When I think about SF writers who have achieved mainstream fame, one of the first names that jumps to mind is Rod Serling. Obviously he’s long dead, and also the OP specified “must rest on books,” whereas Serling was best known as a scriptwriter for performance media. It’s also arguable the degree to which he is a good writer (as in, original and uniquely talented, versus simply repackaging and adapting ideas he found in the literature), as opposed to simply being an influential writer (we all know what a “Twilight Zone ending” is).
The point is, without the limitation of written publication, I would argue that, right now, by far, the most famous actively working writer of science fiction is James Cameron. Sure, his stuff is recycled and formulaic (the Avatar movies are Planetary Romance 101), but he’s very successfully broken through to the mainstream audience, and he’s almost exclusively worked in the SF genre (give or take a True Lies).
If he ever gets bored of moviemaking and churns out a few novels, it doesn’t matter how good or bad they are, he becomes an immediate contender on the fame front.
It’s 2024. The world is more balkanized than it’s ever been since the advent of mass media. Is anyone famous outside of their niche?
What I mean is, there is no “general public” any more. There’s just SF fans and football fans and rap fans and romance fans and C&W fans and cooking fans and so on and so on. Why would anyone expect someone from one fandom to know or care about anything from another fandom?
The first name that came to mind for me was William Gibson, as I’m waiting on the last book in the Jackpot trilogy. I’m still actively reading SF and that includes recent stuff, but I’m not as active in the SF community as I used to be so I’m not a good judge of who’s “most famous” right now. I don’t think I’ve had a conversation with another reader where we each knew the same authors of recent SF that hadn’t been adapted to film (The Martian) or tv (The Expanse).
Yeah, sorry, I don’t mean to say that everyone here hasn’t read sf written in the last quarter-century. Some folks absolutely keep up with the genre. I was just noticing how, in a thread about famous living writers of science fiction, so many posters responded by talking about writers whose works are more than a half century old and who died long ago. Because I think that SF is the best that it’s ever been, I wanna encourage folks to check out some of the new writers.
After much consideration I have to conclude the most famous living science fiction writer is George R.R. Martin. I don’t know any other living SF writer that would have as much recognition to the non-SF public. Who doesn’t know his beard and stupid hat? How many SF authors have been on Finding Your Roots and in Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! Just because he is best known for and is currently busy not writing the end of GoT doesn’t mean he’s not a science fiction writer. I think his current work makes people forget how much science fiction he has written. My first experience with him was reading his short stories in Analog. I was a Wild Cards guy and didn’t even want to read Song of Ice and Fire until I was convinced to do so here. He won a Hugo for a science fiction novella back in 1974. He has a very large body of science fiction work.
One name I have NOT seen is Michael Crichton(author of Jurassic Park among others) who was probably one of the most famous at the time of his death in 2008.
Kurt Vonnegut. It was much more lucrative to have your books in the fiction section rather than that weird corner they reserved for science fiction. I’m sure that’s all different now that people do go to stores.
That’s interesting. I usually think of Patterson as one of those guys who comes up with an idea, has someone else write the book, then he takes author (or co-author) credit. I wonder how he pulled that off with Crichton.
I’ve seen Patterson compared to a show runner on TV rather than an author when it comes to the books he “co-authors.” It’s hard to find out exactly what he does. But he certainly wrote a hell of a lot of books on his own also.
This feels a bit like a loophole to me, like saying the most famous living chess player is Arnold Schwarzenegger. I think the spirit of the question is best answered with a living person who is famous for writing science fiction. And while George RR Martin is famous, I doubt that one American in ten knows of Tuff Voyaging.
Yeah, they should read the new writers, but they should also read the older ones. Among the Christmas gifts I give my grandnephews and grandnieces are books like A Wrinkle in Time, Fahrenheit 451, The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man, The Martian Chronicles, Ringworld, Double Star, Dune, City, A Canticle for Leibowitz, Childhood’s End, Beyond This Horizon, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Foundation, and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. They should also purchase (or borrow from a library) newer ones.
I sure don’t . So I do think your comment was on point.
I was trying to remember the last unequivocal sf I’ve read in the last couple of years and the only name I could think of was C.J. Cherryh, who at 81 now is absolutely old school. I do read some modern fantasy from time to time, but my sf reading has tailed of a lot from what it was a couple of decades ago. Can’t say why I prefer spells to spaceships these days, but it seems I sorta do.
Currently reading Daniel O’Malley’s Stiletto, which I guess I would have to characterize as urban fantasy, despite the shoehorning in of a lot of supposed advanced biotech.
Well, crud. But that’s hubby’s decision if he wants to try something different.
I’m currently re-reading Larry Niven’s Destiny Road. We bought the paperback when it came out in 1998, so I probably read it about that time.
I’ve read a few Scalzi novels, but I prefer his blog posts over his novels.
Hubby keeps telling me I should try reading Peter F. Hamilton, and now that we have some of his novels electronically, that might work.
After China Miéville’s City and the City became a BBC mini-series, I thought he might get more recognition, but I think he’s too niche. He’s definitely more on the fantasy/weird side. The coauthor of his new book may be more famous than anyone mentioned so far. But he’s not famous for being an author, so doesn’t fit. China Miéville Writes a Secret Novel With the Internet’s Boyfriend (Keanu Reeves).
Asimov wrote as many or more books outside of science fiction than in. When I read the complete works of Ray Bradbury I was surprised how little of it I would classify as science fiction. At least half of Martin’s output has been in science fiction the rest is in fantasy which is usually categorized as being sci-fi adjacent in book stores. I don’t see it as much of a loophole. Once you reach a level of fame where your hat or sideburns become instantly recognizable then you are just plain famous. Martin is famous. Martin is a science fiction author. What more is needed?
I prefer to listen to the audiobooks. Wil Wheaton can be a bit jocular, but Zachary Quinto does a lovely job, and Locked In has separate versions narrated by Wheaton and Amber Benson (since the protagonist’s gender is never identified).
. So I do think your comment was on point.