Top 10 Tuesday - Authors you love to have or have to love

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme from the ladies over at The Broke and the Bookish.

Once again, this was difficult for me.  There are authors I love, like JRR Tolkien, but there is no more where that came from and so I did not add him to my list.  There are also authors I love, but the only books they've written are a single series.  Well, I love the series, obviously, but if they broadened their story base, would those stories stand up?  That is an unknown and, therefore, I tried to keep them off the list as well.

So, without further ado, here is my Top 10 authors I must have.


1: Neil Gaiman - The man is a genius with words. He is in a league of his own. From his adult books to children's books to comics to screenplays, I love it all. He is probably who I would consider to be the most gifted contemporary author and I have always loved tales of the fantastical. I started reading him when a friend of mine put a copy of a Sandman comic in my hand and it was all over. I was done for.

2: Terry Brooks - I read the Sword of Shannara when it first hit he shelf back in, oh, well it was some time ago and have been a fan ever since. I picked the book up for the Brothers Hildebrandt cover and stayed with him for the stories. I know a lot of people have called him the poor man's Tolkien, but it is hard to write epic fantasy and not be compared to Tolkien. He also wrote the Landover series and the Word and the Void series and I have loved them all. Of course, I am a tad bit behind on the Shannara books...

3: Meg Cabot - I saw Princess Diaries first, then read the book, then the rest of the series, then scooped up everything she was releasing. Besides the Princess Diaries series, my favorite titles would be Pants on Fire, How to be Popular and the All American Girl books. I really loved the Queen of Babble, but the sequels seemed a bit flat. Still, if she is releasing a book, I must pick it up. It is Meg who really got me started in the YA genre as an obsession because I ran out of Princess Diaries books and wanted more like it.

4: Charles DeLint - Charles DeLint is another author I have been reading since the dawn of time. The first books I picked up were Moonheart, which will always be one of my favorite fantasy books, and Riddle of the Wren. He started out writing stories based on Celtic mythology then blending in Native American mythology. He has also written stories about other mythologies. Most of his books are set in the fictitious Newford, but the stories are beautiful. He is also one of the forerunners of Urban fantasy, specifically Bodertown. If you like adult fantasy steeped in world mythology, you might want to give him a try. He and his wife are also talented musicians and his wife is an artist, so they are a very creative team.

5: Jennifer L. Armentrout - JLA (and not Justice League America) is one of my favorite new authors I have found. I only started reading her since BEA last year, but I will pick up all her books. I am currently enmeshed in Deity (the third book of the Covenant series) and now cannot put that one down.

6: Patricia McKillip - Patricia McKillip is another author who has been writing for a very long time. I have been reading her books as long as I have been reading Terry Brooks and Charles DeLint. Her writing is a little hard to describe. She weaves absolutely breathtaking stories that are very like fairy tales, although, not your traditional Sleeping Beauty or Cinderella. The covers are spectacular, by Kinuko Y. Craft, who has also illustrated a lot of children's books. Jigsaw puzzles have been made of her Patricia McKillip covers and I also collect them.

7: Louise Rennison - Louise Rennison is one of those authors I found to fill the void The Princess Diaries left behind. I looooove these books. Georgia Nicholson is barmy, but her cat, Angus, steals the show. They are hi-larious and filled with lots of hotties. Perhaps I love these books so much because Georgia reminds me of myself somewhat when I was her age. The Georgia Nicholson diaries are over, but now Ms. Rennison is writing about Georgia's cousin Tallulah who is going to a performing arts school when she has no talent other than knobby knees and she has been known to break into spontaneous Irish Dancing. These books are always good for a laugh.

8: Melissa Jensen - Although she's only written two books so far, I have loved them both; Falling in Love with English Boys and The Fine Art of Truth or Dare. I have also been following her blog now that she has been uprooted from Pennsylvania and moved to Dublin. I am hoping the next book will be set in Ireland.

9: Suzanne Selfors - Suzanne Selfors is another author I have just found in the past year. I started with Mad Love and then had to pick up all her other books. I must say, though, that I am only picking up her YA books. She also writes for a younger audience. Her newest book is The Sweetest Spell and I have yet to read it, but I have found her prose to be poetic. Her other books are Coffeehouse Angel and Saving Juliet.

10: Cassandra Clare - Casandra Clare is another new author for me. Even though the Mortal Instruments series has been out for a while, I didn't pick them up until a couple Christmases ago. I had been picking picking up the Infernal Devices series (which I haven't read yet), but thought I should perhaps start with the other series. Her books have proven to be real page turners and I'm up until 3am just trying to finish the book. I really can't wait to see the movie this summer.

There are other authors I love, like Kelly Creagh, Colleen Houck, Aprilynne Pike, Janette Rallison, Stephanie Perkins, Julie Kagawa, Kate Brian, Liz Rettig, Diana Gabaldon or Jennifer Echols, but they are either a single series, I haven't picked up all their books, or I haven't read enough of the books I've already picked up.  This was tough, as they so often are, but I am comfortable with my choices.

What's on your list?