{"id":165,"date":"2008-05-12T17:12:14","date_gmt":"2008-05-13T01:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aidanmoher.com\/blog\/?p=165"},"modified":"2008-05-12T17:17:40","modified_gmt":"2008-05-13T01:17:40","slug":"an-aside-the-top-10-sff-authors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aidanmoher.com\/blog\/2008\/05\/news\/an-aside-the-top-10-sff-authors\/","title":{"rendered":"An Aside | The Top 10 SF&F Authors?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over at the Westeros Forums<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

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<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Werthead, poster on Westeros and also the scribe of the wonderful Wertzone<\/a>, tallied the votes and even wrote a bit about each of the finalists:<\/p>\n

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The List<\/h3>\n
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10. Frank Herbert (26 votes)<\/strong><\/br \/>
\nThe 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.<\/p>\n

9. Joe Abercrombie (29 votes)<\/strong>
\nThe 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<\/p>\n

8. Stephen R. Donaldson (30 votes)<\/strong>
\nThe 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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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7. Steven Erikson (34 votes)<\/strong>
\nThe author of The Malazan Book of the Fallen (Gardens of the Moon, Deadhouse Gates, Memories of Ice, House of Chains, Midnight Tides, The Bonehunters, Reaper’s Gale and the forthcoming Toll the Hounds, Dust of Dreams and The Crippled God) and several SF and fantasy short stories is a somewhat controversial author, his series being one of the most divisive in recent memory. Nevertheless, his vast worldbuilding skills and the colossal, mind-boggling scope of his story deserve attention.<\/p>\n

6. China Mieville (36 votes)<\/strong>
\nThe populariser of the ‘New Weird’ school of SF&F, he is best-known for his Bas-Lag novels (Perdido Street Station, The Scar and Iron Council), although his single novels King Rat and Un Lun Dun are excellent as well, as is his short story collection Looking for Jake. His next work is sure to attract a lot of attention.<\/p>\n

5. Robin Hobb (38 votes)<\/strong>
\nAka Megan Lindholm, Hobb is the author of The Farseer Trilogy (Assassin’s Apprentice, Royal Assassin and Assassin’s Quest), The Liveship Traders (Ship of Magic, The Mad Ship, Ship of Destiny) and The Tawny Man Trilogy (Fool’s Errand, Golden Fool, Fool’s Fate), which all share the same world. Her most recent work, The Soldier Son Trilogy, has received rather mixed reviews.<\/p>\n

4. Gene Wolfe (38 votes)<\/strong>
\nArguably one of the greatest SF&F authors of all time, his Book of the New Sun quartet is essential reading for the genre. However, he has also written many other vital books, from The Wizard-Knight through to the Book of the Long Sun, Peace and much more.<\/p>\n

3. R. Scott Bakker (49 votes)<\/strong>
\nA surprisingly high entry for Scott, whose controversial status on the boards I assumed would relegate him down into the teens somewhere. Bakker’s Prince of Nothing Trilogy (The Darkness That Comes Before, The Warrior-Prophet and The Thousandfold-Thought) has become one of the most hotly-debated and discussed fantasy series of recent years and his new SF thriller, Neuropath, looks set to be equally controversial. He is now working on the sequel series to Prince of Nothing, The Aspect-Emperor, which will kick off at the start of 2009 with The Judging Eye.<\/p>\n

2. JRR Tolkien (186 votes)<\/strong>
\nWell, what can be said? The father of modern fantasy and still one of its most popular authors, for The Hobbit and The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales as well as The Lord of the Rings.<\/p>\n

1. George RR Martin (272 votes)<\/strong>
\nColour me shocked wink.gif I did consider making GRRM ineligible on the basis of board bias, but that seemed a bit ridiculous. In the end, it’s surprising the number of people who didn’t vote GRRM number one, but virtually every entry had him on there somewhere. Anyway, congratulations to George!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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I was quite tickled to see Joe Abercrombie<\/a> appear on the list, as well as Robin Hobb ranking quite high. An author I would have liked to see some love for was Tad Williams, author of Memory, Sorrow and Thorn<\/strong>. So what about you?<\/p>\n

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