Top-ranked f&sf authors

All right, I confess that I am both a compulsive list-maker and obssessed with rankings. Besides keeping rankings of books which I read (on a school-like A-B+-B-C-D scale), I recently averaged the rankings of all authors who had 4 or more books on the list in an attempt to determine as objectively as possible who is my favorite f&sf author.

Admittedly, there were many years in which I did not rank books I read, so this “average” is woefully incomplete, but it does give some idea of exactly which authors I prefer. It differs from my tally of which authors have the most books in my collection, since quantity, while related to quality, is not directly proportional to it (*ouch* that was the math teacher in my speaking!).

So here’s the top 20 ranked authors on my list. Do with it what you wish! (Note that I have read many Clifford D. Simak novels, but mostly before I began ranking books)

Author / # of Books Ranked / Average
Simak, Clifford D / 4 / 4.25
Michael Bishop / 9 / 4.22
Kim Stanley Robinson / 9 / 4.22
Jack McDevitt / 6 / 4.16
Robert Silverberg / 22 / 4.0
Orson Scott Card / 4 / 4.0
Alastair Reynolds / 4 / 4.0
Marion Zimmer Bradley / 9 / 3.89
Roger Zelazny / 8 / 3.89
Sherri S. Tepper / 7 / 3.86
C.J. Cherryh / 14 / / 3.79
Samuel R. Delany / 8 / 3.75
John Varley / 7 / 3.71
Poul Anderson / 10 / 3.6
Greg Bear / 7 / 3.57
Dan Simmons / 9 / 3.56
Tim Powers / 4 / 3.50
Niven, Larry / 5 / 3.40
Ian McDonald / 4 / 3.25