Favorite Sci-Fi Author

[Fledge]

Okay, the poll only allows ten options, so the "other" option will probably get the most hits, but I'm wondering what answers I'll get. Who's your favorite sci-fi author, and what's your favorite book/series by that author?

I'll start. My favorite author is Timothy Zahn, and I especially like The Icarus Hunt.

 

[Gentle]

Philip K Dick but I wouldn't be able to pick a fav novel

peace
Andrew

 

[bellantara]

Frank Herbert, Dune

 

[BrownCoat]

What? No David Drake?

I had to pick other, so he would get on the list.

 

[Endelyon]

Arthur C Clarke, the Rama series

 

[Nienor]

I decided to just go with the list and chose Heinlein. Stranger is an excellant book

 

[MoonlessNight]

Of the ones listed, Asimov (but not for his robot stories. Those got old for me rather quickly.) Of the ones not listed, I don't know. If Lovcraft counts in any way as a sci-fi writer I'd say him (In The Walls of Eryx is most certainly sci-fi, things like At the Mountains of Madness are arguably sci-fi), otherwise I'd probably end up saying Gordon R. Dickson. Or maybe HG Wells.

Or perhaps Merritt? "The Last Poet and the Robots" is perhaps my favorite work of sci-fi ever.

I think the reason that I'm having trouble choosing is not so much that I can't choose a favorite author, but I can't choose an author that wrote a lot of sci-fi that I consistently liked. (With Dickson being a possible exception, especially if you count stuff like Wolf and Iron as sci-fi).

 

[Lubiana]

Terry Brooks- Sword of Shannara Series

 

[Nienor]

Terry Brooks- Sword of Shannara Series

That's fantasy....

 

[MoonlessNight]

That's fantasy....

*SPOILER*

Technically it could be considered science fiction because it is set far in the future, after an apocalypse. There is one scene in the book where the fight a "machine beast" which is a remnant from the pre-apocalyptic society. Also, most of the races are actually mutated humans, I believe (with the exception of elves who have always been around in secret).

 

[Nienor]

*SPOILER*

Technically it could be considered science fiction because it is set far in the future, after an apocalypse. There is one scene in the book where the fight a "machine beast" which is a remnant from the pre-apocalyptic society. Also, most of the races are actually mutated humans, I believe (with the exception of elves who have always been around in secret).

Even then it's not true Sci Fi, it's more Science Fantasy. I understand how you justify it, but it has more fantasy characters and plot then SciFi as well

 

[MoonlessNight]

Even then it's not true Sci Fi, it's more Science Fantasy. I understand how you justify it, but it has more fantasy characters and plot then SciFi as well

Personally I don't see the difference between science fiction and fantasy (or even some things termed "horror" or "magical realism" and what formerly was known as "weird stories") other than the timeframe and the level of technology involved. The point is usually the same: to invoke a sense of wonder of the impossible.

The genres seem to be defined by cliches, which isn't how a genre should be defined. And it really hurts people who don't like working under those cliches, like Clive Barker.

 

[Nienor]

Personally I don't see the difference between science fiction and fantasy (or even some things termed "horror" or "magical realism" and what formerly was known as "weird stories") other than the timeframe and the level of technology involved. The point is usually the same: to invoke a sense of wonder of the impossible.

The genres seem to be defined by cliches, which isn't how a genre should be defined. And it really hurts people who don't like working under those cliches, like Clive Barker.

I've read plenty of good books that work outside of the cliches, they're just harder to find.
I'd also say that Fantasy = Magic, SciFi = machines (that's very dumbed down....) and then science fantasy involves a mix of the two ( I made the 3rd genre up, but it fits )

 

[Lycana]

Yeah, tis true. Sometimes I blur the line between sci fi and fantasy

 

[MoonlessNight]

I've read plenty of good books that work outside of the cliches, they're just harder to find.
I'd also say that Fantasy = Magic, SciFi = machines (that's very dumbed down....) and then science fantasy involves a mix of the two ( I made the 3rd genre up, but it fits )

Do psychic powers cout as magic? Are things that are done, not because they break the laws of nature but because the person has a tremendous understanding of such laws count as magic? (I'm thinking of stuff like the Dune guild navigators for that one.) Do powers granted by gods count as magic? What if those "gods" are actually just really advanced and powerful aliens?

The game Phantasy Star II seemed to be "science fantasy" under your definition because people use "Techniques" which seem to be magic. However we learn in Phantasy Star IV that magic really does exist and it is something completely seperate from these "techniques." After that revelation, is Phantasy Star II no longer sci-fantasy?

Is Star Wars fantasy because of the Jedi? Is Star Trek because of the Q continuum? Is Warhammer 40k because of the psychics and chaos gods?

That's why I don't like defining science fiction or fantasy based off of technology level or presence of magic. Both are on a continuum and can be varied easily. And we can often omit magic and replace it with highly advanced technology, or vice versa, and end up with pretty much the same story. So I like defining things by how they treat the subject. So for me the genres in science fiction/fantasy are things like the following:

High Fantasy (ex. The Lord of the Rings)
Sword and Sorcery (or Sword and Planet, it's basically the same thing) (ex. the Conan the Barbarian books)
Future History (ex. the Foundation series)
Cyberpunk (which is, of course, close to Steampunk) (ex. Neuromancer)
and so forth.

 

[Seraph1m]

Fantasy:
Robert Jordan - Wheel Of Time
David Eddings - The Belgariad & The Malloreon

 

[jochanaan]

What a hard decision! But I finally voted "Other", because perhaps my favorite science-fiction (as opposed to fantasy) set of books is The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe. Deep, concentrated and powerful. And he is even better at short fiction.

However, a close second is Andre Norton's Witch World series. Oops! That's more fantasy than SF. Asimov, Clarke, the early Heinlein, and Connie Willis are also high on the list. (Heinlein became a dirty old man in his last two decades, beginning with Time Enough for Love but foreseen even in some of his earliest stories.) Another author that deserves a closer look is Pamela Sargent; her Venus series is fairly well known but she's also even better at short fiction.

 

[Nienor]

Do psychic powers cout as magic? Are things that are done, not because they break the laws of nature but because the person has a tremendous understanding of such laws count as magic? (I'm thinking of stuff like the Dune guild navigators for that one.) Do powers granted by gods count as magic? What if those "gods" are actually just really advanced and powerful aliens?

The game Phantasy Star II seemed to be "science fantasy" under your definition because people use "Techniques" which seem to be magic. However we learn in Phantasy Star IV that magic really does exist and it is something completely seperate from these "techniques." After that revelation, is Phantasy Star II no longer sci-fantasy?

Is Star Wars fantasy because of the Jedi? Is Star Trek because of the Q continuum? Is Warhammer 40k because of the psychics and chaos gods?

That's why I don't like defining science fiction or fantasy based off of technology level or presence of magic. Both are on a continuum and can be varied easily. And we can often omit magic and replace it with highly advanced technology, or vice versa, and end up with pretty much the same story. So I like defining things by how they treat the subject. So for me the genres in science fiction/fantasy are things like the following:

High Fantasy (ex. The Lord of the Rings)
Sword and Sorcery (or Sword and Planet, it's basically the same thing) (ex. the Conan the Barbarian books)
Future History (ex. the Foundation series)
Cyberpunk (which is, of course, close to Steampunk) (ex. Neuromancer)
and so forth.

That's why I created Science Fantasy

 

[Yahweh Nissi]

Other - Frank Herbert. Dune is my favorite SF book by quite a way. Of the list, I really like Asimov and Verne (and Bradbury I think - was it him that wrote Farenheight 451?).

 

[Fledge]

I'm pretty sure that was Bradbury