howard, I think, from a few generations ago - also wrote some Lovecraftian horror."

Exploring this more deeply, yes Robert Howard originated the series, the first being published in 1950 (is that a few generations ago?! you must be younger than me!) but it went on and on with a number of authors contributing, including Robert Jordan, who wrote about 12 of them, the first in 1982. There is a full list of the series here:
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/ser...

I like stories. I tend to shy away from "favorite" writers but Neil Gaiman, Alex Dumas, Octavia Butler and Ursula Le Guin popped right into my while reading this so....

next week the list will be different but the feelings won't.

I totally admit being rather newbish at Fantasy/Sci-Fi*... so I have no qualms in that experience declaring Diana Wynne Jones. I've not encountered anyone even close.

*Though I am also thrilled to see I've actually heard of quite a few of the authors mentioned already! (and have read: Butler, Le Guin, Gaiman, Tolkien, McKinley, McKillip, Asimov, Mieville, Card, Bradbury, & Vonnegut)

Diana Wynne Jones is something else! I totally agree about some of her books being amazing. Charlotte was talking about how do you rate an author when some books are better than others, and that is my perspective on DWJ. Archer's Goon is my favorite of all, and I really love Howl's Magic Castle, The Power of Three, The Time of the Ghost, the Dalemark books, Witch Week and many more, but Hexwood did nothing for me, I didn't like the Derkholm books, Fire and Hemlock was only okay, etc. I'd rate her even higher if I felt she was more consistent.

I LOVE Traci Harding so much... She wrote the Ancient Future trilogy which was really good.. And other really good trilogys...

Kevis wrote: "Definitely a tough pick. But if I was banished to a deserted island and could only take one author's work with me, it would be J.R.R. Tolkien."

I have said this many times in the past. But today I think it would be the complete works of CJ Cherryh.

But really, even though I often read an author in toto, I cannot give favorites without finer divisions: subgenres, the author's generation, etc. How does one compare the work of a Cyberpunk author with say a Golden Age SF author?

Yes, at 18 I would have said Heinlein; at 12 I would have said Tolkien; now I say S. M. Stirling or Tanith Lee. Or possibly Kipling - he has weathered the years - I'd have chosen him at 10 and might choose him now as well.

SF = Isaac Asimov
F = Dave Duncan

Charlotte wrote: "I have not tried any of Sanderson's own series, but I think I will soon get started on Mistborn..."

Oh man, are you in for a treat! :)