Comment Re:MHO... (Score 1) 843
* Lois McMaster Bujold.
Go on. I dare you, dismiss it as space opera. Okay, it is space opera, but all her books are great, widely read, Hugo- and Nebula-award-winning, ...
Have to second LMB. The Vorkosigan series is witty, intelligent, occasionally wrenching, and always thoroughly clever.
I notice Connie Willis hasn't been mentioned in the higher-ranking posts. She's a multiple Nebula winner, with awards in every prose category (multiples in most). Also a multiple Hugo winner. The Doomsday Book (unbelieveable), To Say Nothing Of The Dog (same "universe", fab), Bellwether (hilarious), Passage (wrenching), Remake (clever), Miracle and Other Christmas Stories (excellent year-round), Firewatch (more great shorts), Impossible Things (still more, including "Even the Queen"), Lincoln's Dreams, etc...
Willis will definitely stand the test of time.
Douglas Adams is a given. (Since we're talking somewhat recently deceased, add Anthony Burgess to the list.)
Other possibles: Sherri S. Tepper (some brilliant post-apocalyptic books, and a very different take on fairy tales in Beauty); J.K. Rowling (I think the Harry Potter books will likely become children's classics, at the very least); Terry Pratchet (will "silly" stand the test of time?); Neal Stephenson (probable, but not guaranteed); Piers Anthony (again the silly, including the Incarnations of Immortality, but also the serious, such as the Geodyssey series).
In the "some of their stuff will stand the test of time, most won't" category, Stephen King and Anne Rice are contenders. Some of their early novels will last, but they'll have huge OOP lists.
Have to second LMB. The Vorkosigan series is witty, intelligent, occasionally wrenching, and always thoroughly clever.
I notice Connie Willis hasn't been mentioned in the higher-ranking posts. She's a multiple Nebula winner, with awards in every prose category (multiples in most). Also a multiple Hugo winner. The Doomsday Book (unbelieveable), To Say Nothing Of The Dog (same "universe", fab), Bellwether (hilarious), Passage (wrenching), Remake (clever), Miracle and Other Christmas Stories (excellent year-round), Firewatch (more great shorts), Impossible Things (still more, including "Even the Queen"), Lincoln's Dreams, etc...
Willis will definitely stand the test of time.
Douglas Adams is a given. (Since we're talking somewhat recently deceased, add Anthony Burgess to the list.)
Other possibles: Sherri S. Tepper (some brilliant post-apocalyptic books, and a very different take on fairy tales in Beauty); J.K. Rowling (I think the Harry Potter books will likely become children's classics, at the very least); Terry Pratchet (will "silly" stand the test of time?); Neal Stephenson (probable, but not guaranteed); Piers Anthony (again the silly, including the Incarnations of Immortality, but also the serious, such as the Geodyssey series).
In the "some of their stuff will stand the test of time, most won't" category, Stephen King and Anne Rice are contenders. Some of their early novels will last, but they'll have huge OOP lists.
