Since I believe that our favorite texts tend to influence our writing Voice(s), I thought I'd post up a few of my faves, from any/all genres of fiction, just to let you all in on a little bit of where I'm coming from, fictionally, and where my tastes lie. I *truly* wish I was far more well read in SF than I currently am...
General (Literary) fiction: Thomas Pynchon's 'Gravity's Rainbow' David Foster Wallace's 'Infinite Jest', 'Broom of the System' Louis de Bernieres' stuff, including 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin' Salman Rushdie's 'The Ground Beneath Her Feet' Norman Rush's 'Mating' Umberto Eco's 'Foucault's Pendulum' A.S. Byatt's 'Possession' (*before* the movie came out!) Bob Shacochis' 'Swimming in the Volcano' Douglas Coupland's 'Generation X' (a fun romp) Tom Wolfe's 'Electric Kool Aid Acid Test' Henry Miller, 'Tropic of Cancer' Nicholson Baker, 'Vox' John Updike, 'S.', 'Rabbit at Rest' a few from Richard Bach even (hehe)
Sci Fi/Fantasy Neal Stephenson (Snow Crash, Diamond Age, Cryptonomicon, others) practically anything by William Gibson, Alistair Reynolds Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy, also 'Antarctica' Greg Egan ('Diaspora', 'Schild's Ladder') Charles Stross, 'Accelerando' Paul McAuley, 'Eternal Light' Greg Bear, 'Eon', 'Forge of God' and *especially* 'Anvil of Stars' Peter F. Hamilton (Reality Dysfunction series, 'Nano Flower', 'Fallen Dragon') Norman Spinrad, 'Deus X' Fred Pohl, 'World at the End of Time' Larry Niven, 'Ringworld' John Varley, 'Titan', 'Millenium' (but not the movie! Kris Kristofferson, Cheryl Ladd? Gimme a break already) Julian May, 'Many-Colored Land' Asimov, 'I, Robot' Herbert's 'Dune' (guess everyone says this) Arthur C. Clarke, (2001, Rendezvous w/Rama, Childhood's End) the only entry for fantasy: Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, (but i've only made it through the 1st 2 books so far)
Anyone else like to give theirs?
Posted by Elan (Member # 2442) on :
Sweetie, you wouldn't know this because you are new, but we've done this topic to death. And relatively recently, too. You can find it, I'm sure, by doing a search if you would like to know what other writers favor.
Posted by Nietge (Member # 3474) on :
Jeez. Didn't even think of that. And yah, I guess I get at least one or two Get Out Of Doghouse Free cards since I'm a, uh, n00bap0tamu$. *Butness*, now at least you all know what *my* faves is. (I would have done a search on it, but nothing would have come up <wry grin> )
[This message has been edited by Nietge (edited June 12, 2006).]
Posted by wbriggs (Member # 2267) on :
I think very few authors influenced how I write. I notice C S Lewis and Jack Vance. (OK, one other -- OSC -- but not because of his style, which is simple and straightforward, but because of his writing classes.)
Posted by Elan (Member # 2442) on :
