Now that's GREAT writing!!

[Neeli]

Made you look? Good. ;)
Sci-Fi/Fantasy is my genre, and I have been disappointed with the quality of the writing I've read lately. Usually the story or characters will be good, but not the writing. I want to know what are the best-written books/authors in SFF so I can use them as a reference to learn to write well.

I've heard George RR Martin is great, but I'm not crazy about blood and gore, and I hear he is cruel to the reader, killing off beloved MCs.

Thanks!

(As a newbie, I apologize if this isn't in the right category for posting)

[beezle]

Well, there is a sci-fi and fantasy section on the board. They'd love to discuss it, I'm sure.

Maybe a mod can help you move this, rather than making a new thread.

[Zolah]

I personally think that a thread about novels which would help to improve our writing technique definitely belongs on this board.

I'd recommend Patricia McKillip, a fantasy author whose writing is lyrical, lush and beautiful. And Lois McMaster Bujold's books are beautifully written too - she's both an SF and an F author, though her mastery of language is perhaps more noticeable in her Fantasy works (The Curse of Chalion, Paladin of Souls). Garth Nix's 'Abhorsen Trilogy' are beautifully written and imagined too. And Phillip Pullman's His Dark Material books are also stunning in places (except where he gives into the urge to preach).

[Nangleator]

I remember Samuel Delaney's Dhalgren being well written, if a bit too experimental.

[JanDarby]

Lois McMaster Bujold.

JD

[blacbird]

Ursula LeGuin, Roger Zelazny, Philip K. Dick, Ray Bradbury, Orson Scott Card, Theodore Sturgeon, Stanislaw Lem (even in translation from Polish) and, of course, from the founders' generation, H.G. Wells and Lord Dunsany.

caw.

[Neeli]

Ursula LeGuin, Roger Zelazny, Philip K. Dick, Ray Bradbury, Orson Scott Card, Theodore Sturgeon, Stanislaw Lem (even in translation from Polish) and, of course, from the founders' generation, H.G. Wells and Lord Dunsany.

caw.

Interesting, I'm am struggling to read Ursula LeGuin's Wizard of Earthsea. I just can't get into it. Orson Scott Card is on my to-read list--I'm gonna fire up a series of requests from the library this afternoon.

Thanks again.

[LeeFlower]

For SFF, recent award winners and finalists/nominees are a fairly good place to start. Hugo, Cambpell, Tiptree, Nebula, Locus, and World Fantasy Award winners. Compton Crook awards are fun, too.

Obviously that's not going to get you everything of quality in the field (far from it), but it will give you a strong indication of where the genre is today (if that makes any sense).

[Variant Frequencies]

Interesting, I'm am struggling to read Ursula LeGuin's Wizard of Earthsea.

I couldn't get into Earthsea either, but absolutely loved a novella she wrote called The Word For World Is Forest. It won a Hugo in 1973.

[SeanDSchaffer]

Some well-written books within the F/SF genre that I can think of, are listed below:


Fantasy:
The Elvenbane; Elvenborn by Andre Norton and Mercedes Lackey.
The Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis.
The Lord of the Rings series by J.R.R. Tolkien (or just about anything else written by this gentleman).

SF:
The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells.
Slan by A.E. van Vogt

[Zolah]

Ursula LeGuin

Ursula Le Guin! Can't believe I forgot Ursula Le Guin.

[Kristal]

There is a relatively new author by the name of Brandon Sanderson. I really like him. Here is his website, where he has some sample chapters from his works.

http://www.brandonsanderson.com/

[PeeDee]

Ursula LeGuin, Roger Zelazny, Philip K. Dick, Ray Bradbury, Orson Scott Card, Theodore Sturgeon, Stanislaw Lem (even in translation from Polish) and, of course, from the founders' generation, H.G. Wells and Lord Dunsany.


Do you know what a chunk of my bookshelves you just described? Good lord. Those people taught me more about writing than anyone else, I think (although by the time I came to Orson Scott Card, I was a Major Artistic Entity and therefore uninterested) (I'm kidding; I learned a useful way to write dialect).

Harlan Ellison has some good stuff that can teach you how to infuse emotion into the prose of your stories. I think he's the rage, where Ray Bradbury is the happy muse, and reading both of them back to back is interesting and a bit puzzling.

Damien Knight. Walter M. Miller Jr. Emma Bull. Neil Gaiman. Terry Pratchett (how to write humor, and still leave your reader with something to think about besides slapstick) Douglas Adams (how to turn your reader's world upside down, or blow it up) Isaac Asimov (proof that powerful ideas carry through even the most stripped down prose).

I'll be back with more soon enough, I'm sure.

[emeraldcite]

I'm a huge fan of Jack McDevitt. Read his Academy series of books: Engines of God, Deepsix, Chindi, Omega, and Odyssey (coming November).

I also enjoy Allen Steele, but sometimes he's hot and sometimes he's cold. He can spin a yarn, though.

[Thomma Lyn]

Great ones already mentioned, and I'll add Marion Zimmer Bradley, Terry Pratchett, and Neil Gaiman.

Carl Sagan is known more for his non-fiction, but I found his novel Contact to be an outstanding read.

[zarch]

I'll second Ray Bradbury. I'm not a regular reader of science fiction, but my goodness what a writer.

[swvaughn]

Terry Pratchett, heck yeah. He's incredible!

David Gemmel is an excellent choice. Also, Margaret Weis rules.

[PeeDee]

I just wrote about him somewhere else, which made me think "how could I forget him!"

Alan Moore. Go read "V for Vendetta" or his run on "Swamp Thing" or "Prometheus." or "Watchmen." I don't care if you like comic books or not, this is literature, plain and simple.

[Thomma Lyn]

Alan Moore. Go read "V for Vendetta" or his run on "Swamp Thing" or "Prometheus." or "Watchmen." I don't care if you like comic books or not, this is literature, plain and simple.

Agreed. "Watchmen" is amazing.

[pdr]

C.J. Sherryl who has superb writer's skills.

[blacbird]

Slan by A.E. van Vogt

Big ditto. Van Vogt was about the best of the "pulp" SF generation, and deserves a lot more attention today than he gets. Good news is, some of his books have been in print in recent years, including Slan, which is reeeeal good.

caw.

[blacbird]

Great ones already mentioned, and I'll add Marion Zimmer Bradley, Terry Pratchett, and Neil Gaiman.

Carl Sagan is known more for his non-fiction, but I found his novel Contact to be an outstanding read.

Agreed here too, mostly (not real fond of MZB, myself), but Sagan was a fine writer, and it's too bad he got into fiction so late in his lamentably short life. His son Nick (Idlewilde, Edenborn) is also quite good.

caw.

[SeanDSchaffer]

Big ditto. Van Vogt was about the best of the "pulp" SF generation, and deserves a lot more attention today than he gets. Good news is, some of his books have been in print in recent years, including Slan, which is reeeeal good.

caw.


I have a hardbound copy of a book called 'Triad', published by Simon & Schuster. I have no idea when the book was printed, but the volume contains three novels by Mr. van Vogt. I have read all but one of the three. The first is The World of Null A, and the last one is Slan. The one I haven't read yet--the middle one--is The Voyage of the Space Beagle. The other two novels I have thoroughly enjoyed. If I ever think to, I might look into the one I haven't read yet.

But A.E. van Vogt is actually the first author that ever got me interested in SF. Pretty darned good writing coupled with good characters and storytelling really made his works enjoyable for me.


The three novels were all originally written in the 1930's and 1940's.

[PeeDee]

A.E. van Vogt was a magnificant author. I have some of his short stories in a treasury of Sci-Fi stories somewhere in my heaps of books, and I adore them. Unfortunately, beyond those few short stories, I don't have (and haven't seen) anything else by him. Like Theo Sturgeon, I seem to have trouble finding him.

[Snitchcat]

I love reading the following authors in SFF:

Louis Cha (manga versions of his works are available in English; no idea if the novels are)
WongYik (not sure if his novels are available in English)
J V Jones
Robin Hobb
Terry Pratchett
Neil Gaiman
Diana Wynne Jones
Tad Williams ("Dragonbone Chair" series, not the others)
Stephen Donaldson
Mark Chadbourne
Andre Norton
Peter S. Beagle (most famous book, "The Last Unicorn")

There are probably a few others, but I don't recall them offhand.

[PeeDee]

Whether you're sci-fi, fantasy, historical, romance, or what-have-you, I think you should probably as a rule be reading:

Charles Dickens
Mark Twain
Robert Frost
Edgar Allen Poe
William Shakespeare
Homer's Illiad and Odyssey
Victor Hugo, of course. Most importantly.
John Steinback

(more will come to me the moment I go to bed, of course.)

[LeeFlower]

I'd also rec reading widely outside the genre. It's like a liberal-arts education: the more departments you dip into, the more interesting your senior thesis will be.

The thing about SFF as opposed to, say, Romance or Mystery, is that SF/F defines the story's setting, not its plot. An SF/F novel can be a romance, a mystery, a thriller, an alternate history, a war story, a memoir.... If there's a shelf in a bookstore for it, an SF/F novel can probably be it. Composers who study all kinds of music as opposed to just their own kind often bring something unique to their work that makes it stand out a little from the crowd. Likewise, getting a good grounding in other genres can help you mix fresh ideas into your work.

[miketo]

Guy Gavriel Kay, A Song for Arbonne. Lyrical, deep characters, and a gripping plot.

[Evaine]

Some great suggestions on this thread.
I'd like to add Mary Gentle, especially Ash: A Secret History. Not only does she write about archaeologists realistically, something very few authors manage, but her descriptions are fantastic - there's a harrowing description of what it feels like to have a miscarriage that I won't easily forget, and one of her other stories starts with sword practice on a hot day - and you know from the description that she knows [I]exactly[I] what it feels like to use a sword.

[Anthony P. Steerpike]

I read mostly “literary” novels (for lack of a better word), but my favourite genre is sci-fi. The writers I’ve enjoyed recently include:

China Miéville
M. John Harrison
Samuel Delany

Of course, some might argue that these writers aren’t exactly sci-fi. They are brilliant writers, however.

Must also mention my favourite sci-fi series: Chung Kuo by David Wingrove.

[WerenCole]

My favorite fantasy author is Robert Jordan. . .

PeeDee is right though. . . Twain and Steinbeck must be read and analyzed at length and with enjoyment. (Those other guys are okay too. . .)

[DeadlyAccurate]

I've heard George RR Martin is great, but I'm not crazy about blood and gore, and I hear he is cruel to the reader, killing off beloved MCs.


Martin is great, but there's one thing he does very, very well: three-dimensional characters. You'll empathize with his bad guys, and you'll want to slap his good guys. And we're not just talking about bad guys with one good trait (the serial killer who loves puppies stereotype, for example). We're talking bad guys with real motivation behind their actions; good guys with real, unpleasant prejudices.

Robin Hobb is another one who can write terrific characters and wrap it into a world you fall in love with.

[Anonymisty]

Tim Powers.

Trust me.

[Etola]

I'll second Ray Bradbury. I'm not a regular reader of science fiction, but my goodness what a writer.

OMG, Ray Bradbury. His writing makes my jaw drop. There's a thick lushness to his writing, so that even though his stories are short, they're packed with so much stuff.

Peter S. Beagle's The Last Unicorn also always impressed me. I can read that one over and over again. It is true reading joy for me.

I was also impressed with Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash. I haven't read any of his other stuff, but that one really got my blood rushing. Brilliant world-building, interesting and delightfully over-the-top characters, and a certain level of tongue planted in cheek.

[blacbird]

I forgot to mention J. G. Ballard, a wonderful writer either in his Fantasy/SF mode or in more straightforward literary fiction. His early short stories are small miracles.

caw.

[Mustang]

I enjoy a wide range of authors in various genres. In the field of fantasy, I am currently reading Laurell K Hamilton's books.

I don't know how good a writer she is but she drags me into her world by the scruff of the neck and screaming.

[Akiahara]

I enjoy a wide range of authors in various genres. In the field of fantasy, I am currently reading Laurell K Hamilton's books.

I don't know how good a writer she is but she drags me into her world by the scruff of the neck and screaming.
Personally, I love LKH. She's my favorite author. Her character and world building skills are phenomenal, IMO.

If you travel over to her forum, though, you'll find that many of her fans are disappointed in the direction she's taking Anita, and some of the newer books have had oddball editing issues.

Can't please everyone, but I love LKH. :D

[Mustang]

At risk of hijacking this thread for LKH purposes, I have to agree with you.

I have been a little disappointed by her last few books. I think perhaps she is trying to write too many books too quickly and the quality suffers? Also I think there is a danger in trying to please the readers by giving them everything they want. I prefer titillation to gratification, myself.

I intend to keep reading them, however. She still hooks me like nothing else.

It's a pleasure to meet you Akiahara :) You're my first contact in this forum!

[Akiahara]

At risk of hijacking this thread for LKH purposes, I have to agree with you.

I have been a little disappointed by her last few books. I think perhaps she is trying to write too many books too quickly and the quality suffers? Also I think there is a danger in trying to please the readers by giving them everything they want. I prefer titillation to gratification, myself.

I intend to keep reading them, however. She still hooks me like nothing else.

It's a pleasure to meet you Akiahara :) You're my first contact in this forum!
We can be noobs together. ;) So, welcome to you, too. :)

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but I can rarely resist a good LKH conversation. :) I LOVED Danse Macabre. It tied up SO many loose ends and offered much needed explanations about the (gasp!) ardeur.

The only thing, I think, that would make me stop reading about Anita is a) the death of Jean-Claude (I would cry... and I'm not even exaggerating. He is my favorite fictional character of all time) or b) Anita has a kid. That was be... disgusting. It gives me shivers. I can't even express how appalled I would be!

I do think she writes very quickly, but she seems to have a lot of story to tell. I don't think the quality of her writing has suffered too much (though the ardeur sex is getting a little excessive)... I think that many readers don't like how Anita has evolved. It was not a sudden change, but the people who read about her for the crime and zombies aren't going to like the way the plot is curving.

If you read her blog, or interviews, I don't think she's really trying to please everyone anymore. She's just writing the story the way her muse is telling her, too... and since there's so much more romance in the series now, I'm sure their sales are better than ever. *shrug* I love it as a whole, so I can deal with the small problems (age indescrepancies and things like that).

(but... Edward is back in the next book, "The Harlequin", and a character who has been in several books, though not one of Anita's men, dies (AH!). so we should be getting back to Anita's violent side if Edward's around... at least a little bit.)

I'm sorry! I'm done thread jacking now!

[Mustang]

LOL you raise some very good points! And I haven't yet read Danse Macabre, it's on order at the library.

The books with Edward in them seem so much edgier .. looking forward to those.

I hope to attain just a smidgen of the hook in my writing that she achieves in hers!

[Akiahara]

Check out her blog... she updates it often and writes a lot about her novels. ;)

Yep, I agree... she does the whole hook thing quite well. :)

[PeeDee]

Authors like her, Terry Pratchett, and Isaac Asimov boggle my mind, quanitity wise (I'm sorry; Laura Hamilton does not otherwise boggle my mind, but I think it's just not my cup of tea).

I mean, did you know that Asimov wrote more than four hundred books? That's not including the massive number of editorials (such as the ones he wrote at the beginning of every issue of Asimov's SF&Fact) he wrote that haven't been collected, so far as I'm aware.

I wish I could write that fast. The ideas pile up in my head fast enough, it just takes a little bit longer to filter down onto the paper. They make me bow my head in shame.

[Etola]

Authors like her, Terry Pratchett, and Isaac Asimov boggle my mind, quanitity wise (I'm sorry; Laura Hamilton does not otherwise boggle my mind, but I think it's just not my cup of tea).

I mean, did you know that Asimov wrote more than four hundred books? That's not including the massive number of editorials (such as the ones he wrote at the beginning of every issue of Asimov's SF&Fact) he wrote that haven't been collected, so far as I'm aware.

I wish I could write that fast. The ideas pile up in my head fast enough, it just takes a little bit longer to filter down onto the paper. They make me bow my head in shame.

I feel that way about Ray Bradbury. In his Zen and the Art of Writing, he talks about how he'd write, edit and submit a new short story somewhere every week. The mind boggles!

No matter how fast I write, there's no way I can produce the sheer volume of works that Ray Bradbury has.

[MicheleLee]

Anne Bishop. Excellent world builder and fantastic writing on a technical sense of potency and technique. She is a writer of the darker fantasy, though when it comes to the gore she usually leaves it mostly to the imagination. She'll say someone was beheaded, but not take your lovingly into the wound for a good five senses experience.