Favorite authors?

[Arynielle]

Pretty self-explanatory. List your favorite authors and why.

J. R. R. Tolkien- I'm a LotR freak and I absolutely love the series. Being a fantasy nerd, I truly think that Tolkien has added so much to that genre with how he has writing LotR. He is an absolute genius-- his stories aren't half-heartedly written. There are reasons for everything inside his books, and the world that he created is so developed. It's easy to imagine what Middle Earth is like because there are detailed histories and cultures entwined within it. He even created his own languages, which are quite learnable [at some university in TX, there are classes offered which teach Elvish, Dwarfish and Orchish. I have to admit that it's pointless, 'cause no one can really use it but it's still amazing.].

Philip Pullman- His series His Dark Materials is amazing. I would suggest fantasy/science fiction lovers to read it because I was thoroughly impressed with how well he created this world of his. I want a Daemon of my own now. XD He put so much detail into the theories upon which his novels are based and I think it's absolutely amazing. These ideas involve ideas which already exist in our world so they're not particularly difficult to fathom. The main character is also easy to relate to since she's just like an ordinary girl with a spiffy Daemon. He has written other books but I'm only read this one series and I'm already blown away.

Christopher Paolini- Why not? I don't care if people say that he has ripped his series off of LotR and Star Wars. He is a genius and his Eragon series is original enough to hold its own ground. There's no denying that he used ideas of others to incorporate into his own but what's wrong with that? I believe that LotR is a very traditional fantasy and aspects of it will surely be used in the fantasies of others. He wrote his books at an exceedingly young age so that curries some major brownie points for me. I am seriously addicted to the books he has published so far because, as I mentioned before, I'm a fantasy-nut.

[P-chan]

I am currently wondering if manga-ka count.

[Arynielle]

Keep it to novel-writers for right now. We can have a manga thread if you'd like.

[Sleepy Jack]

Orson Scott Card, just for his amazing Ender's Game series.

[Shiori Ailill]

I like Phillip Pullman for many of the reasons Ari mentions, but one thing I didn't like about the books was the last one. It went in a direction I didn't expect, nor did I like and it was way to... preachy I guess you could say.

Garth Nix, and his Abhorsen Trilogy. It's a bit different from your standard swords and sorcery fantasy books. I HIGHLY recommend the books. The first one is called Sabriel. It takes place in the most part in a country called the Old Kingdom, where magic, both the structured and mostly good Charter magic and the less friendly Free magic reign, along with the dead that won't stay dead. The Abhorsen line is the family that sends the dead back from whence it came. It's very detailed and has a number of interesting interpretations of things like the River Styx etc.

Dragonriders of Pern: When I first read one of these books, I couldn't get into it because it felt like every other word was something that I didn't understand and had to constantly look at the back glossary, which I always hate doing when I'm trying to read something for fun. However, I actaully started on the first book and now I'm really enjoying the series. Very in-depth and detailed with locations, characters, and story. Just make sure you start with Dragonflight and not halfway through the series >_>U

I'll add more later XD

[zeloswilder]

i don't read much, but Anna David (works for G4 on Attack of the Show!) wrote this book called Party Girl and i'm a fanboy so of course i went out bought it and actually loved it a lot. in fact i met her that was awesome she's very nice.

in addition to her... pretty much anyone who ever wrote a star wars book is cool by me. and J.R.R Tolkien is good. and the one that wrote harry potter... J.K. Rowling?

[Kalphin]

Dean Koontz.

Max Brooks.