Books, movies, and television opened my imagination and inspired me to write my own fantasy novel.  So who are the great sci-fi and fantasy authors who inspired me?  No, not the author of Harry Potter.  Although I do like Harry Potter, I wrote my first book before I ever even knew who Harry Potter was.

The first fantasy author I read was J. R. Tolkien.  I loved The Hobbit!  Lord of the Rings was a bit difficult for me to get through when I was young, so it wasn’t my favorite then.  But when I was older and read it again, I loved it even more than The Hobbit.

The first sci-fi author I read was Isaac Asimov.  I can’t remember any one story specifically.  He wrote so many.  But as soon as I was done with one, I’d go back to the library and get another.

I also love books by Frank Herbert, Jack Whyte, David Farland, Terry Brooks, Jennifer Fallon, and Brent Weeks.  Patrick Rothfuss wrote a great fantasy novel, “The Name of the Wind”.  His next book, “The Wise Man’s Fear” is finally out and I am waiting in anticipation for my Amazon order to arrive.

My all-time favorite fantasy author and epic series is the “Sword of Truth” series by Terry Goodkind.  Robert Jordan’s epic series “The Wheel of Time” is also great, but I sort of lost interest in the long delay after book eleven.

Find all these books at my Amazon a-store at http://astore.amazon.com/fantasyauthors-20.

Will you recommend some other great fantasy authors?