Apart for Terry who do you consider the best writers?

[shelke]

One of my favourites are Stephen King.

he has released some greats such as

Carrie, The Shining, Salem's Lot, Pet Sematary, The Tommyknockers, The Green Mile.

 

[Tonyblack]

I find that Stephen King is somewhat inconsistant. I've read increadibly good books by him and also complete garbage. Sometimes you'd think it wasn't the same writer.

My favourites are Bernard Cornwell, Kathy Reichs, Tony Hillerman and several others.

 

[shelke]

Yeah King is inconsistant with his work I would say the ones I have listed there are my favourites of his.

 

[michelanCello]

It's really weird... I've never had something like "a favorite author", because I've never really found a book I liked because of the style it was written in, i.e. because of the writer. I always have been someone (and maybe am still, though some things have changed) who read a book because of the plot. Of course, the plot was written by the author, but in my little world that's not the same.
And than I DISCovered Discworld... (you knew this was coming up, didn't you ) Terry Pratchett is the author. The author I'd read books of, only because it was him who's written them. Even if he was writing about the different sorts of snails and how to treat them (er...never mind...), I'd read it and (probably) like it...
But I know everyone here feels the same about Sir Terry, so I didn't say anything new here...

Shelke, to answer your question...
I can only say whose books I've read a lot... it gets near to something like favorite author, but - as I've already pointed out - it's not the same...
Well, I've read all the Austens, and I liked them... I liked Jasper Fforde's Thursdday Next series, and I really enjoyed Mary Hoffman's Stravaganza trilogy (which consists of four books...) There are a lot of books like this, but it's the series, not the author I liked...

 

[mspanners]

All the classic scifi greats.... A C Clarke, Asimov, Philip K Dick and for the fantasy writers Tolkien....

 

[superfurryandy]

Grahame Green
Irvine Welsh
HG Wells
Paul Auster
James Kelman
Mark Billingham
Jasper Fforde
Sue Townsend
Michael Marshall Smith
Alan Moore
Garth Ennis
George Orwell

 

[Doughnut Jimmy]

David Weber
Elizabeth Moon
Mercedes Lackey
Rudyard Kipling
Elizabeth Gaskell

 

[chris.ph]

simon r green
david edding
raymond e fiest
and about another two hundred more

 

[Who's Wee Dug]

Fritz Lieber
Jack Vance
Michael Moorcock
Tad Williams
L.Sprague DeCamp
Tom Holt
Emund Cooper
Ramond E Fiest
Robert Rankin
Tanith Lee
Robert Asprin
Lin Carter
Glen Cook
Ken MacLeod
Easter Friesner
Thomas B. Swan
Kim Harrison
Robert E Howard
Charlaine Harris
NOT IN ANY PREFERENCE ORDER
And quite a few more.
_________________
He willnae tak' a drink! I think he's deid!

 

[michelanCello]

You could have put them in alphabetical order...

 

[BatrickPatrick]

Douglas Adams
Elizabeth Knox
Joanne Harris
Irvine Welsh
Alan Moore
Frank Miller
Holly Black
Libba Bray
Spike Milligan
Garth Nix

 

[Jan Van Quirm]

OK - not definitive but a short(ish) list for once

Terry
Tolkien
Jane Austen
Julian May
Frank Herbert
Isaac Asimov
Julian Barnes
Kate Atkinson
Jeanette Winterson
TH White (Sword in the Stone)
Stephen Lawhead
Mervyn Peake
Paul Scott
Antonia White
Brian Aldiss

and others but those are the ones most prominent in my bookcases

 

[superfurryandy]

Considering I've just been reading some of his Sandman graphic novels, how could I forget Neil Gaiman? How? American Gods is immense, Good Omens is an unalloyed joy, and he posts cute pics of his dogs on Twitter

 

[Jan Van Quirm]

And I forgot Jean Auel as well The housemate :x decided to 're-organise' my bookcases the other day and her books somehow got mostly obscured - it'd taken me years to get my books in that 'bloody mess' that he tinkered with just because someone was coming to stay with us.

All he needed to do was dust the bloody things *mutters as she grinds the glass...*

 

[fords]

I love reading and have a huge amount of books from a wide variety of authors, but the ones I always go back to are the ones by Terry, Douglas Adams and one book in particular by Iain Banks - The Crow Road.

"It was the day my grandmother exploded" - by far the best opening line ever

 

[Who's Wee Dug]

You could have put them in alphabetical order...

Why! can't you sort them out for yourself they were of the top of my head so to speak.

 

[Who's Wee Dug]

I love reading and have a huge amount of books from a wide variety of authors, but the ones I always go back to are the ones by Terry, Douglas Adams and one book in particular by Iain Banks - The Crow Road.

"It was the day my grandmother exploded" - by far the best opening line ever

Good one, my favorite Banksie one is the Business

 

[AndieKry]

The list is growing - starting from around 900 BC.
New day brings new authors - any bird that comes can be a messenger.
And e-Cry.

 

[Danny B]

A non-definitive, in-no-particular-order list of the ones I can think of right now. (I.E. the ones I can see from the bookshelves which I can see from the computer desk, without having to get out of my chair or twist my neck to look at the other ones.)

(Early) Stephen King
Neil Gaiman
Michael Scott Rohan
Damon Runyon
Donald E. Westlake (including the Richard Stark pen-name)
Ian Rankin
Robert Holdstock
Clive Barker
Larry Niven
Madeline L'Engle
Mike Ripley
Diana Wynne Jones
J.R.R. Tolkien
Fritz Leiber
Robert E. Howard
H.P. Lovecraft
Edgar Allen Poe
Jake Arnott
Louis L'Amour
Roddy Doyle
Nick Hornby
Mark Chadbourn
Robert Harris
Arthur C. Clarke
Meg Gardiner
Julian Barnes
Alan Moore
David Peace
George R.R. Martin
William Gibson

As you may have deduced from the list, I lean towards the fantastic and the pulpy. I was undecided on whether to add Christian Jacques or Brian Lumley because, while I enjoy the books, I enjoy them in the same way I enjoy watching Mega-Shark vs Giant Octopus.

 

[Squig]

Apart from Terry;

Tolkien
Raymond E. Feist
David Gemmel
Janny Wurts
Robert Jordan

I kind of concentrate on author by author and Feist/Gemmel/Jordan have each written a LOT of books... I need a new bookcase.

I also like David Eddings although I'd be tempted to put him in a lesser category than the above, as his works aren't nearly as... grown-up?... not sure if that's the right way of putting it. Still a very enjoyable read, thou...