I was ordering a subscription to the Clarkesworld Magazine chapbooks (which look gorgeous) and the order form asks “Who is your favorite author?” This stopped me dead in my tracks. Favorite. I was just having this conversation with my husband last night about The Sparrow. It is the book that I always recommend when people ask me to recommend a book. But it’s not my favorite book. My favorite book is probably Lavender and Old Lace by Myrtle Reed.
This is favorite defined as “a person or thing regarded with special favor or preference” because it’s certainly not the best book I’ve ever read, but it makes me cry everytime and I love it. She wrote in 1902 and it’s a straight ahead romance, with mild fantasy elements, and yes there is purple prose. But the characters are very real and the descriptions are evocative. I mean look at this line, “The faded green shutters blended harmoniously with the greyish white background, and the piazza, which was evidently an unhappy afterthought of the architect, had two or three new shingles on is roof.”
So, favorite author? Orson Scott Card, Mary Doria Russell, Guy Gavriel Kay, Steven Brust, Neil Gaiman, C.S. Lewis…? Lordy. I should just put down Myrtle Reed and confuse the living daylights out of them. I regard all of them with special favor.
I think I’ll go with Steven Brust though, because of three things: I won a interpretive reading competition in college with an excerpt from Brokedown Palace; I had my first fan girl squee! over him; I read The Sun, The Moon, and the Stars whenever I’m creatively constipated and that always gets me over it. I have a special regard for him for that.
So who’s your favorite author?
Ha! I love Mr. Brust – Vlad and the whole Dragaeran epics stuff is just fun to read. I love Brokendown Palace as well, although when I bought it I was expecting more Vlad-ness.
I can’t pick a favorite author though – I discovered fantasy through Terry Brooks and J R R Tolkien, Science Fiction through Larry Niven, Asimov and Herbert.
After I posted this, I changed my mind about five times. Maybe it should be OSC, because he shaped me most as a writer. Or Ursula K. LeGuin! Or Ray Bradbury! Why didn’t I put down either of them?
The question is too hard.
It is too hard. And impossible to answer. There’s. Just. So. Many.
Maybe you should put down “Mary Robinette Kowal” ;).
Ha! Oh, you’re a funny, funny woman.
It is too hard, however… Michael Ondaatje, Margaret Atwood, Salman Rushdie, Tariq Ali, Ian McEwan, Lucy Maud Montgomery, and, for fantasy, Marian Zimmer Bradley and Jennifer Roberson. Our book group is about to read Octavia Butler and I’m v. excited.
Hrmm. That is a toughie. I’ve really grown to respect Robert Charles Wilson. I’m not a scifi reader in general, but I’ll certainly make the leap for him. Guy Gavriel Kay has gorgeous prose, but I sometimes get a little bored during the read, so he’s out too. Tolkien, of course. Tim Powers. Connie Willis. George Martin. Celia Friedman.
Gosh. If I could only pick one, it would probably have to be … ::tightens fists:: ::wracks brain::
Celia Friedman. I like her strong tone in addition to her writing. The others certainly have distinct tones as well, but I suppose I’m partial to the blend of seriousness and darkness in Friedman’s.
See! It’s not just me. Whew. What’s exciting about this little conversation is that I’m seeing names that I haven’t read. I’m making a new list of authors to check out.