Hi all...

I may not post a lot, but be sure that I do read and try to keep up with everything, even if I am still a bit new to the FS world...

I am a big fan of Sci-Fi and was kind of wondering who everyone's favorite authors were.  Personally. Bradbury gets my vote every time.

Daycab

Music, Arts & Entertainment

You didn't mention Orson Scott Card...Ender's Game anyone??  My favorite Sci Fi by a long shot!

I generally don't read Sci-Fi, but I recognize most of the names you've listed.

However, I have read some work by Kim Stanley Robinson - Red Mars, Green Mars, and Blue Mars.

Heinlein is my all-time, all-round fave ("hard" sci-fi, fantasy,etc), but it's sad that you forgot Philip Jose Farmer: The Riverworld series, the Dayworld trilogy, and all those terrific short stories and novellas, like Riders of the Purple Wage. A unique and fearless voice, a master of the cliffhanger, shameless pun-meister, and probably the best satirical spec-fic writer ever... influenced equally by Edgar Rice Burroughs and Mark Twain.

Then there's Kurt Vonnegut- not usually thought of as a sci-fi writer, but definitely a major contributor.

Daycab wrote on Oct 21^st, 2008 at 12:51pm:


A lot of Heinlein's pulpy stuff like "Spacesuit" was written to pay off his mortgage, during the Cold War, remember.  Fun reading, but pretty shallow, and very "period".

But he was no fascist, to be sure.

He was really just a "boostrap libertarian," but of course it wasn't that simple. He made enemies in every special-interest group (a sure sign of genius, LOL): many right-wingers thought he was a pinko, many socialists thought he was a fascist, the peaceniks thought he was a warmonger, and yet he constantly annoyed the military establishment with statements like "conscription is slavery; any country that must force its people to fight on its behalf doesn't have the right to exist"...

He was an ex-navy man who worked for years as an engineer on military projects, but often said he thought military secrets were unnecessary and actually harmful... and let's see, what else: many women thought he was a sexist pig, while others applauded his strong, complex female characters... etc. etc. He was complicated, and definitely a lot of his early work was spun to sell, so to speak.

It's worth noting that Heinlein once said that the first book he wrote where he really felt free to express his personal philosophy was Stranger in a Strange Land. Freaked him out, too, that many aimless young people thought it was some sort of "how to start your own religion" guide... that wasn't his intention at all.

He also once told author Spider Robinson that of all his own stories, his favorite was "The Man Who Traveled in Elephants"- a very Bradbury-esque, whimsical tale.

To learn more about the real RAH, not the often-misunderstood public figure, check out  Expanded Universe, a collection of essays, Grumbles From the Grave, a posthumous collection of letters and essays, or Requiem, which is all tributes from people who knew him.

My favorite Heinlein (as Lazarus Long) quote is probably "Sin lies only in hurting others unnecessarily. Hurting yourself is not a sin; it's just stupid." 

Here's some more good ones:

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/r/robert_a_heinlein.html

Daycab wrote on Oct 23^rd, 2008 at 12:01pm:

A good one... the protagonist is smart, good-natured, tough, courageous... and totally hot.

I've been trying to figure that one out myself...

That book got me through adolescence in the best possible way.  Especially the cover...  Years later I met and dated a woman who looked a lot like her.  I almost married her!