Sure. I've seen that opinion here but what I meant was that the endings to a lot of the plays seem rushed and unsatisfying
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Is there any living author who can be considered a GOAT?
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for everyone mentioning mccarthy, i cannot recommend 'in the distance' by hernan diaz enough. i actually prefer it to anything CM has written.
suffferin' succotash!
two whole pages and not one mention of Gene Wolfe! That won't do at all.
OP, Gene Wolfe is one of the all time great scifi fantasy authors and one of the last of a dying breed. His prose is amazing and he weaves terrific stories.
Highly recommend you take a gander at The Book of the New Sun (a four part novel series that can be purchased in one volume, or in two smaller volumes if you'd like to whet your appetite). If you like that, he has a number of follow-up books in the same universe, as well as a plethora of other works that are all worth a read.
two whole pages and not one mention of Gene Wolfe! That won't do at all.
OP, Gene Wolfe is one of the all time great scifi fantasy authors and one of the last of a dying breed. His prose is amazing and he weaves terrific stories.
Highly recommend you take a gander at The Book of the New Sun (a four part novel series that can be purchased in one volume, or in two smaller volumes if you'd like to whet your appetite). If you like that, he has a number of follow-up books in the same universe, as well as a plethora of other works that are all worth a read.
Gets my vote, he's easily one of the biggest authors of this generation and comparable to say, Steven Spielberg with movies as far as his influence goes with his books.
He brought a lot of mainstream people into read his books and he'll be remember among the greats for a long long time.
I'm going to have to echo Stephen King. He's not my favourite author, in fact I haven't read much of his work.
But the fact is from a technical level he's probably one of most skilled writers alive. Once can criticize him for plenty of stuff (repeated story elements, themes etc) but on purely technical level I don't think there is another author that can keep the same pace as him while retaining the prose quality that he does.
And this of course ignores his biggest hits, which are classics, and are likely to be remembered just as long as other classics.
But the fact is from a technical level he's probably one of most skilled writers alive. Once can criticize him for plenty of stuff (repeated story elements, themes etc) but on purely technical level I don't think there is another author that can keep the same pace as him while retaining the prose quality that he does.
And this of course ignores his biggest hits, which are classics, and are likely to be remembered just as long as other classics.
Fair enough. He is all about writing for the mainstream and quick, easy consumption. I just disagree that it completely disqualifies him. There's just something special about what he manages to catch in a bottle almost every time he puts out a book, which I think is really important to deciding 'greatness'. I understand what you're saying about him versus authors that change/make an impact on humanity itself, though. But...he did make more humans fear clowns than any other!
Sure, there are better comparing 1-on-1, but it's that consistent ability to scratch an itch (fear, nostalgia, bittersweet...) that makes him better than any of them, in my opinion. Happy to hear of any you know that have put out a large number of works that hit more notes than just their genre, though.
I don't think the size of a body of work has any bearing on this conversation or even necessarily genre. The whole premise of the thread is "living authors who are GOATs" and I guess everyone is going to define "GOAT" differently. I'd say, straight off the top of my head, Toni Morrison and Cormac McCarthy, who don't have HALF as many texts as King, are tens of times more accomplished writers who handily straddle multiple genres (including horror and fantasy/magical realism, historical and speculative fictions) yet have unbelievable cultural and artistic value, far more so than King.
Not saying King doesn't have cultural and artistic value, of course he has huge value and he's a truly great writer. But a "GOAT"? The two I've mentioned – and I could think of maybe a handful more – are megaliths, we're talking Pablo Picasso-level masters of their craft and influencing the entire medium (of, in this case, literature).
Just read Blood Meridian's "legion of horribles" monologue and point to something remotely as powerful or linguistically accomplished by King. Here's a small, context-less snippet of the passage - this isn't even a quarter of the full multi-page thing, and without context it's even less powerful than it is in the full book where you've read over a hundred pages of truly grim, terrifying realistic "wild west" violence and chaos and depravity and boredom and relentlessness. (Scene: our troupe of ex-military and ex-convict men are travelling south across the desert towards Mexico and, having seen not a single other human for weeks on end, suddenly see a native American warband cresting the hill right next to them, screaming, heading right for them. The passage describes the warband.)
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Tough to answer. Suppose it depends also on what you're into.
I don't think any one author can be classed as 'GOAT'. Stephen King is in this bracket. Pet Sematary is, for me anyway, an absolute masterpiece. I'd also throw Shūsaku Endō in there for Silence, Mikhail Bulgakov for The Master and Margarita and JRR Tolkien for Lord of the Rings. These are all masters in their craft.
I'd still throw GRRM into this bracket. Storm of Swords is one of the greatest books that has ever graced my eyes. Hoping Winds is on the same level as Storm when I read it (this year!)
I don't think any one author can be classed as 'GOAT'. Stephen King is in this bracket. Pet Sematary is, for me anyway, an absolute masterpiece. I'd also throw Shūsaku Endō in there for Silence, Mikhail Bulgakov for The Master and Margarita and JRR Tolkien for Lord of the Rings. These are all masters in their craft.
I'd still throw GRRM into this bracket. Storm of Swords is one of the greatest books that has ever graced my eyes. Hoping Winds is on the same level as Storm when I read it (this year!)
Off the top of my head:
John Crowley absolutely qualifies. Little, Big alone would put him up there.
Kelly Link is arguably one of the best short story writers ever in the English language, let alone among living authors.
Eimear McBride is an astonishing novelist who could well be up there if she keeps writing to the standard of her first two books.
Hillary Mantel has won the Booker prize twice - only the fourth writer to ever do so - and is a novelist of incredible variety.
Ada Palmer's Terra Ignota quartet isn't finished yet, so it's hard to fully judge her work, but it's got the potential to be among the greatest SFF series ever written.
Sofia Samatar has flown under almost everyone's radar, but is quietly one of the most distinct voices writing in English today. She's got the potential to be up there as well.
Catherynne Valente is one of the greatest prose stylists I've ever encountered, and unbelievably prolific to boot.
John Crowley absolutely qualifies. Little, Big alone would put him up there.
Kelly Link is arguably one of the best short story writers ever in the English language, let alone among living authors.
Eimear McBride is an astonishing novelist who could well be up there if she keeps writing to the standard of her first two books.
Hillary Mantel has won the Booker prize twice - only the fourth writer to ever do so - and is a novelist of incredible variety.
Ada Palmer's Terra Ignota quartet isn't finished yet, so it's hard to fully judge her work, but it's got the potential to be among the greatest SFF series ever written.
Sofia Samatar has flown under almost everyone's radar, but is quietly one of the most distinct voices writing in English today. She's got the potential to be up there as well.
Catherynne Valente is one of the greatest prose stylists I've ever encountered, and unbelievably prolific to boot.
Seconding this too. Wolfe's definitely up there.
Pynchon to echo above, but William Gibson would be a fair choice. Not only for fiction, either.
Stephen King, Dean Koontz and Neil Gaiman will always be considered GOAT in my book.
You can call me basic but I truly love their writing and storytelling.
You can call me basic but I truly love their writing and storytelling.
McCarthy, Delillo, and for non-fiction I have to give it to Anthony Beevor and Mark Bowden.
Also King. Say what you want about his uneven output, he does know how to spin a great yarn and seems to have limitless imagination.
Have some tissues set to the side.
Also King. Say what you want about his uneven output, he does know how to spin a great yarn and seems to have limitless imagination.
Have some tissues set to the side.
Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, Cormac McCarthy, Brandon Sanderson, Erik Larson. There's a few titans in their respective genres out there.
Pynchon gets credit for Gravity's rainbow but The Crying of Lot 49, Vineland and Mason & Dixon are immense works of fiction that make a compelling case for him as a canonical author.
Cormac McCarthy for sure.
The impact of his works fucks with your head for weeks after you finish reading a book of his.
The impact of his works fucks with your head for weeks after you finish reading a book of his.
Hell yes. I go back to Crying of Lot 49 all the time.