The greatest alive?

[onyxhawke]

So who is the greatest living science fiction and fantasy author? Is it Ray Bradbury who has done the rarest of all things for genre fiction and crossed over to being used in English classes from elementary school all the way to college and universities?  Does it go to Stephen King? He's sold oodles of books and even managed to convince the mainstream he isn't (usually) science fiction? Can we anoint Terry Pratchett? Despite his presence, and the legacy of Douglas Adams, People who Matter are still convinced humor doesn't sell. Another reasonable choice is Lois Bujold who has more Hugo Awards for both science fiction and fantasy, and is a perennial nominee for the Locus, Nebula, and World Fantasy awards as well? A case can be made for J.K. Rowling as well, without much need to go into what she's done. Robin Hobb certainly deserves a strong look as well. Mercedes Lackey has helped define SF/F for the last two decades and has written and sold across half a dozen of the subgenres. Another name some might throw out is China Meiville, for lush language and creativity?  R. A. Salvatore has sold well enough that he can make a legit claim to being the greatest too.

 

So is the greatest living SF/F writer one of these? Or is there someone I just don't know?

Comments

[queenofattolia.livejournal.com]

LMB, from this interview (http://www.scifidimensions.com/Oct06/loismcmasterbujold.htm/):

sfd: Well that’s great news. Everyone will be happy about that. Do you find that you have readers of Vorkosigan who haven’t really gone with your fantasy offerings?

LMB: You can’t argue tastes. There’s a variety of people who have a variety of opinions. Some of the Vorkosigan readers haven’t enjoyed the fantasy as much, some of them have enjoyed them more. Some people who have never tried the Vorkosigan books, have tried the fantasies. It’s a hazard for any writer who chooses not to write the same thing all the time. You will invariably please some of the people some of the time, but very seldom all the people all of the time. The thing about it is that liking books isn’t like getting married. You don’t have to just love one. You’re allowed to love, like, more than one. You can have more than one favorite. Trying to convince people that literary monogamy is not required can be a bit of a stretch.