My Top Five Authors
I have been reading science fiction for over 40 years now and my favorites come and go, so it is difficult for me to ever say that I had only five top authors. Recently, the widow of a friend of mine (George Proctor died last year—he and I co-authored the Swords of Raemllyn books making their way back into print here at Legends) tried to use one of his security questions to unearth a password. The question appeared simple: who is your favorite author? So far she has tried more than 20 different names and has yet to hit the magic entry point. It’s sort of like that with me, too. Not that I am dead, mind you, but it is hard to hit a moving target and my favorite authors change over the years.

As a result, this list is not so much my five favorite ones, though the #1 definitely is, but more like the ones who have influenced me and who have less attention directed at them then the more famous ones such as Isaac Asimov. Most of all, they are the authors I enjoyed reading the most.

5. A. Bertram Chandler was the captain of a cargo ship plying between Tasmania and Australia. He had plenty of time to write during the journeys, I suppose, and he penned the Rim of Space saga about, of course, tramp cargo vessels out at the edge of the galaxy. Ghost ships like the earthly Flying Dutchman and strange anomalies from the star drive are just some of the fanciful tales Chandler gave us. I was never disappointed in any of the dozens of books Chandler wrote, and he did one of the classic short stories of all time, “The Cage” where the humans could not prove to their alien captors they were intelligent until the aliens saw the humans catch a small rat and put it into a cage as a pet. You can think on that one about what makes for intelligence.
4. Andre Norton was one of those multitalented authors who switched between fantasy and science fiction easily. She always managed to deliver a fine story with elements that were more than simple space opera. One of my favorites of hers, Star Guard, has a plot that someday I will figure out how to steal! She did time travel stories but the galaxy spanning ones set on alien worlds she wrote so well are my favorites.
3. Let me see. Keith Laumer, EC Tubb, Doc Smith, ERB—who should I pick for the tried-and-true space opera? I think I have to go with Poul Anderson. He did marvelously funny stories and yet never made them into parodies. He had a knack for doing characters in strange situations where they had to use their wit to triumph and always did. The incomparable Nicholas Van Rijn is a classic figure in science fiction, a character of Falstaffian proportions. You can’t go wrong with any of the Technic Civilization stories. I never have.
2. John Brunner wrote some the most prescient science-fiction novels ever and for some reason he is almost ignored today. Philip K. Dick has a never-ending string of movies made from his work, even the minor pieces. Where is the admiration and acknowledgment of Shockwave Rider or The Sheep Look Up? What about The Squares of the City or any of the dozens of space opera adventures that John Brunner turned out under pen names for Ace doubles? Overpopulation, Trojan worms, so many other ahead of their time ideas—all done by the commensurate skill of John Brunner.
1. Robert A. Heinlein is almost a cliché to the list as number one on anyone’s list, but here he is. When I discovered his books, the earlier ones were all that were available (I discovered them at a very young age). Things like Rocketship Galileo are minor, to say the least. But by the time I hit the other juveniles he was writing in the 50s, I was hooked. The Rolling Stones, Star Man Jones, and the incredible book that no one should miss Have Spacesuit Will Travel, are all appealing on many levels. My all-time favorite of his has to be Starship Troopers, which somehow gets tossed into the juvenile pile, but certainly not in the age group as Have Spacesuit. Ignore the stupid movie, read the book. I have to credit Heinlein with pointing me toward libertarianism as a political philosophy and giving me many hours of enjoyment over the years. Alas, my enthusiasm for his work took a huge nosedive as he became mainstream popular. My last favorite book of his has to be The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress. His best-selling books I find virtually unreadable and narcissistic. Or should that be solipsistic? For the early Heinlein, however, I have nothing but sheer admiration and enjoyment from this end of the universe.

The downside of listing only five is missing the author of my all-time favorite book, Dune. Frank Herbert did much more than this and his Soul Catcher is a startling, surprising non-science fiction book. Of course, there are so many other authors that I have read and loved over the years. And that doesn’t even take into account the authors currently working whom I really enjoy reading. Perhaps more later on them.

Bob Vardeman
www.cenotaphroad.com