Welcome Wednesday – Who’s Your Favorite Writer?
Welcome to this week’s edition of Welcome Wednesdays!
Today I’m asking you authors to talk about someone else. Tell us who your favorite writer (besides yourself!) is, and why?
I’ll begin…
It’s a tough question. I think I have to answer, even though I only really love one of his books, Mark Helprin. Even with his books that I really couldn’t get into, his writing is just beautiful, and I’d kill to be able to wrote 1/10 as well on any kind of consistent basis. And the one book I really do love of his, Winter’s Tale, is maybe the best novel of the last century. And, yes, I’ll stand by that opinion.
Now it’s your turn! Remember to be sure to leave a link so we can find out more about you and your books!
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5 Replies to “Welcome Wednesday – Who’s Your Favorite Writer?”
It really is a tough question, as I keep finding new favorite authors! In fact, I’m going to cheat and mention two: one who’s been a favorite for many years, and one I discovered only this year.
The first: Mary Doria Russell. Most of her books are historical fiction, and they are among the best in that genre. Doc and Epitaph deal with key characters in Wyatt Earp’s circle. A Thread of Grace is, IMHO, one of the best novels written about resistance fighters in WWII. (Dreamers of the Day is historical fiction with fantasy elements, and I won’t try to describe it here.) However, Russell hooked me with her first two books, The Sparrow and its sequel Children of God. I’ve been reading science fiction, miscellaneous other fiction, and literary classics for quite a few decades, and The Sparrow is probably the novel I’d praise most highly.
This year, I heard about and read Naomi Novik’s stand-alone fantasy Uprooted. I’m not a big reader of fantasy, but I loved this story of two very different styles of magic and how those who wield them cope with each other, which also delves deep into notions of corruption and redemption. I moved on to and wolfed down her alternate history fantasy series, known as the Temeraire series and beginning with His Majesty’s Dragon. In this series, Novik not only creates and follows wonderful characters, but it brilliantly imagines how the existence of, and some domestication of, dragons would have affected various historical epochs and events. One of the series’ recurrent themes, the intransigent stupidity and shortsightedness of governmental and other bureaucracies, is close to my heart. This is a series worth rereading, as only on rereading (unless one has a much better memory than I) will you see how cleverly Novik lays the seeds for later events from the first novel on.
Hmm. I’d have to go with Iain M Banks. His Culture is such an appealing civilisation and I love the wit of the Minds. It certainly inspired me to write my Two Democracies series.
Great choice! I’m a big fan of his, too.
I’m going to cheat and pick two:
C.J. Cherryh, for her incredible ability to trick you into identifying with characters from cultures that are, by our standards, evil.
And Vernor Vinge for aliens I aspire to create.
C.J.Box is my current favorite. He autographed his latest with the sweetest comment encouraging me in my writing. That sort of thing makes such an impact.