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Posted: 10/15/2013 8:06:11 PM EDT
[#1]
Bradbury. I love how he writes — so smooth and descriptive without being verbose.
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Posted: 10/15/2013 8:07:44 PM EDT
[#2]
I agree. George has put together one hell of a world. I think part of why people get so pissed at him is because he creates such engaging characters it kind of hits you personally when he kills one of them.
A man that can make you like Jaime Lannister is talented to be sure. |
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Posted: 10/15/2013 8:08:40 PM EDT
[#3]
Haven't read any of Asimov other than one short story, but I like your list so far.
I would add Robert Heinlein and Orson Scott Card to the Sci Fi. Can't really speak to "best." Heinlein is my favorite, tho. I could go either way on Phillip K Dick. Some of his stuff is good. Alot is just too weird. |
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Posted: 10/15/2013 8:10:19 PM EDT
[#4]
Robert A. Heinlein and his Future History.
We are clearly living in The Crazy Years. |
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Posted: 10/15/2013 8:12:02 PM EDT
[#5]
C.S. Lewis for The Space Trilogy
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Posted: 10/15/2013 8:13:17 PM EDT
[#6]
R.A Salvatore
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Posted: 10/15/2013 8:16:11 PM EDT
[#7]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Robert A. Heinlein and his Future History. We are clearly living in The Crazy Years. Agreed. All of the authors named are great, but just take a look at Heinlein's "timeline" of Future History. And these are certainly the Crazy Years. Anyone know the Mason's secret handshake to get down in to their continent-spanning network of caverns? 
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Posted: 10/15/2013 8:21:38 PM EDT
[#8]
Liked just about all of the Edgar Rice Burroughs stuff.
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Posted: 10/15/2013 8:25:33 PM EDT
[#9]
Came here to post Heinlein but I also want to add Joel Rosenburg for his Guardians of the Flame series. It was excellent.
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Posted: 10/15/2013 8:25:34 PM EDT
[#10]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Robert A. Heinlein and his Future History. We are clearly living in The Crazy Years. +1 Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
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Posted: 10/15/2013 8:26:47 PM EDT
[#11]
Heinlein is pretty good, but he has some really fucking weird shit.
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Posted: 10/15/2013 8:28:20 PM EDT
[#12]
All must bow down:
...though his son is proof that talent isn't genetic. |
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Posted: 10/15/2013 8:31:59 PM EDT
[#13]
David Drake for his Hammer's Slammers series.. Those are fun reads.
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Posted: 10/15/2013 8:32:05 PM EDT
[#14]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
R.A Salvatore For fantasy genre, this. |
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Posted: 10/15/2013 8:33:23 PM EDT
[#15]
I agree with those posted, Clive Barker also has some good stuff like Weaveworld, The Great and Secret Show, Imajica. Though poor guy has the
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Posted: 10/15/2013 8:36:20 PM EDT
[#16]
Quote HistoryQuoted: All must bow down: http://elibros.net/book/covers/dune-frank-herbert.jpg ...though his son is proof that talent isn't genetic. This!  His novels blew my mind as an adolescent, and I've yet to read anything that remotely compares to Dune. ETA - Tolkien and G.R.R.M. have their places as well, I love their work...but their place is behind Herbert. |
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Posted: 10/15/2013 8:39:44 PM EDT
[#17]
Jack Vance. If you've never heard of him, be ashamed. |
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Posted: 10/15/2013 8:40:21 PM EDT
[#18]
/thread over |
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Posted: 10/15/2013 8:41:18 PM EDT
[#19]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
R.A Salvatore For Fantasy all the way. |
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Posted: 10/15/2013 8:41:24 PM EDT
[#20]
Quote HistoryFantasy, agreed. |
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Posted: 10/15/2013 8:42:31 PM EDT
[#21]
I really want to say Heinlein.
I've read a ton of his stuff. <--- Avatar All his pulp books, Boys Life stories, shorts and novels. The early stuff was great, the end years incest stuff was just too..."off". |
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Posted: 10/15/2013 8:43:19 PM EDT
[#22]
Jerry Pournelle. Welcome to the world of the Taxpayer and the Citizen. The Co-Dominium and BuReloc are just waiting for the Alderson Drive.
And special mention to H. Beam Piper. Totally underrated. |
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Posted: 10/15/2013 8:44:38 PM EDT
[#23]
Silence, Earthling! My name is Darth Vader. I am an extra-terrestrial from the planet Vulcan.
Holding a hair dryer. |
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Posted: 10/15/2013 8:46:00 PM EDT
[#24]
For fantasy, it's really hard to beat Tolkien. And for science fiction, the same goes for Peter F Hamilton.
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Posted: 10/15/2013 8:48:25 PM EDT
[#25]
Joe Haldeman's "The Forever War".
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Posted: 10/15/2013 8:48:26 PM EDT
[#26]
L. Ron Hubbard ...
Hahahahahahahaha! Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
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Posted: 10/15/2013 8:49:11 PM EDT
[#27]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
L. Ron Hubbard ... Hahahahahahahaha! Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile What you did there... I 
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Posted: 10/15/2013 8:50:03 PM EDT
[#28]
Harry Turtledove, alternative history.
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Posted: 10/15/2013 8:51:45 PM EDT
[#29]
Frank Herbert (Dune)
George Martin Robert Jordan (eye of the world series) Dan Abnet (warhammer 40K books.. amazing author) So many others.. from the Star trek writers like peter david... |
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Posted: 10/15/2013 8:52:59 PM EDT
[#30]
All of those authors are great... I used to think Asimov was the greatest SciFi author because of the Foundation universe, and while he is definitely up there in my top ten, i would put Alastair Reynolds and Larry Niven in as my top two, with some new authors, like Hugh Howey, and Elizabeth Moon.
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Posted: 10/15/2013 8:53:31 PM EDT
[#31]
Many good ones mentioned.
Heinlein is my vote. |
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Posted: 10/15/2013 8:54:12 PM EDT
[#32]
Clarke was the grandmaster of sci fi.
The others that are some of the best... Asimov, Heinlein, Card. Huxley And Orwell are the better of the older ones. Clarke, though... He was more than an author. The geo-stationary satellite, Spaceguard, and eventually the space elevator... He was a visionary.
I don't read fantasy so no opinion there. |
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Posted: 10/15/2013 8:54:36 PM EDT
[#33]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Joe Haldeman's "The Forever War". Good book, but he's not prolific enough to be "the greatest". |
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Posted: 10/15/2013 8:54:53 PM EDT
[#34]
Phillip K. Dick. Incredible forays into the human condition and visionary as to the interaction of Humans and Technology. |
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Posted: 10/15/2013 8:55:32 PM EDT
[#35]
I'll second third (whatever) Heinlein. He's absolutely my favorite author in any genre, despite some of his weird shit.
I definitely agree with the comment about the crazy years, the guy really had vision. |
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Posted: 10/15/2013 8:56:06 PM EDT
[#36]
Simpsons teacher strike episode...
Edna: "Seymore, these aren't even textbooks!" Skinner : "Edna, the kids have to learn about TekWar sometime!" Therefore, William Shatner... lol |
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Posted: 10/15/2013 8:56:40 PM EDT
[#37]
John Ringo is my favorite but I wouldn't consider him greatest.
"Great" is really reserved for Niven or Asimov or Heinlein. |
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Posted: 10/15/2013 8:56:50 PM EDT
[#38]
Dunno about the greatest - but I like Fritz Leiber's stories of Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser.
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Posted: 10/15/2013 8:57:12 PM EDT
[#39]
Stephen Erickson, with the Malazan series. Best immersive fantasy novels going.
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Posted: 10/15/2013 8:58:08 PM EDT
[#40]
Vernor Vinge.
Pick up a copy of "Marooned in Realtime" . |
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Posted: 10/15/2013 9:00:43 PM EDT
[#41]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Stephen Erickson, with the Malazan series. Best immersive fantasy novels going. I'm about halfway through Midnight Tides, again...you basically have to reread the series more than once to get everything, it's just too huge to assimilate all at once. |
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Posted: 10/15/2013 9:01:48 PM EDT
[#42]
Robert Jordan - wheel of time series
Greatest fantasy series I have ever read, the depth of the story and characters is amazing |
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Posted: 10/15/2013 9:02:52 PM EDT
[#43]
Saddened no one has mentions Piers Anothony. Glenn Cook. Robert Bloch.
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Posted: 10/15/2013 9:05:06 PM EDT
[#44]
There are so many 'Great' authors...the great thing is, you don't have to choose only 1, or even a dozen.
My personal vote for SF would be Larry Niven, and for fantasy it's hard to vote against Tolkein, though honestly he isn't the most readable, particularly considering he really only wrote 2 books, one of which is just very, very long. Still, his influence is so profound, good luck finding ANY piece of fantasy without some debt to him. |
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Posted: 10/15/2013 9:05:16 PM EDT
[#45]
Robert Jordan -Wheel of Time series
Hands down best. Takes anything Tolkien ever thought of to the next level. |
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Posted: 10/15/2013 9:07:45 PM EDT
[#46]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Robert Jordan - wheel of time series Greatest fantasy series I have ever read, the depth of the story and characters is amazing I sorta liked the first couple of the series, but I can only take so much adolescent sexual angst, braid-tugging and endless descriptions before I give up...which I did, around the 5th book. |
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Posted: 10/15/2013 9:08:41 PM EDT
[#47]
William Gibson
And I can't recall the author's name... dammit.. The novel is, "Last And First Men". |
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Posted: 10/15/2013 9:10:56 PM EDT
[#48]
I like a few:
Jules Verne Asimov Arthur C Clark Tolkien Aldous Huxley Orwell Gene Roddenberry Cannot say I like one over the other because they have their own styles, the time they wrote their masterpieces and other factors make each of their books unique. |
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Posted: 10/15/2013 9:11:07 PM EDT
[#49]
Jack Chalker; more specifically The Well of Souls series. One of my absolute favorites, and I'm always willing to sit down and read through it again just for fun.
A close second would be anything by William Gibson, if cyberpunk is still considered sci-fi. I think an honorable mention should also go to Piers Anthony's Bio of a Space Tyrant series. I'm a big fan of the classics, such as Asimov, Bradbury, & Heinlein. There are a lot of classics I have yet to read though, such as Niven or Clarke. I still have a huge stack of David Brin novels to dig through one of these days, but I really enjoyed the book version of The Postman. If you think black rifle disease is bad, I have a severe case of paperback book disease. I can't help but pick up a good paperback when I find one, and I'm always running out of room on the bookshelves. Most of them are stacked two high and two deep on each shelf. Perhaps it's time to expand the library... On the bright side, my kids share my love of reading, and my taste in books for the most part. The main reason I collect books is for them, so it's always a pleasure to see them finish a book and go searching for what to read next. Their enjoyment is what makes it all worthwhile! |
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Posted: 10/15/2013 9:12:04 PM EDT
[#50]
Quote HistoryQuoted:
Vernor Vinge. Pick up a copy of "Marooned in Realtime" . I really liked "Marooned in Realtime", the first modern post-Singularity novel. It deserves to be more well read. |
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