Who is the greatest living American author?

[otters]

OMG STEPHENIE MEYER GUYZ!


Harper Lee. She wrote a pretty popular novel, or something.

[Adoniseppi]

Stephen King has the most great movies made after his work, including Shawshank Redemption, and Misery... as well as popping out about 300 prize winning novels a week.

[noops]

OMG STEPHENIE MEYER GUYZ!

FUCK you beat me to it.

I'm tempted to say her anyway, just to see what kind of response that would elicit. Though, I guess that my telling you of such a plan would ruin the joke. Hmm...


Just disregard the previous paragraph. Pretend it's not even there.

Stephenie Meyer. All the way baby.

[ChaoStar]

Stephen King is the King.

[under_pressure]

John Irving.

Dead would be Ernest Hemingway.

[Broghan]

Off the top of my head I can name only two: Terry Brooks and Stephen Donaldson; two top writers, in my opinion.

[blackson]

I'm quite fond of Christopher Paolini.

He is a plagiarist.

[otters~1]

I'm quite fond of Christopher Paolini.

He is a plagiarist.

Thank you!

[otters]

I'm quite fond of Christopher Paolini.

He is a plagiarist.

Thank you!

Well, yeah, but his books entertain me anyway.

[Sondrigal]

Andy Samberg
He writes from the soul.

[otters~1]

Wight: Try re-reading them with an eye out for how absurd they are.

Andy Samberg
He writes from the soul.

<3

[unoriginal name]

Wight: Try re-reading them with an eye out for how absurd they are.

No need to do that. They're fun books, why let your intellect get in the way? Just enjoy them for what they are, not what they're cracked up to be.

[SlappyMcGee]

No, no. They're poorly written, plagiarized ridiculous shit.

[otters~1]

Sorry gloomp, gotta side with Slappy on this one. I am as much or more of a fan of fantasy as the next guy, but Paolini's crap is on another level. At this point, sci-fi and fantasy are pretty much dead genres. There are no new ideas (with a few exceptions--see His Dark Materials). For a new fantasy novel to be good, it either has to have a brand-new idea in it (like Asimov's stuff always did, for example), or be so well-written, well-plotted, and generally well-crafted, that you enjoy reading it regardless.

Paolini... no. :/

[Amadeus]

Paolini basically combined Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. He's overrated, unoriginal, and writes poorly. End of discussion.

On another note, Bradbury's fantastic and he's still alive. Barely.

[SlappyMcGee]

Paolini basically combined Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. He's overrated, unoriginal, and writes poorly. End of discussion.

On another note, Bradbury's fantastic and he's still alive. Barely.

Hilariously, I find Bradbury underwrites in spite of great original ideas. :(

[Tanner]

At this point, sci-fi and fantasy are pretty much dead genres. There are no new ideas (with a few exceptions--see His Dark Materials).

Wait, wait, what? What the hell? How can you say such ridiculous things when books like The Yiddish Policemen's Union are still in their original publication run? Why are you being so braincrazy with your liewords?

[SlappyMcGee]

At this point, sci-fi and fantasy are pretty much dead genres. There are no new ideas (with a few exceptions--see His Dark Materials).

Wait, wait, what? What the hell? How can you say such ridiculous things when books like The Yiddish Policemen's Union are still in their original publication run? Why are you being so braincrazy with your liewords?

Tanner, my literature teacher this semester looks exactly and acts like you.

[otters~1]

At this point, sci-fi and fantasy are pretty much dead genres. There are no new ideas (with a few exceptions--see His Dark Materials).

Wait, wait, what? What the hell? How can you say such ridiculous things when books like The Yiddish Policemen's Union are still in their original publication run? Why are you being so braincrazy with your liewords?

Isn't that, like, Sedaris or somebody? I haven't read him (yet). Oh, and, Tanner. Please note my use of the words 'pretty much.'

[SlappyMcGee]

At this point, sci-fi and fantasy are pretty much dead genres. There are no new ideas (with a few exceptions--see His Dark Materials).

Wait, wait, what? What the hell? How can you say such ridiculous things when books like The Yiddish Policemen's Union are still in their original publication run? Why are you being so braincrazy with your liewords?

Isn't that, like, Sedaris or somebody? I haven't read him (yet). Oh, and, Tanner. Please note my use of the words 'pretty much.'

It's still a fucking ridiculous claim, brah'. Science fiction and fantasy are two of the freshest genres around.

[otters~1]

It's still a fucking ridiculous claim, brah'. Science fiction and fantasy are two of the freshest genres around.

Ick. I hope you're not just saying that because of the pure volume of material published every year... it's not much good.

[otters]

It's still a fucking ridiculous claim, brah'. Science fiction and fantasy are two of the freshest genres around.

Ick. I hope you're not just saying that because of the pure volume of material published every year... it's not much good.

Harry Potter is amaaazing. Even better, by weight, by book, individually, there's at least twice as much Harry Potter around as most any other series.

No, no. They're poorly written, plagiarized ridiculous shit.

I dunno...I like reading them. Sure, they're longer-winded than your mother after burrito night, and the wording is a bit archaic, but they entertain me to the point where I usually pick Eldest out to read over any other book (with the possible exception of one of the last five Harry Potters) when I'm bored and at loose ends.

[SlappyMcGee]

It's still a fucking ridiculous claim, brah'. Science fiction and fantasy are two of the freshest genres around.

Ick. I hope you're not just saying that because of the pure volume of material published every year... it's not much good.

Harry Potter is amaaazing. Even better, by weight, by book, individually, there's at least twice as much Harry Potter around as most any other series.

No, no. They're poorly written, plagiarized ridiculous shit.

I dunno...I like reading them. Sure, they're longer-winded than your mother after burrito night, and the wording is a bit archaic, but they entertain me to the point where I usually pick Eldest out to read over any other book (with the possible exception of one of the last five Harry Potters) when I'm bored and at loose ends.

I usually only read them aloud to my friends in goony british accents, so I don't know about literary quality, per say...

[unoriginal name]

It's still a fucking ridiculous claim, brah'. Science fiction and fantasy are two of the freshest genres around.

Ick. I hope you're not just saying that because of the pure volume of material published every year... it's not much good.

You could claim that for practically any genre. Just because there are masses of horrible trash doesn't mean there aren't many, many shining gems as well. For every Time Warrior there's a House of Leaves. For every Trapped on Zargon 5 there's a Kafka on the Shore. You can't claim the minddeath of a genre because of its hacks for the same reason you can't claim the minddeath of a country because of its crazies.

[otters~1]

I usually only read them aloud to my friends in goony british accents, so I don't know about literary quality, per say...

Ah, man, can you do every accent? Individually?

:/ wish I was you.

gloomp: I can, however, totally claim the "minddeath" of this forum for various reasons.