Poll: Favorite Sci-fi Author
- Thread starter Orcus The Ultimate
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I am so glad H.G Wells was on that list. You, sir, get a cookie.Orcus_35 said:
But yes H.G Wells gets my vote. I loved War of the Words, so very much.
HG Wells is my favourite for the specific reason that War of the Worlds is my favourite sci-fi novel. I love the themes of anti-Imperialism and human exploitation, I love the weird but cool war machines, I love the sheer feral panic humans are reduced to.
I kind of like The Invisible Man too, although it is far weaker than a lot of other monster stories for the period. There isn't much to the invisible man himself, apart from him being criminally dangerous and an out right snob. He isn't really tragic because he was always an asshole. He gets killed before he can really show how dangerous he is. At least with Mr Hyde, there is an interesting commentary on duality, or forgiven pleasure. Also what Mr Hyde does with his time is kept a mystery, so no one knows what dispicable things he gets up to besides murdering at least one person. Is there a homosexual subtext? Can anyone end up like Mr Hyde? Doesn't everyone have secret desires which go unsaid?
I kind of like The Invisible Man too, although it is far weaker than a lot of other monster stories for the period. There isn't much to the invisible man himself, apart from him being criminally dangerous and an out right snob. He isn't really tragic because he was always an asshole. He gets killed before he can really show how dangerous he is. At least with Mr Hyde, there is an interesting commentary on duality, or forgiven pleasure. Also what Mr Hyde does with his time is kept a mystery, so no one knows what dispicable things he gets up to besides murdering at least one person. Is there a homosexual subtext? Can anyone end up like Mr Hyde? Doesn't everyone have secret desires which go unsaid?
Vek said:
I agree with these two. Arthur C. Clarke is amazing (check out Childhood's End; it's short, but one of my all-time favourite sci-fi books).3rd rung said:
From the list, I'd have to say Asimov. He only invented the three laws and so many other things that are the staples of science fiction these days.
I also heard somewhere he predicted social networking sites in one of his novels, but for the life of me I can't remember where the hell I heard that or which book.
*sigh* I hate threads that limit your choice to a series of predetermined selections. You can make cases that several of those authors weren't even SF authors, depending on which definition of SF you use. (And, related note, when it's literature, it's never sci-fi, but always SF if you want to abbreviate it and not offend the actual authors; sci-fi applies to B-movies and pulp novels).
Alright, my rant aside, of the names provided, I voted for Verne, since IMO his influence can be seen on the vast majority of contemporary SF even if they don't know it.
Alright, my rant aside, of the names provided, I voted for Verne, since IMO his influence can be seen on the vast majority of contemporary SF even if they don't know it.
Good selection, but you missed John Brunner and Philip K Dick - you can't miss out the two big Hugo award winners, and they're still butchering K dicks stuff in Holiwood to this day...
Oh, and Ursula D Gwinn, oh and-I'll shut up now.
Oh, and Ursula D Gwinn, oh and-I'll shut up now.
Isaac Asimov, for the following reasons:
1) He wrote a fictional scientific paper about a chemical that dissolved before it contacted water (thiotimoline).
2) He wrote a story that tried to figure out how a goose could really lay golden eggs (Pate de Foie Gras).
3) He wrote so many classics of the genre, and was an apparently spiff person besides.
1) He wrote a fictional scientific paper about a chemical that dissolved before it contacted water (thiotimoline).
2) He wrote a story that tried to figure out how a goose could really lay golden eggs (Pate de Foie Gras).
3) He wrote so many classics of the genre, and was an apparently spiff person besides.
