Thanks to all who have commented so far.  Over 1300 views in just two days is awesome!  That's the fun of doing these lists is the discussion (and arguments) that it starts!  As I said the list is not based on talent alone.  Talent is subjective and everybody has their own tastes.  That's why things such as body of work, influence on writers, influence on pop culture, enduring stories or characters are also important criteria.  Whether you're a Tolkien fan or not, he's influence more fantasy writers than anyone else...

Whether you like Rowling or not, The Potter books have brought legions of young fans into the fantasy world and she basically created the whole juvenile/teen fantasy sub-genre.  You cannot underestimate that importance.

Anyway..i bet since I've covered Fantasy, horror, and Sci-fi you figured I'd be done...Nope!  One more list to cover as far as writers...that's the Top Comic Book Writers of all-time...suggestions are now being accepted!

Ouch!! Comic book writers...yikes...I am going to go old school on mine because I stopped reading Marvel in the 90's.

The obvoius:

Frank Miller, Clairmont & Byrne...and I stress those two together. Seperate they are not that good. Together they were the best and I'm sure ego is the reason they hate each other so much to this day.

I also think George Perez is up there. Of course Stan "the man" Lee.  Alan Moore.  There are many more but can only think of those off top of my head.

I would have put Neil Gaiman in the top comic authors rather than fantasy, as I think that is where he has done his best work, and has been most influential.

ashamel...well I'm going to be breaking my own rule because Gaiman will be in the comic writer category.  Basically I had put him in fantasy for his comic work and novels.  That was before I intended to do a comic writer list.

If you put Grant Morrison on that comics list, make sure you take off about 100 points for the confusing, over indulgent, non-sensical mess that is Final Crisis. 

No Bradburry? No C.S. Lewis? No Stephen King? No Frank Herbert? No Baum?

Tolkien as number one works. Generally agreed upon by everyone. But placed Rowling, regardless of how much people ENJOY her books and how successful they've been, that low?!?!

C.S. Lewis did plenty of great work. Stephen King does MOSTLY horror but plenty of sci fi/fantasy. Frank Herbert created one of the MOST influential series and Dune is considered the best sci fi novel of all time.

This list failed. Big time.

I look forward to the comic book writers countdown and the 'observations' and 'gentle banter' that will follow...

Comic book writers? Wow...um, the best just for imagination and abundance of material has to be Stan Lee. Granted, a lot of those early stories don't stand the test of time, but the characters he created sure have. Siegel and Shuster I'll add to that list and Bob Kane and King Kirby.

Modern times; Alan Moore definitely; Frank Miller only up until his Sin City years; J. Micheal Strazynski for Rising Stars, Spider-Man (yes, I said it); Claremont but only in his coke-fueled days (his recent work is bland); Mike Mignola because the mythology is just so well done; and finally Steve Niles who had the balls to make vampires scary again and give us one of my favorite permanently stoned P.I.'s battling the supernatural.

Noble...you OBVIOUSLY only read the list and not the rest of the article.  For a writer to be considered, the bulk of their work HAD to be in the fantasy field.  THUS...Bradbury, King, and Herbert DON'T qualify..however, King did make the all-time great horror writers (#2 i think) and Bradbury and herbert both made the list of all-time great Sci-Fi writers.  this is a FANTASY list, NOT Sci-Fi...In what universe is Dune considered a fantasy novel?????

Seriously, if you are going to be critical, at least know the criteria.  And Baum and lewis were honorable mentions...Sheesh!!! 

Daforce...I like some of your suggestions.  What I may do is put Lee and Kirby together since they collaborated on so many of those silver age stories.  But note again as with my other work, body of work over one's career is very important.  I'm looking for writers who have been around consistently for at least 10 - 15 years.  While I love Niles, he's still too new.  Moore...for sure...Miller, you have to include him for the Dark Knight/Daredevil/Sin City work...Claremont is a maybe.  Here's some other possible names:

Grant Morrison, Neil Gaiman, Roy Thomas, Denny O' Neil, len Wein, Marv Wolfman, Garth Ennis, Peter David, Mark Waid, Geoff Johns, Keith Giffen...

Anyone who suggests Bendis gets a lifetime ban!  :-)