Who is/are your favourite author/s?

[irocfan]

As it says who are are you favourite authors? My two are:


David Gemmell - the 'king' of heroic fantasy, sadly departed

Paul Kearney - a similar (IMO) writing style in as much as the big picture is there but there is a very human element in the writing. You care about the characters and the writing is (for want of a better expression) cinematic

Edited by irocfan on Wednesday 2nd December 20:13

[glazbagun]

Ian Banks. I loved the wit, sarcasm, outrage he could communicate. I mainly read his sci-fi works, but to be honest the plot is seldom the most important thing for me, it's just a stage for his characters to out-do each other.

[Magikarp]

In no particular order,

Clive Barker for the breadth and lyricism of his imagination .
Frank Herbert, for his speculative ideas about human evolution.
Stephen King, for the volume of writing that just works. There is some dross but a remarkably small amount, and because he will attempt pretty much anything.
JRR Tolkien because of the scale of his endeavour.
John Wilmot, Earl Of Rochester, irrepressible ribaldry.
Jonathan Swift, rightly proving nothing should be beyond satire.
Asimov because he proved there is amongst giant ideas there is most assuredly a place for wit and humanity.

[Zumbruk]

William Gibson.

Invented the word "cyberspace" and the whole cyberpunk genre, and his stuff just gets better and better. The density of the prose is wonderful. I can read one of his sentences over and over again, getting more meaning from it each time.

[spikeyhead]

If asked to pick one favourite then it would be John Irving

[Super Sonic]

Iain M Banks
William Gibson
Greg Bear
Tim Powers
Alistair Reynolds

[V1nce Fox]

Alan Moore.

[Zumbruk]

Super Sonic said:

Iain M Banks
William Gibson
Greg Bear
Tim Powers
Alistair Reynolds

That's a great list!

[Esceptico]

George Orwell. Read all his novels and most non fiction when I was younger and reread most of them recently. I do like books with interesting ideas (why I like SF) but also politics. Animal Farm and 1984 are brilliant books - although depressing (especially the latter) but also The Road to Wigan Pier and Down and Out in Paris and London are amazing testaments to an England that has long since disappeared.

[TorqueDirty]

Dickens
Le Carre
Orwell
John Irving
T.C Boyle (Water Music is a total riot from page 1 to the end)
H.H Munro aka Saki (His collection of short stories are sublime)
John Steinbeck - Of Mice and Men is a masterpiece (IMO)

................and loads of others really. It's hard to chose.

Mick Jackson has to get a mention just for the The Underground Man
Louis de Bernières for his Latin American trilogy and Captain Corelli
The Bronte sisters...not a bad catalogue for three sisters!
Possibly also Thomas Hardy for Tess of the d'Urbervilles - all a bit bleak but powerful none the less

However Le Carre and Dickens have to be top of my list. Story telling at its very best, time and time again.

Of course I reserve the right to completely change this list tomorrow.

[seyre1972]

Some great suggestions here.

I would add:

Roald Dahl - many genres from children through adult themes. Danny Champion of the World - favourite book of all time.
Kenneth Grahame - Wind in the Willows which I only got to read as an adult - still one of my favourite books.

Neal Stephenson - if you like William Gibson …. You’ll love all of his works.

Edited to add

Irvine Welsh ….

Edited by seyre1972 on Sunday 8th August 15:15

[witteringon]

Barbara Cartland

[TorqueDirty]

Oh and Nabokov.

Say what you like about the subject matter but Lolita was utterly brilliant - in a deeply deeply troubling way.

A book that many would fear to read, and fewer would admit to loving, but I think it is sensational.

[jimPH]

Bernard Cornwell, great historical based fiction.

Ken Follet

Gemmel is brilliant, passed too soon.

Conn Iggulden

Maurice Druon

CJ Sansom

[slopes]

Terry Pratchett

Haruki Murakami

Jack Higgins

[silentbrown]

John Connolly
Reginald Hill
Phil Rickman

And of course Iain Banks, with or without the M...

[Drooles]

Kazuo Ishiguro
As others have said, George Orwell
Thomas Hardy
Ernest Hemingway


No real preferred genre, just enjoy those authors.

Also like Raymond Chandler

[Cloudy147]

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - Love the Sherlock Homes books.
Henning Mankell - Kurt Wallender series is brilliant
David Gemmell - Fantasy epics. Particular fave would be Morningstar.
Louis L'Amour - my dad recommended a few of his books (Westerns). I wasn't sure I'd enjoy them. Turns out I did, enormously!

Childhood favourites would be Roald Dahl, Enid Blyton and Tolkien

[anonymous-user]

George MacDonald Fraser - Flashman Papers amongst many others.

Bernard Cornwell - Sharpe introduced me to historical fiction.

Andy Weir - just enjoy his stories / settings / characters.

Stephen King - quantity of quality is unmatched.

JRR Tolkien for the whole world he created!

Will look into David Gemmell.

[DodgyGeezer]

Cloudy147 said:

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - Love the Sherlock Homes books.
Henning Mankell - Kurt Wallender series is brilliant
David Gemmell - Fantasy epics. Particular fave would be Morningstar.
Louis L'Amour - my dad recommended a few of his books (Westerns). I wasn't sure I'd enjoy them. Turns out I did, enormously!

Childhood favourites would be Roald Dahl, Enid Blyton and Tolkien

Will have to look at L'Amour