Survivor Appendix N Authors- LEIBER WINS!

[Dausuul]

What is with everyone's hate-on for Anderson?

No idea. It's been a while since I read any of his stuff, but my recollection is that it was competent if not inspired. He seems like the sort of guy who should be able to keep his head down while the writers who inspire love and hatred battle it out.

On the other hand, he's at the top of the list. Maybe that's his problem.

 

[Parmandur]

Anderson, Poul 5
Bellairs, John 19
Brackett, Leigh 16
Brown, Frederic 20
Burroughs, Edgar Rice 25
Carter, Lin 18
de Camp, L. Sprague 15
de Camp & Pratt 20
Dunsany, Lord 19
Farmer, P. J. 19
Gardner, Fox 21
Howard, R.E. 17
Lanier, Sterling 18
Leiber, Fritz 22
Merritt, A. 20
Moorcock, Michael 25
Norton, Andre 22
Offutt, Andrew J. 20
Pratt, Fletcher 20
Saberhagen, Fred 12 - No ody has upvotee him yet, and I couldn't even make it through any of his books.
St. Clair, Margaret 17
Tolkien, J. R. R. 28 -Actually impossible to overrated Tolkien
Weinbaum, Stanley 16
Wellman, Manley Wade 18
Williamson, Jack 18
Zelazny, Roger 24

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Reynard]

Three Hearts and Three Lions.

See, inter alia-
https://www.tor.com/2013/06/17/advanced-readings-in-dad-poul-anderson/

So, here's the history.

Gygax (who could do no wrong) began to include the Paladin as a "joke" class, in order to catch people that were copying his works. That's right- just like a mapmaker will include fake towns, Gygax included an obscenely terrible and OP class to make sure that no one was copying him.

Unfortunately for posterity, and unlike the similarly-themed Accountant, Jester, and Thief-Acrobat, no one got the joke. Which is why we have the scourge of Paladins today.

And it all goes back to Poul Anderson.

But both Three Hearts and Three Lions and The Broken Sword are actually really good fantasy. I mean, whatever, these threads aren't about what's good. But if you down vote Anderson, know that I am judging you.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I’ve not heard that before. It wouldn’t surprise me, as I still suspect both the Barbarian and Cavalier classes to be traps for power-gamers (for all their strength, one has a code of conduct that practically guarantees death in a few sessions, the other has absolutely massive XP requirements).

But...considering Gygax's personal beliefs and the otherwise straightforward influence of Three Hearts Three Lions, do you have a citation on this?

So, here's the history.

Gygax (who could do no wrong) began to include the Paladin as a "joke" class, in order to catch people that were copying his works. That's right- just like a mapmaker will include fake towns, Gygax included an obscenely terrible and OP class to make sure that no one was copying him.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[GreyLord]

No idea. It's been a while since I read any of his stuff, but my recollection is that it was competent if not inspired. He seems like the sort of guy who should be able to keep his head down while the writers who inspire love and hatred battle it out.

On the other hand, he's at the top of the list. Maybe that's his problem.

Naw, he's one that I just don't like for other reasons. He's far over-rated. He got many more awards than far better authors who received none, and his acclaim is held far too high. Give me Howard or Burroughs or Leiber or Moorcock any day over Anderson. He's not bad, just over-rated in my opinion in relation to some of the others on the list.

Of course, I probably should have more disdain for De Camp who tried to claim the Conan character as his own (and robbing Howard of his glory). Due to De Camp, the true Conan stories of Howard's mark were hidden for many years.

However, unfortunately, I must admit, this is balanced out because without De Camp it is possible Conan (and thus many other REH works as well) would have been forgotten and lost to time (much like F Van Wyck Mason's works and the Cutlass empire has been). It was De Camp that made Conan big again...even while putting his own stamp on it.

Love/Hate there.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Hahahah, I should have guessed. Knowing the established Lowkey13 Stance on Paladins, I should have known.

Everything I say is a True Fact(tm).

Even the untrue stuff.

Especially the untrue stuff.

"I never said Muskie was taking the drug. I said there was a rumor he was taking the drug, which was true, because I started the rumor."

Hunter S. Thompson

 

[Dausuul]

Actually impossible to overrated Tolkien

Not only is it possible, it's done quite regularly. Tolkien is a titan of the fantasy genre, but not the only one... and as titans of the genre go, he's not the best writer by a long shot.

What really gets me about Tolkien is the number of people on these forums who insist that elves'n'dwarves'n'orcs are "staples of the genre" or "universal in fantasy." They are nothing of the kind. They are, in fact, quite unusual in fantasy fiction outside the sub-genre of Tolkien and Tolkien rip-offs. But because D&D happened to be published around the height of the Tolkien craze, the creators (perhaps inevitably) shoehorned it into that sub-genre, and so we're stuck with them forever.