Top 10 Authors... OF ALL TIME!

[@flotilha935]

My top 10: 10 - Robert E Howard 9 - Alexander Dumas 8 - Dostoyevsky 7 - Bernard Cornwell 6 - Frank Herbert 5 - Lovecraft 4 - PKD 3 - Machado de Assis (Brazilian author! Read A Epitaph of a Small Winner) 2 - Tolkien 1 - Asimov

[@LoScrittoreDivergente]

I really love your way of talking about books: clear, passionate, succint. I love it!

[@rammelbroadcasting]

Thank you!

[@peterconlon8234]

10) Richard Laymon 9) Richard Matheson 8) Clive Barker 7) Robert McCammon 6) Ray Bradbury 5) George MacDonald Fraser 4) Douglas Adams 3) Peter Straub 2) John Mortimer 1) Stephen King

[@OldManReads-c9r]

Great top 3. King was my all time favorite for decades, then I was introduced to Murakami and I don't think I could select a favorite between the two. I just love everything that both write...even the books that people hate. Looking forward to reading Lovecraft. Just picked up a paperback box set of his writing. Fun video.

[@nicomal]

Try Ishiguro. He's also amazing

[@OldManReads-c9r]

@@nicomal Ishiguro has been pretty prolific. What is a good book to start with?

[@CliffsDarkGems]

An excellent list! I've read pretty much everything Clive Barker has written. He would be my number 2. Ray Bradbury is also a huge favorite. I agree with you on Stephen King, he is just a phenomenal storyteller. I recommend Robert McCammon. Swan Song and Boy's Life are both in my top ten novels of all time.

[@mickypain2959]

Terry Pratchett for me. If you never read his books because you think they’re just fantasy comedies, you’re really missing out on a sharp, witty and surprisingly deep author with a massive and varied body of work.

[@anonymes2884]

There's certainly a video/article to be created, if it hasn't already, along the lines of "All I Ever _Really_ Needed to Know, I Learned From Reading Terry Pratchett" :). (definitely funny but also one of the most _humane_ writers of the last 40 years IMO)

[@jennifermorris6848]

Agreed. People should be writing scholarly papers about Going Postal, MakingMoney, Raising Steam

[@ilya1046]

Kazuo Ishiguro is phenomenal! I've read his The Remains of the Day three times and it gets better at each reading. Glad to see him so high on your list!

[@kristentaylor5359]

Remains of the Day is so good!! It's insane a Japanese man wrote so insightfully about an English situation

[@heidi6281]

Last year I fell in love with Christopher Buehlman! Between Two Fires, the Lesser Dead, The Blacktongue Thief & The Daughter’s War! Recently I read Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon, whimsical, crude, funny & moving…5 stars, historical fiction in ancient Greece!

[@kathyorourke9273]

I’ve read every book by SK and what it is about him is that he fits right into my head.

[@nickchalmers9000]

10 Jack Carr - the James Reece vooks are absolutely incredible military thrillers 9 Tom Clancy - 2 words Jack Ryan 8 Stephen King - probably the best character writer of all time 7 Ursula K. Leguin - I haven't read anything by her that wasn't amazing 6 Robert Jordan - amazing world builder and one of the few fantasy authors that's not a Tolkien copycat 5 Jim Butcher- the Dresden Files is one of my favorite series of all time, probably the most fun you'll ever have turning pages 4 J.R.R. Tolkien - his style is very dry, but if you can get past that his stories will suck you right in, he almost single handedly created the fantasy genre 3 James Islington - the Licanius Trilogy is an epic of absolute perfection 2 Brandon Sanderson - some of the most creative world building and magic systems you'll ever read about 1 C.S. Lewis - the Great Divorce is one of my all time favorite books and the Weight of Glory may very well be the greatest sermon ever written.

[@dash4800]

Glad to hear the Gormenghast trilogy is really good. I picked it up at a bookstore completely randomly when searching for something new and I scrolled through and it looked really interesting. Haven't started it yet but now I'm looking forward to it.

[@will88TFs4Life]

We have similar tastes. My number 1 is Haruki Murakami. I dont think his stuff is weird, its just that there is more to the world than just us or what we see. Like a waking dream, which is similar to Neil Gaiman.

[@Federico1685]

In no particular order (literary fiction, no translations): Jane Austen Anthony Trollope George Eliot Thomas Hardy E. M. Forster Graham Greene Evelyn Waugh Arthur Wright Penn Philip Roth V. S. Naipaul Others (no translations): Robert Henlein Dan Simmons Philip K. Dick Michael McDowell Roger Zelazny Kurt Vonnegut Alfred Bester William Peter Blatty George RR Martin Tad Williams

[@mix-jk3ys]

If you liked asoiaf give the first law a try the only fantasy book with character work that rival asoiaf I highly recommend it

[@ViThePrincess]

My number one has to be Tolkien. I just always find myself coming back. And his extended lore books show a lot of love for his universe, and how much he is willing to go back to either change or embellish on his world. Plus his language skills not just creating a language but his way with words can often leave me in awe. Although I understand how hard it can be to read.

[@efrent-vr3bm]

I recently started watching your videos, they are quite entertaining Hope one day you make a video about which 5 books should be adapted into film or series? Congrats on 10k subs!!! keep up the excellent work!!

[@rammelbroadcasting]

Actually I just made that video last month lol

[@artscience9981]

Thanks! I love your enthusiasm! You’re getting me to consider authors and books I normally would not look at.

[@gaminghall-xr7mw]

I love your videos. Lots of great recommendations.

[@gabenedwek1060]

I just stumbled upon your channel and I absolutely love it! So many great videos to binge and so many books that I am adding to my reading list! Thanks for the great content and keep up the great work!

[@rammelbroadcasting]

@@gabenedwek1060 Thank you!

[@sisterhoney61]

I definitely agree with you with Lovecraft and King. They've been two of my favorite authors for a very long time.

[@christiancox9866]

Follow up idea because you mentioned it. Favorite "First impression" authors (I guess you could call it). Where you are excited and love their work but you're only read 1 of there books.

[@rammelbroadcasting]

That's a great idea!

[@dragonmammma]

Hah, I'm a 67 year old woman and Stephen King has been my favorite author for about 40 years. I got my book group (of other old ladies in their 60s and 70s) to read 11/22/63, and they all loved it. "Much better than I thought he would be!" was the general consensus.

[@prc789]

I would also put Frank Herbert on my list of great authors, but controversially it's not for Dune, But for his BuSab (Bureau of Sabotage) stories. H P Lovecraft is there as you say purely for the atmosphere he produces, I think the only other author I've read that comes close to the imagery he produces in my head is Edgar Allen Poe. Gene Wolfe's imagery is so good, that it catches you by surprise when you realise it's a far future world and not fantasy. I would suggest some of his other stuff

[@rammelbroadcasting]

I 100% agree about Gene Wolfe

[@lunarlibraries]

i think a lot of the authors you mentioned are great and will stand the test of time, and i'm especially excited to see murakami mentioned (one of my personal faves and not often spoken of), but i'm disappointed to not see a single woman mentioned. especially as an obvious fan of science fiction and fantasy, female authors have been just as important to the genre but without as much fanfare and credit. i'd love to see you focus on reading some of the greats from this side and see how your list shifts after that. especially ursula k. leguin, you mentioned her and loving the one book you read from her but i think she'd easily make this list if you read more of her works.

[@martindinga792]

Hey, I’m really enjoying this channel! Do you have a list or document with all the books and mangas you've reviewed? It would be great to easily find your top picks :)

[@mtverv]

My Top 2 Authors are Brandon Sanderson and Jim Butcher and I don’t see those 2 spots changing anytime soon but Timothy Zahn, Kevin J. Anderson, KA Applegate (for Animorphs the best Middle Grade book Series Ever and it’s not particularly close), Pittacus Lore (a pseudonym for the group of writers responsible for the Lorien Legacies Series), Stephen King, Brian McClellan, Patricia Briggs (for her Mercy Thompson Series), and Cassandra Clare (for her Shadowhunters books) have all spent time giving me a lot of enjoyment. If we get to include Japanese writers like you did here I can’t not include Manga Titans like Eiichiro Oda, Hirohiko Araki, Yoshihiro Togashi, Hiromu Arakawa, and Akira Toriyama here

[@sk70091]

King is my favorite too. He's such a great storyteller, and I just fall in love with his characters every single time.

[@j.p.lovecraft1826]

I dig your channel a lot. Keep it going 🤘 Where do you get your sci-fi shirts btw?

[@rammelbroadcasting]

Outofprint.com

[@aaryantawhare1513]

I am absolutely jealous of people who love King. I don't why I just cant get into his work but, I am happy for all of you who love him. I guess DT is in my alley so I can try that.

[@San-li9ml]

I read the shining recently, and man did I go nearly insane, and not in the way the novel intended. Stephen King shows everything that happens, EVERYTHING, he describes the smallest detail of a man's fingers. So when reading the book, 20 pages could be spent with Jack in the basement doing his job. Interesting at first, not interesting on the third time he does that. Still, I enjoyed the book, and will consider trying his other work, but his style is definitely not for me.

[@coolpiraterapstar]

I think he overly verbose. He could definitely cut his stories back

[@astralandreid]

I totally understand you. I really like some of his books, but they're not many, his style and prose isn't necessarily my taste, but I do love the way he unfolds stories and creates characters with depth which is maybe his biggest forte

[@San-li9ml]

@@reneenyberg4832 Same thoughts, I liked the story for the most part, the prose was just not very appealing. The movie is great, though it is so different from the book I see it as a separate property at that point lmao.

[@sk70091]

@@San-li9ml The Shining is not one of his best, in my opinion. Try reading its sequel Doctor Sleep. I enjoyed that one a lot more.

[@theslugboiii5969]

Tolkien, HG Wells, William Gibson, Jeff VanderMeer, Asimov all up there for me

[@author.gggodchild]

You did it! Ha! Great list, brother!

[@malibovo1]

Murakami aside, our tastes align. If you are open to sugestions here are some authors I can name: Zadie Smith, Jonathan Lethem, Michel Faber, Michael Chabon, Richard Ford, David Foster Wallace, Joseph Heller, Emily St. John Mandel, Tom Wolfe and rhe king of them all Thomas Pynchon.

[@hellofrominside8524]

I’m a born and raised Mainer and frequent the Bangor area but I’ve never read a Steven King book. I’m not a horror fan and I’m pretty sure I’ll be kicked out of the state if I don’t read one of his books so what would folks recommend as a starting point?

[@karenjohnson9270]

I'd go with a short story collection. That's how I started. Good ones are Graveyard Shift, Nightmares & Dreamscapes and Everything's Eventual

[@waymire01]

I'd have to think about it for a while. I've read so many books. For me a favorite author is someone who I have connected with throughout their entire bibliography. For example I adore The Broken Earth trilogy by NK Jemisin (reread four times and counting), but I haven't liked anything else I've read by her. My #1 is easy.. Stephen King. I've been reading him since the early 80's and I've read everything he has ever written, to my knowledge. I just bathe in his stories, they are my comfort food which is odd for something that can be so bleak, but it's true. When I'm having a bad time, I start rereading King. I'm not sure what I'm going to do when we lose him, it's going to be a very bad day for me. His son, Joe Hill was my hope for the future. Unfortunately he hasn't been especially prolific but I love all of his books.. I just wish he would write more. He has his own voice but enough of his dad in him that I get that same feeling from his writing. Next would be an author few people have ever heard about... R. Lee Smith. She's an independent author that writes a mix of scifi/fantasy/romance.. but her books are like nothing else I've ever read. So deep, so unique, and I've loved everything she has ever written. She had a bit of a nervous breakdown, removed herself from public access, and stopped promoting her work.. but we fans keep hoping for the future. If anyone wants to try I would suggest The Last Hour of Gann to start. A possible contender is Adrian Tchaikovsky, who I only discovered last year.. I've read six of his books so far and loved each of them, not a dud in the bunch.

[@coolpiraterapstar]

My favourite is Kazuo Ishiguro

[@OrcmanRepugnant]

I’ve read SK for 35 years. I’ve read them all. If you haven’t read Hearts in Atlantis, get to it immediately. Some of his best writing is in this book. When the boys start laughing in Hearts, it is strange and haunting.

[@sabatheus]

1. J.R.R. Tolkien ( you know I'm right, just admit it) 2. William Gibson (Neuromancer is still ahead of its time) 3. Philip K. Dick 4. H.P. Lovecraft 5. Frank Herbert 6. Neal Stevenson (The Diamond Age alone puts him on this list. Absolute masterpiece) 7. Stephen King 8. Piers Anthony (Apprentice Adept, Xanth) 9. Arthur C. Clark 10 Dan Simmons (Hyperion)

[@kristentaylor5359]

I heard you say Ray Bradbury wrote Brave New World, but that was Aldous Huxley. I agree about Something Wicked though, it's SOOOO good I've always loved King's writing, though I think he could benefit from a good editing at times.

[@briant7265]

He was comparing Fahrenheit 451 to 1984 and Brave New World.

[@kristentaylor5359]

@@briant7265 ok thanks

[@rachelmccann8960]

I would add Neil Gaiman but, otherwise, solid list.

[@jakehixon4073]

King is my favourite no question of that, incredibly entertaining and insanely imaginative

[@heidi6281]

Titus Groan on my tbr! The free library audio app Hoopla has it!

[@Greenslime300]

Based on this list, seems like China Mieville would be a great fit

[@rammelbroadcasting]

I have had him on my radar for a while now. I'm really looking forward to reading his work.

[@mirelaRo]

Agatha Christie, Stephen King, John Saul, PD James 😂

[@shadowx7107]

I do say that George R. R. Martin needs ATLEAST an honorable mention in this list.

[@creedecriswell634]

@@shadowx7107 if he ever finishes his work.

[@rammelbroadcasting]

He was on the short list for this video. He just barely didn't make it.

[@darstar217]

I don’t know if I’ve read enough to have a top ten, but I will say that so far my favorite author is probably Anne Rice.

[@anonymes2884]

Not gonna rank them, to me that's kind of impossible (so in order I thought of them :): Raymond Chandler William Gibson Bob Shaw Ursula Le Guin Iain Banks (with or without the 'M' :) Greg Egan Terry Pratchett Jorge Luis Borges Ray Bradbury HG Wells (honorary mentions, aka "blatant cheating" :): Ted Chiang, Eileen Gunn, Arthur C Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Kurt Vonnegut, Katherine Mansfield, Stephen King and Joseph Heller - the latter of which wrote _maybe_ my favourite novel in 'Catch-22' but who, based on body of work as a whole, I just can't put in my top 10 authors)

[@mimasan85]

I'm 39 and my favorite author is Brando Sando 😂. But I love Stephen King too. The Green Mile was the first book to make me sob like a baby 🥹.

[@kacie-jobradford2632]

Omg... I don't think I cried reading The Road. 😧 My soul!!!

[@jennifermorris6848]

I have watched a few of your videos and now have subscribed. The algorithm wants me too. May I offer an author I’ve only just recently discovered myself? Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Shadow of the Wind is the first in a series. It opened a world to me I didn’t know I needed.

[@rammelbroadcasting]

I'll check it out

[@johncampbell5333]

“Brando Sando “ 😂 is that Brandon Sanderson?

[@rammelbroadcasting]

yep

[@bazoo513]

3:00 - I can forgive you all except Ursula K. Le Guin. How can an avid reader of your age _not_ have read at least five of her novels and novellas ?!?

[@outtascope]

How TF you only read one Neal Stephenson book? Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon and The Baroque Cycle series are the minimum set you must read. Cryptonomicon in particular is my favorite book all time, depending on the day of week and time of day that you ask me.

[@52andtuck]

Whats the outro song? Looking all over for it hahaha

[@aldokurti3272]

What books of Clive Barker have you read?

[@rammelbroadcasting]

The damnation game and Hellboud heart.

[@aldokurti3272]

@@rammelbroadcasting Those are classics. If you are interested in short stories of barker I recommend the books of blood. They are pretty horror fiction. And if you're interested in some of his long form projects I would recommend a personal favourits of mine being the books of abarat.

[@anonymes2884]

Just to second the "Books of Blood" rec, _great_ selection of fantasy/horror short-stories IMO (including the basis for e.g. 'Candyman' among other horror movies). Kind of low-key changed the game when it came out i'd say.

[@MattMcQueen1]

I'd have to replace one of those (possibly Ken Liu) with Iain (M.) Banks, both for his science fiction and non science fiction. Ted Chiang probably also belongs in there.

[@JackManhire]

If you like King, try Arkhem J Cain. Stephen King meets Malachi Martin.

[@tasosalexiadis7748]

Gene Wolfe is no 1 for me by a long shot but yes Stephen King is good!

[@pieohpah69]

Stephen King Clive Barker Philip K Dick Andy Weir Isaac Asimov Joyce Carol Oates Michael Crichton Peter Clines Ernest Cline

[@monoludico6166]

This, of course, is an imposible task to achieve. You simply cannot find the 10 best literature authors in history. Nobody can.

[@allbullaside7778]

Brando Sando? Brandon Sanderson is a beast with the pen.

[@kruppecauthon3475]

Man, I can't wait for you to get to Steven Erikson

[@adeoayoola]

Between Cormac McCarthy and Vladmir Nabokov not sure whose a better craftsman, technicians really

[@maryjobst]

Harlan Ellison . . . anyone?

[@samhartje723]

Isn’t he racist and intensely misogynistic?

[@lynbattersby]

No Vonnegut? No China Mieville? No Palahniak? But Stephen King? You disappoint me, sir.

[@The.Big.Wiener]

Isaac Asimov is NOT on your list??? Why?

[@christopherrousseau1173]

Wow. So no Agatha Christie? Listening to your list it sounds primarily a list of the greatest Scifi writers...

[@allbullaside7778]

How dare you leave out Robert Jordan!!!

[@AloBal-n1g]

King for teens

[@chase36chase]

ferdinand celine

[@cannibalisticwolf3319]

King is still the King. Love, a 30 year old.

[@Hako.houamria]

Hey where is George RRM 😔

[@jasonw586]

Stephen King is the GOAT!

[@adrenalin2957]

Dostoevsky? Tolstoy?

[@csabrendeki]

"Of all time" - all authors from the 20th and 21st century... xd

[@justduckyme62]

H Beam Piper

[@marieroberts5664]

Umm, how did you only read only one book by LeGuin??? And which one??? She is wide ranging, both Sci-fi and Fantasy. Whatever you read, read more!

[@rammelbroadcasting]

Like I said, I have a problem, lol. And the book I read would be the left hand of darkness. Actually I just realized as I am responding that I was wrong. Actually, I have read two because earlier this year I read wizard of earthsea 🤦‍♂️

[@marieroberts5664]

@@rammelbroadcasting wow! Did not think I'd get a response, thank ye! Now to business. LeGuin has done absolutely fabulous stuff, but like potato chips, how did you read "A Wizard of Earthsea" and not keep going? There are five books in the main trilogy now...and not to mention the short stories. Also, not sure that you noticed, but she was writing about non-white people in fantasy lands or among the stars, long LONG before it was fashionable. But you are in for a treat, the deeper you dive in. Except I will issue a warning about one of her most famous short stories...as you seem to be a fan of horror and philosophy, read "The Ones Who Walked Away from Omelas". But again, I am not joking...this is only four pages long, but packs a punch. A long gutbusting suckerpunch. Read it during the day, early enough to go do something about it! That way you won't feel so helpless. You don't even need to go to the library or seek out a short story collection, it's online in full for free. But wait until daylight. And old author from the 80s long eclipsed, but at the time was a mind blowing read - the Many Colored Land series, by Julian May. Oh, and are any of the great fantasy authors on your honorable mentions list? Tolkien? Gaiman? Pratchett? Lloyd Alexander? Andrew Lang or the Brothers Grimm (cheating, but but for them, this stuff would have been long lost)? Hans Christian Andersen? Mark Twain? Homer? LeGuin is already on there - but it seems your list is lacking some Anne McCaffrey and some Sheri Tepper and less portentous stuff ... Nancy Springer and Elizabeth Scarborough come to mind (back when a book could be around 200 pages and still be a good read). Lot of old stuff in the corners if you know where to look. Honestly, as a Mommy, I could haunt the children's section of the library and find all the good stuff before it became a major motion picture...speaking of Madeline L'Engle.

[@rammelbroadcasting]

@marieroberts5664 I don't read very much fantasy at all, which is why there aren't many fantasy authors on my list. Actually, this year, I decided to try and rectify that by adding a bunch of fantasy into my TBR. Which is how I read earthsea and also why I only read one. I was trying to get a quick taste of several different fantasy authors.

[@marieroberts5664]

@@rammelbroadcasting quick taste? Hmmm, well, with Tolkien, unless you read the short stories ("Farmer Giles of Ham" is fun and funny), there's nothing short about him. The Hobbit can be read in a day, but since the so-called Lord of the Rings 'trilogy' is just one long book that had to be split up for post WW2 paper scarcity, just reading Fellowship is like reading a third of Oliver Twist. You have to read the entire damned thing...must read the Prologue and recommend the Appendices. I read all four books, Hobbit plus the entire Rings and all the extras in a marathon three day read over Christmas vacation - from first thing in the morning (7 or 8 am) 'til my eyes couldn't stay open - midnight? 1 am? When a book was finished ? with breaks for meals and chores. There's a damned good reason these books have never been out of print since the 1950s. So read the books (then watch the movies - the best parts of the Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings cone straight out of the books, do the Extended Editions and dive into the extras, they are amazing!). The rest of the canon can be taken at leisure, but to get Tolkien, you have to start at the beginning. Both McCaffrey and LeGuin wrote both Sci-fi and fantasy...the McCaffrey novels set in the world of Pern are sci-fi, but with genetically engineered fire breathing dragons, who have gone back to more or less medieval tech and political/social structures. LeGuin likes to play with advanced civilizations bumping up with not so advanced civilizations. Julian May is absolutely sci-fi...with elves, elves with a Romulan flare (not that the author is cribbing Trek, but it comes to my mind that's an easy way to describe these elves). But since I haven't seen a single book from that author since my series went into the mover's box, you might have to try the library or the used book store. I don't read much sci-fi, so can't give you much more there. Oh, merely because my friends always loved it, the whole series of stories about Elric of Malnimbone (sp?) a little much for me, but, like I said highly regarded. Much modern stuff hasn't interested me at all, so I stick to the old things... sometimes it's good to go back there. The Wind in the Willows is pure magic. And I find it interesting and puzzling that more and more, fewer and fewer female authors are writing sci-fi, and fewer are writing fantasy. Used to be that women were all over the post Tolkien landscape, but now? Anyways, if you want more rec

[@AloBal-n1g]

Tom clancy

[@AloBal-n1g]

Don delilo

[@DonovanGG__]

No Robert Jordan is certainly a choice

[@Jdanej]

One McCarthy book is all you need. He is vastly overrated.

[@miquebts]

The road was very disappointing... No plans to read more from him

[@marthacanady9441]

The only person on this ludicrous list that I could possibly agree with is Ishiguro. The rest... don’t be ridiculous. If you were talking about recent modern authors, maybe, but authors of all time? Hopeless

[@kathyorourke9273]

Never let me go made me cry and cry!

[@shannonbreen3732]

I was waiting for it… If you hadn’t put Stephen King on this list I don’t think I could have connected with you and your content anymore. He is also my absolute favorite author of all time. 👀to 👀.Just so you know, I think Stephen King is an absolute genius and I’m madly in love with his mind. ❤

[@creedecriswell634]

My favorite author is God you know the author of the Bible.

[@shadowx7107]

which one? like which book?

[@cynfaelalek-walker7003]

Don't you mean Paul?

[@nickchalmers9000]

​@@cynfaelalek-walker7003Paul only co-authored most of the New Testament, at least 77 different men wrote the scriptures but all of them were working under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, a.k.a. God.

[@anonymes2884]

Bit saggy in the middle IMO - too much "begatting".

[@kathyorourke9273]

God is no fun!