Inaugural Post: Favorite Authors and Works

So who are my favorite authors and works?

For science fiction and fantasy, my favorites include Jack Vance (his entire opus), Glen Cook (Black Company and Dread Empire series), Iain M. Banks (The Culture), Dan Abnett (Eisenhorn, Ravenor, and Gaunt's Ghosts), and George R. R. Martin (A Song of Ice and Fire). I am also quite partial to the Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher, though I haven't liked his other work.

For crime, my favorite author is, without a doubt, George Pelecanos (really nice guy too; met him at a number of book signings in the DC area). George C. Chesbro's Mongo the Magnificent series is right up there though.

For horror and "weird fiction," my tastes run to much of the Cthulhu Mythos by H. P. Lovecraft, though I also like Clark Ashton Smith a lot, as well as earlier Stephen King (pretty much everything through, say, Gerald's Game). Dan Simmons is a favorite as well (his science fiction is good too)

For pulp fiction, my favorite is definitely the Shadow series by Maxwell Grant. I am also slowly but surely acquiring Sax Rohmer (of Fu Manchu fame)'s complete works.

For history, I usually read twentieth century U.S. history (since this coincides with my research), often involving military or intelligence history.

For historical fiction, my favorite author is George Macdonald Fraser, creator of Flashman. The Sharpe's series is not high literature, but it's a guilty pleasure too.

For graphic novels, I generally only purchase ones for which I don't read the individual issues (I read a handful of DC comics), so my favorite ones are the various Hellboy and BPRD titles, Y: The Last Man, and Fables.