Kevin's Watch

Hi guys!

Well, the results are in! I've just finished tallying the votes for our top 5 list of our favourite fantasy writers of all time. A big thank you to all who participated!

To view the entire list, check out www.fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com

I started a new topic, because I figured that many people would want to comment on this one! As you'll see, some of the results are a bit surprising.

Patrick

Thanks for posting the results:)

As I thought cleary choices of where the poll was set up (as you listed for us earlier)was a huge factor. It look's like a who's who of mainstream authors. It's rather interesting, I think if you would have posted on a site deciated to Rowling I would sumise she would be #1 by far.

I can't say I agree at all with popular opinion in regards to all time top 5 for any listed besides Tolkien, which is more a relief than disappointment anyway:)

Thanks Again for the poll and results.

If I had not been the one to tally the results, I would have agreed with you. But there were some interesting surprises, to say the least.

On wotmania.com, for example, my post was removed from the WOT message board and only appeared on the Other Fantasy Message board, precluding hordes of Robert Jordan from voting. I'm afraid that fans of the OF board don't hold Jordan in very much esteem. Hence, as crazy as it may sound, Jordan received most of his votes from elsewhere.

Other than Tolkien, Martin received the most vote. He was almost a unanimous choice on every list. Same thing goes for Robin Hobb, who was popular regardless of the message board posters.

I have to admit that I'm surprised by the inclusion of Steven Erikson, with him being relatively new. I'm not debating whether he is good or not. Neil Gaiman was the biggest surprise. And I thought that Kay would have ranked much higher...

See you all next time!

Patrick

pat5150 wrote:I have to admit that I'm surprised by the inclusion of Steven Erikson, with him being relatively new. I'm not debating whether he is good or not. Neil Gaiman was the biggest surprise. And I thought that Kay would have ranked much higher...

I don't profess to know what the other voters were thinking, but I can say why I voted for Gaiman and not Kay. Gaiman's work seems to me to be more directly imaginative. Most of Kay's work is a sort of historical roman à clef. He has written books about mediaeval Spain and Provence, early Byzantium, and (I think) other clearly identifiable historical periods, with the serial numbers filed off so he would not be bound by the details of historical events. I admire and respect his work, but I don't think it's as inventive or important as Gaiman's.

No Wolfe. And that's all I'm going to say.