On SF Signal, they asked “What Authors Are on Your Must-Buy List?”.

This actually made me stop and think, because there are some authors who were auto-buys for years and years, and then they kinda dropped off. And there are other authors whose books I’d buy in an instant–if they were still writing.

So who is on my must-buy list?

First, off the top of my head:

Charles de Lint – I love his Newford stories so very very much

C.S. Harris – Both Grandmom and I adore the Sebastian St Cyr series. I love the time in which he lives, and I love Sebastian

Guy Gavriel Kay – He doesn’t just build worlds, he weaves these miraculous places that I fall into and don’t want to leave; and each book is so very different from those that came before

Ellen Kushner – Swordspoint is my go-to comfort read, and I read it again and again

Ben Aaronovitch – Do I even need to tell you how much I love this series? And how much I ADORE Kobna Holdbrook Smith?

Faith Hunter‘s Jane Yellowrock series – She also is very good at writing short stories, which is something I appreciate, but I really love Jane

Andrea Camilleri – The more recent books in the Inspector Montalbano series have been weaker, but I don’t care

Ilona Andrews Oh Kate, why haven’t I read your most recent book? Probably because I don’t want to be left hanging

Mary Roach – Have you read Mary Roach? You’ve probably heard an interview with her. She’s marvelous and loves delving into strange and marvelous topics (like what happens to our bodies after we die or what goes on in our alimentary canal)

Nina Kiriki Hoffman – I love her short stories and regularly re-read “Fistful of Sky” and keep hoping the next book she writes will recapture what I loved there.

Carrie Vaughn (especially any short story collection) despite the fact I didn’t love the last two novels, I still want things to work well for Kitty.

Donna Leon – Venice is as much a main character as Commisario Brunetti and his family and co-workers

Patricia Briggs (especially the Mercy Thompson series) – I love Mercy and how in a genre full of super-dooper kick-butt heroines, Mercy is both tough and fragile

 
 
 

Now, peeking at my book lists…

Rob Thurman – oh yes, very much Rob Thurman; I adore Cal and Niko so very much, and it almost hurts how much those two brothers love each other

Tracy Grant – Her historical mysteries/romances are complex works full of the past

Liz Williams – but she hasn’t put of a Detective Inspector Chen story since the whole debacle with her publisher

Sergei Lukyanenko – this is problematic, because I love the Night Watch series, but haven’t read the last book, mostly because I don’t want it to break the spell the earlier books have on me, if it isn’t as good

Jeaniene Frost – I also have the final book in the Kat & Bones series sitting unread, waiting for me; Why is there no publication date for the next Vlad book? Why?

John Burdett – oh, hey, look, there’s a new Sonchai book coming out!

Lisa Shearin – her SPI files series is so fun

Maggie Stiefvater – Oh how I am waiting the next Raven Boys book; Waiting, waiting, and yet afraid

C.C. Hunter – I find myself fascinated by this world

Seanan McGurie‘s Toby Day series

M.L. Brennan‘s Generation V series

 
 
 

Authors I deeply wish were still around:

Kate Ross
Agatha Christie (her Miss Marple series and any short stories)
Terry Pratchett

 
 
 

And finally, authors whose series I have fallen behind on or stopped reading entirely:

Steven Brust – it’s not that I gave up on this series, I just got really tired of Vlad not being able to solve the predicament he got himself into, but I AM going to get back into the series, any day now

Nicole Peeler – I read all the Jane True stories as soon as they came out, but her latest book I’ve read a couple chapters of, but can’t get into it; I haven’t given up, but I miss Jane True

Simon R. Green – yet another authors whose closing book to a series I have not yet read. It’s as if I refuse to acknowledge these series are over by refusing to read the final books. Weirdly, I only loved the Nightside series. None of the rest held my interest.

Jim Butcher – I loved the Dresden files until I suddenly and violently didn’t; I liked Harry when he was a working stiff; not so much when he suddenly became a Hero

Alan Bradley – the last book really bothered me, and I feel unsure as to whether I’ll like the direction the series is going

Diana Gabaldon – I really really love Lord John, but have zero interest in reading her Outlander series; I have no idea what this says about me