My Facebook feed showed me a post from an SF discussion group that wanted to know who the participant’s favorite authors were, based on the number of books they’d actually bought from that author. That got me curious, and also made me wish I had The Library properly cataloged (but that’s another whole topic). So, I went and did some counting…
Without further ado, here are my top 10 writers and the associated book counts:
- Andre Norton — 110
- Poul Anderson — 78
- C. J. Cherryh — 74
- John Sandford — 59
- William H. Keith — 57
- David Weber — 48
- Marion Zimmer Bradley — 47
- S. M. Stirling — 46
- E. C. Tubb — 45
- David Drake — 40
- John D. McDonald — 36
- George R. R. Martin — 34
- Lawrence Block — 34
Andre Norton tops the list. She was my gateway drug to speculative fiction when I was growing up, and I still have all her books. They were mostly squeaky clean, generally relatively short, SF/Fantasy adventure stories, often featuring female protagonists when that was rare. She was YA before YA was ever a thing.
Favorite Book: Star Born (my first, with the awesome Dean Ellis cover)
Poul Anderson was prolific, probably the best SF/Fantasy writer to never achieve much in the way of mainstream recognition, unlike Asimov, Clarke, and Heinlein. While some of his books are a tad dated now, most of them still read pretty well to modern sensibilities. His Technic Civilization series is particularly noteworthy.
Favorite Book: The Star Fox
C. J. Cherryh is probably my absolute favorite writer. She’ll top Poul Anderson on the list once I finish catching up on her Foreigner series.
Favorite Book: The Pride of Chanur
John Sandford is a best-selling Crime/Mystery writer. I love his books to death and currently own every book he’s ever written, most of them in hardcover. I have particularly enjoyed his Lucas Davenport series, and all the related books.
Favorite Book: Gathering Prey
William H. Keith writes mostly military SF stories, but he’s also written non-SF military fiction, as well as a bunch of tie-ins to various properties (Battletech, Keith Laumer’s Bolo series, etc.). He also writes under pseudonyms like Ian Douglas, H. J. Riker, and others.
Favorite Book: Bolo Rising
David Weber, well, I’m behind on his books, too, so he’ll likely climb higher on the list. His books are solid military adventures with excellent worldbuilding, especially militarily speaking.
Favorite Book: On Basilisk Station
Marion Zimmer Bradley. Sigh. Her personal reputation is trashed, and deservedly so. But her books are incredible, especially her Darkover series. She’s also dead and the proceeds of her book sales go to charity, so there’s no worry about personally supporting her. She was a top SF/Fantasy writer when successful women in the field were rare.
Favorite Book: Star of Danger
S. M. Stirling is probably most known for his Nantucket alternate reality series and the related Change series. However, he’s a prolific writer who has ranged across the SF, Fantasy, and Alternate History genres. He’s also collaborated with other authors such as Raymond Feist, Jerry Pournelle, Anne McCaffrey, and others.
Favorite Book: Dies the Fire
E. C. Tubb specialized in writing tight novellas and short novels. His biggest claim to fame is the 33-book Dumarest series. He’s also written the semi-YA Cap Kennedy series and various Space: 1999 tie-ins, including some original novels. He was prolific but is now mostly forgotten.
Favorite Book: Kalin (Book 4 in the Dumarest series)
David Drake was a top-selling military SF writer and also wrote a fair amount of Fantasy. I love his SF stuff, but the Fantasy doesn’t do as much for me. Your mileage may vary. Probably best known for his Hammer’s. Slammers and Lt. Leary series.
Favorite Book: The Forlorn Hope
John D. McDonald was a best-selling mystery writer back in the day. His biggest claim to fame is the 21-book Travis McGee series, about a self-proclaimed “salvage expert” who lives on a houseboat in Florida and occasionally solves crimes. He also wrote a lot of one-shot mystery books, as well as some more ambitious best-sellers later in his career. Some of his books are dated a bit now, though others hold up very nicely.
Favorite Book: The Last One Left
George R. R. Martin. Is there anyone who doesn’t know who he is? He’s most famous for the Game of Thrones series, but he’s written award-winning stories, screenplays, etc. I actually like his non-GOT stuff better, including his long-running Wild Cards anthology series. He hasn’t written that many novels, but his anthologies have propelled him up this list.
Favorite Book: Fevre Dream
Lawrence Block is a great Mystery writer, best known for his Matthew Scudder detective series. He’s also got a number of other series that I like. As mystery writers go, his writings are delightfully wide-ranging, covering detectives, thieves, spies, hitmen, criminals, etc.
Favorite Book: When the Sacred Ginmill Closes
So, there you have it, the Top 10 Writers in my Library based on the number of books I’ve purchased from them.
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