Tell me who is your favorite author, Salinger, Baldwin, Stine, King, Vonnegut? You have to expect to explina why, however.
It's hard to pick one. So I'll go with the one of my favorites that will probably not be anyone else's. Alan Dean Foster. He writes exclusively scifi and fantasy, been doing it for about forty years. He's prolific, turns out two or three books every year. He has several series going at one time. I love him because... well, he's just a real good storyteller. He's imaginative, clever, good with words, knows how to handle a plot, great with pacing, builds characters with some depth. All of that yet he never forgets that his readership expects the peculiar gifts of scifi or fantasy, not a mainstream novel seven levels deep with an occasional reference to ghosts or aliens that a high-school-age scifi fan could have crafted better. He has about four different universes going. One is the Humanx Commonwealth, in which humanity and an alien species somewhat resembling terrestrial insects have formed the first multi-species alliance (a la The Federation) to become a force for good throughout our part of the galaxy. There are several different series going on at various points in time in that universe, including the tale of how the two species originally met and overcame their mutual wariness. His most acclaimed novel is probably "Midworld," which is set in a distant corner of this universe and where humans have learned some unique lessons about life. My wife the M.A. in English, who likes scifi about as much as she likes country music, thinks this deserves to be counted as a Serious Book. Another is the Catechyst, an African herdsman from an alternate universe who gets occasional glimpses into ours and winds up on a Quest that will probably require another ten delightful books to complete. Then there's Spellsinger, a university student who accidentally gets summoned by a wizard in a different universe where animals have IQs, speech, and opposable thumbs but still retain the identifiable traits of their species. He has the ability to cast spells by singing and accompanying himself on his guitar-like instrument, but he never masters the art of casting the right spell at the right time. These books are full of humor. And to lure the fans of the endless, giant space wars in TV shows like Andromeda, he has a new series about... giant space wars. He also writes one-off stories about anything that comes into his head. And he's novelized a bunch of Star Trek episodes. The man must sit at his word processor typing solidly for eight hours every day. This is pure escapist reading. Reading as entertainment, if I may be so bold as to confess to liking that. But he never fails to leave me pondering Some Big Idea.
How does one answer this question? There are many fine authors out there. Neil Gaiman, David Mitchell, Sam Lipsyte, etc. I'll go with Sam Lipsyte. If anyone can write satire in an interesting manor, it's him. He doesn't take himself seriously and it comes through in his writing. Everything in the world is material for him to take and twist and churn until it comes out dark and electrifying. If you do not like dark humor, do not read Lipsyte. If you dislike tales of masturbation, do not read Lipsyte. If you like intelligent novels about masturbation, read Sam Lipsyte. On the other hand, you have David Mitchell who wrote my favorite book of last year. Cloud Atlas is by far the greatest book that I've ever read. He manages to take us to the past, the present, the future, further into the future, then into the present, the past, and the past again. I cannot help but love Cloud Atlas, it overpowered me.
Stienbeck. East of Eden is a wonderful story within a story within a story. It's wonderfuly written and is quite possibly one of the best books I've ever read.
Steinbeck sucks frozen monkey dick. Sentimental, poorly-phrased garbage. Favorite authors in no particular order - Robert E Howard, Jack London, Charlotte and Emily Bronte, H.P Lovecraft, F.W Nietzsche, Leopold Sacher-Masoch, Andrea Dworkin, Wolfgang Goethe, random dead Skalds, Lukas Tomin, whoever 'wrote' Beowulf, Andre Breton, Samel Beckett.
I don't have just one favotite because there's many types of ways to tell a story and fiction or non fiction as well as science fiction. Here's a few I've enjoyed over the years. J. R. R. Tolkien George Orwell Robert A. Heinlein Kurt Vonnegut William Faulkner Vladimir Nabokov Douglas Adams Jack London Ray Bradbury Aldous Huxley Ernest Hemingway Dashiell Hammett D. H. Lawrence Jules Vernes H. G. Wells Ayn Rand
Tom Robbins. So many different reasons. Also, Alan Watts, im not sure which is my favorite actually...?
myself. i write very well, very detailed, and my books usually have a lot of tension and conflict. very very good action stuffs.
oh really...? so hows about an excerpt from one of your very very good action detailed tension and conflict stuffs?
Okay, here's an excerpt from "Glory of the Empire" It's Part 1 of Chapter 1: '“Feuer am Willen! Zweites Bataillon, grenzen nach links an! Drittes Bataillon, grenzen nach rechts an! Bewegen Sie, bewegen Sie! Gelangen Sie Ihren Esel an die vordere Linie, jetzt!” A German officer shouted. The battle was raging outside of the city of Paris, men dying and bleeding. In the fields, the Imperial 5th West Regiment, totaling only 9,000 men, had engaged a force of a hundred thousand French infantrymen. Despite the number disadvantage, the German troops had breech loading rifled muskets, a technological wonder at the time. The Imperial generals also had a better understanding of infantry tactics, and flanking maneuvers. They still were, of course, only human. “Oberst von Rucker, Verstärkungen sind angekommen! Ich denke, daß wir diese Schlacht gewinnen konnten!” A lower officer said to Colonel Tristan von Rucker, commanding officer of the Fifth Regiment. Von Rucker was a grizzled veteran of the Imperial Wars of Unification, leading the famous charge into Königberg, and was crucial in the Battle of Lyon, securing Burgundy for the Empire. Now, he was faced with possibly the most daunting task of his career: using only nine thousand men, plus a few reinforcements, he must take the fields outside of Paris, in order to successfully besiege the city. Standing in his way were over 150,000 French soldiers, infantry and cavalry. His men had only a few advantages, and many more disadvantages. He needed a miracle to pull this off. A thousand cuirassiers - heavy cavalry with steel breastplates and swords, rode up to the front to join the battle. It was complete and utter chaos: rows of infantry firing into French lines, men falling, bleeding, and screaming; it was horrifying. Cannons roared in the distance. Explosive shells impacted into the ground, and sent shrapnel flying into enemy soldiers. Hundreds of soldiers lay in the muddy fields, screaming. Their blood mixed with the soil, and soaked the land. Private Friederich Goldwald, a young, lightly built Bavarian recruit, marched into the battlefield. His light yellow hair fluttered in the wind, obscuring his vision temporarily. His pale gray eyes glared at the wall of French troops, reloading after firing a salvo of musketballs. He heard Lieutenant Rudolf der Geist giving the order to fire, and he brought his rifle to bear. He took aim, and fired. He saw his target, a French cavalryman, fell off his horse, and collapsed onto the ground. The enemy soldiers also fired into them, taking down a few next to Friederich. He heard a deep, rough, trumpet sound. He knew what it meant, and threw himself to the ground. A sudden, deafening thunderclap of cannonfire resounded across the field. Several cannon shells flew over his head, and crashed into the advancing French lines. Explosions shattered the enemy’s morale, and they turned. The French troops were running away, stumbling over one another to get back to the city. Friederich was elated, but not surprised. He, and thousands of other troops pushed themselves up, and started after the enemy troops. They quickly reloaded their rifles, and fired, taking down several retreating enemies. The Imperial troops were trained since day one at training camp that cowards have no place in the battlefield, nor do traitors. Even the French cavalrymen, long renowned for their bravery under fire, charged up a low rise towards their commanding officer. Suddenly, the French troops stopped at the low rise, and turned. They fired their muskets at the Imperial line. The surprise salvo of lead dropped nearly the entire front line. Many in the second and third line were hit and severely wounded. Friederich felt a sharp pain in his stomach, and his knees buckled. He lost control of his legs, and fell to his knees in the grass. He felt his abdomen getting warmer, and he put his hand on the place he had been hit. He withdrew his palm when he realized that he was bleeding. He looked at his hand, and gasped hoarsely. It was slathered in blood. His off-white coat was stained in the blood, and he collapsed entirely. In his peripheral hearing, he caught the sound of a German yelling, “Wir benötigen einen Arzt! Hier jetzt!” Two men ran up to him, and lifted him off the ground. His vision started to blur after that, and he noticed that the two men were combat physicians. His sight went black, but he still heard the cries of wounded and dying men. He still heard musket shots, and cannons booming in the distance. He still heard his heart beating and the thuds of dead bodies around him…' i'm still writing the story.
it gets better later. the french get thier asses whupped... its nasty.. lancers and carabineers... equals lotsa fun!
Just as constructive critizism to the text that you wrote: Learn proper German if you intend to use it. My favorite authors are: -Heinrich von Kleist -Friedrich Nietzsche -Raymond E. Feist -William Shakespeare -Robert Jordan
Nietzsche is among my favourites as well, particularly for this little excerpt: "...But nobody will divine thereby how ye looked in your morning, you sudden sparks and marvels of my solitude, you, my old, beloved--evil thoughts!" (How juicy!) Proust is added to my favourites list. I recently finished Within A Budding Grove. The list includes Holdstock, Hemingway, Emily Bronte, Voltaire, some more. I adore Goethe, of whose masterpiece they made a disgusting opera. I also adore the folk who created the numerous folk tales and songs of the world =) I love Sherlock Holmes. I dislike Shakespear.
I used google language tools. How the fuck could that have screwed up? Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! :bugeye:
