Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Forums

This thread is for discussion of the second annual Author! Author! challenge. Here's the description of the challenge:

This challenge is for those wishing to delve further into a favorite author, or pursue a new discovery, by reading several books by a single author during 2017.

The "Experienced" reading level represents a commitment to read four books one author. As you move up the reading levels, each level should consist of another four books by that same author or four by another author. You can choose to read four, eight, twelve, or sixteen books by one author, or read four (or a multiple of four) by more than one author. For example, if you choose the "Virtuoso" reading level, you could choose sixteen books by C. J. Cherryh, or eight by Cherryh and eight by Frank Herbert, or four each by Cherryh, Herbert, Le Guin, and Gibson. Rereads of old favorites are also fair game for this challenge.

Reading multiple books by the same author within a fairly short timeframe can give you insights into that author's themes, style, or obsessions not apparent from an individual book. Consider sharing your insights on the forum thread dedicated to this challenge!

I ran this challenge last year using multiples of five books as the basis, but am decreasing it to four this year in order to decrease the commitment a bit. I’m going to continue on with my mad quest to read Jack Vance and Michael Moorcock chronologically (I’m up to the mid-‘70s for both authors), and look forward to seeing which writers are chosen by others. In 2016 we had 19 participants and a total of 167 books read. Last year’s forum discussion can be reviewed here.

Enjoy!

@kabouter: Arthur Conan Doyle did dabble in science fiction with his Professor Challenger stories…

A couple more people have joined the challenge, so we’re up to 17!

Looking over the choices, I too wish I had time to dive into all these writers…