Who do you consider a Great Author of the last 50 years or so (first well-known work after 1970)? I'd like to get a feel for who's who in modern literature. Any language/culture. Fiction only.
Who do you consider a Great Author of the last 50 years or so (first well-known work after 1970)? I'd like to get a feel for who's who in modern literature. Any language/culture. Fiction only.
Bonus points for any books you believe are classics from that time period. Any language, but only fiction please.
I'm really excited to see what Lemmy has.
Neil Gaiman
Sir Terry Pratchett.
A phenomenal author whose ability to weave a story is fantastic, but was also adept at writing in jokes and references that make re-reading the novels a delight.
He died in 1982 but his works are hugely influential:
Philip K Dick.Brandon Sanderson
The man is a top flight book generating machine. Where he's taking the Cosmere, I don't know, but I'm gladly awaiting for the novels he'll write the in future to find out. Reading the Stormlight Archive and Mistborn is a joy.
I also really enjoyed how he wrapped up The Wheel of Time. He is much less reluctant to kill off characters than many other authors, and that series needed some serious character culling to bring closure.
Douglas Adams is undoubtedly one of the greatest writers of the period.
He is known for light, surrealistic science fiction comedy, not a genre generally considered "high art" but his mastery of language is superb. He is a master of analogies in a way that is both funny but also makes the reader think about the roles and conventions of symbolism in language.
Terry Pratchett (first book 1971 so barely counts haha)
This isn't a perfect example but Cormac McCarthy has been my favourite author for years now, and his first major work Suttree was from '79.
My all time favourites novel is Blood Meridian from 1985. If you're familiar with metamodernism, which is basically very modern works that have their cake and eat it when it comes to modernist ideals and postmodern critique, you'd clock that practically every western is either a modernist white hat western or a metamodern "the west is grim and hard, but also fucking cool" western. The only straight postmodern takes on the west that I know of are either Blood Meridian or pieces of work that take direct notes from it, such as the films Dead Man from '95 (except maybe the Oregon Trail video game from. 85'). Blood Meridian otherwise is a fantastic novel which meditates on madness and cruelty, religion and fate, race, war and conquest and so many other themes. It also has one of the best antagonists ever written in Judge Holden, a character who I would have called a direct insert of Satan if not for the fact that his deeds and the novel as a whole are closely inspired by true events. I feel the novel takes inspiration from Apocalypse Now, specifically the '79 film and not Conrad's 1899 novel Heart of Darkness. If you enjoy that film, you're likely to enjoy this book. The opening and closing chapters are fantastic, but I often find myself re-reading chapter 14. It has some of the best prose and monologues of the entire novel, and encompasses in my opinion the main turning point of the novel.
His other legendary work is The Road, a 2006 post-apocalyptic novel. I'll talk on this one less but as our climate crisis grows and our cultural zeitgeist swings more towards this being the critical issue of our time, the novel fantastically paints itself as both a fantastic warning to our 21st century apocalypse and the unresolved 20th century shadow of nuclear winter. Despite this, it hones in on a meditation of parenthood and could be considered solely about that, with other themes of death, trauma, survival and mortality being explored through parenthood. Of course the unsalvageable deatg of the world that make the setting also makes this theme extra tragic. There is an adaptation into a film from 2008 but it isn't anywhere near as potent as the novel and I'd suggest should only be seen in tandem with reading the novel. The prize of this novel has really evolved to fit the novel too. McCarthy is renowned for his punctuation lacking prose, but where Blood Meridian is practically biblical in its dramatic and beautiful prose which juxtaposes the plain and brutal violence, The Road sacrifices no beauty in it's language but is so somber and meanders from mostly terse to so florid, while also always perfectly feels like how the protagonists are seeing their world.
Two authors I haven't surprisingly seen mentioned
Neil Gaiman is great. If you haven't read his works yet, start with *the ocean at the end of the lane". A wonderful, short read.
This second one is going to be controversial.
George RR Martin. The books are actually well written, and yes the final book probably won't get written, but it won't take away from your enjoyment. He is a very good writer.
Cormac McCarthy, wrote some books you might have seen as movies such as The Road and No Country for Old Men.
Blood Meridian or The Evening Redness in the West is a crazy good book.
Andy Weir -from a not too avid reader
Terry Pratchett! The Discworld books have kept me busy for years now and I don't even consider myself much of a reader.
Really love how nobody is hating on any of the replies here.
- Greg Egan
- Rudy Rucker
- Vernor Vinge
Hard, computational SF aren't given nearly the respect they should, and these apply math, comp sci, and physics in a way nobody else does. If there's any civilization in the future, they'll be seen as visionary.
Runners-up are Robert L. Forward, Alastair Reynolds, but Forward has very little computation, and Reynolds doesn't show his math too often.
I haven't seen Chuck Palahniuk mentioned, and he was very influential to a bunch of us millenials, I imagine. He is very good at writing about the nihilism of modern times.
Fight Club is the most popular example of his novels, and its a great read. I am also really particular to, Rant:The Oral Biography of Buster. Its such a weird story, and was one of the first books to really spark my interest in reading fiction. He has a bunch of other good novels I would recommend, like Snuff, Choke, and Lullaby.
Haruki Murakami. I've liked everything he's written up to 1Q84. I'm sure his newer stuff is good too I just haven't caught up to them yet lol
If you want something more like hard sci-fi/cyberpunk, I recommend the Otherland series by Tad Williams. It's seriously probably the best modern sci-fi I've ever read
I would say Robin Hobb. She writes easy to read, character driven fantasy novels that gracefully deal with a gamut of difficult topics (e.g., orphanism, otherness, sexual violence, mortality, etc.). The books really helped me build empathy for people and concepts that were far afield of my own experience.
Ones that many people have mentioned: Atwood, Wallace, Murakami
One I don't think anyone has said yet - Paul Auster. I've only read New York Trilogy so far, but I thought it was superb.
My nominations will be limited in scope to fantasy and sci-fi, but there are a few stand outs. Now, on to my nominations.
There are so many amazing authors in our era, but I'll stick to a few only.
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Brandon Sanderson - he writes like a machine, churning out books in-between other books. He's unstoppable. I haven't enjoyed his latest stuff, but his early stuff is outstanding high fantasy. Way of Kings blew my mind when I read it, and Mistborn was so original and awesome.
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Joe Ambercrombie - The Blade Itself is a wonderful book, as are all the follow-up novels
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Dan Simmons - The Hyperion Cantos is the most complex, outstanding, high-minded, thought provoking science fiction I've ever read.
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N. K. Jemisin - The Fifth Season and it's sequels are some of the most unique ideas I've ever read. It's incomparable to anything else. It stands alone in creativity.
Honorable mentions: William Gibson, Dennis E. Taylor,
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I hesitate to call her a great author in her own right and I detest her attitude towards transwomen. That said, J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series transformed the young adult fiction genre from a bit of a wasteland of Nancy Drew and Hardy Boy novels into a quality genre with significant cross-generational appeal.
I'll mention Orson Scott Card as well, but his books have worn thin over time as he squeezes every penny out of the Enderverse. Ender's Game got me through a miserable hospital stay as a young child, so it will always have a special place in my heart. Speaker for the Dead I also loved.
Consider Kazuo Ishiguro. I've only read Remains of the Day, and that was because I liked the movie, but the book is basically flawless.
So many good answers already that I agree with. So I'll add James Ellroy and Clive Barker
For Ellroy, the entire LA Quartet remains a pivotal sea change in "hard boiled" crime fiction; taking a lot of the conventions created by the likes of Hammett and Chandler and updating them for a modern audience.
Barker is a more personal choice. But his writing is just so evocative and descriptive that I couldn't NOT mention him. Imajica literally changed my literary life, with Weaveworld being (in my opinion) a less dense, more reader friendly version of Imajica.
Margaret Atwood
Philip Pullman of his dark materials fame?
I just thought of another: Bernard Cornwell. His novel series (Sharpe, The Last Kingdom, etc) are phenomenal historical fiction.
Gene Wolfe - the style of his sci-fi is mesmerizingly mysterious, even the mundane things described take on sinister tones
Guy Gavriel Kay. First book published in 1984, part of a trilogy that was Tolkien-esque, quite decent, but not exactly ground-breaking. He's since gone on to something a little more unique, which he describes as "historical fiction with a quarter-turn to the fantastic." Impeccably researched but set an alternate world that's a close but not exact mirror of our own. This allows him to take a few small liberties with historical accuracy in service of telling a better story. Personally I think he really hit his stride in 1995 with The Lions of Al-Rassan, and almost everything he's written since then has been exceptional.
Octavia Butler and her likely prophetic Sower series on how US descent is gonna occur
aside from some of the more obvious choices (rushdie, wallace, mccarthy, morrison):
don delillo, esp. underworld and white noise
ted chiang, esp. exhalation
marilyn robinson, esp. housekeeping
denis johnson, esp. jesus' son and tree of smoke
colson whitehead, esp. the intuitionist and the nickel boys
and while relatively new so maybe not at the same status as some other writers, jamil jan kochai and nana kwame adjei-brenyah will be making lists like these in the future if they keep writing the way they have.
Cixin Liu. Not only is the Remembrance of Earth's Past trilogy (Three Body Problem) epic, his short stories are really fun reads.
Henning Mankell for a bit of Scandi crime
And I don’t see anyone mentioning Doug Adams !?
Elmore Leonard. Dude was a massive influence on popular culture. He was instrumental in teaching Tarantino how to be Tarantino. He wrote the books that SO MANY great movies and television shows were based on.
Hunter Thompson. His gonzo style is often imitated but rarely duplicated. And it's such a goddamn simple concept, but no one else managed to do it with his flair.
Tom Robbins and Tim O'Brien
Gabriel Garcia Marquez started before 1970 but his career stretched long after.
Walter Moers is a German writer best known for creating 'Captain Bluebear' in my all time favorite book. He has since written several fantastic novels based on the continent Zamonia. In some ways I think you could compare bis work and way of writing to Terry Pratchett's.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Moers
Another German author that gave me lots of great hours of reading growing up is Cornelia Funke. For me it was mainly the book Dragonrider, but she is also well known for her Inkheart series and The Thief Lord.
Iain (M) Banks
China Mieville
Two of my faves
N. K. Jemison
Stephen King.
King of Horror.
He has written hundreds if not thousands of stories over the last half century. So many of those have turned into Blockbuster movie, lame TV movies, Indie films, and TV shows. We can argue later about how "literary" many of those stories are, but his impact on popular culture today is undeniable.
Although he has occasionally written or said some cringey things out of touch with the current zeitgeist (who hasn't?) and has struggled with his own demons, from what I've seen he has always demonstrated that at his core he's a decent human being struggling, like we all do, in a scary world.
Tamsyn Muir will almost certainly be remembered extremely positively. She’s only got a few books out so far, but they have such a distinctive voice and style that’s hard to compare to anyone but Shakespeare.
Idk if she holds up outside English though, everything else is great, but the way she plays with words is part of her appeal.
Thomas Pynchon.
Marilynne Robinson! "Housekeeping," "Gilead," absolutely stunning writer.
Roger Zelazny. Even though he started in the sixties, he was active through the 70s, 80s, and early 90s until his death. Fantastic world building and characters that feel very much like real people.
Australian author Peter Corris. Over 40 years or so, he wrote a lot of Australian non-fiction, including a
n autobiography of eye surgeon Fred Hollows, many Australian fiction books including The Winning Side (personally I think this is/should be a classic of Australian literature); and the Cliff Hardy series of Sydney-noir detective books.Edit: thanks to those that corrected me
Jose Saramago has some great books that really explore the human condition.
Oh, and for funny books, Tom Sharpe of course
Anyone mentioned John Boyne yet?
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas was really a YA book, but some of his other stuff is world class. A Ladder to the Sky, Heart's Invisible Furies etc
Lots of great sf/fantasy authors mentioned already, including some I'd argue for as great writers regardless of genre (Ursula K. Le Guin, Gene Wolfe, N. K. Jemisin).
I have three more to suggest in this genre and from this period:
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C. J. Cherryh (Cyteen, Foreigner series, lots more) uses the lens of alien societies -- just different enough from ours -- to make us look critically at the structure of our own;
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Sheri S. Tepper (Grass, Raising the Stones, The Gate to Women's Country) carries one or another of the dark currents underlying our culture to its horrifying conclusion, and shows us what we get;
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Lois McMaster Bujold (Vorkosigan saga) gives us a hilarious and improbable hero who utterly transcends his disabilities, in the end perfectly embodying what it seems he could never hope to be.
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Agree with plenty of the ones mentioned here, like: Stephenson, Egan and Murakami.
A very observant author is Peter Carey.
His wonderful book, Bliss was written in 1981 and felt like someone in 2010 looking back at the debauched mid 80s. Amazing foresight.
Sarah Waters
Terry Pratchett. Brandon Sanderson has a nice essay about Pratchett.
How in the hell has George Saunders not been brought up wtf?
To add one I haven't seen: Jane Smiley. I really enjoyed The Greenlanders, A Thousand Acres and Horse Heaven.
Andy McNabb
Roddy Doyle. Written as mainly dialogue, but with fabulous world building. Many of his books were made into movies, but they are more well known in Ireland than elsewhere. The commitments found international success. Plot wise, they’re not ground breaking, it’s his creation of characters and tackling some tough subjects.
Zadie smith. Again, slice of life, but with more of a point.
Dan brown, but only for energising thriller mysteries.
Robert Munsch
Thomas Pynchon and Don Delillo
Mikel Santiago in Spanish. So engaging.
Paulo Coelho
I've been loving Andy Weir's space trilogy (The Martian, Artemis, Project Hail Mary). I haven't been able to put his books down, and another one of his stories is currently in production for a film.
There's a lot of authors here I love so I'll mention one who isn't here.
Christopher Moore.
He writes fantastic, absurd, loving stories.
Alice Munro and Ursula K. LeGuin both deserve their own comments IMHO, if they’re in scope, as does Iris Murdoch.
No love for Dave Eggers? A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius was so so excellent, and there were sentences in You Shall Know Our Velocity! that made me weep with joy.
Graphite girl in archive of our own and Freedom Guard in fanfiction.net
Older than you asked for but I'd vote for Mervyn Peake
Then one that enjoyed but never heard that much about was Sophia McDougall