Recommended Authors: Sci-Fi And Fantasy

[Amit Dutta]

I know how you feel about the list thing. Asimov, Le Guin and the Silmarillion were reads that shaped my childhood taste for scifi/fantasy. Great post.

Classics I've never read - Hyperion, Lensman series, Jack Vance's Dying Earth and Tanith Lee's Tales of a Flat Earth.
I was lookng at some Elizabeth Bear, as well.

Yeah, Asimov and Tolkien basically started me off. Not a bad way to start :D I will have to check out a bunch on your list that I haven't read.

I don't read as much contemporary sci fi because there is so much classic stuff to go through that I almost can't be bothered hunting out the "new" things.
I recently read Perdido St Station, and it was written very evocatively and descriptively which was cool but it didn't really strike me with anything new to think about afterwards which is what I find really good sci-fi tends to do to me. I was a bit disappointed after I had to listen to countless people raving about it. This is why recommendations are ultimately useless unless you really trust the other person's judgeement and taste and they align with yours. :D

I did read the Coyote Series by Allen Steele that I enjoyed which is relatively new. I've got The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi on my e-shelf that came highly recommended by a few friends of mine and is also on the Hugo list..I think that one is next.