Best author you ever read?

reply to post by Czulkang


1) H.P Lovecraft
2) Graham Msterton
3) Clive Barker
4) Alan Dean Foster
5) Stephen Baxter

There are many great writers i enjoy to read, i could easily make a top 20.

John Wyndham

The Kraken Wakes (1953), published in the US as Out of the Deeps
The Chrysalids (1955), published in the US as Re-Birth
The Midwich Cuckoos (1957), filmed twice as Village of the Damned
The Outward Urge (1959)
Trouble with Lichen (1960)
Chocky (1968)


Doris Lessing

Shikasta (1979)
The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five (1980)
The Sirian Experiments (1980)
The Making of the Representative for Planet 8 (1982)
The Sentimental Agents in the Volyen Empire (1983)

Pratchett

And his Disc World

R.A. Salvatore is easily my favorite modern author. No one creates characters as memorable, or fight scenes as visceral. As far as older writers, there are many to acknowledge. Frank Herbert for Dune, one of the most unique sci-fi stories ever written. J.R.R Tolkien for Lord of the rings, the model for all who came after. Jules Verne for just about everything he wrote, he fills me with wonder like no other. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle for Sherlock holmes, taught me to trust nothing and question everything. And last but certainly not least, Mr. Bram Stoker for Dracula, quite possibly the single greatest novel ever written.

J.R.R. Tolkien - Lord of the Rings.

Patricia McKillip - everything but especially The Riddle Master Trilogy.

Raymond E Feist - Faery Tale, Magician, Silverthorn and A Darkness at Sethanon.

Terry Pratchett - Discworld novels, especially those with the nightwatch.

Steven Brust - vlad Taltos series

C.J. Cherryh - The Chronicles of Morgain and most of her other stuff.

Mary Gentle - Golden Witchbreed

Peter Moorwood - Tales from Old Russia set (i.e. Prince Ivan, Firebird, The Golden Horde)

Michael Moorcock - Elric of Melnibone and Stormbringer

Jennifer Roberson - Tiger & Del Series

Sydney J van Scyos - Drowntide

Kim Wilkins - The Autumn Castle, Giants of the Frost

Margaret Weiss & Tracy Hickman - The Death Gate Cycle

Tad Williams - Memory, Sorrow & Thorn set & Otherland set

Janny Wurts - everything

David Eddings - the Elenium and the Mallorean sets.

theabsolutetruth
I don't get much time for reading novels, though a few years ago, when I had some spare time, I read Pillars of the Earth. Whilst I have read many great books, this was so well written and evocative, it is worth reading and contains all sorts of life lessons, symbolism, insights and historical references. It is very well researched, both historically and architecturally, both of these I am passionate about. A series was made for TV afterwards which was okay but nothing on the book.

The location is fictional but loosely based on an area near here, Marlborough, Wiltshire, SW England, a place I know well, and set in medieval times. The story is centred around the building of a Cathedral with an interesting mix of characters and spans around 30 years, where there is much development of character and story.

I would certainly recommend the book. Prologue, first chapter and excerpts available here:

Ken Follett is my absolute FAVORITE author of all time! Pillars of the Earth was the first book of his I read and out of all the books I've read in my lifetime, this one was THE best, by far! I normally wouldn't have chosen a book like this, but I am so glad I did. That was back in the 90's and I have read this book several times now. This book makes you feel like you are right there, living amongst all the characters in the book.

I watched the tv mini series when it came out, was thrilled to see it, but like all movies made from books, it wasn't nearly as good as the book, but it was still good.

I highly recommend Pillars of the Earth to everyone. If you haven't read it, you really should. You can't put it down once you start it.

In keeping with the theme of the subfora, I prefer Ray Bradbury. He's succinct.

Hmmmm
Charles Dickens
Billy Shakespeare
Eddie Poe
Jack London
Brams Stoker
Mary Shelley
Alice Walker
Robert Ludlum
Peter Straub
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Early Stephen King
Early Anne Rice
There's something to be said for JK Rowling
I adored Caroline Keane as a child
Robert Aspirin
Anything by Preston and Child, and then Preston solo
Early Laurel K Hamilton, but she writes nothing but soft core burning porn romance now
Love Kim Harrison

Isaac Asimov - his robot stories, and his Foundation stories;
J.R.R. Tolkien - all his Middle-Earth stories
John Katzenbach - The Analyst
Antoine de St-Exupéry - The Little Prince
Philip Pullman - His Dark Materials
Arthur Conan Doyle - Sherlock Holmes

I forgot Jules Verne

Darrel Bain is a very good unknown sci-fi author. He does a lot of e-books.

reply to post by Czulkang


paulo coelho...

"My heart is afraid that it will have to suffer," the boy told the alchemist one night as they looked up at the moonless sky." Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams."

www.harpercollins.com...

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha.

When Don Quijote realizes he is insane and starts to doubt himself, but then his squire (sancho panza) who had gone insane himself, or rather believed so much in his master eventually that he too shared his vision though at first he was the voice of reason to Don Quijote...then convinced Don Quijote in his moment of sanity...defeat, of his own truth....made his dream reborn....yet more real as well....

One of the best literary moments of my young life....shaped my mind forever....

He lived in a world of fantasy
Where all were mad but he.
He lived in a world of madness
Where he alone was free!

He lived in a world of madness
Where only he was sane
He brought them joy and gladness
They only brought him pain!

He lived in a world of madness
Where only he was wise.
They lived in a world of sadness
'Twas folly in disguise!

Where happiness is madness
'Tis wisdom in disguise--
Where sanity is sadness
'Tis folly to be wise!

Oh give me a world of madness
If madness is to be glad!
I'd rather be happy in madness
Than only be sane and sad.

If foolishness is gladness
'Tis folly to be wise!
If sanity is sadness
It makes my brain capsize!

Oh give me pain with gladness
If wisdom is in vain.
'Tis better far than sadness
And sanity again!

info.teachtci.com...

if you like action / adventure read..

Lee Child
Clive Cussler

Lee child wrote the Jack Reacher Character of that movie Tom Cruise did recently. So when I hear tom cruise was playing the part I got very nerious because the jack reacher of the book is the opposite of how you think of TC. But I was shocked. TC actually became JR in the movie. He somehow pulled it off. I couldn't believe it!

Oldie: Jack Bleedin' Vance! Total genius! The Dying Earth stories never get old for me.

and...

Newie: China Mieville - The Bas-Lag Novels are outrageously brilliant... i'd recommend him to any that dont know him already.

I cannot believe that nobody's mentioned Roger Zelazny!

For interesting stories about new tech, and government misbehavior check out Cory Doctorow - all of his work is CC licensed. I thought Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town was a wonderfully strange tale.

My current favorite, though, is John Ringo. He's ex-military and certainly writes from that point of view. But he creates characters - people I want to spend more time with, whether they be kick-ass 'mericuns fighting bug-eyed monsters, or a teen girl who's perfectly at her element killing zombies. Every book leaves me looking for the next (or previous) in the series. Baen is willing to bet you will, too - you can download free ebooks from here.

a reply to: Silcone Synapse

Swan Song was an awesome book!
One of the best I have read.

UGH this is too hard!

Veronica Roth, for the Divergent series. Ignore everything about the very much TEEN book, her idea of having a Fear Landscape to face your own fears is thrilling and terrifying!

JK Rowling, for the books that formed my generation. (Is my age showing?)

Roger Zelazney, for Jack of Shadows...my first and favorite SCI-FI book and the reason why, in my teen angst years, the idea of "cutting" REALLY grossed me out.

Isaac Asimov ( Just about everything he ever wrote I enjoyed)
Ray Bradbury
Orson Scott Card ( Enders Game, but then I read Speaker for the Dead)
Roger Zelazny (the Unicorn is an attacking player but the Sasquatch is a slow positional player in chess)
Theodore Sturgeon (one of the funniest sci-fi writers ever)
Frederik Pohl ( Heechee saga)
Robert A. Heinlein ( One of his quotes has been on my signature for some time)
Douglas Adams ( we demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty)
George Alec Effinger (wrote my favorite short sci-fi story All the Last Wars at Once)

There are so many, I apologize to ones I have forgotten at this time.

Neil Asher is my favourite author at the moment but it tends to vary.

Tom Cruise didn't pull off Reacher to me. In the books, so much is made about his size. Acting alone just isn't going to cut it.....

For me, H.P. Lovecraft is still my favorite author. I have read his short stories over and over again, and still love them. He's one messed up dude.

A close second is Jim Butcher (Dresden books). Lee Child is up there, though I still cringe every time I read "Reacher said nothing"....fine...no need to write it then!!! I get it!

I have to give props to J.K. Rowling though too. I simply couldn't put the Potter books down, each of them. Her style flowed very nicely, and just really captivated me.

I love Tolkein's mythos, but damn, his writing is just obtuse sometimes. Same with G.R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones books. Both sometimes drone on WAY too long on one thing.

Frank Herbert for Dune, of course, but also for the excellent White Plague.
Orson Scott Card for the Ender series
JK Rowling for getting a generation of digital age kids interested in reading books.
Robin Cook for all his medical thrillers
Stephen King is a better story teller than Dean Koontz, imho, and I'm glad he can afford whatever medication he needs but Dean Koontz scares me in a more entertaining way without making me abandon hope in humanity.