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.
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.
"We feel safe when we read what we recognise, what does not challenge our way of thinking.... a steady acceptance of pre-arranged patterns leads to the inability to question what we are told."
~Camilla
Ghavrel is Ghavrel is Ghavrel
*MySmiley*
~Camilla
Ghavrel is Ghavrel is Ghavrel
*MySmiley*
Six best fantasy novels?
- 04/12/2009 05:54:54 AM
2043 Views
Best fantasy authors
- 04/12/2009 07:01:48 AM
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Have you read Robin Hobb? *NM*
- 04/12/2009 04:01:23 PM
876 Views
I have, and wasn't really impressed
- 04/12/2009 10:08:25 PM
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Only read two. Book of the New Sun definitely deserves that spot. Mieville, not so much.
- 04/12/2009 08:06:45 AM
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Interesting.
- 04/12/2009 05:21:04 PM
1587 Views
Why Mieville, if I may ask? *NM*
- 04/12/2009 08:33:43 PM
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I didn't mean that to be a reply to you, but still 
- 05/12/2009 03:15:36 AM
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- 05/12/2009 03:15:36 AM
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No worries. 
- 05/12/2009 03:52:11 AM
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- 05/12/2009 03:52:11 AM
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But the list was for favorite books, not favorite or most important authors 
- 05/12/2009 10:25:13 AM
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- 05/12/2009 10:25:13 AM
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It was for "best" books. I realize that has a lot of meanings, though. *NM*
- 05/12/2009 08:37:01 PM
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Glen Cook is radically overrated.
- 05/12/2009 04:09:07 PM
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Well, he's at least part of the wave that humanized fantasy.
- 05/12/2009 08:36:29 PM
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In the US, yes. Elsewhere, no, because they didn't know about him.
- 06/12/2009 04:36:31 PM
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You know I directly added almost all of those Wolfe quotes there, right? 
- 06/12/2009 05:26:40 AM
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- 06/12/2009 05:26:40 AM
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I just find Mieville's prose exceptionally standard.
- 06/12/2009 07:25:05 AM
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Isn't that almost a contradiction of terms there?
- 06/12/2009 07:45:47 AM
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- 06/12/2009 07:45:47 AM
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It's remarkable for its normalcy because so many people praise it?
- 06/12/2009 09:11:18 AM
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Who the heck are these people? *NM*
- 04/12/2009 12:46:48 PM
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*NM*
Literati
- 06/12/2009 05:27:28 AM
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Yeah you're so much better than us 
*NM*
- 06/12/2009 12:00:27 PM
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*NM*
- 06/12/2009 12:00:27 PM
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Well, you can hardly expect a group to go around calling themselves "elitist snobs." *NM*
- 07/12/2009 02:16:16 AM
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*NM*
- 07/12/2009 02:16:16 AM
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Is he trying to be cool by listing stuff that 90% of fantasy readers have never heard of?
- 04/12/2009 04:05:46 PM
1482 Views
Actually, several of those books have been bestsellers and/or won several genre awards
- 06/12/2009 05:28:18 AM
1476 Views
My Best Six best fantasy novels
- 04/12/2009 07:44:12 PM
1226 Views
Re: Six best fantasy novels?
- 04/12/2009 09:06:18 PM
1582 Views
I really need to get around to reading Mists of Avalon.
- 04/12/2009 09:50:54 PM
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Calenture
- 05/12/2009 12:44:14 AM
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That... sounds so cool. I'm going to check it out as soon as I get home.
- 05/12/2009 03:53:55 AM
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I'll eventually get to those in the near future
- 06/12/2009 05:31:29 AM
1478 Views
Okay, I'll give it a shot
- 04/12/2009 10:12:47 PM
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You might more mythopoeic material in your fantasies, don't you? *NM*
- 04/12/2009 11:22:33 PM
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*NM*
- 04/12/2009 11:22:33 PM
798 Views
The Blogger Seems to Agree With You.
- 05/12/2009 10:10:07 PM
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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
1533 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
1364 Views
Have you tried any standalones recently?
- 06/12/2009 05:33:41 AM
1488 Views
I always end up wanting more
- 06/12/2009 05:53:11 AM
1442 Views
What if there were 50 more standalones that you could read that likely would be quite good?
- 06/12/2009 06:12:53 AM
1549 Views
The only one on his list I would think about agreeing with is Meiville.
- 05/12/2009 03:11:25 AM
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No list is complete without Goodkind *NM*
- 05/12/2009 07:59:22 AM
810 Views
Sorry, I can't help it- no *porn* list is complete without Goodkind... *NM*
- 06/12/2009 02:21:22 AM
641 Views