2. H.P. Lovecraft
Lovecraft's short stories are very delicate horror stories.
But even
that the stories stay at a very discreet level, they torn your mind
apart.
The horror is found on unknown. And on something, which cannot
be known. And once you've stepped
into this world of paranoia, it's
impossible to keep those images of horror away anymore...
(ERB: just about any short stories)
3. J.R.R. Tolkien
Middle-earth is the greatest imaginary universe in literature.
Tolkien is a great (the greatest!) storyteller and he has very thoroughly
thought every detail in this world.
It's a perfect story. And the old
style language he uses makes it a real fantasy which takes reader
complitely to this another world.
(ERB: The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, The Silmarillion, Unfinished
Tales)
4. Philip K. Dick
Who are we and what is reality? These are the questions to arise when you
read Philip K. Dick's books.
His dark world can be scary, but it's still strangely intrigueing; after
all, it's the dark world of our own mind...
(ERB: A scanner darkly)
5. Strugatski, Arkadi & Boris
Yes, these are actually two people, but they are brothers and worked
sometimes together,
so they maybe counted as one, I think. These are
Russian science fiction authors and their text
might seem a bit weird
at first. But anyway, these books give you definitely
an experience
hard to
forget. Try
them!
(ERB: Definitely Maybe, Hard to Be God)
6. Willian Gibson
The father of cyberpunk. It's really difficult to believe that Neuromancer
was written already in 1984!
It's a great story about computer
networks
and big corporations with lots of power.
This is again one of those
books
written by a man with a great vision of his own.
(ERB: Neuromancer, Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive)
7. Robert A. Heinlein
I haven't read too many books by Heinlein, but those I've read have been
excellent!
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress is absolutely one of the best books I've ever
read.
'Intensive' is probably the word to describe these trips to Heinlein's
strange universes.
(ERB: The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Job: A Comedy of Justice)
8. John Varley
I've only read one book by Varley. It was a short story collection called
Good-bye, Robinson Crusoe.
Those stories in the book are very humane
and
positive stories about humanity and how people change in a developing
world.
This book affects deeply on emotional level and in that way it
differs a lot from other books on this list.
(ERB: Good-bye, Robinson Crusoe)
9. Douglas Adams
Douglas Adams is a man with a great imagination and very extraordinary
sense of humor.
There isn't really any dull moment in his books. But
in addition to the well Hitch Hiker's Guide series,
Adams has also
written Dirk Gently series, which is maybe less 'crazy'
but has
similarily
fascinating humor and is absolutely worth reading.
(ERB: The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Dirk Gently's Holistic
Detective Agency)
10. Ursula Le Guin
Ursula Le Guin is great author in creating different kind of utopia like
societies.
The Earthsea Trilogy is a wonderful magic world, but it's
probably more suitable for younger readers.
Worlds described in
books by Ursula Le Guin are very realistic and real
problems of our
societies are shown from a different point of view.
(ERB: The Dispossessed, The Left Hand of Darkness)
And of course there are lots of other good writers I didn't mention.
Maybe I'll
write top 20 someday...
To get more detailed information (like biographies) about these authors, visit Link�ping Science Fiction and Fantasy Archive.