# Who's the most famous {living} writer of science fiction? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [July 6, 2024, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-most-famous-living-writer-of-science-fiction/1003796 "2024-07-06T01:37:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-most-famous-living-writer-of-science-fiction/1003796/21 "2024-07-06T03:56:00Z")
Fame is only fame if you’re known to people outside of a normal fan base. That so many people professed never to have heard of Neil Gaiman spawned this thread. We probably have 50 books by David Weber in this house (we=my wife and I; my wife is a big fan of that kind of sf) but he never entered even my head when fame came up. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-most-famous-living-writer-of-science-fiction/1003796/22 "2024-07-06T04:14:10Z")
N. K. Jemisin. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-most-famous-living-writer-of-science-fiction/1003796/23 "2024-07-06T04:16:40Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > If we don’t count Rowling or Martin, or writers who focus on horror (Steven King, Dean Koontz) or other genres that aren’t strictly science fiction, then, according to this YouGov poll on “contemporary writers,” Gaiman has 48% “fame” (awareness, I’m guessing); the only arguably sci-fi author above him is Suzanne Collins (The Hunger Games), at 60%. What’s Gaiman’s most famous sci-fi offering? I’m legitimately asking because the cited works in the other thread (Coraline, Stardust, American Gods, Good Omens, Sandman, Lucifer, etc) are all some flavor of fantasy. Which would seem to put Gaiman in the same “writes sci-fi but not really a sci-fi author” bundle as King, Koontz, etc. Collins, from what I’ve seen of The Hunger Games, seems more of a sci-fi author than Gaiman but, again, I’m basing this off the works we’re supposed to recognize him for. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-most-famous-living-writer-of-science-fiction/1003796/24 "2024-07-06T04:19:50Z")
Tolkien surely tops fantasy (which is a subset of sci-fi). For sci-fi it’d have to be Asimov. Maybe Clarke. I could go with Jules Verne too. That is not to say there are not other outstanding writers (there are plenty). But the OP wanted the most famous. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-most-famous-living-writer-of-science-fiction/1003796/25 "2024-07-06T04:21:21Z")
He wanted living as well though. The only living “real” sci-fi author who’d spring to mind for me is Orson Scott Card. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-most-famous-living-writer-of-science-fiction/1003796/26 "2024-07-06T04:22:02Z")
Ack…I missed the living part. 🤦‍♂️ I like Card’s books but I really dislike him as a person. So much so it makes me not want to like his books. (there is a discussion about this sort of thing elsewhere on this board) I am not sure there are any living sci-fi writers that are household names (excluding fantasy). I love Simmons and Hamilton but I doubt most know of them unless they read their books. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-most-famous-living-writer-of-science-fiction/1003796/27 "2024-07-06T04:29:21Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Stephen King even if he is better known as a Horror writer. His SF output alone is more prolific than that of most writers who exclusively write Science Fiction. The Stephen King sci-fi novels/stories I can think of right now: It - Cthulhu Mythos/godlike alien The Stand - Post-apocalyptic sci-fi The Long Walk, The Running Man - Near-future fascist dystopia The Jaunt - “Hard” sci-fi with FTL travel The Tommyknockers - Ancient crashed UFO Home Delivery - Zombie apocalypse via alien satellite The Dark Tower series - post-apocalyptic sci-fi with fantasy elements Dreamcatcher - Non-sapient alien invasion Firestarter, The Institute - Government experiments to create superhumans I Am the Doorway - Astronaut comes back wrong Cell - Zombie apocalypse via cell phones 11/22/63 - Time travel And there’s more I’m sure I’m not thinking of, as I’ve barely touched his post-Dark Tower work and I haven’t read all of his short story collections. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Burden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/958977/32.png) [@Jack\_Burden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Burden)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-most-famous-living-writer-of-science-fiction/1003796/28 "2024-07-06T04:30:49Z")
None of these writers are as “famous” as they deserve, I’ll throw out Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck for The Expanse series, Cixin Liu for The Three Body Problem, and John Scalzi. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-most-famous-living-writer-of-science-fiction/1003796/29 "2024-07-06T04:31:43Z")
Add Dan Simmons for Hyperion series. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Burden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/958977/32.png) [@Jack\_Burden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Burden)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-most-famous-living-writer-of-science-fiction/1003796/30 "2024-07-06T04:32:53Z")
I really need to get around to reading that! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-most-famous-living-writer-of-science-fiction/1003796/31 "2024-07-06T04:34:42Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > The Stephen King sci-fi novels/stories I can think of right now: > > It - Cthulhu Mythos/godlike alien > The Stand - Post-apocalyptic sci-fi > The Long Walk, The Running Man - Near-future fascist dystopia > The Jaunt - “Hard” sci-fi with FTL travel > The Tommyknockers - Ancient crashed UFO > Home Delivery - Zombie apocalypse via alien satellite > The Dark Tower series - post-apocalyptic sci-fi with fantasy elements > Dreamcatcher - Non-sapient alien invasion > Firestarter, The Institute - Government experiments to create superhumans > I Am the Doorway - Astronaut comes back wrong > Cell - Zombie apocalypse via cell phones > 11/22/63 - Time travel I think THE DEAD ZONE counts. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-most-famous-living-writer-of-science-fiction/1003796/32 "2024-07-06T04:55:29Z")
For Steven King, you’re also missing Under the Dome, which was subject to a very successful (for the first season or so anyway) TV series in the _relatively_ recent past. At a guess, maybe James Corey, author of the books on which The Expanse is based? Weir, for The Martian as mentioned previously would also be a good candidate, but I’d bet neither of them have the name recognition of King. IF (big if) we include fantasy, then we add a lot more candidates, but it also reinforces King’s recognition, as a lot of the previously mentioned franchises are (IMHO) more dark fantasy than sci-fi. And of course, we still lack a tight definition of what @Exapno_Mapcase wants to consider “Scifi” - because as the poll showed, many of us know Stan Lee, and if you include Super hero works, well, he’d be riiiight up there even if the bubble has largely left us (and that’s leaving out the disagreement’s on what he can claim to have actually “written”). ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-most-famous-living-writer-of-science-fiction/1003796/33 "2024-07-06T05:13:47Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > At a guess, maybe James Corey, author of the books on which The Expanse is based? James S.A. Corey is two people writing under a pen name, so I’m not sure “he” counts. > **[James S. A. Corey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_S._A._Corey)** > > James S. A. Corey is the pen name used by collaborators Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, authors of the science fiction series The Expanse. The first and last name are taken from Abraham's and Franck's middle names, respectively, and S. A. are the initials of Abraham's daughter. The name is also meant to emulate many of the space opera writers of the 1970s. In Germany, their books are published under the name James Corey with the middle initials omitted. > Under the pen name James S. A. Corey, fan... > [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > I think THE DEAD ZONE counts. That one occurred to me, but I figured it fell more under “supernatural” than “sci-fi”. I haven’t read or seen Under the Dome. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-most-famous-living-writer-of-science-fiction/1003796/34 "2024-07-06T05:26:37Z")
For many, many years, the “[Big Three](https://sfandfantasy.co.uk/php/the-big-3.php)” science fiction writers were Asimov, Heinlein, and Clarke. All broke out of the insular world of sf and well-known to the general public. I’m astounded nobody has mentioned Heinlein yet in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-most-famous-living-writer-of-science-fiction/1003796/35 "2024-07-06T05:28:20Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > N. K. Jemisin. Let me try to justify my pick. She won the Hugo for best novel three times in a row, and each book was part of a trilogy (the _Broken Earth_ series). BTW, she was the first African-American to win a Hugo Award in that category. In 2021 she was one of Time Magazine’s picks for “100 Most Influential People.” ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-most-famous-living-writer-of-science-fiction/1003796/36 "2024-07-06T05:29:19Z")
> [@robby](#): > > I’m astounded nobody has mentioned Heinlein yet in this thread. Unless you know something we don’t, Heinlein is dead. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-most-famous-living-writer-of-science-fiction/1003796/37 "2024-07-06T05:30:00Z")
As are the other 2. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-most-famous-living-writer-of-science-fiction/1003796/38 "2024-07-06T05:34:36Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Unless you know something we don’t, Heinlein is dead. I assumed he had achieved immortality and had fucked off to the moons of Saturn to have sex with his mom or something. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-most-famous-living-writer-of-science-fiction/1003796/39 "2024-07-06T05:35:05Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > She won the Hugo for best novel three times in a row, and each book was part of a trilogy (the _Broken Earth_ series). BTW, she was the first African-American to win a Hugo Award in that category. In 2021 she was one of Time Magazine’s picks for “100 Most Influential People.” She is absolutely a big name in science fiction literature. I’m not at all sure that, despite the Time Magazine list, she’s really broken through into wider cultural consciousness at this point. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2024, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-most-famous-living-writer-of-science-fiction/1003796/40 "2024-07-06T05:41:14Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > > [@robby](#): > > > > I’m astounded nobody has mentioned Heinlein yet in this thread. > > Unless you know something we don’t, Heinlein is dead. > [@Czarcasm](#): > > As are the other 2. That’s what I get for skimming the thread. Nothing about only living authors in the OP, just “[b]onus points if they are still writing.” But I now see that the OP clarified further down the thread to specify living authors only. So…I’m going to vote for Larry Niven. Lots of people are familiar with _Ringworld_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-most-famous-living-writer-of-science-fiction/1003796.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-the-most-famous-living-writer-of-science-fiction/1003796.md?page=3)