Who is the best science-fiction writer ever?

Answer 1

I think people will generally say "Jules Verne" -
Certainly Isaac Azimov would have. Personally,
I think Isaac Azimov is the best of the late 20th
century.

Of the "big three": Isaac Azimov, Robert Heinlein
and Arthur C. Clarke, only Clarke is still alive
(and very much still writing).

I thought all 3 were pretty spectacular, and damn
hard acts to follow, but Ellison and Varley are
very good reads (though not so much science as
fiction).

Answer 2

Isaac Asimov
Jules Verne
Frank Herbert
Harlan Ellison
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
Peter David
Douglas Adams

Answer 3

Obviously this is just personal preference, but I would have to say Philip K. Dick. He's responsible for such classics as the Hugo-award winning The Man in the High Castle, Do Androids Dream of Electronic Sheep? (which inspired the movie Blade Runner), A Scanner Darkly, and Flow My Tears the Policeman Said. He was a highly philosophical writer concerned with two questions in particular: what is human and what is reality? In addition to his novels, he was also a prolific short story writer. His shorts have included The Minority Report, Paycheck, We Can Remember It For You Wholesale (the inspiration for Total Recall), Shell Game, and Second Variety. He was very concerned with memory and the effects of drugs. He experimented heavily with drugs in the sixties and seventies, and the novel A Scanner Darkly is perhaps the closest parable of his own life and the effect drugs had on so many of his close friends. His work is definitely original, oftentimes borderline heretical, and always under-appreciated.

Answer 4

Arthur C Clarke would be the best author but one of the best science-fiction books I have read is Earth Abides by George R Stewart, and it is the only science-fiction book he ever wrote.

Answer 5

If you are talking pure science fiction probably Hal Clement. While not as prolific as Asimov he told a better story without the professorial intrusions.

Asimov did not write Sci-Fi. This term refers to stories and films written for the mass market without any attempt at scientific rationale or extrapolation.

Answer 6

In my opinion, no one ever has or ever will beat Isaac Asimov in the sci-fi genre. Isaac Asimov most likely would have said Jules Verne, but I'm not as fond of his stuff as I am of Asimov's.
Oh, and by the way, Dean Koontz is primarily a horror novelist with some crossover plots. Very little of his work is actually considered sci-fi.

Answer 7

Gene Wolfe, for writing the Book of the New Sun quartet. Volume 1 is called The Shadow of the Torturer. It is combined with Volume 2 (The Claw of the Conciliator) in Shadow & Claw. Volume 3 is The Sword of the Lictor and it is combined with Volume 4 (The Citadel of the Autarch) in Sword & Citadel.

If not Gene Wolfe, then it is Harlan Ellison, for all of his story collections.

If not Harlan Ellison, then it is C.J. Cherryh, for Downbelow Station, and the other books in her Alliance-Union series.

If not C.J. Cherryh, then it is R.A. Lafferty for any of his short story collections.

If not Lafferty, then Robert Heinlein, or Roger Zelazny, or Kit Reed, or Kate Wilhelm, or Ursula K. LeGuin, or Connie Willis, or Isaac Asimov, or H.G. Wells, or Jules Verne, or Edgar Allen Poe, or Homer, or whoever wrote the Bible.

Answer 8

I have a few favorites. Harlan Ellison, Michael Moorcock, CJ Cherryh, Tanith Lee, Storm Constantine, Philip K. Dick, Gregory Benford, the late Roger Zelazny, the late Fritz Lieber, the very, very late H.P. Lovecraft, amongst others.

Answer 9

Robert Anson Heinlein

Answer 10

Arthur C. Clarke (2001 etc), Phillip K. Dick (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep) or even Anthony Burgess (Clockwork Orange, The Wanting Seed). Don't know really such a tough question.