Who are your favorite authors?

[neglet]

A topic that deserves its own thread, because you may not be reading them right now....

My favorite classic author: Jane Austen. Wit, social commentary, and romance--a fun mix.

My favorite SF author: Lois McMaster Bujold. Her "Vorkosigan" SF series is space opera with soul--great characters, thought-provoking situations, and plots you just can't put down. Her recent fantasy series is pretty good, too.

My favorite fantasy author: do I have to pick just one? Right now Philip Pullman is atop my list, by the sheer jealousy-inducing power of the "His Dark Materials" series. But I also love the late Jo Clayton, for her quirky characters, inventive worlds, and blending of the SF/fantasy genres.

My favorite children's author: Okay, I'm cheating. Lloyd Alexander is another fantasy writer. But he wins by sheer volume of re-reads. For non-fantasy authors, I'd have to pick Richard Peck for his recent historical books and their great sense of humor.

I don't read widely in mystery or horror, so I can't pick a particular author in those genres. And mainstream/literary fiction provides such a broad spectrum I wouldn't know where to start, although A. S. Byatt is someone I've reread many times.

Who are your favorites?

[kah]

Gah!!! I don't want to pick!

Science Fiction-Stephen R Donaldson: Gap Series, and anything by Ray Bradbury

Fantasy- Terry Goodkind, Stephen R Donaldson:Thomas Covenant Chronicles, 1&2 and Mirror novels, Anne Rice

Espionage, Action- Robert Ludlum, Clive Cussler

Historical Fiction- Margaret George:Henry VIII, Cleopatra, Mary, Queen of Scots

Fiction-Mario Puzo

Humor- Douglas Adams

Romance(because I just need to give my brain a break every now and then)-Karen Marie Moning, Katie MacAlister

[Magell]

Michael A Stackpole is my favorite writer period. I like Tom Clancy, WEB Griffin, Goodkind and Eddings as well.

[Jarl]

Fantasy: Terry Pratchet
Sci Fi: Timothy Zhan
Horror: Steven King (leaning towards Lovecraft)
Other: Scott Adams (God's Debris, the Dilbert Future)

-Good books, good authors.

[Kaeos]

R.A. Salvatore

Stephen King

Greg Bear

Medeline L'Engle

:dunno:

[Nebka]

1 Clive Cussler
2 Craig Dirgo
3 Jack Du Brul
4 Paul Kemprecos
5 Friz Leiber

1-4 Is the Drik Pitt & Kurt Austin and the Oregon Files series
5 is the Fifer and The Gray Mouser
Also i have the series from Greg Donegan but i have not started reading them yet

[Sgt. Awesome]

I gotta say...

Larry Niven
Douglas Adams
Spider Robenson
Robertson Davis
Tim Zahn
M.J. Stackpole
Arron Allston

[MulderLestatBlk]

Haruki Murakami ^___^ I luvr his stuff!
Virginia Woolf
Carol Shields
Carson McCullers
David Sedaris
Marilynne Robinson
Tim O'Brian

I have weird tastes!

[DaForce]

Jonathan Lethem (crosses all genres, AND won the Pulitzer in 1999)
Harlan Ellison
Steve Niles
Arturo Perez-Reverte
Hunter S. Thompson
Robert E. Howard
H.P. Lovecraft
Mike Mignola
Frank Miller

[Adam54]

The two that come immediately to mind are Nick Hornby (High Fidelity is the best male confessional I've ever seen) and Neil Gaiman.

Though I'm a closet fan of John Grisham and Jodi Picoult as well.

[Droogie]

Science Fiction-John Ringo, David Weber, Larry Niven, S.M. Stirling, CJ Cherryh

Fantasy- Again John Ringo (abit of a crossover in his series), Eric Flint, David Eddings, Kate Elliot, Dave Freer, S.M. Stirling

Espionage, Action- Tom Clancy, Larry Bond, Harold Coyle

Historical Fiction- Bernard Cornwell, Stephen Pressfield

[StrangeBookLover]

Chuck Palahniuk
William Shakespeare
James Patterson
James Joyce
Joseph Conrad
Jane Austen
George Orwell

[colmatrix]

Robert Ludlum
Clive Cussler
Michael Chricton
Stephen King

[Strider]

Looks like I'm getting in on this a little late, but that's better than never. :D

JRR Tolkien
Orson Scott Card
Tom Clancy (earlier stuff)
Stephen King (especially the Dark Tower stuff)
Douglas Adams
Frank Herbert
Isaaac Asimov

[jrin99]

I think that my favorite books are Undaunted courage by Ambrose and Catch-22 by Joesph Heller. I can remember summers spent reading catch-22 and laughing at the visual imaginary. It was and is a great classic.

[Trazalca]

Here's my list, which I find to be growing as of late:

Stephen King - just about anything
Walter Mosley - Devil In a Blue Dress, Archibald Lawless: Anarchist at Large
John Farris - Phantom Nights, The Ransome Women
Joyce Carol Oates - The Corn Maiden
J. R. R. Tolkien - LORT, The Hobbit (duh)
Ray Bradbury - The Martian Chronicles
C. S. Lewis - Narnia Chronicles
Ernest Hemingway - The Old Man & The Sea, The Snows of Kilimanjaro
Roger Zelazny - The Amber series
Isaac Asimov - The Foundation series
Harlan Ellison - mostly short stories
Lawrence Block - A Walk Among the Tombstones
Ellis Peters - The Cadfael series
H. P. Lovecraft - "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" among too many to name here.

I recently came across Ed McBain's Transgressions series, since I was
interested in reading Stephen King's novella contribution to it.
As it is a collection of novellas from several known authors, it gave
me the wonderful opportunity to "sample" the works of others I might have
never tried. As of now, I'm more apt to listen to works of Moseley and Oates.
I hope to read more from the Transgression series to see more of
who I like. And so far, I like them all. The lyrical prose of Joyce Carol Oates
is simply outstanding. Not for everyone, but there's a music to the words
that I find myself appreciating immensely.

[tina1742]

1. Stephen King
2. John Irving
3. John Grisham
4. Frank McCourt
5. Peter Straub

Anyone who hasnt read Stephen King or Peter Straub needs to immediately!!