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Rex Little
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Heinlein and Spider Robinson definitely; not sure who I'd put in the #3 spot. I like Turtledove a lot better than most of the posters here seem to, but not quite enough to list him. Maybe the Larry Niven/Jerry Pournelle partnership, although neither one alone would make my list.
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Tingkai
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To find the Northwest Passage
Aug 2001
time: 13:36
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Best SF writer: Le Guin
Worst SF writer: Turtledove
Just discover Le Guin in the past year and her writing is incredible: well-developed characters, excellent descriptions, strong plots, well chosen words, etc.
Turtledove has some good ideas, but he doesn't seem to understand that books need a central plot. He just rambles on in all different directions. The stories never end. He uses too many characters and too many sub-plots.
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dejon
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Isaac Asimov & Ian M. Banks* are my top two without question.
The third I'm not sure about...I thought of Douglas Adams, but while HHGTTG is awesome, others have written much more. Dune (Herbert) was interesting, but really waned after the first three(?) books.
*Any North American sci-fi fans who haven't read something by Banks (UK author) are doing themselves a disservice. And if you like his sci-fi, try one of his fiction works, which are also great. The first fiction book of his I read was "Wasp Factory" - a delightfully twisted story.
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Richelieu
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Gatineau
Dec 2001
time: 00:36
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Asimov, A.E. Van Vogt & Philip K. Dick
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Sloth
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Asimov, Poul Anderson, Charles Sheffield
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lord of the mark
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FUKCOV - Former United Kingdom Colony of Virginia
Dec 2000
time: 00:36
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quote:
Originally posted by St Leo
quote:
Originally posted by chegitz guevara
Even were I to accept your definition, which I don't, her certainly doesn't rate in the top ten SF authors of all time, let alone the top 3. |
Alternate History is a form of Speculative Fiction just like Fantasy and SciFi -- which are often though not always filed jointly in bookstores. I'd say it's closer to SciFi because, whever it breaks the laws of physics, it does it in SciFi ways.
And, yes, Turtledove does suck. |
Not all alternate history breaks the laws of physics. How did say, "How Few Remain" break the laws of physics? Not all ah involves time travel.
In fact the AH purists at Soc.history.what-if would deny that time travel stories ARE proper AH, precisely because they break the laws of physics, and so belong with Sci Fi.
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shawnmmcc
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Golden Age of SciFi - Heinlein, no contest.
Post golden age, the start of modern hard SF - Niven, who I've noticed is the most mentioned author in this thread from that period.
Modern hard SF - David Brin (Startide Rising) and Vernor Vinge (A Fire in the Deep). Honorable mention to Greg Bear, awesome imagination but I just wish he could write as well as the other two.
If Turtledove isn't SF, neither is Adams. First, if you've read his Dirk Gently stories, the man got lucky the first time through. They are absolutely terrible. Secondly, he is a humorist and a satirist (who I don't happen to find funny at all) who uses SF as a vehicle. It's like the movie Alien, which is a horror flick in an SF setting. Thirdly, it's one of the areas my wife and I profoundly disagree, and as long as she doesn't play her original BBC radio broadcast of the Hitchhiker's Guide in my prescence, we can agree to disagree. 
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Solver
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Apolyton Duke Of Something
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Latvia, Riga
Sep 2000
time: 07:36
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In no particular order:
Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Strugatsky brothers.
Asimov's got great novles and stories, everything. Bradbury is usually great, though some of his stories are, IMO, not good. Strugatsky brothers are pretty amazing at all their works, and some are simply outstanding. Don't think any translation to English can do them justice. I read all three of these mostly in their original languages.
Other mentions. Stanislav Lem, for Solaris - he has a few good humorous stories, though, but Solaris is a marvel. Robert Shekley - again, some great short stories, though his novels I don't find as enjoyable. Aleksandr Belayev - several excellent novels. Arthur Clarke - he's got some pretty amazing style, and his optimism is a nice switch sometimes.
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21-07-2004 10:09
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