Hi Anthony,
Blimey, best of lists are always so subjective.
In terms of children's literature Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy is more imaginative and better written than Rowling, however, they don't have the same readability factor (whatever my feelings on the originality, or not, of HP there's no doubting Rowling's gift for storytelling).
Fantasy; well, I haven't read very much for a long time. Too may Dungeon Masters thinking that they can write
Probably the best fantasist at the moment, IMO, is Clive Barker, although much of his work tends to get filed under "horror" (I think of it more as "grotesque"). I also love Michael Moorcock - nothing new but still extraordinarily gifted. There's also Neal Stephensen, although I'm not sure whether to put him under fantasy or SF.
SF-wise there's an awful lot out there at the moment. Neal Asher is putting out some interesting stuff, as is Peter Hamilton. Iain Banks seems to have lost his way somewhat with his last few novels although I still love his "Culture" series.Ken MacCloud's good, although I suspect his politics will stop him ever really breaking through in the US. My favourite SF author by a mile is CJ Cherryh. If you want intricate and believable world-building check out the "Foreigner" sequence. Oh, and I have to admit to being a sucker for David Weber's "Honor Harrington" books but I couldn't tell you why
Pete
God is our guide! from field, from wave, From plough, from anvil, and from loom; We come, our country's rights to save, And speak a tyrant faction's doom: We raise the watch-word liberty; We will, we will,we will be free!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/19/2005 08:56AM by Pete Clarke.