Over at the Westeros Forums there was a bit forumwide vote to determine who, in their minds, were the ten best writer’s of speculative fiction. It’s an interesting list, with a lot of terrific authors, but obviously lists are subjective. One much also consider that not only are the Westeros Forums a fantasy based forum, they’re also a George R.R. Martin dedicated forum, so we shouldn’t be too surprised who made the top of the list.
That all being said, Westeros is a great forum with a lot of well read posters and, as expected, they’ve put together a solid list that any newcomer to the speculative fiction field would be smart to take a look at. You can find the thread and discussion dedicated to the list HERE.
Werthead, poster on Westeros and also the scribe of the wonderful Wertzone, tallied the votes and even wrote a bit about each of the finalists:
The List
10. Frank Herbert (26 votes)
The author of the Great Dune Saga (Dune, Dune Messiah, Children of Dune, God-Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse: Dune) as well as many, many individual novels such as The Jesus Incident, The Priests of Psi and The Dosadi Experiment. Dune is widely considered the greatest SF novel of all time and I’m guessing Herbert’s position here is based on just that novel by itself.
9. Joe Abercrombie (29 votes)
The newest author on the list, with just three books to his name, namely The First Law trilogy (The Blade Itself, Before They Are Hanged and Last Argument of Kings). During counting the callow youth Abercrombie was neck-and-neck with Lynch but a late burst of speed saw him pull ahead of the long-haired one. Good to see the British end being held up smiley2.gif
8. Stephen R. Donaldson (30 votes)
The author of The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (Lord Foul’s Bane, The Illearth War, The Power That Preserves, The Wounded Land, The One Tree and White Gold Wielder), Mordant’s Need (The Mirror of Her Dreams and A Man Rides Through) and the monumental SF Gap Saga (The Gap into Conflict: The Real Story, The Gap into Vision: Forbidden Knowledge, The Gap into Power: A Dark and Hungry God Arises, The Gap into Madness: Chaos and Order and The Gap into Ruin: This Day All Gods Die). Has lately returned to fantasy with The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (The Runes of the Earth and Fatal Revenant with two more books to come). Donaldson arguably kicked off the post-Tolkien epic fantasy boom of the late 1970s, with Lord Foul’s Bane appearing at the same time as Terry Brooks’ The Sword of Shannara.
