My Top Ten Favorite Authors

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish.

I can already hear the moans of dismay. I'll bet a lot of people had problems with this prompt this week. Honestly, even though this isn't something I often think about, I really don't think this will be a difficult week for me at all. There's some people that I just knew, without even thinking about it, would be on this list. I limited this to authors that I've read more than one book by because, let's face it, one book isn't always a good indication whether or not the author will be a favorite. (So, that means no Rosamund Hodge. Sadly enough.) And, yes, these are roughly in order. (I made up that stupid rule about having to read more than one book by an author before I read Rhiannon Thomas's A Wicked Thing. I love the book and I love Ms. Thomas' blog, Feminist Fiction.)

My Top Ten Favorite Authors

#10
Chris Wooding
Author of The Tales of the Ketty Jay series as well as others.
This was the last author I wrote down, and it was not an easy choice to make. Finally, he got this slot because of the wonderful world that he's created and the ever changing characters that inhabit it. (This is what adventure steampunk is supposed to be.)

#9
Jen Turano
Author of the Ladies of Distinction series and the A Class of Their Own series.
A new author for me, but I just love her writing. Really, it reminds me a bit of those zany, screwball romance/comedies (like Grant and Hepburn; Ball and Hope) from the early years of film. The books are so funny and very lighthearted.

#8
Kady Cross
Author of the Steampunk Chronicles.
Okay, what's not to love? Awesome characters, great plots all wrapped up in steampunk gadgetry. I know this is a pen-name (or the others are pen-names...or something) for an author that has written many stories. I promise I'll eventually check them all out.

#7
Jeff Grubb (with or without Kate Novak)
Author of the Finder's Stone trilogy, The Ice Age Cycle as well as several stand alone novels.
Fun books with always likable people. Seriously, what could a girl that was just getting started in fantasy ask for?

#6
Elaine Cunningham
Author of the Songs & Swords series, the Counselors & Kings trilogy, the Starlight & Shadows trilogy and many more books.
One of my first two authors in fantasy books ever. Such awesome books and great characters and my adoration for this author was complete when she was quoted as saying something along the lines of 'the reason she doesn't have a photo in the back of her books is because it shouldn't matter if the author is male, female or sentient dolphin'.

#5
Don Bassingthwaite
Author of The Dragon Below trilogy and The Legacy of Dahkaan trilogy plus assorted other books.
The first books I ever read where the author simply chose to maim his characters instead of killing them. In The Dragon Below alone, there are two characters that lose an arm each and one that loses an eye. And that's only the ones I remember. I think this really helped to shape the type of fantasy books I like: lots of blood but little death.

#4
Lindsay Buroker
Author of The Emperor's Edge series and Dragon's Blood series plus many other series as well as others under a pen-name. (Or two.)
I love Lindsay's books. She's an indie author and is so active on the web. (Yes, I've visited her blog a few times - it's got a lot of information on indie publishing.) Her characters are simply so much fun and I adore her writing style.

#3

Gail Carriger

Author of the Parasol Protectorate series, the Finishing School series and the Custard Protocol series.

One of the few authors on this list whose blog I've actually visited (at least before this post). Besides being a great author, she is always posting on her blog and keeping her stalkers fans up to date. I adore her sense of humor and the amazing characters she's created. Not to even get into how much I love the world she has created (with all it's steampunkery).

#2
Elizabeth Peters
Author of the Amelia Peabody series, the Vicky Bliss series, the Jacquline Kirby series as well as numerous standalone novels and many gothic mysteries under the pen name Barbara Michaels.
Elizabeth has been one of my favorite authors ever since I was introduced to her 12+ years ago. I love her writing style and the wonderful sense of humor they have.

#1
Michael J. Sullivan
Author of The Riyria Revelations series, it's prequel, The Riyria Chronicles, Hollow Man and the upcoming Rhune series as well as others.
You had to know what was coming. If you've followed my blog at all over the past year-year and a half. This is the author of the books that always have to make a favorite list. Seriously, no 'favorite books' list of mine that would be complete without this author's works. There's few authors that have written books that are so perfect for me. The Riyria Revelations is exactly what I want my fantasy novels to be and I've ran across a few Q&A's with Michael on the net and he seems like a really great guy.


Now, the moment of truth. You see, whenever I make up a list like this, I'm always left with the question 'is there more male or female authors on this?' Bare in mind that I didn't try for one or the other, I just wrote down my favorite authors. Going back and counting it... 6-4 girls over guys. That actually probably a fairly accurate representation of how much I read each gender.

So, who are your favorite authors? Leave me a link and I'll stop by.