Have you a favourite writer ?

no

Stephen King.


I know, a lot of people think he's a hack.


In a hundred years, he won't be considered a hack.

The Gunslinger series is pure genius.

Tim Dorsey, very dark, and funny as hell.

Heinlein forever! Not the best craftsman but a helluva storyteller.

In a hundred years no one will remember him at all, so I suppose you're right.

aldous huxley
kurt vonnegut
george orwell

Charles Dickens
[link to www.helsinki.fi]

And

J.R.R. Tolkein
[link to www.tolkien.co.uk]

Robert A. Heinlein
Philip K. Dick

Most of the time though I am a fan of one book, not of all books of a writer.

One terrific book is This Perfect Day by Ira Levin. On a par with 1984.

Yes, David Icke, he grabs my attention like few can. As for another writer Charles Dickens was terrific.

I seriously doubt it...

Too bad we won't be around to see...

Looking at the replies reminds me of writers I`d kind of forgotten about...helluva lot of good stuff amongst just theose mentioned here !


cheers

What was I thinking! PK Dick and Vonnegut! How could I overlook giants. Ursula LeGuin, too.

Well, the serious writers are covered pretty well.. but here are a few.. umm.. less well known.. more 'pulpy' type of authors I admire...

Simon R. Green

[link to www.fantasticfiction.co.uk]


Raymond Fiest

[link to www.raymondfeistbooks.com]

And of course.. my favorite author is..

myself!!

Clifford Saimak

City

Gabriel García Márquez
Salman Rushdie
JRR Tolkien

Kafka, Melville, Shakespeare, Beckett, Faulkner, Flannery O'Connor, Camus, Nabokov.

Abdul Alhazred

Robert Heinlein hands down for me.

Mark Twain is a close second :) Followed by Jane Austen.

Contemporary authors I like would be David Brin, and the sociological aspects of his uplift series; Stephen Baxter because he challenges me.

John Irving.

The fluidity and grace of his prose are unmatched in modern American literature.

Janet Evanovich- Funny
Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins
Some of the original V C Andrews series

WOW! What great taste some of you have.
My favorite author of all time is,

...Robert Anson Heinlein!

I've read every book he's written, some more than a dozen times.

Books by Heinlein

* Assignment in Eternity (1953)
* Between Planets (1951)
* Beyond this Horizon (1948)
* The Cat Who Walks through Walls (1985)
* Citizen of the Galaxy (1957)
* The Door into Summer (1956)
* Double Star (1956)
* Expanded Universe (1980) (nonfiction, includes collected stories)
* Farmer in the Sky (1950)
* Farnham's Freehold (1964)
* Friday (1982)
* Glory Road (1963)
* The Green Hills of Earth (1954)
* Grumbles from the Grave (1989) (collected letters)
* Have Space Suit--Will Travel (1958)
* I Will Fear No Evil (1970)
* Job: A Comedy of Justice (1984)
* The Man Who Sold the Moon (1950)
* The Menace From Earth (1959)
* Methuselah's Children (1941/58)
* The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (1966)
* The Notebooks of Lazarus Long (1978)
* The Number of the Beast (1980)
* Orphans of the Sky (1941/51)
* The Past through Tomorrow (1967)
* Podkayne of Mars (1962)
* The Puppet Masters (1951)
* Red Planet (1949)
* Requiem and Tributes to the Grand Master (1992) (includes collected stories)
* Revolt in 2100 (1940/54)
* Rocket Ship Galileo (1947)
* The Rolling Stones (1952)
* To Sail Beyond the Sunset (1987)
* Sixth Column (1941/48) (aka The Day after Tomorrow)
* Space Cadet (1948)
* The Star Beast (1954)
* Starman Jones (1953)
* Starship Troopers (1959)
* Stranger in a Strange Land (1961) (redacted)
* Stranger in a Strange Land (1991) (original uncut)
* Take Back Your Government! (1992) (nonfiction)
* Time Enough for Love (1973)
* Time for the Stars (1956)
* Tramp Royale (1992) (nonfiction)
* Tunnel in the Sky (1955)
* The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag (1959)
* Waldo & Magic, Inc. (1942)

Nice list J@X!

The ones I read often are:
Red Planet (1949)
Citizen of the Galaxy (1957)
Job: A Comedy of Justice (1984)

Where Job is my absolute favorite. Shifting realities and clashing cultures. Great book with perspective.

Me too. I remember being so sad when he died because that meant no more new books!!!

At the beginning of summer I decided to re-read The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (his masterpiece) followed by Stranger. It's amazing how every 3-5 years or so I can re-read those and find new things to ponder.

My av is a close facsimile of the cover (not the original) of TMIAHM.

Um, and my nick is, in part, in reference to...well, if you read heinlein you know :)

Also loved his short stories. My Favorite? The Man who Sold the Moon.

and add vonnegut and Henry Miller....

NABOKOV....what a fucking genius...wrote Lolita in english when russian was his mother tongue...unbelievable

One of the main reasons I gave up the idea of writing as a profession

Not to be insulting--you have the right to whatever favorites you have.
But personally, I don't think much of either.I have never been able to force myself to read "The Hobbit"--it bores me to tears, and all the maps of lands that don't even exist...it just doesn't do anything for me, at all.
And Dickens---pretty much the same, just kind of very dull and boring.I did finish a couple Dickens, but I felt I had wasted my time--learned nothing, nor was I entertained.

I think you are very, very mistaken.I always wonder--do the King nay sayers actually read his work, or do they just dismiss it out of hand, for being to popular?
Because if he was a writer I didn't enjoy, I would still have to admit he is very talented.
Since I do enjoy him, I can honestly say I know of no writer, past or present, who can draw one in to his created world, who can do such realistic dialogue, and who can paint such graphic pictures you can see, hear, feel, smell and touch them.

Heinlein sure is popular here on GLP.I have nothing against him, I have enjoyed those of his writings I have read.
But I wouldn't put him above Asimov, or even Bradbury, myself.

I don't find it insulting at all. That's why "favorites" are what they are, eh? I feel the same way about horror novels, and romance novels - They are just drivel to me - learning nothing and certainly not entertained.

One of my main interests in life is sociology, and I'm quite interested in history as well. When I read fiction I either want a lot of reality mixed in, or I want total fantasy. For me, Dicken's descriptions of life and people are enthralling because of these interests. And Tolkein's imagination simply astounds me - I like proverbially roaming around in his head. =)

Yes.

You're entitled to your opinion 380, I've read most of what Ray Bradbury and Isaac Azimov have written but never have felt compelled to re-read any of their stuff as I have with Heinlein. I guess that Heinlien is just a master at story telling.

By the way, I've read Isaac Azimov's auto-biography, ...good read.

Heinlien fans know what I'm talking about.