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Link: Douglas Adams

Description: Originally a radio comedy broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1978, it was later adapted to other formats, and over several years it gradually became an international multi-media phenomenon. Adaptations have included stage shows, a series of five books first published between 1979 and 1992 (the first of which was titled The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy), a 1981 TV series, a 1984 computer game, and three series of three-part comic book adaptations of the first three novels published by DC Comics between 1993 and 1996 The books, as of 2005, have been translated into more than thirty languages, including Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Swedish, Spanish, Turkish and Ukrainian

Link: Top 10 Sci-fi

Description: Taken from this link; this top 10 list pretty much captures the best of all-time SF writings. All the heavyweights with the noted exception of Arthur C Clarke make an entrance. (which should be a direct contravention of the Asimov-Clarke treaty ;-))

Frank Herbert (Dune) mkaes the all-time #1 spot (which i personally disagree with, i think Foundation is so much a better series). Orson Scott Card, with Ender’s Game is at a very well deserved #2. Asimov finally makes it with a bronze medal at #3. Douglas Adams, the brain behind Marvin, Zaphod and Arthur Dent is aptly put at 4 (the significant part of 42 ;-)); with the magnificent travelbook; Hitchiker’s Guide To The Galaxy. George Orwell, with the nightmarian 1984 rounds off the top 5.

Sci-Fi master Robert Heinlein makes in his entry with the eponymous Stranger In a Strange land at #6. Though not a personal favourite, Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 takes up the 7th Spot. Asimov makes his quintessential presence in SF felt again with I, Robot at #8. The book that launched a 1000 cyberpunks, Neuromancer, gives its writer William Gibson a close # 9 spot and Robert Heinlein finishes off the top 10 with a funny little space war novel, the Starship Troopers @ #10

Link: Neil Gaiman

Description: Neil Richard Gaiman is an English author of science fiction and fantasy short stories and novels, graphic novels, comics, and films. His notable works includethe award-winning graphic novel series The Sandman, Stardust and American Gods. Awards won  by this fantastic writer include:

• Gaiman received a World Fantasy Award for short fiction in 1991 for the Sandman issue, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (see Dream Country).
• He has won the Comics Buyer’s Guide Award for Favorite Writer for the years 1991-1993, and received nominations from 1997-2000. His work on Sandman was awarded the Favourite Comic Book Story for 1991 and 1994.
• The illustrated version of Stardust won the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature 1999.
• American Gods won the Hugo Award for Best Novel 2002, the Nebula Award for Best Novel 2002 and the Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel 2001. It is among the most-honored works of fiction in recent history.
• Coraline won the Hugo Award for Best Novella 2003, the Nebula Award for Best Novella 2003 and the Bram Stoker Award for Best Work for Young Readers 2002.
• In 2004, his short story “A Study in Emerald” won another Hugo (in a ceremony the author presided over himself, having volunteered for the job before his story was nominated).
• Marvel 1602 Volume 1, written by Gaiman and illustrated by Andy Kubert, won the Best Graphic Novel at the 2005 Quill awards.
• Anansi Boys won him a second Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature in 2006.
• Gaiman has won 19 Eisner Awards for his comics work.
• From the comics fans in the rec.arts.comics* newsgroups, Gaiman won the Squiddy Award for Best Writer five years in a row from 1990 to 1994. He was also named Best Writer of the 1990s in the Squiddy Awards for the decade.

Link: Matthew Reilly

Description: “Mike Fraser pressed himself flat against the black wall of the tunnel. He squeezed his eyes shut as he tried to block out the roar of the subway train flashing by in front of him…”.

Opening lines of Matthew Reilly’s debut novel; Contest. And with each book he has written, the theme of unpredictable thriller action starts from Page 1 till the end. With action starting literally from the opening pages, most of Matt Reilly’s thrillers read more like an action movie than conventional thrillers. Reilly’s main influences include Michael Crichton, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and possibly Art Bell. His latest work is a novel called The Six Sacred Stones, the sequel to Seven Ancient Wonders. Since 2000, his novels have been published in over fifteen countries, including Norway, Australia, the U.S., the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, The Netherlands, South Africa, Japan and China

Link: James Rollins

Description: James Rollins is the pen-name of American veterinarian Jim Czajkowski, author of bestselling fantasy and action-packed adventure-thrillers such as Subterranean (1999), Excavation (2000), Deep Fathom (2001), Amazonia (2002), Ice Hunt (2003), Sandstorm (2004), Map of Bones (2005), Black Order (2006), and The Judas Strain (2007).

Praise for James Rollins thrillers:
“Edge-of-your-seat excitement.”—San Francisco Chronicle
“This is Cussler and Ludlum territory with a dash of Dan Brown.”—Publishers Weekly
“Rollins is one of the most inventive storytellers writing today.”—Lincoln Child
“Rollins delivers fantastic tales of action and adventure.”—Booklist

Link: John Le Carre

Description:  John le Carré wrote his first novel in 1961, while still a member of the MI6. His career as a secret agent was destroyed by Kim Philby, a British double agent, who blew the cover of dozens of British agents to the KGB. Post that, nearly all of le Carré’s novels fall in the spy-thriller genre, with a particular emphasis on the Cold War. His first two novels, A Call for the Dead and A Murder of Quality, closely follow the mystery fiction approach, where the emphasis is on a complex riddle that hero George Smiley must solve. In later, longer works, such as The Honourable Schoolboy and The Night Manager, le Carré approaches his material more as novelist focusing on the in-depth development of his characters. A lot of his work has been translated for the Movie & Televsion audience - the most famous ones being: The Spy Who Came in From the Cold starring Richard Burton,  the Sidney Lumet directed movie, The Deadly Affair;  1969 Frank Pierson film adaptation of The Looking Glass War. In 2001, Pierce Brosnan, the contemporary Bond, was cast as the lead spy in The Tailor of Panama. In 2005, the film The Constant Gardener was released, based on his novel.

Link: John Grisham

Description:  John Grisham’s writing career took off with his  second book, The Firm, became the 7th bestselling novel of 1991. Grisham then went on to produce at least one work a year, most of them widely popular bestsellers. He is the only person to author a number-one bestselling novel of the year for seven consecutive years (1994–2000). Beginning with A Painted House in 2001, the author broadened his focus from law to the more general rural south, while continuing to pen his legal thrillers. Publishers Weekly declared Grisham “the bestselling novelist of the 90s”, selling a total of 60,742,289 copies. He is also one of only a few authors to sell two million copies on a first printing; others include Tom Clancy and J.K. Rowling. Grisham’s 1992 novel The Pelican Brief sold 11,232,480 copies in the United States alone.

Link: Tom Clancy

Description: Tom Clancy, is a US author of bestselling political thrillers, best known for his technically detailed espionage and military science storylines set during and in the aftermath of the Cold War. Clancy is one of only two authors to have sold two million copies on a first printing in the 1990s. (John Grisham is the other author.) Clancy’s 1989 novel Clear and Present Danger sold 1,625,544 hardcover copies, making it the #1 bestselling novel of the 1980s The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger, and The Sum of All Fears have been turned into commercially successful films with actors Alec Baldwin, Ben Affleck, and Harrison Ford as Clancy’s most famous fictional character Jack Ryan, while his second most famous character John Clark has been played by actors Willem Dafoe and Liev Schreiber. IMDB reports that Tom Clancy’s novel Without Remorse is to be made into a movie and is expected to be released in 2008

Link: Mario Puzo

Description: Godfather “the definitive Gangster Novel”

The story of Don Vito Corleone, the head of a New York Mafia family, inspired some of the most successful movies ever. It is in Mario Puzo’s The Godfather that Corleone first appears. As Corleone’s desperate struggle to control the Mafia underworld unfolds, so does the story of his family. The novel is full of exquisitely detailed characters who, despite leading unconventional lifestyles within a notorious crime family, experience the triumphs and failures of the human condition.

Link: Robert Ludlum

Description: Rated as the Top bestseller spy thriller novels of all time, the Bourne trilogy has also been made into three multi-million dollar grossing movies starring Matt Damon. The three novels are about Jason Bourne, hero extraordinaire, and a man who leaves no stone unturned. Who is this Jason Bourne? And why does he have four million dollars in a Swiss bank account. It is a good question. And one, to which, Jason doesn’t know the answer. He has lost his memory, and his search to find out who he is and what he has done starts with one clue: somebody wants him dead. The more information Jason discovers, the more terrifying his quest becomes.