Orson Scott Card: Card is probably the most empathetic author working in SF today, which is to say that he is passionately interested in his character's internal lives, how they think, feel and relate to the other characters. I can't speculate too much on why this might be, since I don't know the man personally, but I suspect that it has something to do with Card's own strong religious beliefs; Card is a Mormon and apparently unabashedly so — he writes plays and stories about his faith. While not especially religious myself, I think that many people who are are intimately tuned to the internal dialogues we all have, possibly because that internal dialogue isn't merely self-directed, but also directed towards God. Whatever the reason, this empathy saturates his work form beginning to end.

This empathy helps Card pull off some incredibly tricky themes in his work — genocide, murder, incest, spiritual and moral doubt all pop up in his work, and are dealt with amazing grace. Now, it's not that Card can do no wrong; the empathy that make his best work brilliant is also the thing that makes some of his more mediocre work pretty damned mawkish and hard to read. On balance, however, his efforts pay off, both in story and style; no one else writes like Card.

Suggested Reading: Card has two series you want to avail yourself of: The Ender series and Alvin Maker series. The Ender series, particularly the first two books, Ender's Game and Speaker For the Dead, are the books that made Card's reputation — the story of an extraordinary individual who perpetrates the most unimaginable crime, and yet manages to atone for it. The final two books (Xenocide and Children of the Mind) are not essential, in my opinion (In these, Card pulls, quite literally, a deus ex machina), but the first two are must-haves for any serious SF fan.

The Alvin Maker series is fantasy — an incredibly realized alternate history of the United States, one that features magic as reality. Card's revision of American history is fascinating in its own right, but the story of Alvin, a young man who has the power to move the world, is nothing to sneeze at either. As with the Ender series, the first couple of book are better than the later books (although as I write this, the final book in the series has yet to be written, so reserve judgment) — in fact, the second book of the series, Red Prophet, I would rank as Card's best work to date (well, tied with Speaker, at any rate).

Outside of this series, two recommendations: Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus, which is another alternate history, and Card's novelization of James Cameron's The Abyss — perhaps the only novelization of a movie that actually reads like a full-blooded novel.

Sheri Tepper: Like Card, Tepper is a profoundly empathetic writer, and naturally enough, her empathy is a distinctly womanly one. This feminine viewpoint, coupled with Tepper's considerable story-telling expertise, is what I love about her writing: unlike most of the writers on this list, whose work I feel I could probably emulate, given time (and a jolt by God), Tepper is writing from a space I can't inhabit. Mind you, this isn't about writing female characters — any competent writer can do that (and just about every writer on this list has). It's the overarching mental scaffolding we're talking about — how Tepper creates her worlds as well as her characters.

Her take on the universe is fundamentally different than my take. But what makes her such a good writer is that she can make me see, feel, and believe her take on things — through the deftness of her prose and the strength of her characters. It's like visiting a foreign land, and discovering to your delight that you can speak the language (or at the very least, the natives can understand you). Also, on a not entirely unrelated point, Tepper understands satire to be something more than broad lampooning; she's got some marvelous satire in her work that just about slides under the radar. No offense to SF, but most of the writers in the genre are not known for a delicate touch. Tepper's got it, God bless her.

Suggested Reading: Many of Tepper's works take place in the same universe but only tangentially touch on each other, thus avoiding the "sequel" feel. Of these books, the one I most highly suggest is Grass, which shows Tepper's mastery in several techniques: first, building a rich, complex and believable universe; second, creating a plausible crisis that can End Life As We Know It; third, creating a character, Marjorie, who is resourceful, willful, capable — and human. Great book. Tepper followed it up with Raising The Stones, which is just as good in an entirely different way: this book gets to the heart of what makes us human, and whether it's something that an outside force can help us with. You can read either book without having read the other, but read them both for the full effect.

Dan Simmons: Dan Simmons is probably the best all-around writer out there in SF Land because, among many other things, he's merciless. This is a guy who will make you put an emotional investment into a character so charismatic and central to the plot that you can't help but think he or she is the main character — and then kill that character half-way through the book. AND still pull the book off cohesively. Talk about a one-two punch: both the chutzpah to give the reader the unexpected, and the skills to pull it off flawlessly.

What makes Dan Simmons even more of a treat is that he's the rare writer who can pull off two separate genres completely: science fiction and horror. Simmons writes in each (and on more than one occasion, such as The Hollow Man, both at the same time), and has won the top awards in each genre (the Stoker for horror and the Hugo and Nebula in Science Fiction). Finally, for his masterworks (The Hyperion series), he shamelessly rips off everyone from Chaucer to Keats to Mickey Spillane — and nails each one on the head. Basically, as far as writing is concerned, there's apparently nothing the man can't do. It's sort of disgusting if you think about it, so don't. Just enjoy the results.

Suggested Reading: Simmons' best work are the first two Hyperion novels: Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion. In these books, Simmons creates a fully realized universe that ranks up there with Asimov's and Herbert's in terms of complexity and believability, and does it while creating personalities you can really sink your teeth into (which, for what it's worth, neither Asimov or Herbert could really pull off in their respective universes). The first two Hyperion books, in my humble opinion, represent the best science fiction writing in the last decade or so; you'd be a fool not to run down to the book store and pick up copies right this very instant. The two books that follow these, Endymion and Rise of Endymion, ain't too shabby either.

If you want to try some of Simmons' horror work, two titles should work for you: Carrion Comfort, a massive tome that combines mind control, zombie-like creatures, the deep south, Nazis and Hollywood - and does it very well, thank you. Also seek out Children of the Night, Simmons' riff on the Dracula fable that includes a new and exceptionally well-realized spin on the vampire myth.

Susan Cooper: Cooper wrote the Dark is Rising juvenile fantasy series, which I think represents the absolute best juvenile fiction can be. It has a juvenile protagonist and is clearly written to appeal to younger readers (I first read it in the fifth grade), but it never, ever writes down. The characters are rich, the situations complicated and of earth-shattering importance, the references vivid, the themes never simplistic and the resolution satisfyingly consonant (for a fantasy series) with the real world. You'll notice I haven't even started to talk about the writing style here. It's even better than what I've described so far — good enough that I can read the books again as an adult, and enjoy them as much as I did when I was a child — without having to read them through a child's eyes. That's good writing, friends.