Which five fiction authors have influenced you the most?

I picked up this meme from Laughing Wolf, who didn't actually tag me with it but it sounded interesting so I picked it up anyway.

Which five fiction authors have influenced you most and why?

Here are mine, in no particular order:

C. S. Lewis -- His writing has profoundly moved me. I began with the Chronicles as a child thanks to my Aunt Donna, then moved to his sci-fi trilogy Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra and That Hideous Strength, then enjoyed Screwtape and The Four Loves and Surprised By Joy... I could go on. Lewis' writing speaks directly to my soul.

L. M. Montgomery -- Her Anne of Green Gables series were hands-down my favorite reading as a pre-teen and teenager. I probably have entire sections of some of the books memorized. I do know that there have been innumerable times when a certain situation will bring to mind one of Montgomery's apt descriptions of people or places.

Laura Ingalls Wilder -- Okay, I know, the Little House books weren't fiction. But I'm still profoundly affected by having read her works. Her stark simplicity strikes a chord in me. It's not just childlike... particularly now that I have lived in the northern plains for a few years, I find that this spareness of description and read-between-the-lines personality to be very typical of most of the natives to this area. There's a lot more TO them, but they'll never let on. They'll give you just what you need, even if it's the shirt off their back, but they play their personal cards very close to their chest. It's the pioneer spirit of self-determination and rugged individualism that rings true even today.

John Steinbeck -- Yes, I know... leftist Commie leanings... but his frank portrayals and his pointed style that never beats around the bush are appealing to me. I think that most people who read The Grapes of Wrath come away with the wrong conclusions toward leftist solutions to the problem, and it's likely that Steinbeck himself felt that way, but nonetheless the writing is brilliant.

Jonathan Swift -- I love his sense of humor. I love to laugh, and I love irony and satire. His is the standard to which I hold most every other satirist.

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So how 'bout you?