Adam Whitehead of
The Wertzone posted the contents of the just-released print issue of SFX Magazine's Top 100 Fantasy/SF Authors, as voted on by their fans. Apparently a few hundred or more participated and here, copy/pasted from Adam's post elsewhere, are those 100, with a few remarks by myself, written solely because I'm in the mood to comment on
something after enduring that horrendous Game 6 tonight:
100. James Herbert
Haven't read. Can't recall anything by this dude.
99. Gwyneth Jones
Have heard of her, but again, nothing read by her.
98. Sara Douglass
Based on that godawful Wayfarer Redemption series that I sampled years ago, I'd rather not read anything else by her again.
97. Charles Stross
His style and my literary preferences are like oil and water.
96. Terry Goodkind
Read 7 of his books. Must have been a masochist in a former life.
95. Brian W. Aldiss
Someone I know I should have read by now, but I haven't. Yet.
94. Ken MacLeod
I enjoyed some of his short stories, but am uncertain about his
The Execution Channel. Need to resume reading it soon.
93. Olaf Stapledon
No clue what this due wrote.
92. Michael Marshall Smith
Same here.
91. Jon Courtney Grimwood
I've considered reading him on occasion, but nope, haven't yet.
90. Christopher Priest
Enjoyed reading
The Prestige about 4 years ago. Need to read more of his work.
89. Jonathan Carroll
The American Neil Gaiman before Neil Gaiman was even the British Neil Gaiman. Don't think I've read a story of his yet that I didn't like at least to some degree.
88. Scott Lynch
OK first effort, weaker second effort. Puzzled why he's on this list.
87. David Weber
No desire to read any of his work.
86. M. John Harrison
Should have been in the Top 10 here, but "literary" works rarely have mass appeal.
85. Jacqueline Carey
Might try her Kushiel series later, but not now.
84. Kim Stanley Robinson
Has his ups-and-downs, but even at his worst, he's passable for me.
83. Theodore Sturgeon
One of the "Golden Age" old farts I've yet to read.
82. J.V. Jones
Haven't read her work yet.
81. Joe Abercrombie
OK to showing promise at time, but needs much more work on characterizations, plotting, and pacing.
80. Joe Haldeman
OK, but his stories haven't really appealed to me.
79. Simon Clark
Who?
78. George Orwell
Much better than most of the schmucks "above" him in this list.
77. Samuel R. Delany
Ditto to what I just said.
(Edit: I didn't proof the spelling here, but as
Neil Gaiman points out, it's Delany, not "Delaney," so I corrected it.)
76. Charles de Lint
Enjoyable urban fantasies, but I can't seem to read more than one of his stories in a month or two span. Don't really know why.
75. Julian May
Haven't read him. (
Edit: her).
74. Edgar Rice Burroughs
OK early 20th century pulp, but his Mars stories didn't really appeal to me.
73. Robert Silverberg
I liked many of his SF and fantasy efforts, but he's not one of my favorite writers.
72. Susanna Clarke
Very strong debut novel, with some very good short stories.
71. Stanislaw Lem
I liked his
The Cyberiad much more than
Solaris.
70. Larry Niven
No desire to read him.
69. Alfred Bester
Will get around to reading him in the near future.
68. Katherine Kerr
No desire to read her work.
67. Jack Vance
Someone whom I need to read at length shortly. What I've read, I really liked for the style and humor.
66. Harry Harrison
Who?
65. Marion Zimmer Bradley
Don't know why I haven't read her yet.
64. Richard Matheson
Ditto.
63. Dan Simmons
Writes strong standalones and first volumes to duologies; second half of duologies seem to be much weaker than the first installments.
62. Elizabeth Haydon
No desire to read her work.
61. Terry Brooks
Didn't like the original Shannara trilogy when I read them in 1997. His recent graphic novel,
The Dark Wraith of Shannara, wasn't bad at all, although still not a great work by any stretch.
60. Richard Morgan
Written some excellent stories, but I can only take his style in measured doses. Do think he has the potential to write something deeper than what he has attempted so far.
59. Stephen Baxter
Haven't read him, not for sure when I will.
58. Jennifer Fallon
No interest.
57. Mercedes Lackey
Certainly no interest.
56. CJ Cherryh
Will try reading her earlier work someday.
55. Harlan Ellison
Better storywriter than friendly person, to say the least...
54. Jasper Fforde
In the future, perhaps.
53. Octavia Butler
Great talent. Would have been hovering around the top 10 if I were voting.
52. J.G. Ballard
Ditto. Damn good writer.
51. Robert E. Howard
Have yet to read his pulps.
50. Sherri S. Tepper
Maybe soon?
49. H.P. Lovecraft
Excellent master of the short form atmospheric piece.
48. Mervyn Peake
Even better at atmospheric pieces.
47. Jules Verne
He and Bradbury kindled my love for certain forms of SF
46. Alastair Reynolds
No real interest in reading him at the moment.
45. Neal Stephenson
Mostly enjoyed his works, even if they're a tad on the long side...
44. Clive Barker
Very good writer. Need to read more of his work.
43. Jim Butcher
Maybe later...or maybe not.
42. Tad Williams
First part of his Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy didn't thrill me. I dropped it and then gave away the paperback copy.
41. Kurt Vonnegut
One of the better authors on this list, to say the least.
40. Trudi Canavan
Ummm....no.
39. Michael Moorcock
OK, putting Eddings before Moorcock is criminal!
38. David Eddings
Hell no.
37. Alan Moore
Will read
Watchman soon. I know, I know...
36. Orson Scott Card
Not interested in supporting him financially based on his ideological views, so no reads yet. Petty, I know, but true.
35. Stephen Donaldson
Flawed, but talented writer.
34. Gene Wolfe
Should have been in the Top 5 at least, if not #1.
33. China Miéville
Very, very talented author. I think he'll have written a megabestselling and creative novel before the next decade ends.
32. Raymond E. Feist
No interest.
31. Lois McMaster Bujold
Read part of one novel,
The Curse of Chalion. Rather bland to me.
30. Roger Zelazny
Needs to be pimped more often.
29. Anne McCaffrey
Needs to be pimped less often.
28. Steven Erikson
Frustrating to read at times. Has a great vision and some talent, but many of his stories feel "sloppy" to me.
27. William Gibson
Talented. Enjoyed what I have read of his works.
26. Guy Gavriel Kay
Surprisingly difficult for me to read, perhaps because it's so close to actual historical eras that I know that I want to correct him on some of his interpretations.
25. CS Lewis
Good writer, but his best stuff is his theological writings, not his fiction.
24. Diana Wynne Jones
The Tough Guide to Fantasyland is a must-read for quite a few who seem to equate epic fantasy with all fantasy.
23. John Wyndham
Nope, not yet.
22. Philip Pullman
Maybe later.
21. Robin Hobb
The first Farseer book didn't work for me. No interest in reading any more.
20. Stephen King
Uneven, but at his best, a very entertaining and thought-provoking author.
19. Ray Bradbury
One of my favorites. Would have had him slightly higher than here.
18. Arthur C. Clarke
Interesting ideas, but his writing style just irritated me a bit too much at times.
17. Robert Jordan
Uneven in pacing and characterization. Ultimately lost interest about 8 years ago.
16. JK Rowling
Underrated for her pacing and characterizations.
15. Robert Heinlein
I just don't think I would be considered his "target audience."
14. Frank Herbert
Dune is a classic. Some of his other books are well above-average. Some are rather shitty in comparison.
13. Peter F. Hamilton
Will read in the near future.
12. David Gemmell
The one book of his that I read, I disliked.
11. Ursula K. LeGuin
Outstanding writer in whatever field she wanted to explore. Would have been in my Top 10.
10. Robert Rankin
Haven't read him.
9. HG Wells
Good, but I preferred Verne to him.
8. Philip K. Dick
Not much into Dick worship, to say the least...
7. Iain M. Banks
Only read one Culture novel,
Look to Windward, and it was OK to good, but nothing that encouraged me to explore further immediately afterwards.
6. Isaac Asimov
HATE his writing style. Cannot stomach it.
5. George RR Martin
Very good short story writer whose SF/Horror tales (I read "The Pear-Shaped Man" in
OMNI in my school's library when I was in 7th grade) have been overshadowed by that epic fantasy of his. I think many of those short stories are better in comparison.
4. Douglas Adams
Talented, funny, but a bit uneven toward the end.
3. Neil Gaiman
Reliably good, but outside of the
Sandman comics, has trouble being consistently great for me.
2. JRR Tolkien
Still wonderful to read, after 20 years and multiple re-reads.
1. Terry Pratchett
Never really had an interest in reading his works, but then again, I rarely read humor pieces.
So there ya go, my biases out in the open. Feel free to convince me to give certain authors a second (first?) chance or to argue placements. At least there were 20 female authors that made this list, as I would have presumed at first it would have been even more of a sausagefest than what it turned out to be. Probably would have had close to half of those off and added another dozen or two, but that's just me. Thoughts on such a list?
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