Welfy! My new best friend!
I love ALL of those authors, especially Adams and Jacques – I have all of the Redwall series (except Lord Brocktree, which I’ll be getting for Christmas).
But my very favorite author, by far, is John Irving. His newer stuff is better, IMO – less talk of Vienna and wrestling.
John Steinbeck
Jane Austen
Charles Dickens
William Makepeace Thackeray
Gerald Durrell
Gene Shepherd
Larry Niven
Lewis Carroll
John Irving
Robert Jordan
Terry Brooks
Tom Clancy
If “favorite” means that I buy and read all his books as soon as they’re published, I guess mine must be Stephen King.
Followed closely by George R. R. Martin and Joe R. Lansdale.
If “favorite” can also include a less-prolific writer who is now dead but everything they’ve written has blown me away, then it’d be Harriett Simpson Arnow.
John Steinbeck
Cormac McArthy
William Shakespeare
Douglas Adams
Norton Juster
Dr. Seuss
DeMille’s not bad – didn’t he write “Gold Coast”?
I think Stephen King likes him too. (He plugged a lot of writers in “On Writing”.)
Who else does “cheesy pulp paperback thrillers” these days? Would you put Ken Follett in that category? Wilbur Smith? How about David Martin?
Easy. Harlan Ellison. Loved by both fans and his peers (witness his multiples of Hugos (voted on by fans) and Nebulas (voted upon by fellow members of the SFWA)), even if he is a bit cantankerous.
No-one can appreciate 20th-century literature without picking up a copy of “Strange Wine,” “Deathbird Stories” or Voices from the Edge. Great fiction writer and possible an even better non-fiction writer (he says his most cherished award is his Faulkner/PEN Silver Pen award for his “Voice from the Edge” columns.
Brilliantly disturbing work that makes you think. He is an elitist of the best stripe - he demands so much more from his readers. There is no free ride in his writing - you must think about what you’re reading.
That, and he has a talent for titles that will make you weep. A sampling:
“I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream”
“The Whimper of Whipped Dogs”
“‘Repent, Harlequin!’ Cried the Tick-Tock Man”
“The Beast Who Cried Love at the Heart of the World”
The rest of my favorites pretty much go through Shakespeare, Raymond Carver, Amy Tan, Jorge Luis Borges, Robert Bloch, Mark Helprin, Steven Gould and Diana Gabaldon.
This is easy:
Margaret Atwood
Far and away my favorite author.
William Shakespeare and Tom Stoppard are faves as far as play authors go…
There is a long list of other authors I enjoy, but wouldn’t necessarily consider them favorites, here are a smattering of the ones at the top:
Sheri Reynolds
Barbara Kingsolver
Amy Tan
Shirley Jackson
Ayn Rand
Piers Anthony
Isaac Asimov
John Grisham
Aldous Huxley
Jane Austen
although author name recognition isn’t usually a factor in whether or not I read a book. Although, I will read anything by Atwood.
Yup, that’s the one. And “Plum Island” and “Lions Game” among others.
Thomas Bernhard, author of The Voice Imitator.
purd, tomas, I like the cut of your jibs.
But let me mention (not for the first time) Harry Crews. And PLEASE, someone else say you have read and enjoyed him!
Chuck Palahiniuk.
He wrote Invisible Monsters, Survivor: A Novel, and Fight Club. Very twisted stuff. He’s great.
Read, enjoyed, and own an autographed first edition of The Knockout Artist, which is currently out of print, and doesn’t THAT say volumes about the current state of both the publishing industry and U.S. literacy in general?
Hey, count me in! I just started re-reading “The Charm School.” I love his books.
Also, I enjoy:
Barbara Kingsolver
Wally Lamb
Amy Tan
Ken Follett
Well, I’ll probably surprise noone by saying this, but I would have to say Ayn Rand 
…although if someone hands me a good book and it doesn’t nauseate me in the first 10 pages, I’ll read it!
Diana Gabaldon
Robert Jordan
Robert Heinlein
Margaret Wise & Tradcy Hickman
Bobby Salvatore
and
Gherbod Flemming
Asaac Asimov and James L. Halperin
Hypergirl stole mine - Dr. Seuss. Besides him…
Raymond Chandler
Jim Thompson
Stephen Wright
Albert Camus
Roald Dahl
Carl Sagan
Nick Hornby
Mark Twain
J.D. Salinger
Katherine Dunn (only rad “Geek Love” but it was excellent)
Kurt Vonnegut
Franz Kafka