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<blockquote data-quote="Croesus" data-source="post: 5656443" data-attributes="member: 35019">David Weber. I really like some of his stuff (mostly the Starfire books), but one glaring weakness is his love of &quot;Mary Sue's&quot;. Sometimes he keeps it in check, other times...ouch. This is the main reason I never finished Off Armageddon Reef or any of his Honor Harrington books. Out of the Dark suffered from another weakness - his use of deus ex machina resolutions to situations. The good news is that these weaknesses don't appear in every book, at least not so much that I can't enjoy a number of his works.Timothy Zahn. I love almost everything he has written. That said, I'm disappointed that he has moved away from hard sci-fi to focus more on &quot;lite&quot; sci-fi. It's still science fiction (as opposed to science fantasy), but more and more the science takes a back seat to everything else. Some of his early short stories are fascinating for the science itself, with the characters and story almost as a bonus. Of course, I understand - the man has to make a living and really, how many buyers want a story about black holes, electron shells, and so forth? Oh well...Jack Chalker, of Well World fame. Good, inventive stuff in his works. But man does he love his body swapping/morphing/sex change stories. I think I've read exactly one book by him that does not involve anyone changing bodies and/or gender. (Though the ending was weak, I'm tempted to use that book as an adventure idea...)Ann McCaffery, Dragonriders of Pern series. Tends to write the same book, over and over, whether it's Pern, Freedom, brainships, Acorna. That said, I still enjoy the first Dragonriders books, especially the Harper Hall series.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Croesus, post: 5656443, member: 35019"] David Weber. I really like some of his stuff (mostly the Starfire books), but one glaring weakness is his love of "Mary Sue's". Sometimes he keeps it in check, other times...ouch. This is the main reason I never finished Off Armageddon Reef or any of his Honor Harrington books. Out of the Dark suffered from another weakness - his use of deus ex machina resolutions to situations. The good news is that these weaknesses don't appear in every book, at least not so much that I can't enjoy a number of his works. Timothy Zahn. I love almost everything he has written. That said, I'm disappointed that he has moved away from hard sci-fi to focus more on "lite" sci-fi. It's still science fiction (as opposed to science fantasy), but more and more the science takes a back seat to everything else. Some of his early short stories are fascinating for the science itself, with the characters and story almost as a bonus. Of course, I understand - the man has to make a living and really, how many buyers want a story about black holes, electron shells, and so forth? Oh well... Jack Chalker, of Well World fame. Good, inventive stuff in his works. But man does he love his body swapping/morphing/sex change stories. I think I've read exactly one book by him that does not involve anyone changing bodies and/or gender. (Though the ending was weak, I'm tempted to use that book as an adventure idea...) Ann McCaffery, Dragonriders of Pern series. Tends to write the same book, over and over, whether it's Pern, Freedom, brainships, Acorna. That said, I still enjoy the first Dragonriders books, especially the Harper Hall series. [/QUOTE]

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