Lois McMaster Bujold
Stephen R. Donaldson
Dan Simmons
Dan Simmons
Dan Simmons.
Darn that’s exactly the two I was gonna mention. This is where I realize most of the SF I read was written before the eighties.
Some candidates off the top of my head:
Greg Bear
James P. Hogan
John Scalzi
John Varley
Gregory Benford
Orson Scott Card
William Gibson
Robert L. Forward
David Brin
David R. Palmer
Vernor Vinge
Connie Willis
Neil Gaiman
Kim Stanley Robinson
Gaiman wrote SF??
Would Fred Saberhagen be eligible? He published some stuff in the 60s, but lots of stuff in the 80s…
Another vote for Spider Robinson
And a nomination for Robert Adams to close out my ballot.
Gaiman won the 2002 Hugo Award for best science fiction novel for “American Gods”. It also won the Nebula in 2003. He won a Hugo for his short story “A Study in Emerald”. He won a Hugo for “Coraline”. He’s been nominated for Locus Awards 25 times and won 15.
The Hugo awards are for best “Sci-Fi or Fantasy work”. I think American Gods and Coraline are pretty clearly in the “Fantasy” side of that (I’ve never read “A study in Emerald”).
Some authors kinda bridge sci-fi and fantasy, and you can’t really put them in one camp or another, but I don’t think Gaiman is one of them. His stuff is pretty straight up fantasy (and I’d vote for him if we do a “best post-1980 fantasy author” thread).
Speaking of Gaiman though, I’ll nominate Alan Moore.
A very clever take on the original Sherlock Holmes story “A Study in Scarlet.” Insomuch as it features vaguely Cthulhuian Elder Gods ruling the British Empire, I’d label it solidly as fantasy. Great fantasy, but fantasy.
A very clever take on the original Sherlock Holmes story “A Study in Scarlet.” Insomuch as it features vaguely Cthulhuian Elder Gods ruling the British Empire, I’d label it solidly as fantasy. Great fantasy, but fantasy.
David Brin, is, to my mind, the best SF author of the last 20 years. Reading his stuff is spectacular in its sense of wonder, science, and adventure. But his glacial pace holds him back.
John Varley and Jack McDevitt deserve a shout out. McDevitt, in particular, does space adventure very well with both the Priscilla Hutchins and Alex Benedict novels.
Bruce Sterling
Dan Simmons stands out for me.
Seconding John Scalzi.
Steven Baxter
Paul McAuley
Jack McDevitt
Ian McDonald - The Dervish House is probably the best sf novel I’ve read this year…
Kim Stanley Robinson
Robert Charles Wilson
S. M. Stirling
Ian M. Banks , totally no contest.
Harry Potter won a Hugo too. Winning a Hugo does not make a book science fiction.
Varley wrote Steel Beach, The Golden Globe, Red Thunder, Wizard, Demon, Millenium, The Pusher, and Press Enter after 1980. He was only 33 in 1980. I think he can reasonably be included in this poll.
Top of the list, gotta be Iain Banks. Superb craftsmanship, brilliant ideas, a very well worked out SF universe … his concept of how life might be in a truly wealthy society, and with superhuman AIs commonplace … absolutely brilliant. No one else is on his level.
That said, Vernor Vinge, Neal Stephenson (a weak craftsman compared to the rest, but the ideas are SO FUCKING INTERESTING) C. J. Cherryh (Downbelow Station was a RIIIIIIIIIDE and the Chanur were a TRIIIIIP!) William Gibson, genius-level craftsmanship and his vision of cyberspace still is fascinating. I’m probably forgetting one or two, though I read all the entries previously and rejected those named for various reasons, though I have enjoyed their work. Gotta be something really, really special to get on this list, and these people are, in my opinion.
It’s a matter of opinion. But the way I look at it, Varley made a huge impact in the seventies when he was writing major stories one after another. By 1980, he was still writing stories but his output was slowing. He pretty much stopped writing by the mid-eighties and almost disappeared for ten years.