Bonus points for any books you believe are classics from that time period. Any language, but only fiction please.
I’m really excited to see what Lemmy has.
Robert Jordan - Wheel of Time Saga.
The Amazon show does not do it justice on my opinion, but it has been explained with how it’s another turn of the wheel and a “what if”
And Brandon Sanderson, who wrapped the series after Jordan died and is an amazing author himself.
Not only amazing, but also a freaking machine when it comes to churning out books.
Cormac McCarthy, wrote some books you might have seen as movies such as The Road and No Country for Old Men.
Blood Meridian or The Evening Redness in the West is a crazy good book.
Vonnegut
I upvoted because Vonnegut is the GOAT and most definitely wrote some bangers after 1970, but his first well known books were published in the 1960s. So, he is pretty close to OPs cutoff for modern writers, I guess.
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Cory Doctorow and I suggest reading Walkaway. I found it transformative.
Little Brother too, very good.
Terry Pratchett.
I am on 12 of 42 or however many he wrote, but damn it if his little quips aren’t masteries of word play. So far Sorcery, Wyrd Sisters, and Mort are my favorites.
I tell people it’s like living in a Monty Python universe with a dash of magic.
I’m more of a fan of his later works myself. It trades some silliness for depth as time goes on. And I really loved Susan who you haven’t met yet
Be sure to include The Amazing Maurice and Equal Rites and the Tiffany books as well; the only thing YA about them is the ages of their protagonists.
Equal Rites was great! I think that was my first introduction to Granny but I wished there was a sequel.
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There kinda is. Esk shows up in I Shall Wear Midnight. Tiffany resolves a lot of the threads left by the witches
Neal Stephenson
Diamond Age is my all time favourite (although I read it just one time as I do with all books). In the current age of AI it is very relevant. If nano technology and AI will progress we’ll maybe head into the depicted scenario and I hope I’m still alive then.
Cryptonomicon, Anathem, The Baroque Cycle are wild rides and masterpieces too. Anathem was a bit hard to get into but it got really exciting after the first 300 pages (of ~1000) or so.
Gotta say, every time I go out and look at the moon I can’t help but wonder what would happen if it somehow exploded. Then I find myself wondering why I’m not in an asteroid-mining ship and end up questioning all my life choices.
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I had to scroll way too far for Stephenson. He has some ups and downs (as all creators do), but some of his novels are mind blowingly awesome.
Ken Follet: Pillars of the Earth. Historical fiction. You’re transported back to the 1200s. Cathedral building with raunchy politics, a bit of HBO Game of Thrones mixed in. It was extremely visual… and fondly memorable for me.
David Foster Wallace
Stephen King
Haruki Murakami
Kurt Vonnegut
Toni Morrison
Just a few names that popped into my head
Edit: some of these are based on popular opinions. For example, I never really got into Toni Morrison
Vonnegut is wonderful but his first book is 1950s and his greatest success is likely the 1960s. Question asked post 1970.
Yeah, I knew he started in the 50s. But you’re right, I looked it up and some of his notable stuff was earlier than I thought
Love DFW
Ones that many people have mentioned: Atwood, Wallace, Murakami
One I don’t think anyone has said yet - Paul Auster. I’ve only read New York Trilogy so far, but I thought it was superb.
William Gibson. He’s a huge influence on modern scifi
Not just modern scifi but modern reality.
This was my first thought, but realize he’s probably not well known enough… Yet
Thought so too, and looked it up, Burning Chrome is from the 80s.
Brandon Sanderson
The man is a top flight book generating machine. Where he’s taking the Cosmere, I don’t know, but I’m gladly awaiting for the novels he’ll write the in future to find out. Reading the Stormlight Archive and Mistborn is a joy.
I also really enjoyed how he wrapped up The Wheel of Time. He is much less reluctant to kill off characters than many other authors, and that series needed some serious character culling to bring closure.
I’ve got the hardcover for his new mystery novel ordered. Can’t wait for it to arrive and to read it.
Neil Gaiman
Really love how nobody is hating on any of the replies here.
Douglas Adams is undoubtedly one of the greatest writers of the period.
He is known for light, surrealistic science fiction comedy, not a genre generally considered “high art” but his mastery of language is superb. He is a master of analogies in a way that is both funny but also makes the reader think about the roles and conventions of symbolism in language.
“The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don’t.”
