Now that's GREAT writing!!

Neeli · Sep 16, 2006

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)

Vincent · Sep 16, 2006

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 · Sep 16, 2006

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 · Sep 16, 2006

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

JanDarby · Sep 16, 2006

Lois McMaster Bujold.

JD

blacbird · Sep 16, 2006

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 · Sep 16, 2006

Thanks for the suggestions so far--keep them coming!

blacbird said:
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 · Sep 16, 2006

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 · Sep 16, 2006

Neeli said:
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 · Sep 16, 2006

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 · Sep 16, 2006

blacbird said:
Ursula LeGuin

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

Kristal · Sep 16, 2006

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 · Sep 16, 2006

blacbird said:
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 · Sep 16, 2006

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 · Sep 16, 2006

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 · Sep 16, 2006

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

swvaughn · Sep 16, 2006

Terry Pratchett, heck yeah. He's incredible!

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

PeeDee · Sep 16, 2006

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 · Sep 16, 2006

PeeDee said:
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 · Sep 16, 2006

And how could you forget...?

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

blacbird · Sep 16, 2006

SeanDSchaffer said:
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 · Sep 16, 2006

Pellegrina Leoni said:
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 · Sep 16, 2006

blacbird said:
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 · Sep 16, 2006

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 · Sep 16, 2006

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.

Now that's GREAT writing!!

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