In response to complaints that my SF Grand-Master poll contained too many old farts-please submit names to be added to a new SF G-M from the 80’s on poll.
Old farts rule!
Spider Robinson
Chris Bunch
Chris Bunch/Alan Cole
David R. Palmer
Andreas Eschbach. His The Carpet Makers is the best science fiction novel of the past 20 years. By far.
Though she’s been writing since the 60s, Kit Reed truly came into her own in the past ten years, with two great novels, Thinner than Thou, and the second best novel of the past 20 years, Enclave.
Margaret Atwood (true, she does not see herself as a sci-fi writer, but her spec fic works are masterful).
Off the top of my head:
Connie Willis
C.J. Cherryh
Vernor Vinge
Greg Bear
Some started in the 1970’s, but I think all made the bulk of their fame after 1980.
Peter F. Hamilton.
hands down winner, fantastic space opera.
Two more:
William Gibson ( not a favorite, but should be in the conversation )
Neal Stephenson
David Brin
Peter F. Hamilton
Vernor Vinge
Robert Charles Wilson
Not all exclusively since 1980 but all had the major portion of their career since then.
Richard K Morgan. Hands down, that is all. Although I’ve had enough male/male rape to last me for a couple of decades. Leave off that please/thx.
Richard K. Morgan
David Weber
ETA:
That’s really just in his fantasy book(s). I hear the sequel to The Steel Remains will be out next Sept. cite And yeah, except for that, it was a pretty damn good book.
I’d vote CJ Cherryh if I had to pick one, if only for her contributions to the fiction of “going native”.
I’m unsure who I’d vote for, but to the list I would add:
Stephen Baxter
Greg Egan
Alastair Reynolds
James Tiptree Jr., pseudonym of Alice B. Sheldon
John Varley
I’ll add Orson Scott Card and Robert J. Sawyer
I’d argue against either of those being a post-1980 author. Both really did a lot of their major work in the seventies.
Eric Flint
Terry Bisson
Cory Doctorow
Iain Banks
China Mieville
Charles Stross
Spider Robinson, Orson Scott Card, and Greg Bear aren’t as bad as some of the others, but why wasn’t Robert L. Forward put on the list already?