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ost_uid0]A.C. Clarke is my hands-down all time favourite sf author (I'm willing to overlook the horrible star-mangled spanner pun). I just finished a mammoth tome of his collected short stories, going back to the 30s. It came to just under 1000 pages.
Asimov runs a close second. I'm kinda biased, though, 'cause he was a chemist.
The hack novels out today are just bloody awful. I started to read Book I of the New Earth series and threw it down in disgust.
Jerry Pournelle should have his fingers amputated before he can write again.
Stackpole and Aaron Allston are decent writers. Still, a lot of Trek, Wars and Battletech novels are not published for their quality. Stupid mass-marketing...
I found the Correllian Trilogy just readable enough to finish, but not enough to read a second time.
Harry Turtledove I read primarily for the alternate history. His dialogue is somewhat wooden at times, but not painful.
David Drake and S.M. Stirling write in more of a gritty, realistic military style, but there are generally sf themes in it.
And now I must go move my car.
Continued: If you pick up a book with John Vornholt's name on the cover, throw it as far away as possible and run in the opposite direction.
You'll have to run, 'cause the people who run the bookstore will call mall security when you start throwing books around.[/color
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