A strong agreement on Zelazny, Heinlein and Piper.
(Yes, Piper was every bit as good as the best in SF -or “Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen,” alone, would earn him a place at that table).
I’d also suggest Theodore Sturgeon
who wrote absolutely gut-grabbing stuff with more heart than anyone I can think of.
Robert Heinlein
William Shakespear
I often wondered what Shakespeare would look and sound like if he were alive today.
I think he’d look like hell. He’d be over 400 years old, after all!
P.G Wodehouse. There aren’t enough Jeeves stories.
Jane Austin
Isak Dinesen
JRR Tokien
EM Forster
Shelley
Sylvia Plath
Anne Sexton…to name but a few!
Oh, and Guinastasia…I completely agree about V. C. Andrews ! Thought I was the only one with that guilty pleasure…
Senconding Anne George. After Reading her books, I felt like I knew her. Much sadness.
I do with F. Scott Fitzgerald had the chance to write a few more books, but he’d be gone now anyway. So I think Douglas Adams is number one for me. I was really heartbroken when he died. He was 49, if memory serves. I don’t think I’ve cried over the deaths of any other famous people, but I sure did for him. On top of how much I enjoyed the Hitchhiker’s books, I always had the sense he and I would’ve gotten on well if I’d had the chance to meet him. His passing seems to have derailed the proposed Hitchhiker’s movie as well.
I know, have you read The Salmon of Doubt, yet?
it’s marvellous. I’m re-reading the Hitch hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, a Trilogy in 5 parts, again.
I was enjoying it so much that I cursed him for dropping dead due to a heart attack.
It was what prompted this thread.
…
I’ll second (or third) P.K. Dick and Douglas Adams. Asimov too. And Patrick O’Brian.
But I really wish Raymond Carver hadn’t died.
And I wish Albert Camus had lived longer. He was born in 1913, so he’d be getting on in years now, but he didn’t need to die in that car accident.
I agree with Fern. Roger Zelazny.
Oh yes. And I saw such potential there, in the parts of the new book that was never to be. So frustrating. I find that I re-read the dirk gently stuff and the Trilogy about once a year. And still laugh. Quite an accomplishment.
Oops, I was under the impression that VALIS was his last. Thanks for letting me know. I’ve been trying to check out Radio Free Albemuth but it’s always unavailable at the library. I’m looking forward to it though.
I also miss Douglas Adams.
There’s intresting news for us Heinlein fans. Along with the “new” novel For Us, the Living, it seems that none other than Spider Robinson will be completing a novel outlined by RAH nearly 50 years ago…
C.S. Lewis and James Herriot.
Edgar Allan Poe, Lord Byron, and Shel Silverstein.
Yeah, Shel! Good one, HDS.
I miss him. I’ve been reading his adult stuff and I love how it flows.
Franklin W. Dixon.
James Clavell.
Has anybody mentioned John Kennedy Toole? His great A Confderacy of Dunces was published posthumously, after his mother carted the manuscript around to different publishers. What else might have emerged from that fevered brain?
Robert E. Howard was only 30 when he shot himself, unable to face his mother’s imminent death. His Conan stories may not be your cup of tea, but he wrote with vigor and imagination, and who knows how he would have matured.
Cyril Kornbluth was cut off early because of high blood pressure. The medication that kept it under control (what was available in the 1950’s) dulled his ability to create, so he took his chances and dropped dead running for a train. At 16, he was writing better, tighter short stories than many veteran writers, and in his thirties was developing into one of the major voices in science fiction.
Isaac Asimov published 500 books; I wish he’d had time for 500 more.