Favorite fantasy author

[PhilD]

Originally posted by Teraswaerto:
Sorry to say, but Eddings is quite possibly the worst fantasy writer in existence (though I've heard that Mercedes Lackey is even worse, I've not had the displeasure of reading her stuff myself). The same (not particularly good & horribly cliched to boot) plot and identical characters only with new names in book after another.

I rather enjoyed the Belgariad (I didn't have the courage to go through much of the rest of their writing, though - he does write in tandem with his wife). It was rather fun, in a parodic, ultra-stereotyped way. Kind of like Pratchett, only I'm not too sure it's intended in the Eddings' case.

Voted for Martin; would have added more if I had noticed one could go "more than one"

[PhilD]

Originally posted by LordArioch:

But I'm really more of a SF person anyway. As such I give you Greg Egan's webpage for those who dare read his short stories Online...or try to play quantum soccer.
http://gregegan.customer.netspace.net.au/

I didn't know Egan had a home page, but of course I should have guessed.

He's clearly my current favorite SF writer, though I don't know whether his works can really appeal much to someone with no or little scientific education... some of his ideas are pretty weird developments on interesting scientific facts or theories. Fortunately, both I and my girlfriend are scientists, so we can enjoy his books

[PhilD]

Originally posted by Arryn:
FYI, in case anyone's curious, Steven Erikson's books are not in stock at either Amazon or B&N. Getting them shipped might take 2-3 weeks. Ick. Guess I'll have to make some time this weekend to try a few of the larger used bookstores locally.

I ordered the first two Malazan books from Amazon UK less than two weeks ago, and got them Last week (while I was away from home). Waiting 2-3 weeks for a book to arrive isn't exactly the end of the world; we all waited longer than that for the Dom2 demo, then for the Dom2 final Version, then for the Dom2 patch...

[Jasper]

Originally posted by officer_jenny:
hi everybody, not a real big fantasy fan here, but im wondering why no one has mentioned Gene Wolfe/Book of the New Sun?

Gene Wolf is excellent! I imagine nobody has mentioned him because his famous works are more science fiction. Once you include him, there's a long list of sci-fi authors to include...

[Catquiet]

P.C. Hodgell - God Stalk series

[diamondspider]

For me, great fantasy is less about specific authors and more about specific *works*.

I can't think of many authors that are consistant enough for me to rate them apart from specific books.

That said, here are my top 10 all time favorite fantasy books/series segments (strictly excluding sci-fi and horror):

1. Lord of the Rings : Tolkien
2. The Hobbit : Tolkien
3. Paksenarrion trilogy : Moon
4. A Song of Fire and Ice trilogy : Martin
5. The Sword of Truth series (first 3) : Goodkind
6. Dying Earth : Vance
7. Cugel's Saga : Vance
8. Lankhmar Series (first 3) : Leiber
9. Jack of Shadows : Zelazny
10. A Wizard of Earthsea : Le Guin

[ January 26, 2004, 10:57: Message edited by: diamondspider ]

[Teraswaerto]

Originally posted by diamondspider:

4. A Song of Fire and Ice trilogy : Martin

Except it isn't a trilogy.