Saturday Book Discussion: Your favorite author

Because it's one of those lazy Saturdays when I can't be arsed to write something longer, today's SBD question is a simple one, akin to choose your favorite book: who is your favorite author? You must choose one and only one.

Not easy to choose one, right? Should your favorite be the one whose writing you admire most, the one who consistently writes good books, or the one who wrote that one book you love above all others? The one who writes your favorite series, or the one you most admire personally?

There are authors who have never written a stinker that I know of, authors who have only ever gotten 5 stars from me, but in many cases, I've only read a couple of their books, often in the same series. One great book, even one great series, isn't enough for me to consider someone my favorite author. So David Brin, Vernor Vinge, Octavia Butler, Catherynne Valente, Jessica Amanda Salmonson, Jane Austen, John le Carré, Jorge Luis Borges, and one-shot wonders like Susanna Clarke and Nick Harkaway are all potential favorites, but I just haven't read enough of them.

There are authors who have consistently written books I enjoy, but who have occasionally displeased me enough that I don't entirely trust them. Neal Stephenson (could not get through the Baroque Cycle), Charles Dickens (love ya, Chuck, but sometimes you're just too damn Victorian), Larry Niven (loved Ringworld and the Known Space series, but at heart you're just an increasingly conservative crankypants), Haruki Murakami (dude has some serious Freudian issues), Cormac McCarthy (I have a love/hate relationship with his writing), Sherri S. Tepper (feminist sci-fi ranging from "seriously thought-provoking" to "batshit insane"), J.K. Rowling (you stumbled at the finish line, Jo), and Tony Hillerman (R.I.P. Tony, you should have stopped writing when you passed your prime) have all been "favorites" in one way or another, but none of them are authors I'd unreservedly read no matter what my mood.

There are authors who are "comfort reads" — I've liked all their books to some degree, but they just don't wow me. John Scalzi, Brandon Sanderson, J.A. Jance, Suzanne Collins, I'd read them all again, but none of them make me excited when they have a new book out.

So who do I pick as my favorite?

Stephen King

He's not the best author I read regularly; his quality over the years has been inconsistent. He's not a perfect writer (diarrhea of the word processor is a frequent malady of his), but he is a great one who I believe is not taken as seriously as he should be. I've read more books by Stephen King than any other author. He has written a few of my favorites (It, The Stand, Salem's Lot, Firestarter, The Long Walk), and while the list of books he's written that I haven't read is very long, I know I can always pick up a Stephen King book with confidence.

So, I name Evil Stevie as my overall favorite.

Who is yours?






Previous Saturday Book Discussions.