For me it would definitely be Stephen King. IT is the scariest thing I've read in my life. I also love his non horror pieces (The Green Mile, The Stand, etc.)

What about you guys?

James Alan Gardner, followed shortly thereafter by Robert L. Forward.

Steinbeck. I loved Cannery Row and The Graqes of Wrath is another one of my favorites.

Probably Alexandre Dumas

S.D. Perry

Brandon Sanderson

Without a doubt, Tolkien. I also greatly enjoy the works of Jack London, Edgar Allan Poe, and Reich Jeno who is perhaps the greatest author of comedy to have ever lived.

Off the top of my head W.E.B. Griffin

Clive Cussler is about the only modern fiction I care to read.

Elbert Hubbard of the Roycroft Press is another all time favorite. His short biographies of famous people, "Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great" are excellent.

Alexandre Dumas. Between Three Musketeers, Count of Monte Cristo, and The Black Tulip you have some of the most defining novels I've read. I like Jules Verne too, but not nearly as much as Dumas. French literature in general seems to rub me the right way.

Terry Pratchett comes in second for Discworld, especially everything to do with Rincewind or the Night Watch or the Wizards or the Witches.


Travels With Charlie in Search of America is my favorite Steinbeck book. A lot of people seem to not know about it. Even my college English teacher hadn't heard of it.

Sir Terry Pratchett is definitely first for me.

Iain Banks. He can create the occasional touch of humour from the darkest, most twisted scenarios, but that humour isn't forced, doesn't detract from the serious story.