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30+ years ago I discovered Roger Zelazny. Then I discovered that we had gone to the same college. Then I discovered that I had climbed around some of the same architecture he had climbed around, at the selfsame college. It made his work that much sweeter.
Recently I discovered John Ringo, and his sideways fascination with the web comic sluggy Freelance, to which I have a bad addiction. I'm buzzing through several of his series since last week. Since I'm getting the books via a free ebook, I'm going to have to find a way to send him some money for the hours of good escapist SF he gave me.
So- have you ever found that kind of connection ?
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Any fiction author who doesn't evoke something like that in me has failed at what I view to be his/her primary job.
...Handing out a lot more "Fail" in recent years than in the 1970s & 80s.
Zelazny was great, but never delivered consistent product for me. BTW: Have you read "Deus Irae" or that pulp spy novel they republished this year?
'Weirdest love/hate affair I've had with an author was Robert Silverberg. The Majipoor pop-stuff annoyed me to no end, but when I combed the thrift shops and found some of his rarer works, I discovered some amazing and mind-bending stuff from the 1950s and 60s that's often left out of his bibliographies. It pains me that I have his books in storage awaiting a bigger apartment or house.
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Doc, I've never read an author that consistently called to me. Which is good. I would not want to be THAT predictable that a 'machine' author would be able to reach me with one particular formula.
Besides, what I read is mood dependent. Heck. I've been reading my wife's romance novels on occasion. It annoys her that I read them about 5x faster than she does, but hey, I read fast. (No, never went to Evelyn Wood).
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No, but I recently found out I'm two connections away from Will Smith.
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yes, as a teen I became a fan of the work of HP Lovecraft.
later discovered we share the same birthday.
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> I've never read an author that consistently called to me.
I've found two whose every novel and short story snagged me. Alfred Bester and John Brunner.
> I would not want to be THAT predictable that a
> 'machine' author would be able to reach me with
> one particular formula.
"Formula?" Blech. Bester was like Philip K. Dick without the daddy complex. His every work was a trip. Even his seemingly-mainstream teleplays managed to squeeze in some extraordinary and eye-opening element.
Brunner had the unique ability to almost completely change his style to suit a wide range of material. Every one of his novels is written differently such that they could easily have come from different authors, yet each also demonstrates the common element of a keen intelligence and mastery of the art behind it. Each book is not just an adventure and a morality-play, but also could stand as a tutorial for aspiring fiction writers.
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I have an equally healthy appreciation for the greats- Laumer, Bester, Brunner. I just didn't like all of their works. That's fine.
I'll also admit that Samuel Delaney completely blew my mind with Dhalgren. I was badly confused the whole week it took me to read that and for about a weekend afterwards. Of course, college, Freshman year, and, well, there were herbal supplements being consumed in the process....
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Lois McMaster Bujold
Peter O'Donell--Modesty Blaise series
Terry Pratchett-Discworld
