Authors

[simon275]

Since every there has been alot of posts where people list their favorite movies, bands etc. I thought it would be nice to see what people's favorite authors are.

To get the ball rolling mine are

Andy Mcnab* - Action (Fiction books about a ex SAS guy & Non fiction about the authors time in the SAS)
Chris Ryan* - Action (Fiction books about a ex SAS guy)
Clive Cussler - Action (Fiction books adventuers of characters working for NUMA)
Tom Clancy - Action/Political Intrigue (Fiction/Non Fiction)
Terry Pratchett - Fantasy/Satire (Fiction takes the piss out of fantasy books best books are about the city watch)

*Both are ex members of the SAS writing under pseudonym

[Slug Toy]

i can never remember his name... but i like the guy who wrote the hitchhikers guide series. i still think hes the very best at saying nothing in a very complicated manner, with as many words as possible.

my other favourite author is me. ive got a whole collection of "short stories" i suppose you could call them. they're very... um... strange, but i get a huge kick out of them. ive got a stack about two inches thick, stretching back to about grade 10, which was... 5 years ago now. there are accompanying illustrations for a lot of them too. i could probably get it published as a childrens book or something.... a very twisted childrens book...

[GT40_GearHead]

Dostoievski

Dante

Kafka

the top 3 authors for me right now

[Ironcat]

Hitchhiker's Guy is named Douglas Adams.

I like Asimov, King, Koontz, Cain, Bradbury, Nartin, Niven, Eddings, Cussler, Clancy, Chrichton, and a ton of others too...

[UK-Blade]

Tom Clancy is my fav by far.

Dale Brown, any of the Warhammer 40K authors, Douglas Adams, Clive Barker and early Stephen King.

Not fiction, but also Stephen Hawkings.

[DaveW]

Not my faves, but i'm currently into Philip K. Dick and John Sladek.

They have something in common: incoherency.

Dick's books are like some sort of acid trip, you feel like you're being strained through a characters mind, and when you come out the other side, you're dirty, feeling his personal problems for yourself...it's screwy.

Sladek, on the other hand, is a sort of rapid fire satirist, who has tiny little sub-plots going on in his book that often seem to make no sense whatsoever. They usually amount to something later in the book, and come back up-but first time round, it's a whirlygig of characters, flashbacks, and bizzare conversations.

Sladek also came up with a perfect way to describe the creative process: it's almost poetic. I'll try and post an extract later on tonight.

-Dave

[Slug Toy]

oh ya, creative process. i want to see this so i can shoot holes in it.

while we're talking about books... you know what i really dont like about them? english class, or literature class or whatever you want to call it. you always have to talk about plot, and theme and what it all means. god dammit, ill think for myself thank you very much!!! i hardly ever agree with the teacher or other students. everyone just looks too far into things and really stretches it. i couldnt care less.

[GT40_GearHead]

your right slug, they always try to tell how to look at a story, or novel,
like "this means this" and all that ****, when does your mind get to think for it self,

you should get something out of a literature class

[xdxforever]

I think its important to be able to see what others thought before you about the books you read, just as long as that isnt confused with what you actually read yourself, and what YOU think about it.
My faves are: Orson Scott Card, Heinlien, Margaret Atwood, Ayn Rand.
there are lots of others, but its not like i really keep track, the individual books are more important than the authors when measuring how good they are.

[jdbnsn]

I gotta say that I am a sucker for Twain and Dickens, two of my fav's.