I'm a lit student; it's hard for me just pick one author as I read a broad spectrum of stuff from Austen to the Illuminatus! trilogy, but for the sake of this debate, I'll go with Terry Pratchett as I find it hard to fault him.

I can't possibly pick a single author but I'll narrow it down to a few.

Orson Scott Card

L.E. Modesitt Jr.

J.R.R. Tolkein

Aldous Huxley

Robert Heinlein

Martin Amis!

A contemporary author who weaves together hilarious and cutting satirical commentary with scholarly expertise about the art and history of literature.

A writer's writer if there ever was one.

Stephen King! His character development is second to none!

Phillip K. Dick wrote stories that expanded the idea of human imagination in a manner no one before or after has been able to duplicate.

Karl Marx. He's challenging, but no man in history has ever put together a theory of human behavior and economic/social development more powerful or more accurate than he has.

He's regularly rated as one of the most influential men in history, certainly he has made a massive impact on our current level of social and economic development.

Despite what people think, his influence didn't start or end with the USSR. His theories and ideas are carried in nearly every nation, both Democrats and Republicans would find themselves stripped bare without his demands; Europe would be amazed to see how closely they are following his prescriptions. Whole nations owe their existence to his ideas, whole people owe their liberation to him, billions owe their lives to him, and millions can blame him for their death.

Noone in history has laid out economic and historical tendencies perfectly, so as to actually give us a view into a future not yet seen.

Few men or women have written books that can still be read hundreds of years after their author has died; read with the same wonder and insight as the day they were published.

He's a hard read, but god is it a satisfying one.

Check out Capital, The Communist Manifesto, and amalgamated works of both him and Engels.

Frank Herbert. Politics+religion+power in a sci-fi setting = the awesomeness that is Dune.

I'm also a Tolkien and Asimov fan.

Hands down it is LAURELL K. HAMILTON.

S.E. Hinton. She wrote The Outsiders, my favorite book, when she was only 16. Since then, she has written other good books like That was Then, This is Now.

Truman Capote

James Joyce

George Orwell

J.R.Tolkien

There is also J. K. Rowling. Who else of this current generation had thousands of kids looking forward to reading so much they had huge parties at midnight for the book to come out?

For me, my favorite author is the queen of narrative and lore – Anne Rice and all her various pen names. I lived in her world for a long time, which I must say satisfied a ‘thirst’ in me (pun intended) that had me wanting so much more.

I think that manga is the best type of books and the best manga authores are Tsugami Ohba the author of Death Note, Hiromu Arakawa the author of Fullmetal alchemist, Richiro Inagaki thw author of Eyesheild 21 and Masashi Kishimoto the author of Naruto. If i was'nt talking about manga, then my favorite author would have to be J.k Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series or James Swallow the author of the butterfly effect. I forgot the name of the guy that wrote the hills have eyes novel but if i did remember his name, i would pick him to

Ayn Rand is my favorite author and has been every since I read Atlas Shrugged in high school. The Fountainhead is also an amazing read. Her books did more than entertain me, they also helped to shape the way I think.

As far as pop novelists go, I like Dan Brown.