Which one of these authors is your favorite and which book/series of theirs is your favorite? ?

Question

Adams,Douglas
Adams,Robert
Ahern, Jerry
Aldiss,Brian
Alexander,Lloyd
Allston,Aaron
Anderson,Kevin J.
Anderson,Poul
Anthony,Piers
Anvil,Chris
Applegate,K.A.
Armstrong,Kelly
Arthur,Keri
Asaro,Cathrine
Asimov,Isaac
Asprin,Robert
Attanasio,A.A.

Bain,Darrell
Banks,Iain
Bardsley,Michele
Barker,Clive
Barnes,Arthur K.
Baum,L.Frank
Baxter,Stephen
Beagle,Peter S.
Bear,Greg
Benford,Gregory
Berg,Carol
Bester,Alfred
Betancuort,John Gregory
Bishop,Anne
Blake,Anita
Bova,Ben
Bradbury,Ray
Bradley,Marion Zimmer
Brennan,Marie
Briggs,Patricia
Brin,David
Brockmann,Suzanne
Brooks,Terry
Brown,Mary
Brunner,John
Brust,Steven
Bujold,Lois McMaster
Bull,Emma
Bunch,Chris
Burroughs,Edgar Rice
Busby,S.M.
Butcher,Jim
Butler,Octavia

Cadigan,Pat
Caidin,Martin
Caine,Rachel
Callander,Don
Canavan,Trudi
Card,Orson Scott
Carey,Jacqueline
Carver,Jeffrey
Castaneda,Carlos
Chalker,Jack I.
Cherryh,C.J.
Chester,Deborah
Christopher,John
Clarke,Arthur C.
Clement,Hal
Cook,Glen
Cook,Rick
Cooper,Louise
Cooper,Susan
Crichton,Michael

Dahl,Roland
Daley,Brian
Dalmas,John
Darren Shan
Davidson,Mary Janice
DeCamp,I.Sprague
DeChancie,John
Deitz,Tom
DelRey,Lester
Delany,Samuel
DeLint,Charles
Dick,Philip K.
Dickson,Gordon
Dietz,William C.
Donaldson,Stephen R.
Douglas,L.Warren
Douglass,Sara
Doyle&McDonald
Drake,David
Duane,Diane
Duncan,Dave

Edding,David
Elliot,Kate
Ellison,Harlan
Elrod,P.N.

Fallon,Jennifer
Farland,David
Farmer,Phillip Jose
Feehan,Christine
Feintuch,David
Feist,Raymond E.
Flewelling,Lynn
Flint,Eric
Flint,Kenneth
Foley,Gaelen
Forstchen,Wiliam
Forsyth, Kate
Forward,Robert
Foster,Alan Dean
Frankowski,Leo
Friedman,C.S.
Freisner,Esther
Furey,Maggie

Gabaldon,Diana
Gaiman,Neil
Gardner,Craig Shaw
Garland,Mark
Gear,W.Michael
Gemmell,David
Gentle,Mary
Gerrold,David
Gibson,William
Goodkin,Terry
Green,Sharon
Green,Simon
Greenberg,Martin H.

Haldeman,Jack C.
Haldeman Joe
Hambly,Barbara
Hamilton,Laurell K.
Hamilton,Peter F.
Hardy,Lyndon
Harper,Tara K.
Harris,Charlaine
Harrison,Harry
Harrison,Kim
Hawke,Simon
Haydon,Elizabeth
Heinlein,Robert A.
Hendee,J.C.&Barb.
Herbert,Frank
Hobb,Robin
Hodgell,P.C.
Hogan,James P.
Howard,Robert E.
Hubbard, L.Ron

Ing,Dean

Jacques,Brian
Jones,D.F.
Jones,Diana Wynne
Jones,J.V.
Jordan,Robert

Kay, Guy Gavriel
Kearney, Paul
Kenyon,Sherrilyn
Kerr,Katherine
Keyes,J.Gregory
Knight,Angela
Knight,E.F.
Koontz,Dean
Kurtz,Kathrine
Kuttner,Henry

Lackey,Mercedes
Laumer,Keith
Lawhead,Stephen
Lazarevich,Alexander
Lee&Miller
Lee,Tanith
LeGuin,Ursula K.
Leiber,Fritz
Leinster,Murray
Lem,Stanislaw
L'Engle,Madeline
Lindskold,Jane
Lisle,Holly
Long,Duncan
Longyear,Barry
Lowecraft,H.P.
Lumley,Brian
Lustbader,Eric Van

MacAvoy,R.A.
Martin,George R.R.
May,Julian
McCaffrey,Anne
McDevitt,Jack
McIntyre,Vonda
McKillip,Patricia A.
McKinley,Robin
Miller,Walter M.
Modesitt,L.E.
Moon,Elizabeth
Moorcock,Michael
Murphy,C.E.

Neale,Donald
Niles, Douglas
Niven,Larry
Norman,John
Norton,Andre
Novak, Kate

Paolini,Christopher
Paterson,Derek
Perry,S.D.
Pierce, Tamora
Pike,Christopher
Piper,H.Beam
Pohl,Frederik
Pollotta,Nick
Pournelle,Jerry
Powers,Tim
Pratchett,Terry
Prater,Ian
Pullman, Philip

Rawn, Melanie
Reichert,Mickey Zucker
Resnick,Laura
Resnick,Mike
Rice,Anne
Ringo,John
Robb,J.D.
Roberson, Jennifer
Roberts, John Maddox
Robinson,Kim Stanley
Robinson,Spider
Rowley,Christopher
Rowling,J.K.
Russell,Sean

Saberhagen,Fred
Sage,Angie
Saintcrow,Lillith
Salvatore,R.A.
Saundby,Kate
Sawyer,Robert J.
Scarborough,Elizabeth Anne
Schmidt,Dennis
Schmitz,James
Scott,Martin
Sellars,M.R.
Shatner,Williams
Sheffield,Charles
Shinn,Sharon
Silverberg,Robert
Simak,Clifford D.
Simmons,Dan
Simmons,William Mark
Smeds,Dave
Smith,E.E.Doc.
Smith,Wilbur
Snicket,Lemony
Spencer,Wen
Stableford,Brian
Stackpole,Michael
Stasheff,Christopher
Steakley,John
Stephenson,Neal
Sterling,Bruce
Stirling,S.M.
Stross, Charles
Stroud,Jonathan
Sturgeon,Theodore

Tepper,Sherri
Tilley,Patrick
Tolkien,J.R.R.
Troop,Alan
Turtledove,Harry

VanVogot,A.E.
Vance,Jack
Varley,John
Verne,Jules
Vinge,Joan D.
Vinge,Vernor

Watt-Evans,Lawrence
Weber,David
Weis,Margaret & Hickman
Wells,H.G.
Wentworth,K.D.
West,Michelle
White,Steve
Whyte,Jack
Wilbur,Smith
Wilhelm,Kate
Wilks,Eileen
Williams,Tad
Williamson,Michael Z.
Wilson,Colin
Wingrove,David
Wolfe,Gene
Wrede,Patricia C.
Wurts,Janny

Yarbro,Chelsea Quinn
Yolen,Jane

Zahn,Timothy
Zelazny,Roger

Additional Details

and no i didn't type out all them i copied and pasted.

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

So, you got carpal tunnel from typing out all those names?

I'll go with Isaac Asimov and just about anything he ever wrote. Maybe I'm partial to his robot short stories. Did you know it was he who coined the word robotics? I've loved him since I was knee high to a grasshopper.

add on to Zach: Interesting! I admit, I had to look it up because I couldn't remember who it was, so thank you for the reference on Karel Capek and his brother. How did you know that?!

Unlike the Capek brothers and the word "robot," Asimov had no idea he was coining a new word. While browsing on that and trying to remember in which story the word first appeared (it was The Three Laws of Robotcs), I found this about Asimov in Wikipedia: "Asimov coined the term robotics without suspecting that it might be an original word; at the time, he believed it was simply the natural analogue of words such as mechanics and hydraulics, but for robots."

Answer 2

j.k. rowling!! duhh.. HARRY POTTER!! xD

Answer 3

Wow, that is some list. Sorry to be boring, but my favourite would have be the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling.

Answer 4

WHAT!?!? They didn't have Stephenie Meyer and the Twilight series? Well.. I'm going with that x]

Answer 5

Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series is epic. It's insanely long but totally worth it.
P.S. Dixie- Karel Capek and his brother created the word robot.

Answer 6

Lord almighty that's a long list...
I'll comment on my favorites:

~ Adams,Douglas - I've read all of the Hitchikers books. They were excellent, quite funny if you appreciate sarcastic humor.

~ Gaiman,Neil - Excellent excellent writer, I highly recommend checking him out. He writes a wide range of genres. The Sandman graphic novels are good if you like graphic novels. Stardust is a fun fantasy adventure. Neverwhere is very very good urban fantasy. If you want a pretty good introduction to him try reading Fragile Things, it's a compilation of some of his short stories and poems.

~ Jones,Diana Wynne - excellent writer, very fun lighthearted writing for the most part. Howl's Moving Castle is my favorite by her, but her Chrestomanci Chronicles are great as well.

~ Lovecraft,H.P. - the father of horror, great writer. He mostly wrote short fiction so it's hard to pick a favorite story. Try reading any compilation of his stories. Possibly his most famous story is The Call of Cthulhu, be sure to read that if you read his work.

~ Pratchett,Terry - absolutely fabulous author, he and Neil Gaiman are tied for 1st place as my favorite fantasy author. Pratchett's Discworld books are hilarious parodies of life. His books are incredibly witty but are much funnier if you know about what it is they are parodying. Certain books parody events, such as the invention of the printing press, others parody famous plays such as Phantom of the Opera or Macbeth, others parody politics or world views and still others parody whole genres of writing or movies.

~ Rice,Anne - I've read many books by Rice, but I feel that after a while the books tend to get repetitive. The first three Vampire Chronicle books are worth reading though. Interview with the Vampire, The Vampire Lestat and Queen of the Damned are quite interesting.

~ Rowling,J.K. - author of the Harry Potter books. The HP books are a lot of fun to read. Not necessarily excellent literature, but quite entertaining.

~ Stroud,Jonathan - I've only read four books by Stroud, the Bartimaeus Trilogy and The Leap. Bartimaeus is a fabulous fantasy trilogy with a great sense of humor. Highly recommended.

~ Tolkien,J.R.R. - Necessary reading for anyone who likes fantasy. Not only is the story good but the descriptions of places and people and battles is excellent. Tolkien put so much work into creating his worlds it really gives them a lot of depth - there are whole languages and histories for the people and places in the books. I think the books are excellent.

Answer 7

Tamora Pierce is my absolute fav! author. I love her Protector of the Small series but her other books are cool too. J.k Rowling's next on my list. And you've forgotten the Queen of Crime! Agatha Cristie!

Answer 8

Arthur C. Clarke. I like the Space Odyssey series quite a bit.


A couple really big names that would have fit in seem to be missing, where'd you get the list?

Answer 9

Go Team Switz! :]
Stephanie Meyer.
Twilight...

Answer 10

I've read books by about 3/4 of the names on your HUGE list, but the real stand-out is Lois McMaster Bujold. She is easily the best science fiction writer around these days and her fantasy is also excellent. Must reads are the Miles Vorkosigan Saga books. Begin with "The Warrior's Apprentice", then "Barrayer" and "Cordelia's Honor" (or the combined volume "Shards of Honor"), then move on to "The Vor Game" and the rest. The best of the lot is "A Civil Campaign".

Other excellent authors are:
Isaac Asimov – classic SF including the famous Foundation series and many others
Ray Bradbury - classic SF
David Brin
Jim Butcher - love his stuff including the Codex Alera series and the Dresden Files
Trudi Canavan - her Black Magician trilogy is her best. Also good is the Age of the Five series
Jacqueline Carey's books are amazing. I've just finished the 6th (and I think, last) book in her Kushiel's Legacy series and loved every one of them.
Kate Elliot - I love her Jaran SF series, and her current Crossroad fantasy series is excellent, but found her Crown of Stars series a bit tedious.
Jennifer Fallon - excellent. Begin with The Hythrun Chronicles, then read the Demon Child Trilogy (they're related, but read the Hythrun series first)
Raymond E. Feist - begin with Magician. my favourite is his Empire series (Daughter of, Servant of and Mistress of - co-written with Janny Wurtz), but all of his books are set in the same world and are all related.

I'm running out of time to comment on all of the rest, but all are excellent as I've only included the authors whose work I've really enjoyed.

Kate Forsyth
Maggie Furey
Diana Gabaldon
Terry Goodkind - very violent
Elizabeth Haydon
Robert A Heinlein
Robin Hobb - a particular favorite
Robert Jordan - you must read his Wheel of Time series
Mercedes Lackey - another particular favorite. Love all of her stuff and don't miss the Obsidian Trilogy co-written with James Mallory.
Ann McCaffrey - Dragonriders of Pern is her best (but forget anything by her son Todd) but you'll also love the Freedom series and the Crystal Singer series. All great.
Julian May
L.E.Modesitt
Andre Norton
Christopher Paolini - not great literature, but enjoyable
Sharon Shinn – I love her Samaria (Angel) series and also her Novels of the Twelve Houses
JRR Tolkien - no list is complete without him

Missing from your list is:

Naomi Novik - her Temeraire series is not to be missed. It's fantastic
Glenda Larke - excellent writer of unusual books
Fiona McIntosh
Joanne Bertin - The Last Dragonlord