Favorite Authors?

[Corran Orreaux]

Just wondering what some of yalls favorite authors are and why you like them.


Bernard Cornwell is a favorite of mine, the writer of fantastic historical fiction such as the Sharpe novels and The holy grail series. He works hard to make sure he stays overall close to the actual history, often he includes a letter to the reader at the end of most of his books, going into detail about the history and what he changed to fit the narrative.


W. Bruce Cameron knows how to write opening lines; I still remember the day I saw a Dog's Purpose sitting in barnes & noble and decided to take a look. From the very first line I knew I had to read this book. He blends great humor and sadness really well, I am not ashamed to admit the ending to a Dog's Purpose made me tear up.   


David Gaider is the former lead writer for the Dragon Age series and author of three of the five Dragon age books. While he really haven't written much in the form of novels (unlike Drew Karpyshyn) What he has penned has had a huge effect on me personally. Dragon Age: The Stolen Throne is a book I consider to be a big reason as to why I love reading today.       


Mario Puzo is the author of the fantastic Godfather novel, a crime tale that sets itself apart from most by giving us a deep and hard look at a family that's being torn to pieces due to some... disagreements around how to run their business.


Edgar Allan Poe is one of the greats. A master of the dark whose brought me endless inspiration and fascination with works like The Raven, or the Masque of the Red Death.

[L. Jay Echoes]

Lemony Snicket for sure. He was one of the first authors who I started reading before I actually cared about literature. A lot of "vogue authors" lose steam after their first series. His 2nd series, All the Wrong Questions, actually improved the lore of Unfortunate Events.

Gregory Maguire. Although most people I've spoken to prefer the musical to the books, reading Wicked instantly improved my writing and was among the first books to encourage me to become a writer.

Agatha Christie has held my attention ever since I discovered her in 2010. I'm sorry to say I didn't correctly solve And Then There Were None, but I have correctly guessed the culprits of several novels afterword, most satisfactorily that of Hercule Poirot's Christmas.

I also think Toni Morrison is hilarious and witty. She writes mostly about the poor black community of the 20th century. One of the things I look for when I read is are catchy sentences; I first read "Recitatif" in 2011 as part of an American Lit class. It deliberately keeps the ethnicities of its characters vague in order to challenge racial stereotypes (you really can't even tell if the characters are black or white; you only assume so because of the social context).

Neil Gaiman has been a longtime favorite of mine. His story "How to Talk to Girls at Parties" had a big impact on my literary tastes. I saw Coraline for my 19th birthday, and I just had to read the book. I generally prefer his short stories to his books.

Aimee Bender is someone I've started reading recently. She writes very surreal magical realism stories. Her book The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake is about an 8-year-old girl who can taste people's emotions through the food they cook.

Saki is another long-time favorite of mine. He uses the "Trickster" archetype for almost all of his short stories, and he was one of the earliest writers of Black Comedy.

[Ves]

My favourite author of all time has got to be Douglas Addams  ! Absolutely love his style of humour and how nonsensical what he writes is. And the way all his characeters are fairly simple yet flawed, and the unique sci-fi world building. I must say though I prefer the writing in he does on his radio shows than his books lol - the Hitcherhiiker's Guide to the Galaxy is amazing.

Joseph Fink and Jeffery Cranor are 2 other authors i adore, love the books they've written together for fairly similar reasons; weird sci-fi goodness lol. 

And finally Ray Bradbury is another great author, for -again- fairly similar resons sans comedy, and his stuff is a lot more complex than the other 3 (i honestly kinda find it hard understand but enjoy it anyway lol)

[Wuff-Wuff]

Oh, Sci-Fi's great 

My personal favourites are Charles Dickens (such great characters and happy endings still don't bore me), George Orwell (love his empathy towards the powerless) and Richard Adams (Watership Down and Plague Dogs stuck with me  ).

There's probably more, Aldous Huxley, Harlan Ellison, Hermann Hesse, but I feel like I haven't read enough of their works to count myself as a true fan.

[ZaraRa]

I had given it a lot of thought; really rolled this question around in my head. I sat down to read an old favourite, gushed to my bear about the book - and this thread came back to mind. Yes... Tove Jansson! Tove Jansson is my favourite author. Of course she is; how could I even take a pause?
Jansson's use of subtext is just delicious; each story is ripe with layers upon layers, that are just so wonderful to open up like a ripe tangerine, studying each segment, deliciously, joyously. Stories about depression, about loss, about war - it all sticks deeply in my subconscious. Moominvalley in November is such a beautiful story - a lot of people find it far, far too bleak... But for me, it's been one I cling to tightly.