To answer your question: I think Stephen King needs the structure and limitations of a short story in order to know when and how to stop. With the exception of "Pet Sematary" I have been sorely disappointed with the ending of every stand alone novel of his that i've read (not counting co-authored stuff). I've also recently been outraged at his Dark Tower ending. He is a great writer, but too often it seems his books just fall apart at the end. "IT" was a truly scary book for the first 3/4ths, then it just got ridiculous.
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quote:Originally posted by advice for robots: Now somebody with a better attention span than mine is going to go through this thread and figure out which authors get mentioned most often.
On the contrary, I think we should all look at who is mentioned the LEAST. That opens up whole new worlds to explore. Go look for one of the authors you don't know at a used book store, maybe you'll discover a new favorite.
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Surprised no one has mentioned the great Gene Wolfe yet.
Another sci fi writer who I've long admired, though he only wrote two amazing books among a whole lot of crappy ones, is A. A. Attanasio.
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Douglas Adams Lloyd Alexander (Who is a distant relative of mine, very distant.) Isaac Asimov Ray Bradbury Orson Scott Card Clive Cussler Philip K. Dick Stephen King Dean Koontz C.S. Lewis George Orwell James Patterson Nick Sagan J.R.R. Tolkien
That is it right now, and by the way mine are in alphabetical order.
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The authors who take up significant shelf space in my home (since this is probably the best gauge for me): Stephen King Jean Auel Isaac Asimov Clive Barker Sara Douglass Janet Evanovich Monica Ferris Neil Gaiman Frank Herbert Brian Herbert with Kevin J Anderson (Dune prequels) Stephen Lawhead Brian Lumley Anne McCaffrey Anne Rice
and since I did this from work, I'm sure I'm missing some...
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Edgar All Poe Charles Dickens Isaac Asimov Robert Frost Hans Christian Andersen Lewis Carroll James Fennimore Cooper Mark Twain CS Lewis Sir Authur Conan Doyle Jules Verne Gerald Lund and who could forget... Dumas and Tennyson?
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Isaac Asimov, RA Salvetore, Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, and a whole host of other Forgotten Realms and DragonLance authors. Though Clauswitz and Sun Tzu are also good.
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Robin McKinley Jane Yolen Douglas Adams Terry Prattchet CS Lewis JRR Tolkien Ray Bradbury Jane Austen EM Forster Oliver Sacks JK Rowling Jerry Spinelli Louis Sachar Lewis Carroll John Updike Elizabeth Peters Barbara Micheals (who is also Elizabeth Peters)
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I've read Maps in the Mirror twice, but don't remember a story called "Fart Farm". There's one called "Fat Farm", but thet doesn't sound as interesting...
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quote: On the contrary, I think we should all look at who is mentioned the LEAST. That opens up whole new worlds to explore. Go look for one of the authors you don't know at a used book store, maybe you'll discover a new favorite.
I agree entirely. For example, there's an author on my list that nobody else has mentioned, and I definitely think more people should read his work.
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My favorite authors are, in alphabetical order:
Gary Blackwood Orson Scott Card, of course Robert Cormier Chris Crutcher Michael Crichton (surprised no one else mentioned him) Will Hobbs Gordon Korman Gary Paulsen Roland Smith Jerry Spinelli Paul Zindel
and there are more authors that I like, but aren't necessarily my favorite ones.
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I don't believe anyone has metioned William Gibson yet. His writing does have it's flaws (I could probably point out as many flaws as someone who hates everything hes has ever written), but for some reason it speaks to me in a way that no other writer has.
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I think this thread needs some more explanations and less boring lists with a lot of people I have no reason to look up.
I really hate Dave Eggers, mostly because I find myself writing like him and thinking I'm brilliant, when really I'm just a product of my cynical culture.
I really like Sherman Alexie, and that was even before I met him and he made me laugh so hard my head hurt for three days.
While there are many scifi books that I like, I rarely find authors within the genre who are as relevant as OSC. I get disappointed by the sheer escapism in a lot of it, but I was recently relieved to discover Gene Wolfe. His Books of the Long Sun were pretty good, but his There are Doors and Storeys from the Old Hotel were phenomenal.
I guess before I move past sci fi, I do owe a nod to Ray Bradbury, who proved that science fiction is not about the science or the future or the escapism at all. It's about people and grand ideas, and a couple of his stories like The Fire Balloons and The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit really touch me.
My favorite authors of all time, though - the ones who make me cry and shake with the power of sheer humanity - may well be the Latin magical realists. Something about Laura Esquivel, though she borders on the smutty romance genre, is so pertinent and palpable. It's probably just the food - I think food can always make a link. And of course Gabriel Garcia Marquez, who is just flat out wisdom embodied, will always be memorable. He can condense the human spirit into a handful of nonsensical sentences. Julia Alvarez is wonderful too - I wonder why you have to be Latin to turn your reader's brain inside out with things like telling an entire story backwards, which she does in How the GarcĂa Girls Lost Their Accents.
But my favorite author of all might well be Jorge Luis Borges. Somehow, he combines everything I love - sci fi, philosophy, and that Latin brain-bending thing. The Garden of Forking Paths and The Library of Babel are two of my absolute favorite short stories of all time.
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Dennis Lehane, for perfect plotting and wonderful characters. What noir about would-weary detectives confronting evil should be. Sharp and funny, too.
Steinbeck, Flannery O'Connor, Peter Schaffer, and Levi Peterson for knowing the struggle of finding meaning in life. And for sometimes winning it.
Richard Adams, for producing a truly heroic epic about rabbits.
John Irving, who is entirely capable of grotesqueness to the point of self-parody (see The Third Hand), but who, particularly in his peak - Owen Meany, Garp, Hotel New Hampshire, Cider House Rules - knows that people are capable of goodness, sometimes despite themselves. And he can be funny.
Umberto Eco, if you have a lot of time and a good encyclopedia on your hands. He's not funny.
King, for being so bloody entertaining (and at times producing genius - IT is a masterpiece, dragging a little after the climax, but not enough to ruin it. See also the novellas Hearts in Atlantis and Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption. And parts of Wizard and Glass).
Borges, for inventing the term "meat-blanket."
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Stephen King and (don't hate me) Robert Jordan. though his books have been getting worse as they go along haven't they?
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Robin McKinley (I really really like her stuff) OSC Stephen Lawhead Tolkein
Some other authors that I like are: Jane Austen CS Lewis Madeline L'Engle Marguerite Henry (in my adolescent, horse crazy phase) Charlotte Bronte
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I love these threads. This is the newest one I could find.
Dean Koontz (my favorite) OSC (2nd) J.K. Rowling (3rd, fell in love with her early in my life) Robert McCammon (4th)
Great authors: Michael Crichton, John D. MacDonald, Tad Williams, Charles Dickens, Tom Clancy, George R.R. Martin, Neal Stephenson.
Ok authors: Stephen King, James Patterson(not horrible, but barely ok), Ian Fleming, JRR Tolkein, Douglas Adams, Richard Laymon, Christopher Paolini.
I've read one book of the following, but these authors seem promising: Clive Barker, Ray Bradbury, Jonathan Kellerman, Bentley Litte, Douglas Preston/Lincoln Child, John Saul, Neil Gaiman, Thomas Harris, Dan Simmons(Hyperion is amazing).
Individual books I like: 1984 by George Orwell, Replay by Ken Grimwood, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.
Authors I don't like: Dan Brown, Chuck Palahniuk, Greg Bear(though I'll try him again), Laurell K. Hamilton, Patricia Cornwell.
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Tom Robbins Jack Kerouac Allen Ginsberg Chuck Palahniuk Isaac Asimov William S. Burroughs Anonymous Kilgore Trout Neil Cassidy Hunter S. Thompson Douglas Adams
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