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Interesting. Werthead Send a noteboard - 04/12/2009 05:21:04 PM
A valid enough list, although I still need to read LITTLE, BIG.

My list of six key fantasy authors (not individual books, that's ridiculously limiting) would be:

J.R.R. Tolkien
Gene Wolfe
Jack Vance
China Mieville
George R.R. Martin
Terry Pratchett

Probably nothing too cutting-edge there. I'm also thinkin Mervyn Peake should be on there but am not too sure which of the rest I'd lose to make room for him. Robert Holdstock and Robert E. Howard would be bubbling under, Neil Gaiman as well (for SANDMAN).

My SF ranking would be:

Kim Stanley Robinson
David Brin
Alastair Reynolds
Peter F. Hamilton
Alfred Bester
Frank Herbert

That's a more a list of who is good rather than 'influential/important', in which case obviously Clarke, Asimov, Heinlein and the whole enchilada would be on there. Roger Zelazny and Ian McDonald are bubbling under on that list.

In the case of both lists, ask me tomorrow and I'll give a different answer.
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Six best fantasy novels? - 04/12/2009 05:54:54 AM 1659 Views
Best fantasy authors - 04/12/2009 07:01:48 AM 1357 Views
Have you read Robin Hobb? *NM* - 04/12/2009 04:01:23 PM 671 Views
I have, and wasn't really impressed - 04/12/2009 10:08:25 PM 1171 Views
You definitely read the wrong stuff first - 05/12/2009 12:12:07 AM 1275 Views
Agreed. - 09/12/2009 09:55:12 PM 1171 Views
Only read two. Book of the New Sun definitely deserves that spot. Mieville, not so much. - 04/12/2009 08:06:45 AM 1347 Views
Interesting. - 04/12/2009 05:21:04 PM 1212 Views
Why Mieville, if I may ask? *NM* - 04/12/2009 08:33:43 PM 686 Views
I didn't mean that to be a reply to you, but still - 05/12/2009 03:15:36 AM 1326 Views
No worries. - 05/12/2009 03:52:11 AM 1231 Views
But the list was for favorite books, not favorite or most important authors - 05/12/2009 10:25:13 AM 1167 Views
It was for "best" books. I realize that has a lot of meanings, though. *NM* - 05/12/2009 08:37:01 PM 528 Views
Hm... good point - 06/12/2009 02:19:13 AM 957 Views
Glen Cook is radically overrated. - 05/12/2009 04:09:07 PM 1318 Views
Well, he's at least part of the wave that humanized fantasy. - 05/12/2009 08:36:29 PM 1051 Views
In the US, yes. Elsewhere, no, because they didn't know about him. - 06/12/2009 04:36:31 PM 1200 Views
Interesting. - 07/12/2009 02:15:37 AM 1131 Views
Two years? It was published in 2000... *NM* - 05/12/2009 09:03:33 PM 439 Views
Nine years is like two. *NM* - 06/12/2009 12:25:49 AM 614 Views
I've yet to read a Gene Wolfe. - 06/12/2009 02:26:54 AM 1102 Views
Yes, yes, yes. - 06/12/2009 02:35:45 AM 1046 Views
You know I directly added almost all of those Wolfe quotes there, right? - 06/12/2009 05:26:40 AM 1176 Views
I just find Mieville's prose exceptionally standard. - 06/12/2009 07:25:05 AM 1167 Views
Isn't that almost a contradiction of terms there? - 06/12/2009 07:45:47 AM 1104 Views
It's remarkable for its normalcy because so many people praise it? - 06/12/2009 09:11:18 AM 1059 Views
Who the heck are these people? *NM* - 04/12/2009 12:46:48 PM 664 Views
I've never heard of any of them either.... *NM* - 05/12/2009 02:58:11 AM 871 Views
Literati - 06/12/2009 05:27:28 AM 1025 Views
Yeah you're so much better than us *NM* - 06/12/2009 12:00:27 PM 601 Views
I'm very ambivalent about A Wizard of Earthsea - 04/12/2009 05:18:00 PM 1116 Views
Possibly has to do with the times in which it was written/read - 06/12/2009 05:29:27 AM 1073 Views
My Best Six best fantasy novels - 04/12/2009 07:44:12 PM 853 Views
Re: My Best Six best fantasy novels *NM* - 04/12/2009 07:45:25 PM 498 Views
oops! *NM* - 04/12/2009 07:46:34 PM 551 Views
Re: Six best fantasy novels? - 04/12/2009 09:06:18 PM 1220 Views
I really need to get around to reading Mists of Avalon. - 04/12/2009 09:50:54 PM 1003 Views
Calenture - 05/12/2009 12:44:14 AM 970 Views
Ooh, I need to get my hands on Calenture. *NM* - 06/12/2009 02:27:34 AM 589 Views
And ha! I thought it might be you. *NM* - 06/12/2009 02:29:13 AM 554 Views
I'll eventually get to those in the near future - 06/12/2009 05:31:29 AM 1101 Views
I don't read or buy books anymore. - 06/12/2009 11:45:33 PM 1101 Views
I understand that - 07/12/2009 12:55:46 AM 1151 Views
Okay, I'll give it a shot - 04/12/2009 10:12:47 PM 1186 Views
You might more mythopoeic material in your fantasies, don't you? *NM* - 04/12/2009 11:22:33 PM 622 Views
Mythopoeic? Who...me? - 05/12/2009 02:19:03 AM 992 Views
Yes, you - 05/12/2009 03:51:25 AM 1126 Views
The Blogger Seems to Agree With You. - 05/12/2009 10:10:07 PM 1131 Views
Book of the New Sun is very early 80's and is almost inarguably a classic of the genre. - 06/12/2009 12:26:55 AM 1150 Views
Never Read It, But All Accounts Support That View. - 06/12/2009 02:44:17 PM 1275 Views
Bending the terms a bit... - 04/12/2009 11:21:33 PM 1229 Views
n/a *NM* - 05/12/2009 12:46:45 AM 522 Views
I like Grossman's list a lot more than Henry's. *NM* - 04/12/2009 11:41:36 PM 562 Views
Here are mine, but I probably haven't really read enough fantasy to have a top 5 - 05/12/2009 12:16:13 AM 1013 Views
Have you tried any standalones recently? - 06/12/2009 05:33:41 AM 1090 Views
I always end up wanting more - 06/12/2009 05:53:11 AM 1084 Views
The only one on his list I would think about agreeing with is Meiville. - 05/12/2009 03:11:25 AM 1118 Views
Have you tried Mark Danielewski's House of Leaves yet? - 06/12/2009 05:34:48 AM 1027 Views
No list is complete without Goodkind *NM* - 05/12/2009 07:59:22 AM 633 Views
Sorry, I can't help it- no *porn* list is complete without Goodkind... *NM* - 06/12/2009 02:21:22 AM 478 Views
For me....: - 05/12/2009 10:36:42 AM 1171 Views
He certainly has a specific kind of taste. - 06/12/2009 02:20:30 AM 1024 Views
Pfft! - 06/12/2009 06:54:24 AM 933 Views
Who are you asking?? - 07/12/2009 08:09:25 PM 1046 Views
Might give this a go myself... - 06/12/2009 02:24:52 AM 1082 Views

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