My favorite Authors and Books.

• Science Fiction. 80 percent of science fiction published is drek, but there are a few decent new books each year:
  • Vernor Vinge. "A Fire Upon the Deep" was the best SF I had read in years.
  • Robert Heinlein. Mostly great books, but some are dated, and he won't be writing any more..
  • Larry Niven. Mostly great, especially Protector, Ringworld, and The Mote in God's Eye.
  • John Varley. All Great.
  • Hal Clement. All Great.
  • Peter Hamilton. All great.
  • Neal Stevenson. Awesome. "Snow Crash" and "The Diamond Age" are both intersting and original.
  • Jack Chalker. Not great, but entertaining and readable.
  • Phillip Jose Farmer. Entertaining.
  • Gibson. Neuromancer was great.
• Fantasy. 95 percent of fantasy is unreadable, but there are a few authors that do it well.
  • JRR Tolkein. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are Great. He invented the epic fantasy series, and most recent fantasies are poor imitations.
  • David Eddings. The Belgariad and Mallorian series are great. His latest, "Belgarath the Sorcerer", is OK.
  • Robert Jordan. His Wheel of Time series is great, although it gets a little slow after the 5th book.
  • Steven Brust. All great, and he avoids the multi-book quest format.
  • Anne Rice. A little slow, but quite original.
  • Raymond Feist. All readable.
• Novels.
• Popular Science.