Asimov's dialogues were rather quaint but his plots were airtight. There are no loose ends in his stories. I agree that Clarke is a very intelligent writer whose prose was clumsy. Within the Science Fiction genre, I'd say that Philip K. D-I-C-K was the best novelist.

 

My favorites: Asimov, PK D I C K, Robert Heinlein, Ellison, Alfred Bester.

I once had a first edition of PKD's first book, Clans of the Alphane Moon. I got it as a present as a child since I loved books so much. It was lost in a fire.

Not to brag or anything, but I have several boxes full of mint, first edition PKD paperbacks. Back in high school I used to help out at a local bookstore, and instead of paying me the owner would give me these books.

 

Oh, and Clans of the Alphane Moon was definitely not PKD's first. Can't think of what the first might have been, though. Maybe Solar Lottery.

Maybe I was mistaken. That's what I was told when I received the gift.

 

It was a hardcover, though a very small hardcover.

 

The only really old books I have today, is some old sci-fi mags from the 50's like Galaxies.

Orson Scott Card is a good author. I read the original Ender trilogy and Hart's Hope. Good stuff. His fiction writing books are also top notch.

There are more than three books in the Ender's Game series. In fact, the third book, Xenocide has perhaps the most disappointing ending of any book in the series. If you've only read the first three, I highly recommend reading Speaker of the Dead, which rounds out Ender's story.

 

There is a new series in the Ender-verse, but Bean is the main character.

His fiction writing books are also top notch.

Most definitely concur! OSC writes some of the best books on the art of writing that I have read.

 

His sci-fi is pretty good; like many posters in this thread, I loved Ender's Game. The other stories in the series are not to my taste, though they are very well-written. The Alvin Maker saga is brilliant, if one approaches it as one should, which is that these are more folklore tales than a professionally done story (which is why there are differences in style and story between Seventh Son and The Red Prophet). However, I do believe that Ellison and Heinlein are better sci-fi authors. This is not said to diminish OSC's stature, merely that these two (particularly Ellison) are better story-tellers than OSC. Granted, this is personal opinion, so take it with a grain of salt. As far as OSC goes, I'll read his books without reservation, and I'm not a big sci-fi fan (I tend more toward fantasy and mystery).