Some to start with...

I read The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood and my reaction was: wonderful words, beautiful sentences, elegant paragraphs and exquisite chapters... shame about the story. The whole thing was a work of art, except the story would have worked better in about ten pages, or less. It just seemed so protracted to achieve the one effect. I suppose that's what "literary fiction" is all about. Much as I hate to admit my low-brow inclination, I'd rather read a Dan Brown than a Margaret Atwood.
Bang goes my chance of a Man-Booker prize.

I'm with you Gezza, on Stephen King. My favorites though are of The Dark Tower Series.

A more modern author that comes to mind would be Margaret Atwood, who wrote my favorite stand-alone book: Oryx and Crake. She's a great example of blending fact with fiction into the newer genre of Speculative Fiction. I can't think of a single author though whose every habit I would wish to emulate.

There are loads of writers whose stories, settings, characters and craft I admire, but only one I would seek to emulate in every regard: Frank Herbert author of the Dune stories.

Alright, thought I would throw in a few more writers in the fantasy field that I like.

Fritz Lieber. This guy wrote a lot of fantasy over many decades and died some time ago. He wrote the Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser series of short stories and novella's, which proved you could have humour and swashbuckling adventure in a fantasy setting. And yet, he wrote some very serious, thought provoking stuff - suggest reading Our Lady of Darkness.

Another writer I really liked some years ago was Julian May - I really liked her Pliocene Exile books, as well as her prequels/sequels (depending on your view of time). Science Fiction and Fantasy combined, in my view.

I will add others, but I thought I would throw these two in.

cheers

Gez

OK

Firstly, Stephen King is a huge inspiration for me - I don't know a better writer that can drag a reader quickly in, and for (mostly) a lengthy novel, keep the suspense and interest going. I think he is one of a kind. BTW, I do not refer to the period of time when he decided to try to be "legit" and wrote a few "arty" stories. Give me "It", "Needful Things", etc any time.

I can't ever leave out of the discussion Tolkien. I read LOTR about 15 times before I was 15 years of age! I read the Silmarillion about 12 times so far. etc. I consider the movies to be masterpieces, within the constraints of putting LOTR onto film. For me, Tolkien succeeded in generating a believable, and incredibly consistent, detailed world. He was the master of world building. I owe a lot to him.

HP Lovecraft - the absolute master of early horror and also a master at world building - but in this case, a dark one indeed. I have every one of his short stories and novellas - a tragedy that he died young.

Clark Ashton Smith wrote about the same time as Lovecraft and Howard, and was, in my view, the most evocative writer of his age. I can't get enough of him, and his horror/fantasy worlds are, in my view, the best described.

Alright - out of left field - Umberto Ecco. This guy is unique, but is certainly not a writer who is classified as horror, scifi, or fantasy. Nevertheless he is an intellectual giant and loves experimenting with ideas and concepts that are different, and transforming them into entertaining novels. Some are more digestible than others, but if you like him, you go with the flow. The Name of the Rose is his most famous - as it was made into a movie with Sean the mighty, but other novels are very good too. Apart from just liking his novels, I also learned from him that inspiration and learning doesn't come from just reading stuff in the same genre/s one writes - look everywhere, learn from everyone!

What do others' think?