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WHO are your Favorite Authors, and Why? - 6/1/2008 12:54:14 PM

JohnSteed1967

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Well Mine are:

Robert E. Howard: Conan (Nuff Said)

J.R.R. Tolkien: I was reading Tolkien before the Movies!

Frank Herbert : One Word *DUNE*

Sun Tzu and Machevlli: Hey I am a Dom!

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RE: WHO are your Favorite Authors, and Why? - 6/1/2008 1:06:09 PM

MstrObjectmaker

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David Gemmel - Great story teller, moralistic.

Iain M. Banks - Very inventive mind.

Peter F. Hamilton - His view of the future of human exploration is very original.

Joe Haldeman - His use of future wars to highlight the stupidity of present conflicts.

There are others...for next time......

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RE: WHO are your Favorite Authors, and Why? - 6/1/2008 1:08:44 PM

Padriag

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Ernest Hemmingway - for characters I could relate to and giving me the urge to go fishing... and I hate fish!
Rudyard Kipling - If
John Maxwell - for everying I've learned about leadership... and am still learning.
Nietzsche - for saying the unpopular loud enough I can still hear the echoes.
Ewart Oakshott - for introducing the boy I was to a lifelong love.
Joseph and Frances Gies - for writing about it with humor instead of just dry facts.
Norman E Cantor - for putting so much between two covers.
Arthur C Clarke - for everything you did... including answering a boy's letters, you will always be missed.

< Message edited by Padriag -- 6/1/2008 1:37:23 PM >

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RE: WHO are your Favorite Authors, and Why? - 6/1/2008 1:25:09 PM

Asherdelampyr

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Mika Waltori - Hard to explain to anyone who hasnt read "The Egyptian"
Frank Herbert - Needs no explanation
Nietsche
Anton Lavey
David Eddings
Terry Goodkind
~More as I think of em

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RE: WHO are your Favorite Authors, and Why? - 6/1/2008 1:26:41 PM

celticlord2112

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Robert A. Heinlein: TANSTAAFL
Isaac Asimov: The Foundation series
Louis L'Amour: his characters have a simple honor that makes sense to me
Jack London: He portrayed a world unfiltered by romantic notions of what "ought" to be.
Robert Ludlum: political potboilers make a great read on airplanes
Tolkein: needs no explanation
C.S. Lewis: Chronicles of Narnia are the perfect complement to LOTR
Edgar Rice Burroughs: Tarzan
Robert E. Howard: Conan
Frank Herbert: Dune (of course) but also The White Plague

< Message edited by celticlord2112 -- 6/1/2008 1:27:27 PM >

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RE: WHO are your Favorite Authors, and Why? - 6/1/2008 1:39:45 PM

Emperor1956

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I read a ton of fiction. I read a lot of non-fiction, too, but the thread seems to have taken off with fiction, so I'll go there. When you say "Favorite authors" I take it to mean "who can you go back to time and time again?" For me, a favorite is someone I never tire of:

Lawrence Block: Any of the Matt Scudder books, and any of the Bernie Rhodenbarr books..and the short stories. No one writes the mean streets with as much skill and compassion.

Lois McMaster Bujold: The "Miles" books. Less fond of her newer fantasy. She can always make me laugh, and she has an incredible ability to make outlandish characters real.

James Crumley: Anything. If only he would produce more than one book every eight years or so. The darkest, most realistic Vietnam novel (One to Count Cadence) and the toughest PI/tough guys that are real.

Elmore Leonard: His Westerns are among the best, even though he rarely gets credit. His tough guys are real, but his best characters are his women -- tough, sexy, real, and rarely cowed by the rather stupid men around them. Read "Gold Coast" and then "Up in Honey's Room" to see two of his most interesting heroines.

Rex Stout: The characters are mannered, the plots are weak, but I still want to be either Archie or Nero when I grow up (Unfortunately I wanted Nero's brain in Archie's body, and somehow I got that reversed.)

E.

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RE: WHO are your Favorite Authors, and Why? - 6/1/2008 1:51:41 PM

MissMorrigan

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Stephen Hawking - a genius theoretical physicist that brings science into the realm of the lay person.

Robert Pirsig - Chautauquas (do I need to say more?).

David Hewson - He mixes two of my loves - history and religion, adds a gripping fictional storyline and makes the reader into an avid historian/adventurer.

Stephen King - the only author to have had me miss a day's work due to being unable to put one of his works down - the green mile (the film, by comparison, was awful).

John Steinbeck - Every person should have a 'charley' to travel with.

Dan Brown - He titillates the grey matter and stimulates discussion/promotes introspection.

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RE: WHO are your Favorite Authors, and Why? - 6/1/2008 2:26:18 PM

LondonArt

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George R. R. Martin: But hurry up and finish the series before you die, old guy.
China Mieville: Perdido Street station is one of the few genuinely original works of modern fantasy.
Perec: Because avoiding that e was pretty impressive.
Mark Z Danielewski: Only Revolutions hurt my brain, and I liked it.

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RE: WHO are your Favorite Authors, and Why? - 6/1/2008 2:36:12 PM

bipolarber

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Wow. Toughie... I think I'll list a few off the top of my head, and then come back to it as more occur to me...

First and foremost: Edgar Allan Poe. The true American original. The man invented the deductive reasoning detective story. (A.C. Doyle just refined it.) He also created several types of poetry format which he could call his own inventions. He wrote what many (including myself) consider to be the single greatest short story in the English language: "The Masque of the Red Death."

Mark Twain: Again, an American Original. His dour sense of humor and almost bipolar approach to mankind has always floored me. In two books alone, he gave us Tom, Huck, Becky, Injun Joe, Aunt Polly, and Jim...and a glance at the ugliness of racisim. He redefined the rules for dialouge in fiction. My favorites: Life on the Missisippi, and The Mysterious Stranger.

Harlan Ellison: I only ask two things of any author: 1) don't lie to me (that is, screw with the story because you think doing so will make it more marketable) and 2) don't waste my time. The last thing I want to do is spend several hours to several days reading a book and come away feeling like I have nothing for the experience. Harlan ALWAYS delivers. His "machine gun prose" leaves me breathless.

Richard Matheson: Rod Serling opened the door to the Twilight Zone, but when he did, we all found Richard Matheson sitting on the other side, happily pounding away at his typewriter. The man's been living there for decades. Oh, you know his stories. You may not have noticed the name, but you remember his stories alright... "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet", or "The Invaders" (where Agnes Moorhead fights off tiny aliens from another world) or how about "Prey" with Karen Black? (That little zulu warrior doll haunts my dreams still) Or "The Incredible Shrinking Man" or "I Am Legend" (screw the movies, read the book!) Or how about the Star Trek Episode where Captian Kirk gets split into good Kirk / Evil Kirk via a transporter accident? He has four or five collections of his short stories out there... and some of the stories that have never been adapted are as good, if not better than, the ones which have.

Pat Califia: Yes, he writes erotica. He writes BDSM erotica in fact. But, his stories are far, far better than simple stroke books. Pat writes about us. And he gets us right! "Doc and Fluff" and "Macho Sluts" proudly sit on my shelf right next to some of the best authors the 20th century has to offer.

Kurt Vonnegut: His essays still leave me grinning from ear to ear. Kurt was a master of understated insult, and overstated satire. "Slughterhouse Five," "Player Piano" "The Sirens of Titan" and "Cat's Cradle."

Ray Bradbury: His stories made me, a kid from the middle of nowhere, Illionois, appreciate the stars, and the world I was growing up in. Thanks Ray.

Brian Aldiss, Greg Benford, Arthur C. Clarke, Phillip K. Dick, Allan Dean Foster, David Gerrold, Robert Heinlien, Dean Ing, Stephen King, Murray Leinster, George Orwell...

Lord, there are dozens and dozens of them... a gross of authors!

And my home is a "batcave o' books" because of them.... Thank God! I'd hate to think what my life would have been like if I had been one of those poor, dumbass people who sit around watching crap TV all day long...

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RE: WHO are your Favorite Authors, and Why? - 6/1/2008 3:20:52 PM

Aynne

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George Orwell: 1984, Animal Farm. Amazed by his writing for years, and the eye opening imagery it created to me.

Howard Zinn: A people's history of the United States. This should be required reading for all american citizens.

Aldous Huxley: Brave New World. Most fascinating book I have read in a long time.

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RE: WHO are your Favorite Authors, and Why? - 6/1/2008 4:07:08 PM

dcnovice

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Barbara Pym -- witty, warm glimpses into a surprisingly nuanced and drama-rich world.

J.K. Rowling -- stories that truly enchant me.

Kathleen Norris -- wise and honest reports from the spiritual journey.

Joan Didion -- sharp, clean prose I wish I could write myself.

(More as I think of them.)

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RE: WHO are your Favorite Authors, and Why? - 6/1/2008 4:18:30 PM

oh2oh

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Alan Moore - I like comic art a bit, and for art I'd have to go with Alex Ross hands down, but for writing I'd say Alan Moore. Anyone who knows him will know that he's an awesome writer! I love his work. (For those of you who didn't know, he wrote the original V for Vendetta story, and also the bit lesser known The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen graphic novel as well.)

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RE: WHO are your Favorite Authors, and Why? - 6/1/2008 4:20:31 PM

Ozzfan1317

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Poe , The Raven is one of my all time favorite poems and inspired some of my work. Hemingway, Maybe its because his work is dark as well but I can really relate to the characters. Dean Koontz, Dragon Tears is my favorite by him. He always keeps you on the edge of your seat. Stephen King, I love horror but the psychological aspects he incorporates are simply amazing. I can watch the Movies or read the books constantly.

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RE: WHO are your Favorite Authors, and Why? - 6/1/2008 9:02:09 PM

MistressK1964

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V.C.Andrews...Flowers in the attic series

A. keeps you mind fucked so you keep reading to see if it all makes sense.
B. Has a BDSM conontation....power, submission, domination,dicipline and something I wont mention here.

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RE: WHO are your Favorite Authors, and Why? - 6/2/2008 12:27:47 AM

MissMorrigan

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I can't believe I missed Tom Sharpe - He's a satirical writer whose novels (some of them) offer an outrageous satire of the apartheid regime - he is british and lived in south africa. He is responsible for the Wilt series, Blott on the Landscape, Indecent Exposire and Riotous Assembly (you have to read that one!), and my personal favourite is The Throwback, which offers an hilarious overview of the Flawse family, focusing on the bastard grandson. Tom Sharpe has a deliciously deviant mind which provides so so many laugh out loud moments. I've owned four copies of this book and each were stolen!

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RE: WHO are your Favorite Authors, and Why? - 6/2/2008 1:46:22 AM

KMsAngel

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Ian Banks (i'm reading one of the culture ones right now)
Terry Pratchett
Anne Rice (the vampire and lasher chronicles mostly)
Stephen Donaldson

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RE: WHO are your Favorite Authors, and Why? - 6/2/2008 5:15:41 AM

Lashra

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Laurell K. Hamilton-The Anita Blake series-A modern, independent woman who lives her life the way that she wants..killing vampires. Anita is the "Executioner" and a necromancer, striking fear into the nonbeating hearts of the undead (and some shapeshifters). Hamilton's books are full of BDSM, sex and violence with the occasional lesson of "be your own person and judge not".

R.A. Salvatore-The Drow Series-A world of dark elves where female supremacy reigns surpreme unless a male escapes to the surface world. Salvatores books go beyond that with lots of twists and turns in the plots. His imagination and way of telling the tale can bring it to life for the reader.

Elaine Cunningham-Daughter of the Drow (the starlight and shadow series)-Elaine writes with a flair that nears Salvatore with her own books about the Underdark and the Drow.

~Lashra

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RE: WHO are your Favorite Authors, and Why? - 6/2/2008 9:42:05 AM

favesclava

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Dr. Seuss. because he opens the door to the wonderful world of the printed word.
Stephen King all
Marion Zimmer Bradley . all her sorceress / warrior stories
Piers Anthony - Zanth novels
Carl Sagan - Dragons of Eden
Sybil Leek - Diary of a Witch
Lewis Carroll - Alice in Wonderland
Brothers Grimm
Hans Christian Andersen - The Little Mermaid.
and every one of the thousands of books i've read since i started reading at the age of 3. every story my father read to me before i could read them myself.

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RE: WHO are your Favorite Authors, and Why? - 6/2/2008 10:28:55 AM

phoenixinchains

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Brothers Grimm
Shakesphere
Lord Byron
Charles Dickons
Luisa May Alcott
Laura Ingles Wilder
DJ Conway
and Daniel Defoe

all for getting me through UM'hood.

< Message edited by phoenixinchains -- 6/2/2008 10:30:47 AM >

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RE: WHO are your Favorite Authors, and Why? - 6/2/2008 10:39:03 AM

purepleasure