Tactical Command
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Favourite authors/books
http://www.tacticalwargames.net/taccmd/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=2879		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  Jackhammer [ Tue Mar 18, 2003 11:38 pm ]
Post subject:  Favourite authors/books
This topic generally crops up occasionally on the other forums I frequent, so I thought, why not here :) In a vague(ish) order my top ten authors...

1. Terry Pratchett - Discworld - Comic fantasy
2. Peter F Hamilton - Mindstar/Night's Dawn/others - sci-fi
3  Steven Erikson - Tale of the Malazan Fallen - Epic military fantasy
4. George R R Martin - A Song of Fire & Ice -  Dark fantasy
5. Harry Turtledove - World War + many others - Alternative history
6. Bernard Cornwell - Sharpe/Starbuck/etc - Historic military
7. Melanie Rawn - Ruins of Ambrai/Sunrunner series - Political fantasy
8. JRR Tolkien - The LotR - Epic fantasy
9. Michael Crichton - Jurassic Park/Andromeda Strain/etc - Thrillers
10. Terry Brooks - Magic Kingdom for sale/sold (his other work isn't nearly as good) - Fantasy (slightly comic)

Your turn....
Author:  stormseer [ Wed Mar 19, 2003 7:37 pm ]
Post subject:  Favourite authors/books
Hey Jackhammer... I'm a very keen reader and while I don't have a top 10 as such, more a mish-mash of all the stuff I'm liking, here it is:

Terry Pratchett (absoloute classic stuff... so funny.. anyone who hasn't read any Pratchett should at once :laugh:!!)

Tolkein (of course!)

Ben Bova- His superb "Grand Tour" series explores the solar system in several great books, very strongly scientifically based and realistic..

Tad Williams- Probabaly my favourite author at the moment (and will be for a long time); his Otherland quartet of books is simply unbelievable......
Absoloutly amazing... I can't reccomend them more!!!

Issac Assimov- The Foundation books are great reading.

Orson Scott Card- Another of my favourites currently, especially the Ender books.

I also enjoy reading various Black Libary books, while most are average to good, there are some fantastic authors and books there- of course Dan Abnett's Eisenhorn Trilogy, and I've just finished Jack Yeovil's (aka Kim Newman) Silver Nails- the Genevieve books are great- really savage and chilling stuff, especially Beasts in Velvet...

Enough of my rambling... anyone else? :)
Author:  Chris [ Wed Mar 19, 2003 7:48 pm ]
Post subject:  Favourite authors/books
Favourite book huh. Mine would have to be the first "Red Dwarf" book "Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers". It is soooooooooooo damn funny you just have to laugh out loud!!

As for other books, I like the rest of the Red Dwarf books (naturally) and general war stories. Bravo Two Zero was a classic

Cheers

Chris
Author:  stormseer [ Wed Mar 19, 2003 7:51 pm ]
Post subject:  Favourite authors/books
Oh yeah, I've read the Red Dwarf book, and while I found it very funny (not as good as Pratchett tho :;): ), I wasn't able to get hold of any of the later books... oh well
Author:  Chris [ Wed Mar 19, 2003 7:53 pm ]
Post subject:  Favourite authors/books
Yeah, they are hard to come by. There are 4 in total:

1) Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers
2) Better Than Life
3) Backwards
4) Last Human

I think the best part in the first one is when he sets his pubic hair on fire. The best part is when he doesn't realise it!!!

Cheers

Chris
Author:  CyberShadow [ Wed Mar 19, 2003 10:47 pm ]
Post subject:  Favourite authors/books
Well, I dont really have a top ten.

GW side of things, Dan Abnet (obviously) as anything he writes is great. Aside from that, I am sceptical about GW writers, although Graeham McNeill shows real promise.

Non GW, my favourite has to be Greg Egan. He is a Computer Scientist who writes very philosophical, excellent sci fi. Also, AA Attanasio is good, his sci fi, not so much his fantasy stuff. I grew up on a diet of Asimov and Clarke, so they would have to be there. I also love short stories, with P Dick being the master of those.

I actually found the LotR series quite badly written. I enjoyed the stories, but was surprised at the quality of the writing. As for The Hobbit, I had to force myself to finish it.

Sorry.  :p
Author:  Jackhammer [ Wed Mar 19, 2003 11:09 pm ]
Post subject:  Favourite authors/books
Quote (CyberShadow @ 19 2003 Mar.,21:47)
Well, I dont really have a top ten.

GW side of things, Dan Abnet (obviously) as anything he writes is great

As for The Hobbit, I had to force myself to finish it.

Sorry. ?:p

Well I don't really have a formal top ten.  I just kept writing authors I liked, got to nine and decided I might as well make it an even number.

I too enjoy Dan Abnett, the only GW writer I'll actually go out and buy. If I'd bothered to carry on writing he'd have got in at number 11 or 12. I'll be getting the next one on from Necropolis when I have some money.

The Hobbit is not one of my favourute books, but then it was written for pretty young children. The Silmarillion has the opposite problem, bit dense for me as it's writing as saga. The LotR is excellent however!
Author:  Brother-Captain Parzval [ Thu Mar 20, 2003 12:33 am ]
Post subject:  Favourite authors/books
Ok, there isnt really a point for me to rank these in any particular order (I know Ill just remmber another favourite the second I send the post). Consider these recommendations:

I read a lot of history. One of my fav american writers of popular history is Barbara Tuchman, but I should mention George Duby (frenchman) aswell. A classic for me is "Poltava" by swedish historian Peter Englund. I know its available in english translation, and I recommend it, even though the subject matter might seem rather obscure to american/english readers. I also remember "Stalingrad" by german writer Theodore Plievier to be a very strong depiction of the reality of war.

I also love all of Lev Tolstojs work. If you havent read them his shortstories on the siege of Sevastopol are great, as well as (for instance) "Hadsji Murat".

I have had sci-fi and fantasy periods too, and some of the writers I particularly like are (just like the rest of you apparently) Pratchett, Asimov, Tolkien, William Gibson and HP Lovecraft.

Aside from that I read anything really, early romanticism (Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, ETA Hoffman), Shakespeare,  
Voltaire, Montaigne etc. I guess Im still relatively young, so I still read the classics, but I enjoy them very much. Ive just borrowed my dads copy of "Finnegans Wake"... If I actually finish it without going cuckoo Ill definetly post my thoughts on it!
Author:  Legion 4 [ Thu Mar 20, 2003 12:52 am ]
Post subject:  Favourite authors/books
Anything by Tom Clancy. Any well written book about military history, like something from Keegan, Toland, Ambrose, Fall etc. And I'm going to start "Hammer's Slammers" by Drake for a change of pace when I finish Fall's book about Dien Bien Phu, "Hell in a Very Small Place". ? GZG makes enough Epic scale pieces to make a good Slammers Force. ?I wonder how they'd fare in the 40K universe ???? ? ?Imagine the IG with a real BADD attitude :cool: ...
Author:  signius [ Thu Mar 20, 2003 1:21 am ]
Post subject:  Favourite authors/books
Let's see, some authors I like W Gibson, A.C Clark, OS Card, Robert Anton Willson, Ian Slater had a few books that I liked, Tom Clancy off the top of my head. I haven't read disc world. I keep meaning to. I have the book good omens by Pratchet and Gaiman and it nearly killed me.

I usually read books on history, mytholgy/religion/magic, psycholgy/sociology and astronomy. With a few conspirocy/UFO books thrown in for good measure. (I am on a fultile quest to answer my question of why people are so stupid)   :p
Author:  primarch [ Fri Mar 21, 2003 1:28 am ]
Post subject:  Favourite authors/books
Hi!

I dont have that many favorite authors, but I'm partial to Tolkien, Turtledove, Moorcock, david eddings, and that guy who writes the black company books, I forget his name.

Primarch
Author:  Waaaghlord [ Thu Mar 27, 2003 3:52 am ]
Post subject:  Favourite authors/books
I must say, quite a diverse collection of authors so far.  It did not take me long to put together a small shopping list...

Fantasy:  I'm currently enthralled by Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series.  My patience ran out and I no longer read Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series...  Stephen King's Dark Tower series is fantastic - I'm hopelessly waiting for a 5th book.  LotR is simply a classic fantasy saga.

Other recognizable author's include Tom Clancy, Terry Brooks, Harry Turtledove, and L.E. Modesitt Jr.

I also read quite a bit of non-fiction - from history to ecological/environmental to sociology to anything-else-that-peaks-my-interest.  (If not for sporting events, I would have little need for a TV...)

Cheers!

Chad
Author:  Mojarn Piett [ Wed Apr 16, 2003 10:18 am ]
Post subject:  Favourite authors/books
I don't actually have a favorite author list, I just read individual books and either like them or not.

I have read a lot of WWII history, so much in fact I've had to cut back lest I get fed up with the subject. Nex one in my WWII list is my recent acquisition: Talvisota (Winter War); a four volume book written by the finnish department of war history (sotahistorian laitos).

lately I have read a lot of the GW novels. They are not literature masterpieces but they are entertaining, and nowadays I mostly read to be entertained. The only one so far I haven't liked at all is the 13th legion by Mr. Gav. But even though I risk an Inquisitorial purge I must say that his latest book (Angels of Darkness) was much better.

If I had to name one Black Library book above all others it would be the "Execution Hour" by Gordon Rennie. It was the only one I couldn't put down. Zavant by the same author was funny (Sherlock Holmes in the Empire to put it short).
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