What makes an author collectible? It’s all too easy to judge an authors value to the collector by popularity, number of works reprinted or high sales.  But as Gary Lovisi says in his Instant Expert: Collecting Science Fiction and Fantasy,

“…perhaps the best indication is the strength of the author’s vision and the quality of the writing … If the themes are timeless, or very important or new and ground-breaking, then it’s a good bet the work will be highly influential.”

I’ve selected twenty authors who I consider to be “highly influential” and therefore worthy of collecting.  The list crosses the three genres of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror and is in no way meant to be conclusive. However all the authors listed here are considered giants in the field whose work will continue to be collected and read in the years to come.  Of the authors here you know, it may be time to go back and take another look at them, of those you don’t, it may serve as an excuse to look them up.

• Isaac Asimov
  Asimov is considered by many to be one of the greatest science fiction writers and continues to be one of the most popular.  He is probably best known for his famous Foundation series and the Robot stories featuring the Three Laws of Robotics.  For a more in depth look at Asimov you can take a look at my article, Focus on Isaac Asimov.

• Robert Bloch
  A contemporary of H.P. Lovecraft, Bloch wrote a large body of work that first appeared in Weird Tales magazine.  He is probably most popularly known as the author of Psycho and is considered to be one of the most distinguished writers in the horror and mystery field.

• John Brunner
  Brunner’s best known works are his novels The Sheep Look Up, Stand on Zanzibar, and The Shockwave Rider.  The later was one of the first SF novels to describe the information technology revolution and is credited by some to have predicted the Internet and computer viruses with the term “data worm”.

• Edgar Rice Burroughs
  Creator of the world famous character of Tarzan, Burroughs is also well known for his science fiction series Barsoom (John Carter of Mars), the lost island stories of The Land Time Forgot series and his hollow earth stories in the Pellucidar series.   He continues to be extremely popular and highly collectible.

• C.J. Cherryh
  Though most popularly known for her hard SF novels Downbelow Station and Cyteen, Cherryh’s work spans a number of science fiction and fantasy subgenres.  She is one of today’s best-selling and most critically acclaimed writers of fantasy and science fiction with a steadfast and growing readership.

• Glen Cook
  Best known for his fantasy series, The Black Company, Cook’s fiction is often labeled “gritty”.  Blending dark fantasy with sharp, realistic dialogue and film-noir sensibilities his protagonists are most often soldiers, cops or private detectives caught in a conflict which highlight their failings as well as their virtues.  His work is particularly popular with military personnel.

• Philip K. Dick
  Though hailed during his lifetime by his peers Dick received little public recognition until after several of his works were adapted to film.  These include Blade Runner (based on Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?), Minority Report, Total Recall (based on the short story We Can Remember It for You Wholesale), and most recently A Scanner Darkly.  Much of his early work explored sociological and political themes while his later work tackled drugs and theology.  The Philip K. Dick Award is presented annually for distinguished science fiction published in paperback original form in the United States

• Harlan Ellison
  The “enfant terrible” of science fiction, Ellison is undoubtedly one of the most talented and celebrated writers in speculative fiction today.  Though preferring not to have his work classified in any particular genre, Ellison’s most famous stories fit easily into the science fiction and fantasy categories.  He is hugely popular and extremely collectible.  Many of his works are released in limited and special printings in addition to the trade editions.

• Robert Heinlein
  Like Asimov, Heinlein is considered one of the “greats” in science fiction.  He was one of the most popular, influential, and controversial authors of "hard" science fiction in his day and is considered the first SF writer to break into mainstream magazines.  The novel Variable Star, written by Spider Robinson from Heinlein’s outline and notes, published this year, may stimulate a revival of his work.

• William Gibson
  Gibson is credited with creating the Cyberpunk subgenre with his first novel Neuromancer as well as coining the term “cyberspace”.  Many of his tropes have infiltrated the modern electronic culture. His work has given rise to other subgenres such as Steampunk and Biopunk (aka Ribofunk).  He continues to write significant books and his body of work will remain important for it’s influence on the culture of the 1990s and early 21st Century.

• Fritz Leiber
  Creator of the seminal sword and sorcery heroes Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, Leiber is also considered as one of the forerunners of the modern urban horror story.  Notable stories include the short story The Girl with the Hungry Eyes as well as his novels Conjure Wife, Our Lady of Darkness and A Specter Is Haunting Texas.  For many, Fritz Leiber stands as one of the greatest writers of fantasy and horror. His popularity amongst both fans and his fellow writers continues to be considerable and his works highly collectible.

• H.P. Lovecraft
  Creator of the Cthulthu Mythos Lovecraft is the undisputed master of the paranoid horror story.  His works have been subject to serious scholarly study and remain highly influential among writers and fans of modern horror fiction. Most famous among his creations are the dread tome Necronomicon and the Elder Gods Cthulthu and Yog-Sothoth, frequently referenced by other writers of supernatural horror. 

• C.L. Moore
  One of the pioneers of women’s science fiction writing, Moore is best known for two seminal short stories, Shambleau and Black God’s Kiss (which featured one of the first female heroes in sword-and-sorcery fiction Jirel of Joiry). She later married author Henry Kuttner and the two published a number of collaborations under a number of pen-names.  Probably the most famous of these pseudonyms are Lewis Padgett and Keith Hammond.  She stopped writing SF after Kuttner’s death in 1956 but continued to pen mysteries and television screenplays.  Her early genre work and the collaborations with Kuttner are very collectible.

• Michael Moorcock
  Moorcock may be most famously known for the Elric novels featuring his anti-hero Elric of Melniboné.  Many of his fantasy novels, including the Elric stories, make reference or are directly connected with his concept of the "Eternal Champion," who has potentially multiple identities across multiple dimensions of reality and alternative universes.  His work remains very popular and is highly collectible.

• Andre Norton
  Best known for her Witch World series, Norton’s work has been highly influential in both the science fiction and fantasy genres.  A highly prolific writer her work spans sixty years of science fiction and fantasy.  Particularly popular among women, her work deserves serious consideration by collectors. 

• Frederick Pohl
  Awarded the Nebula Grand Master Award by the Science fiction Writers of America in 1993 Pohl may be as well known as an editor and literary agent as he is for his essential fiction.  His early writings are featured by his dystopian satire collaboration with C. L. Kornbluth, The Space Merchants.  Highlights of his later work include Jem in which human colonists interact destructively with each other and three native species of alien, Man Plus in which a cyborged human explores a realistic Mars, and the Heechee series beginning with award winning Gateway. 

• Terry Pratchett
  Pratchett is renowned for his fantastically popular satirical parody series Discworld which according to The Internet Speculative Fiction Database currently numbers thirty-five books.  Appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to literature, in recent years his books have been nearly as popular as J.K. Rowling and J.R.R. Tolkien.  One British television host called him “Britain’s most shoplifted author”.  His young adult trilogy, The Bromeliad has been recently optioned for a film adaptation.

• Theodore Sturgeon
  Featured in the first of the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction’s “special author” issues in 1962 Sturgeon is best known for his novel More Than Human and the adage called Sturgeon’s Revelation which states "Ninety percent of science fiction is crud, but that’s because ninety percent of everything is crud."  His work as had admittedly noted influence on such writers as Ray Bradbury, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. and Harlan Ellison. 

• Jack Vance
  An extremely prolific writer, Vance is highly regarded by both readers and his fellow peers.  He is renowned for his command of prose and his ability to create strange future worlds and eccentric, outlandish societies. He is credited with helping to define the genres of "science fantasy" and " planetary romance".  Among his more significant series are The Dying Earth, Lyonesse and Gaean Reach. Very popular among collectors.

• Roger Zelazny
  Zelazny is best known for his Amber series, his award winning novel Lord of Light and his short stories A Rose for Ecclesiastes and The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth.  One of the most influential writers of the New Wave era, Zelazny introduced the concept of integrating classic mythologies with technologically produced magics, creating works which he termed "Science-Fantasy".  Popular among discerning readers and collectors.