Posted by Justin Blazier | Feature, Thoughtful Thursday | 36 comments |
There has not been a scrap of paper that Jim Butcher has published that I have not read. Joe Abercrombie has never inked a published word that has not crossed my eyes. Those are just a couple of authors for whom I consider myself a completist. There is nothing they could publish that I would not make the effort to read as soon as possible.
Do you have any authors like that? Tell me about the authors whose every word you will consume.
October 13th, 2011. Justin Blazier | Feature, Thoughtful Thursday | 36 comments |
JUSTIN BLAZIER (on FanLit's staff since September 2009) is a Cyber-Security Analyst/Network Engineer located in Northern Kentucky. Like many fantasy enthusiasts, Justin cut his teeth on authors like Tolkien, Anthony, and Lewis. Due to lack of space, his small public library would often give him their donated SFF books. When he is not reading books he is likely playing board games or Tabletop RPGs. Justin lives in a quiet neighborhood with his wife, their daughter, and Norman the dog.
I'm coming off a week of less than satisfying reads, including Kate Elliott's Furious Heaven (exciting but eventually wearying tale…
Yep, which is why I'm willing to give a sequel a shot
Thanks for the reviews you two. I put the book on my TBR as soon as I saw ads for…
We seem to be on the same page. Yeah, the depiction of some (at least two) of the women characters…
The correct and more accurate term for the book thing is "challenged," I think. Frankly, the intentional removal of books…
There are at least two authors whose every book I have and will read: Haruki Murakami and China Mieville. I will also soon be able to say the same for David Mitchell.
Eventually I will read every word written and published by Jack Vance, even those outside of SFF. He doesn’t write anymore (he’s 95 years old), so there’s nothing new coming. That’s why I’m actually glad that I haven’t read everything yet — I have more to look forward to!
I will also probably read everything written by Fritz Leiber, Gene Wolfe, Robert Holdstock, Robin Hobb, Kage Baker, Neil Gaiman, Catherynne Valente, Jeffrey Ford, and William Gibson.
I read everything by Nina Kiriki Hoffman that I can get my hands on.
Forgot to check the comments box
Jim Butcher, J. R. R. Tolkien and Robert Heinlein.
Robert E. Howard is a favorite, and I’ve read all of his Sword and Sorcery stuff, but for a guy that only wrote for pulp magazines and only had a career of around 10 years, he’s got an awful lot of stuff.
J.V. Jones is one but at her current pace, I may not live long enough to see all of her Sword of Shadows series completed.
Joe Abercrombie for me too. Can’t get enough of him I’ve read all of James Egne’s books and most his short stories too. But the thing is; with them, I was able to get on board as their books were released (for Egne by the second one) so I was able to keep up.
As much reading as I do, most of the authors I really like already had a bunch of books and/or series long before I got to them. As much as my reading wanders around, I never seem to get all the books by my favorites read.
The problem is authors who get worse over time. I’ve read everything Raymond Feist has written, but as time goes on the odds of this continuing go down. I read everything David Eddings wrote until the Dreamers, which was so bad I couldn’t stomach it anymore. I think I’ve read almost everything by Joel Rosenberg, but again, his last few were such a letdown I may have missed something in the end. I’ve read almost all of the fiction by Isaac Asimov (a pretty major challenge by itself), but to read everything he wrote may be functionally impossible. I’ve almost read everything by Philip K. Dick (still missing a few of the more obscure works, but working on it). At one time I was going to try to read everything by Alfred Bester, but, despite rather modest publication numbers, it’s really hard to find some of his more obscure works.
Can’t really count “new” writers like Patrick Rothfuss or Scott Lynch because they simply haven’t written that much yet.
Jim Butcher, Kat Richardson, Kevin Hearne.
Quite a few actually but Rob Thurman, Jim Butcher and Pat Conroy top the list.
Robert E Howard and Orson Scott Card
Robert E Howard and Orson Scott Card
(sorry for double post but I didn’t click the box below)
Great qeustion! Heinlein, Howard, Ray Bradbury, Mercedes Lackey, Ellen Dugan, Andre Norton (even the really old stuff), Tolkein, Stirling, Agatha Christie, McCaffrey, Kjelgaard, Terhune, Anna Campbell and pretty much everything written by any of the Romance Bandits, altho that’s not Fantasy. Laura Anne Gilman.
Haruki Murakami, Roald Dahl, Mary Karr, Jonathan Safran Foer, Chuck Palaniuk, Carson McCullers, Amy Tan…there’s more I’m sure.
Everything by James Salter including the fiction, the memoir, the travel book, the flying book, the correspondence with Robert Phelps and the cookbook with his wife. Alan Furst, plus, a number of crime writers: Chandler, Hammett, Ross Mac Donald, Ed Mc Bain, Colin Dexter, John Lawton, and working on Camilleri.
Anne McCaffrey, J.R.R. Tolein, Peter Dickenson, alot of Tamora Pierce and, although not fantasy, P.D.James, Margery Allingham, Martha Grimes
China Mieville.
I’m working on Neal Stephenson and William Gibson.
I’m actually working my way through Jim Butcher, and should soon be able to claim the fame of having read all his works.
I’ve read all of the plays (not poems, sadly) of Shakespeare.
Otherwise, I’ve read all of Diana Wynne Jones and J. K. Rowling.
Mercedes Lackey. With few exceptions (mostly due to lack of time or availability close to me), I have read everything she’s written!
Stacia Kane, Richie Tankersley Cusick, Karen Marie Moning, Seanan McGuire, Celine Kiernan, Kelley Armstrong, to name a few. I may have not read ALL the works by them due to time constraints but I make an effort to do so.
I’ll never miss a book by Robin Hobb, Patrick Rothfuss, Terry Goodkind or Joe Abercrombie. I’m actually very reluctant to begin a new series, especially one with 6, 7, 8 books… I really need to will myself to continue reading past number 1 if the story doesn’t grab my attention, and I’m left feeling a little guilty….
Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Hemmingway, Poe, Shelby Foote, Agatha Christie, PD James, Elizabeth George, Chelsea Cain, Tasha Alexander.
Michael Moorcock.
In Fantasy, Miéville and Vandermeer.
L.E. Modesitt jr…..wait, no, I skipped the spellsinger series.
I used to have a great many people on the “read it all” list, but in recent years, as the number of authors I read has grown, and the authors I read previously have continued to write new books, I haven’t been able to keep up. I’ve read almost all of the work by quite a few writers (and usually own even more of it, just waiting for me): Seanan McGuire, Kage Baker, Tanith Lee, Stephen King, Peter Straub, Tim Powers, Jeffrey Ford, Steph Swainston, Neil Gaiman, Robin McKinley, R.A. MacAvoy, Ursula K. LeGuin, Sean Stewart, Michael Marshall (Smith), Theodore Sturgeon, William Browning Spencer, Elizabeth Hand, Laird Barron, John Langan, Glen Hirschberg, Peter S. Beagle. Lots of people I want to read a lot more of: China Mieville, Jeff VanderMeer, Mary Gentle, Robin Hobb, Steven Millhauser, Guy Gavriel Kay… Well, pretty soon I’ll have listed more than I can read in the rest of my life, so I’d better stop.
I’ve just discovered The Iron Druid Chronicles through a review on your site and Kevin Hearne has immediately become one of those authors for me. Such a great voice.
I’ve read everything published by Brandon Sanderson, or at least I had until he published something else. I’ll get to it ASAP.
For me, it used to be Anne McCaffrey, until one day I realized that I’d “grown out” of her. Now it’s Brandon Sanderson; I’m eagerly awaiting The Alloy of Law and every other book of his that’s on the horizon, or even just on his mind.
Like couple others it appears my faves have been mentioned. JRRT, GRRM, Jim Butcher, Patrick Rothfuss, Brandon Sanderson -finished A Way of Kings last night and am frothing for the next book in the Stormlight Archives. I might have missed his name in others comments but Matthew Woodring Stover’s- Caine Blacknife series is absolutely phenomenal!It starts with Heroes Die.
@Casey- I read first two Caine books and reviewed them on this site . I’ll be reading the 3rd one, Caine Blackknife, soon. :)
For me, Robin McKinley, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Guy Gavriel Kay. I’m almost all the way through Le Guin’s backlist and I keep putting off finishing! And Agatha Christie to a lesser degree, but just because her books are such good fun.
I’m with you on Jim Butcher. He’s an incredible writer and I’ve never picked up something of his I didn’t instantly love.
Additionally, I have to say Patrick Rothfuss. Not only have I read everything he’s written but I’ve researched everything about this man. I also have to admit that I’m mezmorized by his fabulous beard.
Jim Butcher here also and Brandon Sanderso (except for the kids stuff like Alcatraz) and Joe Abercrombie
I was still knitting a Dr. Who long scarf for my brother one Xmas eve, so I was curious about the cat Tardis. Here’s followup to last week’s contest winner.
/Cat Tardis
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I’ve had over 50 years, and started at an early age, so I’ve probably forgotten more authors, such as Virginia Woolf, Suzanna Moodie and her sister, who I researched before the internet, Austen, Dickens. In case you’re sceptical, this past year is on Goodreads.com and Facebook under Nite Readr.
Nite Readr Reviews Goodreads.com
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VieLivre Reviews Blog
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I’ve read all of Dr. Seuss, Enid Blyton, A. A. Milne, and dip in again, not often enough to refresh. Aren’t those childhood dreams of Aladdin, Sinbad, Gulliver, and Odysseus, what start many of us on the fantasy road? Since my name is Anne, with reddish tints and rebellion (inherited from my Irish gran of course), Anne of Green Gables led to all the L.M. Montgomery syrupy cordials. Can “all” be defined as all available at the time? Housebound ill kid and later romantic, I devoured Gran’s dusty Harlequins (an endless task nowadays) including the ubiquitous Dame Barbara Cartland (relative who inspired Lady Diana’s marriage) and genre grand-dame Georgette Heyer (still read).
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Mom’s musty collection was complete Agatha Christie and Erle Stanley Gardner. I continued the mystery tradition with Nancy Drew, my brother’s Hardy boys. My sisters and I saved all the late Dorothy Gilman’s Mrs. Pollifax crunchy sweet tidbits. Later, I collected Marion Chesney, who masquerades as M.C. Beaton, and aliases (in Edwardian, Scottish, and British settings), like Jayne Ann Krentz who aliases (Jayne Castle, Amanda Quick) into both romance and fantasy, Sue Grafton (easy to add up A to U). For Janet Evanovich, I liked early singletons but for Stephanie Plum numbers, wearied
about #9 and gave up on latest #17.
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Started on the Hobbit, I read all J.R.R Tolkein, until I couldn’t decode his heir’s recoverings, like Anne McCaffrey’s are commercializing hers. I’m re-reading old favorites and catching up to newer releases, like Robert Asprin, Jim Butcher, Piers Anthony, Tamora Pierce, Rob Sawyer (he got ahead of me, but I’m catching up), that era of scifi/fantasy. Short stories, like Ender’s Game still lead to more of authors like Orson Scott Card. Natural progression was all of J.K. Rowlings, and Karen Moning’s dark Fever series .
Having relatives helps, my nephew started me on Eoin Colfer’s Artemis Fowl, my niece on Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games, another niece on Cassandra Clare. Newer authors are easier to read all of series. E.E. Knight’s Vampire Earth, Deborah Cooke’s Dragon Kiss of, Christopher Paolini. Connie Willis’ Blackout duo disappointed. Rick Riordan’s Olympian series I finished; I started his adult detective Navarre and Kane Egypt series, but won’t finish; I include him because I’d like to know if anyone has?
I’m still working my way through Louis L’Amour westerns, P.G. Wodehouse Jeeves satires, and Laumer’s funny brave Retief, their lives were long and prolific, Anne Perry, Tamora Pierce, Scott Westerfeld, Paul Stewart, and others, so they may not count. I managed to convince my local library to buy the fun whole Patricia Wrede Dealing with Dragons set, and need to interlibrary loan her others.
Pittacus Lore, I doubt I’ll continue, but still fulfills your request. Megan Whelan Turner’s Thief series is painful, but her latest book is on hold.
New authors’ series I’ll give special gold bouquets to are Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate, Naomi Novik’s dragon Temeraire, Kenneth Oppel’s Matthew Cruse. In hand is Ingrid Law’s fun Scumble (p118, your contest is keeping me away), #1 Savvy 5*. Cornelia Funke’s Inkheart sequels wait on my shelf now.
You asked.
Sorry, I’m just learning how to put links in my blog, and misunderstood your directions.
Epistrophic, you have been chosen at random. If you live in the USA, you win a book of your choice from our stacks. Please contact me (Tim) with your choice and a US address.